sharpening tools

[Keith Christopher]

Just had to share, saw a video on some channel called tru-tv and there was a guy in thailand in the hospital with a chunk of rock sticking out of his head, turns out it was a piece of a grinding wheel. He was sharpening a saw blade when the grinding wheel broke and a chunk flew up and embedded in his head. Horrid sight to see. but a reminder, slow and smooth with proper protection.

[Ryan Baker]

Yeah. It's a good reminder to stand to the side when starting up the grinder, and never grind on the side of the wheel. And wear that safety gear. And never get the wheel wet.

[Bernie Weishapl]

Yep that is what safety gear is for. Thanks for the reminder Keith.

[Richard Madison]

Kinda makes you think about using one of those mesh shields made for use when chainsawing (in addition to safety glasses).

[Ron Bontz]

Well I gotta say, being a FF medic I had the occasion to run on a guy who's grinder wheel blew apart on him. He was lucky the bulk of the wheel missed but a good size chunk struck him on the forehead and left a large full thickness (to the bone) gaping laceration. A real ouchy. It rang his bell as well. Called 911 after he woke up from his impromptu nap. Needless to say he had no face shield at all. :eek:

[Mat Ashton]

To be honest a face shield would offer very little protection from the chunk that imbedded in the guys head. What would have been better is if the guy didn't take the guards off the grinder - that's if he had a proper grinder. Most likely the guy actually didn't buy a ready made grinder but banged one together out of a few cheap parts and an old (suspect) grinding wheel and it let go at a high rpm. I have a home made grinder that I only run up to 300 rpm but I still have a guard to limit collateral damage from a wheel if it were to let go.

[Jeff Nicol]

I was trying to get the last little bit of wheel left on my Delta 23-710 and the white wheel came apart where the hollow is to mount the wheel to the motor. I have a new wheel to put on it but was putting it off. I finally took off enough material in one spot that half the wheelflew apart. The only good thing was that the pieces were small but smacked my hand with a glove on pretty good. The new wheel goes on today! It is all about saftey and doing everything we can to protect us from unknown happenings!

Jeff

[Chris Stolicky]

Thanks for the reminder. Its something that we all need every once in a while.

So, I guess this is an argument for the slow speed wet sharpeners, huh?

[Richard Madison]

Guys (and gals), many of you probably already have the Stihl helmet and mesh face shield for chainsawing. You can see and breath through it, and it does not fog up. Worn with safety glasses (of course) it offers a great deal more protection than a flimsy plastic face shield. Consider using it when grinding, and when turning those "tricky" chunks of wood. My neighbor has one, likes it, says it costs about $45. Pretty cheap protection.

No connection with Stihl (my saw is an Echo). Just some thoughts.

[Jeff Riddle]

One thing to remember is regular maintinance. I was a fire fighter for the California Department of Forestry and Fire Protection and we did regular servicing all equipment and tools. Didn't matter if it was a chainsaw or a shovel. I have to admit that I get busy on projects and forget to check my equipment and tools. We often think that those kinds of things can't happen to us and thats when it will happen. Sometimes the best prevention of such incidents is regular maintinance and servicing. Like I said, I am as guilty as the next and need to be reminded just how serious a simple mistake of not checking something before I begin useing a tool. Thanks for the wake up call.

Jeff