SAFETY Tip on Circular saw use for cabinets

I built up a nice set of Craftsman sockets and wrenches purchasing from a guy who somehow had access to the tool sets that people had turned in for a replacement guarantee, reselling them at a nearby flea market.

Years back I found that Sears was horrible at supplying parts for anything I had.

Broken socket" "We will have to order one from the warehouse. About 2 weeks". "What about giving me one out of that set there?"  "We can't do that".
 (Harbor Frt tools- broken socket- NP- Salesman Breaks down a complete new set & hands me one. Have a good day!) Gotta love them & their tools were mostly better than the last crap grade tools Sears carried.
Funny how Sears quality went down the toilet when they quit selling U.S. made tools & went to india, Korea, or china or???

Lost my cutting torch that developed a leak I sent in for repair- lied to me about it for 3-1/2 months. Finally forced them to reimburse me for a Victor set, from Airgas.

 Needed gears for my metal lathe, NLA, 1200.00 to the scrapper.Needed parts for my 1HP 110V AC OR DC 1" drill- NLA (So much for the "lifetime" warranty- "But we will give you a 3/8" drill for it".

Needed just the Klixon circuit breaker for my radial arm saw. 'You have to buy the whole motor for it. That's $90.00. (Motors and controls-$18.00 2 days to get it.)

Broken hand tools?" NLA, but we will give you credit for the lowest sale price we had it on closeout at."
I paid 18.00 for a special wrench and they want to give me credit for $2.99??!!
or " We don't make the tool anymore".  
No wonder they went out of business.

Now days if I have an old Craftsman tool break, the hardware stores WILL NOT REPLACE IT UNLESS YOU BOUGHT IT FROM THEM, AND HAVE YOUR ORIGINAL RECEIPT SHOWING YOU BOUGHT IT FROM THEM!
 So I don't buy anything Craftsman anymore. 

 It's not rocket surgery

I wonder who would back up such a recall notice and do any repairs these days? Sears, Roebuck & Co. has long since gone out of business and isn't "Craftsman" just another "brand" that some holding company now owns?

I have a Craftsman Radial Arm Saw. There was a recall. I had to provide the Model and serial numbers, which were not on the saw. So I'm out of luck. It was a blade guard that automatically closed when not being used. (Spring action).

If you are using a "circular" type saw, be sure the GUARD DROPS BACK DOWN after the cut.

  Many of us use one to fabricate wood parts for cabinets.

 I saw one where the saw took off over the hard wood floor, leaving a nice trail behind that.
The carpenter never repaired it either. This was at my parents house.

I came home to find the contractor's crew was working on my home and there was a huge pile of blue jeans shredded in the driveway. I asked what happened, fearing a leg amputation of such, but saw no blood, & one of the guys sheepishly said he was cutting a board with a circular saw and got the blade tangled in his pants leg.
(Talk about a major brown pants moment.) 
Thankfully, he was not injured, but is sure scared him & the rest of the crew.

The other time actually  happened to me. I had been cutting a lot of material for a project & I put the saw down before the blade had spooled down. The guard stuck and the saw headed off down the drive way.
( Man, a Skill 77 can really scoot! )
 So now I am very careful to be sure the guard is down or let the saw spool down before setting it down. 

 I was lucky someone was not near me as it could have easily removed a body part in it's travels.

After talking to a few carpenter friends, I found out that this is not an uncommon  event!!!
 The guard can get gunked up with sawdust & dirt, or the saw dropped or something landing on it to bend the guard. I had dropped mine on it's side from 8 ft up framing a shed in
 A quick disassembly job, cleaning and a bit of metal reforming & it didn't happen again. Believe me, I literally tested it 25 times to be sure the guard wouldn't stick again.