Ted Reischl: is spot on! best advice yet.
Ted Reischl: is spot on! best advice yet.
That's excellent advice. Just because someone wants to do something doesn't mean they necessarily should. One should only work with potentially dangerous tools if you can do it safely. This individual clearly cannot. People need to have self-control and unfortunately, gauging by a lot of people posting these accidents in this forum, they do not. The solution is not to buy a Saw Stop, the solution is to be responsible for yourself and take proper steps to make sure you can work safely. Honestly, a lot of this is starting to feel like Saw Stop is paying people to post horror stories to woodworking forums to get people to buy their products. Sorry, I would not be at all surprised.
I have noticed that some marketing folks feel that scaring people is a good way to go. I very much doubt that anyone is paying folks to post this stuff. In this case, it is more like the guy convincing himself that he can now work in the shop safely, or maybe his better half......I looked up this grand mal seizure stuff, most states require that the license bureau be notified and quite a few want to see that the person is fit to drive. There are a lot of issues involved.
I can tell everyone this: if I had a seizure, my sweet, innocent, itty bitty wife would explain to me that I was no longer working in the shop or she would pound me to paste. Actually, she would probably just starve me, she is a great cook, and I look like it!
Go into the world and do well. But more importantly, go into the world and do good.
No offense intended but does this mean we should start holding all power tools to a standard where a blind individual should be able to shove a board or pull a trigger and be saved without consequence? If so, the cost of woodworking on a hobby level will soon put any average Joe out of the hobby, and on the professional will will close the business down flat.
There are operations I use to do in my sleep that I no longer do due to my physical limitations. I now relegate those to the youger, more agile, guys. Maybe I should just forge ahead and sue
Geez Terry, so sorry to hear of your accident and the seizure episodes. With a history of seizures and blackouts you need to consider carefully your exposure to any stationary power tools as well as vehicle use. A few years ago I was an avid bowhunter, probably 90% of my bow hunting time was spent in tree stands. I experienced sudden deafness about 7 years ago along with periods of extreme vertigo. With unpredictable vertigo episodes, my tree climbing days were over, big life style change for me. My family was to important to take a 20' head dive out of a tree stand. Only my best wishes for your future endeavors.
No one "earns" an injury. And everyone does something stupid in their life. To quote a famous philosopher "Let he who is without sin cast the first stone." I know I couldn't cast a stone, and I doubt of anyone else here could either.
Mike
[There are a number of times in my life that I wished I had something that would absolve me of doing something stupid.
And I'd prefer to receive absolution than to lose my fingers.]
Last edited by Keith Outten; 08-16-2017 at 12:27 PM.
Go into the world and do well. But more importantly, go into the world and do good.
Brian I agree with some of what you say and I'm not going to beat up on the OP as he has enough on his plate to deal with.
Think about this scenario. If this had been an individual's first seizure, or stroke, or heart attack, there were never any warning signs of a health issue, they were observing all the safe practices and the Saw Stop had saved their hand. Would they have still been stupid or smart for having the extra safety feature?
I've opted for the additional safety and have become more safe around the saw because of the better guard and riving knife that I never used on my older saw. You can call me stupid if you like. I won't be offended.
Many woodworking accidents do result from stupidity. When I was much, much younger, trying to rip a thin strip without using a push-stick, and got the end of my finger split open by the table saw blade (fortunately, only that), I was being stupid. From that day until this, I have never tried to evade responsibility for my injury; I don't personally know any injured woodworker who has ever failed to take personal responsibility for whatever happened.
However, smug self-righteousness aside, everybody - everybody - is subject to distractions and lapses of attention. As a cognitive scientist who has analyzed hours and hours of eye-gaze data, I can affirm that this is true. An unexpected loud noise elicits a startle reflex, regardless of the firmest of intentions. Or a piece of wood with an odd, hidden grain pattern shatters midway through a cut. Accidents happen, even to those who believe they are prepared.
We all make personal assessments of the risks we may face. I am happy using my unisaw with suitable precautions, but it would never occur to me to criticize anyone who chose a SawStop for its extra level of protection.
Last edited by Keith Outten; 08-16-2017 at 12:28 PM.
-- Jim
Use the right tool for the job.
If people would actually observe all of the necessary safe practices there would be no need for SawStop. I personally have zero sympathy for anyone who takes the guard off of a tool and then proceeds to get hurt. Like Brian I feel like people earned whatever they got.
Very true. But you've got a cult of Saw Stop that wants everyone to own them while not recognizing that if people were just responsible and careful in the first place, they wouldn't be necessary. I have nothing against Saw Stop, except for the very idiotic move to try to force the industry to buy their proprietary technology, but this cult-like mentality is just absurd.
...and if people were just careful there would be no need for guards on pulleys and belts, or need for car insurance....come on guys!
Jerry
"It is better to fail in originality than succeed in imitation" - Herman Melville