One arm woodworker

[Charlie Plesums]

A friend is teaching Woodworking 101 - basically intro to power tools. One of his students has only one arm - no prosthesis for the other side. We have thought of all sorts of ideas - feather boards, jigs, clamps, etc., but they are all theoretical. At this point we are looking for proven tricks and techniques - if you have seen a one-arm woodworker (or if you know one or are one) please let us know, and share any suggestions they may offer.

Sorry for posting here, but I wanted to be sure to get quick visibility (yes, I am guilty of ignoring off-topic threads most of the time). If this needs to be moved...ok, do it!

Thanks, and thanks on behalf of the student who I have not yet met.

Charlie

[Ken Fitzgerald]

Charlie.........I'm sure you'll get some ideas and proven techniques. People that are challenged....and I use that word instead of disabled.....can be awfully talented. One local artist here had no hands.....he created and repaired bronze statues. The guy was unbelieveably talented and skilled! He was an older gent.......I live in Nez Perce County .....on the edge of the Nez Perce Reservation. The County Courthouse statue of a Nez Perce warrior riding an Appaloosa horse needed major repairs this gentleman volunteered his skills. It was better as a result of his labor. Unbelieveably skilled he was!

[Peter Stahl]

I can't even imagine trying to do it with one arm as I have enough trouble doing it with two. I would think that a air driven clamp would be very helpful. He would still need a lot of assistance changing blades and bits I would think. Definitely he'll need a quick one handed clamp system. Wish I could rmember where I've seen them.

[Nate Rogers]

I can't speak for how he would do woodworking, but when I was growing up we had a family friend that had only one arm...Wasn't a thing he couldn't do, he hunted, fished, worked construction..Pretty amazing dude with two arms, let alone one...If this guy has the drive there is always a way..

Nate

[Scott Loven]

I have heard that the VA does a lot of training including woodworking for disabled veterans including the blind. They may be able to help.
Scott

[Al Garay]

Might want to go with Festool or EZ Smart systems.

[Peter Stahl]

Might want to go with Festool or EZ Smart systems.

Which one is better, just kidding!:D

[Jon Shively]

When I was a kid racing trotters, we had a WWII vet with a crippled hand and a hook on the other arm. Made beautiful wood trophies with engraved brass plates. Were high quality trophies that are still valued by most of us today. Maybe he has a hook and will wear it for class. Have a one armed farmer in my community, he changes engines and trannies in his trucks and tractors as well as feeds cattle and bales hay. Don't know how, but he finds a way that works for him. Sorry this isn't any help other than if he has a will he will find a way.

[Randal Stevenson]

I think we all know a lot of disabled people and don't realize it. Most of the time they have all their extremitys and no brain.;)


Don't get into a F vrs E war here, but I think EITHER system would be a good START, in a situation like this. Otherwise, I would make it a class project to come up with idea's and designs. There already is a lot he can do, just will take a bit longer.
This is one time when a share shop could be an advantadge. Someone to help with large objects, and manuvering things, I believe he will find that, the long term hardest part.

[Ken Garlock]

Back in the the 1970s when I worked as a programmer in the IT dept. at Firestone Tire & Rubber Co., there was a computer operator that wore a prosthesis that extended above his elbow. He lived west of Akron and operated a farm in addition to working at FTR.

He lost his arm as a result of a farming accident. We was running a corn picker and it became clogged for one reason or another. He tried to free the problem and the picker grabbed his arm and processed it like a stock of corn. He quickly untied a boot lace and tied off the stump of his arm, drove his tractor back to his house, and rushed to the hospital.:eek:

Was he 'disabled'? Physically he was missing an arm, but with his prosthesis he could mount computer tapes just like anyone else, and on the farm he could handle a bale of hay or straw just like he did before the accident. He was not disabled.;)

[Dennis Peacock]

Which one is better, just kidding!:D

Oh man.....not THAT again!!!! :p :p :p :D

[John Lucas]

Don't ever sell the "handicapped" short. I had an email from a blind reader (I know that isnt possible but it was) and he was teaching a shop class of blind students. The subject was using the CMT dovetail jig. They had done just fine but couldnt see the marks for aligning the left and/or right edges.
My reply was something like this: "You dont need to see them. Feeling the edges (both of them) through the fngers of the template will get you closer than if you could sight it...because the shadow from the template tends to throw people off. I have been using feel for years as my old sight gets worse."
He sent a picture of his group feeling the edges. As I said, handicaped people have a way of surviving...when they want to.