My tablesaw

This is my tablesaw:

It's funny that I should be so attached to an old tool, but I am. I took woodshop in Junior High School and absolutely loved it. I thought I was in heaven, cutting wood to size, routing the corners, finishing with stain and polyurethane. I made a jewelry box out of pine for my mom and 25 years later it still sits next to her bed. Over the years I thought many times about getting into woodworking and having my own shop, but man, tools are pricey. I didn't think there was any way I'd be able to do it without sinking thousands of dollars into difficult-to-justify purchases.

But then Angie's grandpa decided he didn't need his old tablesaw anymore, and gave it to us. Anyone else might look at this 1950s era hunk of steel and aluminum and turn up their nose, but I thought I'd hit the jackpot. And I discovered that you can sure make a lot of cool stuff with just a tablesaw.

And it sure served me well the other day when I took a bunch of massive boards like this...

...and ran them over the tablesaw like this...

...and ended up with a whole bunch of beautiful silver maple boards, all ready to go to the jointer: