Safety Dance

[Jack Porter]

With the amount of new woodworkers out there (i guess in one aspect or another we all try something new) we start a thread for lessons learned. Two sentences only, the first sentence is the situation, the second sentence is the lesson learned.

Example
"Kickback" with a circular saw using an old 25 ft extension cord.
Power draw is not good for cutting ply and scaring the begeezes out of you.

[Mike Heidrick]

Gut shot Kickback - Original Delta hybrid with no guard cutting 12"X12" piece of 3/4" plywood.
Lesson - use some kind of splitter/RK/guard 100% of the time that I can and still make the cut and also watch where I stand.

[Chris Barnett]

Getting your thumb between the turning cast iron BS wheel and the blade is messy ....
Lesson: Watching where your hands are is more important than anything else....anything!

[Jason Beam]

Taking less than 1/16" off of a 2" long piece of aluminum angle on my compound miter saw goes flying and rips a very deep gash in my thumb.

Lesson: Your heart takes a good 40-50 seconds to stop audibly pounding even after you've scanned the area and your hands for missing body parts.

[Dave Falkenstein]

Situation: Ripping 1/4" thick cedar on a TS, making 1" wide trim strips for a cedar closet - no guard on thw saw - tired from working all day - ran my thumb into the blade.

Lesson(s) learned: Never work without a guard if the cut can be made with a guard in place - always use push sticks - never work in the shop when you are tired. Oh - and know where the ER is located.

[Ken Shoemaker]

Situation: Ripping on table saw with no guards or splitter launches red oak at light speed into shop wall.

Lesson: Laxatives no longer necessary!

[David Tiell]

Situation: Face jointing a board on the jointer and stopping for any reason as soon as the board clears the cutterhead.
Lesson learned: ALWAYS make sure to push the board COMPLETELY past the cutterhead AND the guard so you don't have 6, 8, 12 etc., inches of exposed spinning cutterhead.

[mark page]

Young Grasshopper "But Master, why am I standing in front of fellow students naked except for belt, tidy whities, and boots?"
Master "Young Grasshopper, never operate high school wood lathe with loose fitting clothing".

[Lee Koepke]

Situation: Setting down a circular saw too quickly and on top of the chord.

Lesson Learned: spinning blade is no match for a power chord.

[Brian Penning]

Gut shot kickback AND cut finger(blade contact) from TS while cutting a bevel.
Lesson Learned: Get a SawStop.

[Rob Blaustein]

First time trying new TS I took a 6" long 4" wide piece of scrap and started to rip, pushing through with a piece of scrap wood as push stick. I pushed down on the back of the piece, which lifted the leading edge, and THWOP--it flew right past my head into the wall behind me at blinding speed. Lessons: many, but I'd say #1 was don't cut small things without using a push stick designed for that.