Steve Gass is the Owner and President of Oregon-based SawStop, LLC, as well as being an avid woodworker (with a doctorate in physics). While working in his shop one day in 1999, Steve was inspired to develop a new technology to make a safer saw that could stop a 4,000-rpm saw blade fast enough to prevent serious injury. Steve devised a method to use conductive technology to detect skin contact with the blade, and trigger an immediate stop. Steve built a prototype with the help of three friends, worked to improve and protect the invention, and named the new invention “SawStop.” Less than a year after the invention, the group took a SawStop prototype to the International Woodworking Machinery & Furniture Supply Fair (IWF) in Atlanta, Georgia.
Steve and his associates introduced the new invention using what is now the famous “Hot Dog Demo.”
The technology was the talk of the show. Public response was so overwhelmingly positive that Steve and his friends, David Fanning and David Fulmer, decided to leave their law practices and work full-time developing SawStop. The original idea was to license the technology to other table saw manufacturers, but after negotiations failed to produce agreements, the trio decided that if the SawStop technology was to reach the marketplace, the three founders would have to do it themselves. As a long-time woodworker, Steve committed himself to designing a high quality cabinet saw with all the precision and features he had ever wanted in a table saw. By 2003, plans and designs were drafted. The first prototypes were completed and the first production models came off of the manufacturing line in late 2004. By the beginning of 2005, SawStop the company had become a reality.
Losing a finger or worse is serious, expensive, and a lifetime loss that can never be replaced. The following video link is a real eye opener:
Industrial: 3HP, 5HP and 7HP motors in power requirements 230V, 480V, 600V
Professional: 1.75HP and 3HP motors in power requirements 110V, 230V
Contractor: 1.75HP motorPower-110V and user configurable to 230V
The combination of safety, unparalleled design and high quality craftsmanship has made the SawStop Cabinet Saw the #1 selling cabinet saw on the market today.
Here’s a quick look a some of the features that make the SawStop so desirable:
- Patented aluminum safety brake system
- Stops the blade within 5 milliseconds of skin contact
- High quality craftsmanship
- 99% dust collection
The SawStop is available in three different models. Each featuring the patented “finger-saving” technology.
Check out what woodworking expert Charles Neil has to say about SawStop in this video made for Woodcraft.
To learn more about SawStop visit your local Woodcraft Store, or click here to find a Woodcraft store near you that carries the SawStop brand. You can also find additional information on the SawStop Website or ask them in person. SawStop will be at the 2010 IWF Show, August 25th-28th at booth #5352.
If you’re at the 2010 IWF Show, be sure to visit the Woodcraft booth #1410! Or check back here, August 25th-28th, for blog updates from the 2010 IWF Show Floor.
Can’t wait to get your hands on the “Safest Saw in the World”? Woodcraft and SawStop are giving three away! All you have to do is visit Woodcraft.com and register to win!
Auf wiedersehen…Frank
