[hinterlands]

The article starts by dismissing scrollsaws as "pretty darn dangerous", but that's a pretty big stretch. They're less dangerous than a sharp kitchen knife. You want to talk to your kids and watch them closely the first couple of times they use it, but you'd be hard-pressed to find any accounts of serious injuries caused by scrollsaws.

This toy doesn't seem bad as a crafts tool that buys you several quiet weekends, but at $250... that's actually more than a miniature desktop scrollsaw (Proxxon 37088).

[bityard]

I don't have direct experience with a scroll saw but I own (well, made) a bandsaw and it's my favorite power tool. There's a lot you can do with it but more importantly, it's incredibly safe: The blade stays in one place and will never jump out at you or throw your workpiece into your abdomen. If you let your mind wander, you might end up with a cut on your finger. But that's about it. It's pretty much impossible to lose your finger to a bandsaw unless you have permanent nerve damage or are doing your woodworking on meth.

[Doxin]

> If you let your mind wander, you might end up with a cut on your finger.

If you let your mind wander you might lob off a finger before the pain signal reaches your brain. Band saws are safe in that they are largely unlikely to do anything unexpected. They are very dangerous in that they seem so safe.

No one is going to messing around with a table saw. The danger is obvious. It's very tempting to be unsafe around a band saw since it seems so safe.

If you want to see some scary stuff go look up how bandsaws are used in slaughterhouses. They'll use them to lob a whole cow in half in under a second. Now imagine what it'll do to a finger while you're looking the other way.

[MadnessASAP]

You've never seen the blade of a bandsaw break? Throwing the blade at you is definitely one of the bandsaws failure modes.

[incanus77]

I saw a classmate push a bandsaw right up between two fingers in eighth grade shop, watching the workpiece and not their hand.

[drewcoo]

> less dangerous than a sharp kitchen knife

Which is less dangerous than a dull kitchen knife.

https://yakushiknives.com/blogs/yakushi-blog-all-thing-knive...

[phyzome]

I've been cut way more often and more seriously with sharp knives than with dull knives.

Everyone says this thing but I suspect it isn't true at all.

[citizenpaul]

Yeah I thought it was really cool until I saw the price. Its a toy and costs more than most real tools. I cant help but think everything is a cash grab aimed at the rich nowdays. Maybe it really does cost that much but all I see is some plastic and a <$5 wholesale motor.

[cap11235]

And its cutting cardboard. When I was 12, I used an XActo blade for that, and they are definitely under $10. I don't know exactly prices now because I buy hundred packs of craft blades for like 20. This "product" is silly.

[hammyhavoc]

> watch them closely the first couple of times they use it

How about every time?

[Cthulhu_]

That would be overbearing and cost you a lot of time. Kids want to do things on their own, they would lose interest if there's someone looming over them all the time.

[xyzzy123]

Depends on the child and the activity right?

Personally I often prefer to introduce new activities just at the point where I'd feel comfortable leaving them unsupervised (once they've learned it).

A major goal of parenting is to guide your children to independence. This is a sort of negotiation between you, reality and the child. While it can be heartbreaking when they come to you with injuries, you can't watch them all the time (and it's not healthy to try).

If you introduce an activity "too early" such that you always have to supervise, it has some advantages for child but can quickly become a drain on you (they want to do that $thing again but you have other stuff to do) and they feel less independent because they always need your help to do it.

What our family looks out for a lot is "cliff edges". This is where an activity or situation has a high / unreasonable risk vs benefit, and the harm happens quickly and is surprising. These require special attention. Once kids know where the "cliff edges" are they can explore more safely.