My old bone saw gave up the ghost right in the middle of a custom order

It happened last Tuesday, right as I was starting to break down a whole lamb for a restaurant. I was about halfway through the spine when the motor just started making this awful grinding noise and seized up. This saw was a hand-me-down from my old boss, a real workhorse that had to be at least 15 years old. I had to stop everything, call the customer to explain the delay, and then spent the next two hours on the phone trying to find a local shop that had a replacement drive belt in stock. Ended up costing me about $80 for the part and a half-day's labor, which hurt. It made me realize I've been pushing my luck with a lot of my older gear, just because it's always worked. Has anyone else had a major tool fail during a rush job, and what's your backup plan?

2 comments

2 Comments

faith_perez1mo ago

My uncle runs a small shop and he told me his backup plan is to keep the manual tools from his old starter kit. Like @sethk43 said, they're slow but they work in a pinch. He had his band saw blade snap last month and just switched to a hand saw to finish the cut list.

sethk431mo ago

Man, that's the worst. I keep a basic backup saw, just a cheap manual one, for exactly this reason. It's slow but it'll get you through the day. After my grinder died mid-smoke, I also started a small "tool fund" where I put aside fifty bucks from every big job for eventual replacements.