James grew up on an Ozarks farm where tools like axes and picks were still used in the daily routine and the blades of stockman's pocketknives served their original functions. Receiving his first pocketknife at age four he got it open by himself nearly a year later and spent his formative years wandering the woods with a succession of ever larger knives, a book of matches and a rifle.
A veteran of Vietnam, James also served in Alaska during a stint in the Army, receiving his first intensive culinary training by setting a record for extra KP at Ft. Richardson.
Settling in the Pacific Northwest after his discharge, James crewed on sailing yachts in local races, backpacked hundreds of miles of mountain trails in search of good trout fishing, and occasionally attended college.
His first serious job as a civilian resulted from answering a Seattle Post Intelligencer want ad requesting someone who could lift 120 pounds repeatedly and wasn't afraid of fire. James apprenticed to John Frazier -- the most knowledgeable traditional foundryman in North America at that time -- for the next six years.
Returning to the Ozarks James made his living by growing ginseng on a hand-terraced wooded hillside and selling handmade wood turnery, furniture, sculpture and architectural carvings. James harvested trees from his own land, processing logs into posts and beams and turnery billets with saws, axes, froes and planes. Since many tools he needed were no longer available, James built his own forge from a barbeque grill, a vacuum cleaner and a 55 gallon steel drum, found a chunk of railroad track for his first anvil, and taught himself blacksmithing -- creating his own knives and tools from scrap steel and sweat.
Changing economic pressures eventually forced James back to the restaurant industry in Branson, Missouri, and later to even more success as a maintenance engineer for one of Branson's largest condominium resorts. Finally escaping to Indiana, James now makes his living telling true stories as a freelance writer.
The Hitachi C10FSH Compound Miter Saw is a great machine for the workshop and the work site with extra capacity in a size small enough for portability. The features packed into this accurate machine actually work well and aren’t just sales points.
The Hitachi’s soft-start system uses a poly-V-belt, not a geared transmission, so the saw starts up smoothly without recoil. The 3800 rpm (no-load) 12-amp motor drives a ten-inch diameter circular saw blade with the cutting depth of a standard table saw. Ball bearing slides move the saw accurately through the cut, giving the machine a full 12 inches of horizontal capacity. For tricky materials, use the speed control to match the machine to the task — solid state circuitry provides constant power at all operating speeds.
Hitachi’s C10FSH includes ten preset stops at the most commonly used angle settings. Just flip the stop out with your thumb, release the saw and swivel against the stop you selected, and lock the machine down again. It’s even possible to change the bevel setting with the workpiece still in place. Built-in workpiece clamps make the job easy.
The C10FSH laser marker cuts down on layout time. Scribe a mark at one edge of the work and use that mark to line up the workpiece on the laser’s red beam. The beam does disappear during actual cutting, but the machine keeps the blade on that invisible path. If you’ve marked it right, you’ll cut it right. A built-in dust collector keeps particles out of the air you breathe as well as out of the critical parts of the machine. With a solid reputation and a five-year warranty, the Hitachi C10FSH Compound Miter Saw satisfies on all counts.
James grew up on an Ozarks farm where tools like axes and picks were still used in the daily routine and the blades of stockman's pocketknives served their original functions. Receiving his first pocketknife at age four he got it open by himself nearly a year later and spent his formative years wandering the woods with a succession of ever larger knives, a book of matches and a rifle.
A veteran of Vietnam, James also served in Alaska during a stint in the Army, receiving his first intensive culinary training by setting a record for extra KP at Ft. Richardson.
Settling in the Pacific Northwest after his discharge, James crewed on sailing yachts in local races, backpacked hundreds of miles of mountain trails in search of good trout fishing, and occasionally attended college.
His first serious job as a civilian resulted from answering a Seattle Post Intelligencer want ad requesting someone who could lift 120 pounds repeatedly and wasn't afraid of fire. James apprenticed to John Frazier -- the most knowledgeable traditional foundryman in North America at that time -- for the next six years.
Returning to the Ozarks James made his living by growing ginseng on a hand-terraced wooded hillside and selling handmade wood turnery, furniture, sculpture and architectural carvings. James harvested trees from his own land, processing logs into posts and beams and turnery billets with saws, axes, froes and planes. Since many tools he needed were no longer available, James built his own forge from a barbeque grill, a vacuum cleaner and a 55 gallon steel drum, found a chunk of railroad track for his first anvil, and taught himself blacksmithing -- creating his own knives and tools from scrap steel and sweat.
Changing economic pressures eventually forced James back to the restaurant industry in Branson, Missouri, and later to even more success as a maintenance engineer for one of Branson's largest condominium resorts. Finally escaping to Indiana, James now makes his living telling true stories as a freelance writer.
The Hitachi C10FSH Compound Miter Saw is a great machine for the workshop and the work site with extra capacity in a size small enough for portability. The features packed into this accurate machine actually work well and aren’t just sales points.
