Relative danger of woodworking

[Dan Friedrichs]

Hello all,

I’ve been lurking here for awhile, but wanted to introduce myself, share a story, and ask for some insight from those more experienced than I.

So let me introduce myself – I’m a graduate student in Colorado, an electrical engineer, and something of an amateur woodworker my whole life. I’ve recently started taking the hobby a little more seriously, and been acquiring some more tools.

The story I want to share is one that seems all too common – a table saw mishap. I was cutting a grove in a small piece of stock, and probably should have been employing several featherboards and pushsticks, but was just holding the stock with my bare hand and using the fence to guide it. As others have said, I “saw, heard, and felt” the kickback all at the same time. Thankfully, I didn’t touch the blade, but the piece smacked me in the hand hard enough to take a sizable chunk out of my thumb. No serious permanent injury (thankfully), but it sure hurt and scared the heck out of me.

I realize that no one has extra fingers that they can part with, but I feel especially concerned for mine because my livelihood is provided by spending all day typing. I want to insure than I’m doing absolutely everything to be as safe as possible.

So the question I would like to hear some insight from the experts on is, “How dangerous (relatively) is woodworking, really?”, and also, “Where does the danger come from?”. Allow me to elaborate.

There are several major tools that I think we can all agree are tremendously unlikely to ever cause serious injury. A thickness planar, a scroll saw, drill press, jig saw, mortiser, sanding station, etc, are all unlikely to hurt you (unless you do something really dumb). Other tools, such as a band saw, lathe, or router, may be slightly more dangerous, but again, would require a fairly major mistake for you to seriously permanently injure yourself on them. I would think a jointer would fall into that same category, although I did read a story of someone who had a piece of stock kick back out of their jointer, causing his hand to fall into the cutterhead. I can think of no other injury that might be caused by a jointer, though, and this injury could have been avoided through the use of push blocks.

The only major “group” of tools that remain, then, are table saws, radial arm saws, and miter saws. The two major accidents with these tools would be 1) touching the blade, and 2) kickback. The use of a blade guard with splitter whenever possible should help reduce both. Extremely careful attention to what you are doing would also contribute significantly to safety.

I realize there are also “freak” accidents which we have very limited control over. For instance, I read the story here about the gentleman whose arbor nut came loose on his miter saw, causing the blade to come out at him. While this is absolutely tragic, the same thing could have happened with my food processor in the kitchen (perhaps not as tragically, but my point is that such mechanical failures are hardly unique to woodworking). Proper maintenance of our tools can go a long ways towards preventing these accidents, as well.

So my question for the experts is: What sorts of dangers exist in a shop that I haven’t addressed? Would it be fair to say that anyone who could consistently keep their fingers at least 6” from any moving tool would be absolutely safe in the shop (aside from “freak” accidents)?

Also, what would the experts feel is the relative danger from hobbyist woodworking? Even the most careful person is not immune from accidentally getting distracted and touching the blade just once. What do people feel is the likelihood of this? I should also point out that I don’t pretend woodworking (or anything) can be made perfectly safe. I could get distracted just once while driving my car and cause far more injury than I could ever cause with my table saw (and I drive my car far more often than my table saw…). Enjoying life is inherently dangerous – perfectly sane people scale mountains and jump out of airplanes. But how do people feel the danger from woodworking ranks in comparison to the rest of life’s dangers?

Thank you in advance for the insight!
Dan Friedrichs

[Ken Fitzgerald]

Dan,

Welcome to the Creek.

Woodworking IMHO is not as dangerous as some occupations and other hobbies and yet it is and can be very dangerous.

Using any power tool or even a hand tool can be hazardous. I know of a lady who was quite experienceed who in a minute of rushing managed to cut her femoral artery with a circular saw. One of the worst injuries I have received was drilling metal on drill press. Dummy was holding it in his hand when the metal was caught by the bit, removed from my hand and came around and cut my hnad several times as it was whipped around by the drill bit and drill press. I know of folks who have cut themselves seriously when using a scary sharp chisel.

The long and short of it is:

1. Read the manuals and other pertinent books. Know the safety measures for a given tool and follow them.

2. Don't use tools under the influence of alcohol, drugs or when tired or distracted.

3. If that little voice in the back of your mind raises some concern that something you are about to do is dangerous....listen to it. Find a safer method of accomplishing what you want.

4. As Bruce Page's avitar states: This tool has no brain..use yours

[Ellen Benkin]

I think you have answered your own question --- "all unlikely to hurt you (unless you do something really dumb)." Yes, I've even seen someone seriously injured with a sanding station -- lots of skin removed, weeks of bandages and it REALLY hurt. Any power tool and lots of hand tools can cause damage unless you say alert and think about what you are doing. In my experience, I am most likely to get hurt on the "last cut" when I'm tired and thinking about quitting and doing something else and it doesn't matter which tool I'm using.

Stay alert and don't get hurt!

[David DeCristoforo]

"...several major tools that I think we can all agree are tremendously unlikely to ever cause serious injury..."

This is exactly where you get into trouble. Never assume that any machine is "safe" or even "relatively safe". There are more ways to get injured than all of us combined could ever count and most of them have not been discovered yet. By making the above assumption, you are setting yourself up to discover at least one new way to get hurt in the shop. A planer? How about pinching your fingers between the stock and the table? Or having a piece of wood shatter in the machine so that sharp shards come shooting out? A knife coming loose? Loose clothing getting caught in the feed mechanism? I have heard of all of these happening.

[Will Blick]

Dan.... you ask all the right questions....

Risk is inherent with most ww tools. You have identified the ones that often will provide the greatest risk. Good advise above, I fully concur.

But I would also like to add a few things....

Sometimes, build quality of the tools is important, as even when you are doing everything right, the tool itself can fail, causing an injury or shock.

Safe habits.... as you mention, never let your hands get near moving blades, then if a freak accident happens, such as a lightening strike, or a loud noise etc, that might startle you....keep a safe distance.

Use the safest tool for the job. Sometimes this requires buying new tools...but instead, most of us make-do with what we have. This is a good example of how added funds can decrease risk. This includes a Saw Stop. Although a Saw Stop won't change the kickback risk, it will great reduce the contact risk... in this case, more money = more safety.

Also, don't discount other injuries that occur.... such as a good slip and fall..... working in cramped working spaces and being jerked back, your hip whacks the work bench or table saw, since its stationary, your back gets whiplashed, fingers caught between heavy objects.... Lifting heavy objects, moving heavy tools around the shop...

I am in your position..... I make my living at the keyboard, so I too am cautious and yet, still don't own a SS. :-( But I do exercise extreme caution, and most injuries so far have only been minor, but none the less, the occur on a regular basis.... I am always thinking of what can go wrong with this cut....

I recently bought a Festool circular saw, as I find cutting down sheet goods is safer with a circ. saw vs. a TS. Now this would not be true if I had a massive TS set up and a helper always available, but that is not the case, so I work around this by using a different tool.

[John Keeton]

Dan, you have already heard some very wise observations and to say more probably doesn't add anything. But, I couldn't let the opportunity pass.

Ever walk into a room and suddenly think - why did I come in here? Or, turn around in your shop, head toward your bench, stop and say, what was I going after?

If you answered yes - and we all do - then you have experienced the same moment that occurs right before you lose a finger. The point is, there is no such thing as "anyone who could consistently keep their fingers at least 6” from any moving tool". For many reasons, most of us can not consistently do that. And, all accidents are "freak" accidents by definition. None of them were predicted or they wouldn't be accidents.

The point is, every tool in your shop is capable of injurying you - all it takes is one of those moments. The best preventative advice is to adopt a bunch of A&N rules. ALWAYS do these things - and NEVER do these things. With those in place, and listening to that "little voice" Ken spoke of, and watching out for the crazy stuff David spoke of, remaining alert as Ellen said - you still stand a chance of getting hurt. But, you will have minimized the odds, and hopefully limited the damage.

[juan christian]

Ah, yes . . . the famous "last cut of the day" can be a cruel one. While it's true that the occasional accident can be beyond your control and utterly unavoidable, I think the number one cause of mishaps is simple inattention. I imagine many injuries are quickly followed by the nearly immediate thought, "What the hell was I thinking!!?"
Irony is interesting stuff, so here's what happened to me: My buddy wanted me to find a safe saw for him to buy for his son. I did my homework and invited him over to look at the SawStop video touting the machine's safety features. We watched and talked it over for at least 20 minutes. He was convinced, but somewhat concerned about the cost of the saw. "Well," I told him, "you can always just be very safety conscious and use good practices". Then I added the observation, "I've been working wood for 30 years and never suffered a serious accident". By now it was about 9:30 pm, so he excused himself to drive home. "Before you go, would you mind giving me a hand with the last cut on that face frame?" I asked. So we go into my shop and set up a 45-degree angle on my saw, moving the fence to the left of the blade because the blade leans right. About half-way through the cut, with the blade protruding less than 1/2" above the wood, the face frame begins to lean slightly away from the fence and I quickly reached over just a bit with my left hand to steady the stile against the fence. Zap! That's all it took to dado the tip of my middle finger. While I was busy bleeding on my shop floor, I just kept thinking over and over about my famous last words: "I've been working wood for 30 years and never suffered a serious accident". A late-night trip to the emergency room and $1200 later, plus about 3 weeks of recovery provided me plenty of time to contemplate my carelessness. In the end, the SawStop was purchased all right -- by me. I sold my trusty Unisaw and paid the big bucks for the SawStop. Every time I fire up that saw I've really got safety on my mind. And every time I think about my mishap, the words come unbidden: "What the hell was I thinking!!?.

[Joe Jensen]

Welcome Dan,
I'm a EE and a lifelong WW. Wish I was just graduating :(

You outlined the obvious injuries, but there are many more potential injuries.
1) Drill press. It's easy to become lazy and not secure the part you are drilling. It's easy for the bit to grab as it exits the back of the piece and then it swings round and round with lots of force. I am pretty lazy here. But, never drill metal without securing the part.
2) Guards. Use the TS, RAS, and CMS guards. If the tool has a crappy guard, buy a new tool, or buy new guards. I worked for almost 30 years without guards. This was really stupid given that I was injured on a TS over 30 years ago (I was 14 at the time).
3) Don't overlook hand tools. Some of the worst injuries I've had came from very very sharp hand tools not used with care.
4) Messy cluttered shop. This is another key area. If the shop floor is cluttered, you can easily trip and bad things can happen.
5) Eyewear and hearing projection. Always wear safety glasses, or a face shield. I use a hard hat with a built in face shield and built in ear muffs.

I'm fortunate in that I could afford a SawStop, and when they arrived, my wife insisted that I buy one. Many will say that all the tools in the shop can injur you, but the data saws the TS is the most common injury. The local butcher amputated his arm with a bandsaw after 45 years on the job. He had the blade guild set for a maximum depth of cut and slipped on the floor and whipped his arm through the saw. He is lucky he didn't bleed to death. So, even bandsaws can be dangerous if not used properly.

If you are diligent and always use guards, never get your hand past the front edge of the blade, and always use safe proceedures, you will be safe. When you don't, look out...joe

[Per Swenson]

Real simple,

Just like mushroom hunting and hawk watching.
Both have their pitfalls if you don't know what your doing or where your going.
And never do the two at the same time.

Per

[Brent Smith]

Hi Dan,

I'm going to reiterate Ken's third point...If it feels wrong, don't do it. I think more accidents, mistakes and generally avoidable things happen when we don't listen to that little voice. Every machine, or hand tool for that matter, can be dangerous. It's all in how we approach the task at hand. A beginner may find certain procedures more difficult or even daunting. Experience allows us to do more difficult tasks and to use a tool to a fuller potential. With that experience comes a knowledge of the possible problems to be encountered in a procedure and the steps to take beforehand to avoid them. In the meantime there is usually another, if not as quick but safer, method to achieve our goals.

I use these three steps to try to have a safe work environment:

1) Keep your tools properly adjusted and cleaned. If you don't know how to properly adjust something, find out before using it. If you're not sure how to use it, don't until you find out!!

2) Keep your shop organized. Know where everything is and don't leave anything lying around where it might get in your way or the way of the lumber you are working.

3) Use common sense, not as common as it should be sometimes when we are hurrying or tired.

[Judy Kingery]

Hi Dan,

I think everyone gave very valid pointers and you brought up a good discussion. Only thing I didn't see mentioned was using/sharpening on the grinder. I've never had a problem, but did hear tell - by the gentleman himself - of a situation where the stone came apart and those are some high RPM's to have something flying around the shop or at you as shrapnel.

His suggestion, and I do it all the time at the lathe anyway, was/is to pay attention to sound as well as sight and feel. If it doesn't sound solid, may not be.

Anyway, that might be a very minor detail, but yet an important safety tip.

Take care,

Jude

[Rick Fisher]

Well... Shapers, Table saws and nailing guns can be a hazzard. Having said that, I skinned myself on a disc sander once and found it quite unpleasant.

Injuries are too often associated with cutting yourself. You can easily get a splinter in your eye from a drill press.

You can slash yourself pretty good with an exacto knife without much effort and requrie stiches.

You can damage your hearing when running a planer, jointer, router... the opportunities are endless.

So safety is a culture. Be as safe as possible, all the time. If your lucky, you will only ever shoot a pin into your thumb and requre a few band aids from time to time.

[Dan Friedrichs]

Dear All,

Thank you for the good advice and insight. I especially like the idea of "A&N Rules".

I also would like to ackowlege my agreement with those who noted that even hand tools can be dangerous.

I supose the bottom line is that woodworking, just like anything else, comes inherent with risk. In addition to being a woodworker, I am an amateur (ham) radio operator. One of the most dangerous things I did in that hobby was climb up tall radio towers. The danger was that you'd slip and fall off, but as long as you ALWAYS had your safety harness clipped onto the tower, you'd be fine. Of course, I've heard of many people that failed to heed this simple safety measure and fell. So while I suppose it would be nice to say that I'll never get my fingers close to the blade, there is no absolute certainty to that, but caution and diligence will certainly go a long ways.

Thank you all for the comments and suggestions!

Dan

[Peter Quinn]

Welcome Dan.

Man, your list of relatively safe tools unlikely to cause injury scares the pants off of me. Every tool on that list has the serious potential to cripple and maim you if not used properly. Thickness planer, jig saw, drill press, scroll saw, all dangerous if used improperly. I have seen a guy get smashed in the face at work when the drill bound up and his hold downs didn't hold. I have seen a planer blow out chunks that could have skewered the user had luck not prevailed. Not the highest incidence rate of accidents maybe, but it only takes one incident to do harm.

Slightly more dangerous are router, jointer, bandsaw, and lathe? i know well trained pros that are missing digits lost to each of these tools. A momentary lapse of reason under the wrong circumstances are all it takes. Seriously, you think a router, spinning a razor sharp piece of carbide at 20K RMP, capable of shaving the hardest of woods with ease, often used freehand with the bit projecting is in some way safe? Search the web for "Router Accidents" and be prepared to see some very ugly pictures and lots of stitches. My first cabinet making instructor was missing most of two fingers and some of another from a moment of distraction at the jointer!

Your list of truly dangerous tools are only the most obvious offenders with big blades that are hard to ignore. Truth is if a tool cuts wood, it can cut you. And if a big motor is spinning at high RPM's there is danger involved.

There is a human factor involved in both safety and danger. You need to learn the rules and procedures involved with each machine and follow them. Safety protocols are not silly schemes, they are to train you to work safe and avoid worst case scenarios. I'm luck none of my initial lapses of good judgement cost me any serious injury when I got into wood working. I had lots of "Holly Crap" moments where wood went flying from a jointer, planer, table saw, router table, band saw, shaper, radial arm saw drill press and SCMS. Yes, I have screwed up with each and every single machine at some point, just a matter of luck that I can still count to ten with my shoes on. At this point, before I turn any machine on I pause and ask myself "Are you doing this right, is every thing tight, are proper hold downs in place, are the blades on tight, did I check everything twice? Is my head in the right place?"

It was never a case of the machines being at fault. They are inanimate without a user. I even BROKE a set of shaper cutters with an improper cope set up, sent shards of steel flying around the shop and me diving to the floor. I still haven't found all those shards. I keep the ones I do have in a jar in my shaper cutter cabinet to remind me visually not to be a moron when I set up that tool as luck may not prevail again.

Presently I work in a professional millwork shop with seven guys the least of which has 25 years experience. At 8-10 hours per day, 5-6 days a week over 25 days, that's a lot of chances to get hurt, yet not one guy in the shop has sustained a serious injury at work. Why? The right training, the right mind set, the right safety devices. And maybe a little luck. When any one of those guys sees me doing something less than safe, they step up, correct me and set me straight. Sometimes its less than friendly, but I'll take those lessons gladly over one that separates me from a finger. Much easier to mend my pride than my hands.

My point here finally is that sitting alone in your new shop with new tools is not the best place to get experience with safety. Sharp tools teach hard lessons. Books help but they are no substitute for a mentor or teacher showing you first hand. If you think any tool that cuts wood is safe then I worry you have not been properly trained. The most valuable tool a new wood worker can purchase is knowledge in the form of professional education. Take some classes, learn first hand how to use each shop machine and hand tool properly. If you feel fatigue, stop. If you find your self rushing or pushing, stop. If something feels dangerous, stop. Learning to take your time, step back and evaluate your set ups for a moment before pushing that green button is important. You are the only one that is going to keep YOU safe.

Here's an anecdote for you. The week after my son was born I returned to work having slept about 15 hours over the previous 6 days. I was scheduled to run parts for large passage doors through a shaper. My boss took one look at me setting up the shaper and sent me to sort lumber for the next job, which took almost a week. He laughed out loud at me and said. "Welcome back, and do you really think I'm going to let you near a power tool in that state?" Then he told me having 5 kids he'd been there and instructed me not to operate machines until i was rested, alert and ready. So for several weeks I was put on sorting lumber, detail sanding (hand and ROS) and glue ups.

In your own shop you don't have a professional forman to keep you safe so you will have to rely on your own judgement. Hone that judgement and listen to it when it speaks to you. Then you stand a chance at safety.

[Jacob Mac]

One thing I would add that is ignored sometimes is air quality. Make sure DC is a priority. I consider air quality as a potential safety hazard.

And getting a Sawstop, slider saw, or a Festool/Eureka setup would enhance safety as well. If you are young, and ww is a lifetime hobby, I would think any of the three would be a good purchase.

[Burt Alcantara]

As shooters like to say, the best safety is the one between your ears.

Burt

[Will Blick]

All great contributions, and now matter how often this type of thread surfaces from time to time, its always good.....

but after reading this thread, I am wondering why this became one of my hobbies? If I had all the knowledge I do now, back in my youth.... I probably would have never got into ww... oh well.... I still like it..and sometimes its hard to find things in life you enjoy...

[Jose Morales-Wade]

I recently had an incident with a drill press. I was using a circle cutter that came loose and almost cut my finger off. I had to go to the emergency room and got 15 stitches in my finger!. It took more than a month for the injure to close properly. I still have some swelling and extreme sensitivity on my finger after more than 2 months!. Point I try to make is that you must be careful with all the tools. The most dangerous tools is the tool you "think" could not hurt you. A lapse in judgment, improper setup (like on this case) could cost you.

[chris yount]

The most neglected safety aspect I see especially with the pro carpenters and masons I grew up working with was safety glasses.It truely is amazing that more eyes arent lost in this group because of such basic negligence.The second most indifference was toward hearing protection.The latter can affect your levels of fatigue and irratitabilty causing you to make mistakes and use bad judgement leading to "freak" accidents.
The last thing I consider an overlooked safety problem and the one I am probably the most guilty of is working in a cluttered area.I get my tools out, extension cords run, lumber scraps and other work material around me and dont want to take time to put things in an organized fashion going from one step of the project to the next.

chris

[Dino Makropoulos]

Hello all,
Also, what would the experts feel is the relative danger from hobbyist woodworking? Even the most careful person is not immune from accidentally getting distracted and touching the blade just once. What do people feel is the likelihood of this?

Hi Dan,
Almost zero if you follow the Dead Wood Concept.
Secure the wood like a machinist and have the blades and knifes facing away from your hands. This way you can't touch the blade.

I should also point out that I don’t pretend woodworking (or anything) can be made perfectly safe.

Perfectly safe? No.
Safer than pushing materials into spinning blades? YES.
Visit a machine shop and you will see that machinists work safer than woodworkers. They use the Dead Wood Concept. They use vises.

I could get distracted just once while driving my car and cause far more injury than I could ever cause with my table saw (and I drive my car far more often than my table saw…). Enjoying life is inherently dangerous – perfectly sane people scale mountains and jump out of airplanes. But how do people feel the danger from woodworking ranks in comparison to the rest of life’s dangers?

Thank you in advance for the insight!
Dan Friedrichs

I feel safe cutting, routing and making stuff all day.
Safer than driving to the store where others control my luck.
The tools don't drink or do stupid things.
We do by forcing the tools to learn our ways.

[David DeCristoforo]

I'm thinking that a discussion about which tools are more or less dangerous is a bit like laying odds on craps table bets. Sure, the odds may be against you but sooner or later someone will win the bet. Categorizing tools or operations based on how likely one is to hurt you overlooks the primary cause of injury... human error. Anything can hurt you. Thinking that a particular tool is less likely to cause injury can result in a lessening of vigilance which, in most cases, is exactly what leads to injury in the first place.

[Paul Greathouse]

Real simple,

Just like mushroom hunting and hawk watching.
Both have their pitfalls if you don't know what your doing or where your going.
And never do the two at the same time.

Per

Per, is it possible that bagging too many mushrooms on said mushroom hunt may put you in the right state of mind for an extended episode of hawk watching?

[Per Swenson]

Same concept but I was considering, ya know eating poisonous ones by being misinformed and then strolling off a cliff because your head is in the clouds.

Per

[mreza Salav]

I'm thinking that a discussion about which tools are more or less dangerous is a bit like laying odds on craps table bets. Sure, the odds may be against you but sooner or later someone will win the bet. Categorizing tools or operations based on how likely one is to hurt you overlooks the primary cause of injury... human error. Anything can hurt you. Thinking that a particular tool is less likely to cause injury can result in a lessening of vigilance which, in most cases, is exactly what leads to injury in the first place.

Very well said David.

I was going to say: the most dangerous aspect is, not understanding how dangerous things can be. All the power tools (including the ones you considered less dangerous) can be seriously dangerous.

To be clear, I have been hurt both by Planer and Drill press (the later more than once and both times needed a bandage, dumb me that took me more than one lesson to learn).

[Dan Friedrichs]

Agreed. Certainly no tool is entirely safe, but undoubtedly the probability of an accident with certain tools is much higher than with others. There are always dangers, but often times those dangers are highly improbable. Table saws have higher incidences of injuries than drill presses - that's why someone invented a "SawStop" rather than a "DrillStop".

[Brian Kent]

Many of my minor accidents were about safety issues I never heard of:

Combination sander: Held down a small piece on the belt sander. It got thin enough to slip under the stop and my finger hit the belt and tore of the skin.

Router: Trying box joint for the first time and did not think of where the router bit was leaving the wood.

Table saw: Read about dozens of experienced woodworkers removing their guards. When I removed the guard I removed the splitter too. First kickback. Later tried the saw again with a ding in the aluminum fence. Second kickback.

Drill press: Like a couple others here, drilled into metal that I was holding by hand. Drill bit grabbed and turned the metal into a sharp propeller.

Part of the reason I like reading about woodworking when I'm not doing it is that I can learn from other people's experience. What scary is what I don't know yet.

PS. Yes I would like a Saw Stop but that only answers one of hundreds of safety issues.

[Rob Damon]

I asked my uncle how he lost the ends of his fingers....

The story he told:

In his twenties he was working full time in a furniture factory, running 8/4 boards across a 16" jointer. Day after day, week after week. After passing a board across the blades and turning to grab another board he notice a lot of blood on the jointer. He look around to see that the last 1" of his middle and pointer finger were gone and the tip of his ring finger was missing about 1/2". His pinky and thumb were fine. His work was so repetitive and he had become so familiar with doing it that the just one lapse and his trailing hand had slipped down too far on the back of the board in pushing the board through. The blades were turning so fast and were so sharp that he did not even feel it cuting his fingers off.

Rob

[Dan Lautner]

Kickback from a TS is 100 times more common than contact with the blade. I will not use a TS without a Riving Knife. The RK simply eliminates the issue of kickback. I also have a nice arsenal of feather boards and push sticks. I think the miter saw or scms is the one to watch out for. Most people secure the stock with their hand and not a clamp. One mental lapse and you could completely sever your fingers. The dead wood concept does have merit but you might be dead of old age before you complete a project without a TS.

Dan

[Nissim Avrahami]

In my opinion, WW is as dangerous as any other technical profession like, Metal working and even flying.

My X-work was in civil aviation and you could see in every dispatch room on the wall "Accidents don't happen - they are caused"...I "transferred" that to my garage when I started my WW hobby.

As an hobbyist, "time is not money" and it doesn't worth for me to loose even the tip of my little finger....just to finish the project faster...

I think that in WW like in aviation....almost every accident investigation led to the conclusion that the crew deviated from the "standard operating procedures"...same in WW, ones you start to deviate from the standard operating procedures or, the safety regulation, you are prone to an accident...yes, it can work one time and even many times but "the door is open" for accident to "come in".

I had to cut some 800+ foot board (2 cubic meters) of 1" thick White Oak and I stopped many times to make jigs, fixtures and aids just to keep my hands "far, far and away" from the blade or to reduce the chances of kickback, and by that, "shutting the door" or at least "pressing hard from the other side" not to let the accident to "come in"...

We live on both sides on the "pond" and it looks to me that the way that "each side" looks at "safety" is a little bit different.

In Europe the safety regulations are very clear "Blade guard and Riving knife must be installed for ANY operation on the table saw"...just by following this rule, I think that I leave only 1/64" of an "open door" and no, there are no cases that the blade guard or riving knife have to be removed....if this is the case, I know that I'm "not using the correct machine for the correct job".....and all my "Machinery" includes table saw and router (hand and table) but, I find the way to do it safe.

Of course, if one wants to use the Table saw as "All in one" machine, he is "opening the door" more and more...

It looks to me that, the riving knife itself, might not save you from any kickback otherwise, they would not teach the WW students In Europe to use a "Short fence" when ripping solid wood and that, reduces the kickback chances almost to zero by eliminating the kickback that might be caused by ripping "Reaction wood" (the splitter (together with the anti-kickback pawls) was dropped in EU at 60 and the riving knife took its place).

To conclude, I don't see the WW more dangerous of many other professions or hobbies as long as you follow the safety regulation that were written based on past experience and accident survey...

Last word..."Don't be afraid of the machine but....respect it"...(I heard it from Cabinetman and he is so correct)...

Have a safe work
niki

[C. E. "Ed" Fischer]

When I teach the TS class or safety course for my WW guild, I stress that the most important safety device in your shop lies between your ears. Yes any tool can be the source of an injury but most accidents happen because we take things for granted, are in a hurry, etc. In addition to reading the manuals, keeping all guards in place, etc, I would recommend getting back issues of "Popular Woodworking" and the series on safety written by Marc Adams, Part 7 appears in issue #171, Oct 2008, which is in the stores now.

Ed

[Will Blick]

> there are no cases that the blade guard or riving knife have to be removed....if this is the case, I know that I'm "not using the correct machine for the correct job".....


This is an often overlooked aspect of ww.... we have pushed the use of TS's well beyond what is safe... its such a convenient tool, its easy to push its safety boundary.


But the one TS dilemma IMO is the use of a cross cut sled....can't leave the blade guard on for that operation....yet it seems like a very necessary accessory.

[Myk Rian]

Here's one for you. My son was involved in this.

He's a rough carpenter. One day he was working with a few others putting 12' sheets of drywall on a vaulted ceiling. He climbed up the ladder with his end of the drywall, got ready to screw it in place and realized he left the drill on the floor.

He climbs back down, gets the cordless drill, and sticks it in the waistband of his pants. Going back up the ladder, the drill hits on a step, thus forcing the tool deeper into his pants. The trigger activates and there he is with a drill running, the bit wrapping his scrotum, and the torque adjustment clacking away because the chuck isn't turning anymore.

I and several friends of ours now call him "Twisticles".

Use a drill holster.

[Peter Quinn]

Agreed. Certainly no tool is entirely safe, but undoubtedly the probability of an accident with certain tools is much higher than with others. There are always dangers, but often times those dangers are highly improbable. Table saws have higher incidences of injuries than drill presses - that's why someone invented a "SawStop" rather than a "DrillStop".

Once you have been hurt the probability of an event ceases to be a percentage or a likelihood and advances to 100%. That should be a comfort as you drive to the hospital emergency ward.

I like to work safety in binary, yes or no. I ask myself before I push the green button, "Have I done everything I can to make this operation safe? Is it safe? Do i have control over the wood throughout the operation? Is this the safest method at my disposal? Are all hold downs and stock control mechanisms tightened and ready?"

I like yes or no answers to these questions. Not probability. I am a former economics student, not a former actuary.

[David DeCristoforo]

"...the probability of an accident with certain tools is much higher than with others..."

Obviously. But do you think that probability matters to the guy who was injured in an "improbable" manner? The most "dangerous tool" in the shop remains the person using the tool.

[Nissim Avrahami]

But the one TS dilemma IMO is the use of a cross cut sled....can't leave the blade guard on for that operation....yet it seems like a very necessary accessory.
Yes, the sled is one of the most useful jig/fixture/aid for cross-cutting (and for me also ripping small pieces safely).

That's how I overcame the blade guard problem (riving knife remains in place as it is 1/8" below the blade height).

Looking at the last picture, one can get a wrong idea that I'm lifting the guard and exposing the blade.....I made it only to take the pic. Normally, I hit the STOP and wait till the blade stops, then, pull the sled back and open the guard (my TS blade stops in 6 seconds....another "must" safety regulation here).

niki
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[Eric Larsen]

\

I and several friends of ours now call him "Twisticles".

Use a drill holster.


Ouch!


I concur. I've managed to hurt myself on a freakin' Osborne EB-3 Miter Gauge. I needed to make an adjustment, held the gauge vertically, and the extension wasn't locked. It slammed down and took a nice gouge out of my thumb.

Naturally, I called it a day after that dumb move.

[Stan Smith]

One time I was holding two pieces of stock to be nailed and put a brad from the gun through my finger tip--dumb and dumber. Thank God it was only a flesh wound. Another time I was changing a bit on my router in the table. I managed to move the power button with my knee and it came on. Again, the Lord was looking out for me and I got my hands out of the way in time. It ruined the router motor though. Again, dumb and dumber--should have unplugged the machine first, duh. Kickbacks? Yeah, I've had some. I try to stand out of the line of fire.

Here's a heart-wrenching one...I know a guy who was a professional musician, a cello and bass player. Graduated from Juilliard. He cut off some fingers, on his left hand, on the TS. That was the end of his music career.

As was pointed out, you can hurt yourself with ANY tool. Every banged your finger or thumb with a hammer?

[Kevin Groenke]

Many of my minor accidents were about safety issues I never heard of:

Combination sander: Held down a small piece on the belt sander. It got thin enough to slip under the stop and my finger hit the belt and tore of the skin.

Router: Trying box joint for the first time and did not think of where the router bit was leaving the wood.

Table saw: Read about dozens of experienced woodworkers removing their guards. When I removed the guard I removed the splitter too. First kickback. Later tried the saw again with a ding in the aluminum fence. Second kickback.

Drill press: Like a couple others here, drilled into metal that I was holding by hand. Drill bit grabbed and turned the metal into a sharp propeller.

Part of the reason I like reading about woodworking when I'm not doing it is that I can learn from other people's experience. What scary is what I don't know yet.

PS. Yes I would like a Saw Stop but that only answers one of hundreds of safety issues.


What you don't know CAN hurt you.

A very effective way of reducing risk is to know exactly what your getting into BEFORE you step foot in the shop. It seems Brian paid the price for failing to do this. Brian's unfortunate experiences illustrate the importance of reading the operating instructions included with every (new) machine sold, educating oneself in basic safe shop practices before trying something, learning from more experienced users (like SMCers), thinking about the physics (action/reactions) of every operation and listening for the subconscious voice that might be trying to tell you something is unsafe (the "inner Newton"(or Darwin) if you will)).

This was illustrated to me first hand in the past week when we were presented with ~50 students using our shop who didn't really know how to.
A few of these students got digits into sanders (after 2 years without any bloodshed) because their instructors assigned a project that increased the inherent risk in the shop. Though not life changing, a fingertip into a 40G belt is quite unpleasant. Oddly the students seemed to take the injuries as a matter-of-course: I did not. It was IMO irresponsible of the instructors to assign such a project to the # of shop neophyte students that they did with a very short deadline. Those instructors basically made it impossible for the shop staff to do our primary job which is the prevention of injuries. It's one thing to take chances with your own well being, it's all together different to do so with somebody elses.

-kg

[Tom Willoughby]

Wood working is inherintly dangerous, however, most things in life are. I used to fly; I still mountain bike, play hockey, ski, drive, etc. As many have stated before, you must use your head, set up the machine and the cut properly to minimize risk. Life is too short to give up dangerous activities but too long to live with the consequences of unsafe practices.

It is the often overlooked or "duh" things that can bite. My "duh" moment was when I calibrated my table saw splitter, which is attached to the blade guard. Once it was calibrated to perfection, I set up the cut and began to push the wood through the table saw. As soon as the wood hit the guard, it knocked it off allignment and into the blade, which caused shards of plastic to shoot at me. I had forgotten to tighten the bolts on the splitter after alignment! It was ironic that a part designed for safety was what bit me. Other than a broken guard and hurt pride, no real damage was done.

Of course it was me and not the slitter/guard that caused the accident but it goes to show that anything can be dangerous if you're not paying attention.

Cheers,
Tom

[guy knight]

the most dangerous tool in the shop is the operator and second to that is a dull tool but then again that would refer back to the most dangerous tool

[Stan Smith]

I just made a bunch of rabbet and dado cuts using a dado set on my TS. The splitter has to be removed to make those cuts. Otherwise I always have it in place.

[Nissim Avrahami]

Hi Stan

Maybe it will surprise you and maybe not but, according to the EU safety regulations...

"Dado Blade must NOT be used on table saw"...(since 2000 or 2001)

All the new generation TS's are made with short arbor that cannot accommodate dado blade.

Regards
niki

[David Keller NC]

Dan - In reference to your original question (how dangerous is woodworking, and the relative danger of the tools), the answer is complicated. There's a lot of information on the web regarding the frequency and type of industrial accidents, and that would be one place to start if you want to see relative rates of serious injuries (you know, X number of incidents per thousand work hours).

Once you have those numbers in hand, multiply them by 2 or 3 to arrive at the relative danger in operating the same piece of machinery in a home workshop. The reason is that in industry, there's a tremendous focus on safety, and most larger companies have at least one person on the payroll that's specifically tasked with thinking about this and only this all day long. Guards are insepcted more regularly, they're generally better than supplied with home tooling, and the workers specifically spend a significant fraction of their time attending safety talks.

I know a bit about the relative danger, statistically speaking, of home shop tools. The #1 by far is tablesaws, followed by routers and jointers (they're pretty close - depending on the source one is more dangerous than the other, but they're pretty close). Lathes and planers are way down the list, probably (my guess) because planers have inherent kickback protections, and lathes because they're not in everyone's shop (in other words, they're dangerous, but cause fewer accidents because they're fewer of them).

And, of course, what you make and how you make it has a huge influence on how dangerous woodworking is for you. If you're a hand-tool carver, it's incredibly unlikely that you will amputate a limb (though you can certainly cause a great deal of hand injury by improper technique), and you're not going to be called "stumpy" by using a handplane. If you're typically building large cabinets with a full compliment of power tools, your risk is comparitively higher.

And - as everyone else has mentioned, there is no such thing as a safe tool, though you can rank them by whether or not they are powered, how much exposure to the blade you have, how much mass they move when in operation, etc...

If you want close to zero risk, make things with hand tools and don't use axes and adzes. If you accept a higher level of risk, use power tools with upgraded guards and some amount of formal safety training, either through a local woodworking school, books, or personal instruction.

[Chris Barnett]

Well, Dan, one opportunity for a significant injury is failure to ground the 220 volt power tool that came with only three wires in the power cable (but with specific requirement in the instructions that you add a ground wire; so the company is covered but at what potential for injury)! I don't know the probablility for a failure of this type, but I do know it has happened. If it is more like being hit by a falling aircraft, I will not add the extra wire. What do you think. Now, assume you just spent over $40 for a 30 ft. 10 gauge three conductor, no ground, cable for a 220V extension.

But, to identify a danger so far not mentioned, with which I have intimate experience, is using a chain saw. Many folks use a chain saw to cut blanks for a lathe. The only problems I have found so far with a chain saw are using a dull chain, which asks the user to add pressure which in itself is dangerous, or to use the saw when tired, which I have done. Ater felling and bucking some 15-20 smaller trees, I could barely hold up the saw I was so tired, so I would rest it on my left thigh. The last time I did that before the chain was completely stopped. It drew blood but very little...very lucky. I think others have mentioned DO NOT WORK IF YOU ARE TIRED! That is a cardinal rule now for a chain saw and am trying to adopt for the shop. Don't rest it on my thigh anymore either.

[John Sanford]

Safety Awareness Rule #1
EVERYTHING in the shop can hurt you.

Safety Awareness Rule #2
Everything in the shop is more than willing to remind you of Rule #1.

Of all the powertools in the shop, the most innocuous is probably a random orbit sander. So, as a thought excercise, let's come up with the ways that a ROS can hurt you, either directly or indirectly...

First, I'll offer the extension cord, lying across the floor, that you trip or turn your ankle on...

[Rod Sheridan]

> there are no cases that the blade guard or riving knife have to be removed....if this is the case, I know that I'm "not using the correct machine for the correct job".....


This is an often overlooked aspect of ww.... we have pushed the use of TS's well beyond what is safe... its such a convenient tool, its easy to push its safety boundary.

But the one TS dilemma IMO is the use of a cross cut sled....can't leave the blade guard on for that operation....yet it seems like a very necessary accessory.

Most table saws are not designed for non through sawing operations.

They aren't designed for grooving, dadoing, rebating or molding operations.

Aside from dadoing, a spindle molder is designed for those operations, with proper guards and/or a stock feeder. A table saw is not designed for this kind of work.

On most saws, you need an overarm guard for the above operations if you want to perform them, yet how many of us have purchased or fabricated these guards?

A stock feeder makes all of the above operations safer, on a table saw or a spindle molder, yet how many of us have purchased a stock feeder?

How many of us use hold downs when grooving on a table saw? Since you cannot use a conventional guard or splitter for this operation, some mechanical means of stock positioning such as a feeder or hold downs are required.

An overarm guard can be used with a sled on the table saw, I use a home made squaring sled on my General 650 all the time, while using my Excalibur over arm guard.

The safety issues always seem to come back to the same issues;

- using the wrong machine for the job

- not investing in safety accessories such as guards/feeders etc.

- not using safety accessories

When I worked in industry we ran two 50HP gang rip saws continuously except for maintenance and tooling changes. We never ran machines without guards and all safety features were tested and functional.

Multi spindle stickers were fed from the output of the gang rips, once again with all safety guards and features installed.

As the person responsible for set up, I always made sure that everything was as it should be, no short cuts allowed.

Yes, you couldn't see the saw blades or cutters at work, they were deep inside their guards, far away from our fragile fingers. I never once had the urge to remove the guards from the stickers, or even worse the gang rip saw for "clarity of image" or whatever nonsense is promoted on TV wood working shows.

All you had to do was watch the long 12/4 oak timbers being drawn into the gang rip by the tractor feed, and see the thin strips coming out the other side , to realize that the saw head was no area for curious eyes or fingers. If that didn't convince you, the occasional explosion of a piece of timber with a knot in, made you a believer instantly, as the anti kickbacks, and chain mail curtains caught the oak spears.

At home, many of us don't have industrial safety training, and I haven't yet seen a TV wood working show that stresses safety.

It's a good thing that we have this Forum to provide safety information to members.

Regards, Rod.

[Jeffrey Makiel]

Hi Stan

Maybe it will surprise you and maybe not but, according to the EU safety regulations...

"Dado Blade must NOT be used on table saw"...(since 2000 or 2001)

All the new generation TS's are made with short arbor that cannot accommodate dado blade.

Regards
niki

Niki...that's interesting. Is there any discussion in the EU world for a new tablesaw safety design that would support the use of a dado blade?

-Jeff :)

[Jack Mincey]

I've taught High School Shop for 26 years now. My students have had four thumb in that time that took them to the doctor. Student 1 sawed the very tip of his finger off on bandsaw. A couple of weeks and the finger was as good as ever. The band saw has nicked more students than any other tool in our shop. Student two took a chunk of flesh of his middle finger using the jointer on two short a piece of wood. His finger was as good as new in a few weeks as well. He was lucky. Student 3 acted like he was going to hit a student with a wooden mallet. This student put his arm up and knocked the mallet back into the mallet holding students head. It took 4 staples in his head to fix the cut that the wooden mallet caused. Blood everywhere.:):) I had to laugh at this one. Student 4 was looking in a shop vac hose to see what had it plugged when his friend took the other end and blew in it as hard as he could with his mouth. He went to the doctor that afternoon to get the dust washed out of his eye.
In this same time, I've seen two of my students die in car wrecks and one put in a wheel chair from a motorcycle accident. I've seen many others brake arms and legs playing sports and such. Shop has it's risk, but so does life in general. If one chooses to live a full life, they have to be willing to take risk.
Jack
PS: My worst accident in the shop was on an old planner at the high school a did my student teaching at. A board was kicked back and it cut three of my fingers on my right hand as it went. It took a few weeks for them to get back to normal. The planner and tablesaw we have in our school shop have the anti kick devices on them.

[Nissim Avrahami]

Rod
You said exactly my thoughts but in much better English...I agree with every one of your words.

Oh, and it's called "Blade guard removed for clarity" :)

Jeffrey
The "No dado blade" regulation came out at 2000 or 2001 and I would never guess why...

So, at the year 2000~2001, a new safety regulation was "borne";
"The blade must stop within 10 seconds" (on my TS - 6 seconds). this regulation was "born" after extensive accident survey that discovered that many accidents happened during the blade "run-down"...people did not have the patience to wait till the blade came to full stop and pushed hands to remove some off-cuts or whatever and...ER...

But the new "10 seconds" regulation created another problem...the strong inertia forces of the so fast deceleration, caused (or could cause) the arbor nut to open loose (on blades bigger than 10")...and that's not good...

Naturally, the dado blade has bigger mass and using it may cause the arbor nut to open so, they issued the "No dado blade" regulation and all the new generation saws are coming with short arbor so even if want...you cannot.

Before, they could use dado blade with overhead guard but as I know, the HSE was "not so happy" from that.

On saw blades bigger than 10", there is a hole (actually 2 holes) that fits into a pin in the arbor to prevent the arbor nut opening because of the bigger mass of those blades.

My TS came originally with this pin in the Arbor and the holes in the blade but, I removed the pin to be able to use other "normal" blades (without holes), that I have.

BTW, from 2008 all the Woodworking and Metal working machines that are not equipped with permanent guard (a guard that you need tools to remove it) will have to obey the "10 seconds" regulation.

Regards
niki

I just went to the garage and took a picture of the original blade.

I did not see in the shops 10" blade with the holes but, the Germans are "more Pop that the Pop" as you know...

The 30mm (1¼") Arbor is standard for all the table saw blades...no more 5/8" or whatever.

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[Fred Belknap]

I went to an auction last week end. A gentleman was selling his ww shop. He had a nice workshop, Unisaw, bandsaw, RAS, jointer, planer,dust control the whole works. His right hand was only a thumb and one finger the rest was ham. He said it was done on the Unisaw by a kickback. I have been using my table saw for years without a guard and kickback paws. After seeing that I think I will install some of the safety equipment on my saw. Some of it has never been on the saw. BTW his tools went cheap. I bought his bandsaw, a 16" Grizzly G1073 for$350. I think that was a pretty good price, but I have no knowledge of bandsaws. It was sad to see a persons losing most of his prize tools because of a stupid accident.

[Peter Quinn]

I've taught High School Shop for 26 years now....

Jack, did you ever put a group of green students in a room full of tools then announce "Ok kids, I'm going out to lunch, you all just stay here and play with these machines till you figure out what they do on your own!" I'd guess YOU as the teacher are the single biggest reason those kids are safe.

Consider how many people get into wood working as a hobby, buy tools, read the manuals and go to town without ever having the benefit of a professional instructor such as yourself. Frightening.

[Robert Dodd]

I have been a serious woodworker for over thirty years and never have experienced any serious injuries. I always have used guards and have been acutely aware of the risk because I am an injury prevention researcher. Tiredness, inattention, and a kicked up blade guard all combined to provide me the window for a potentially devastating injury. I know for me it became clear six weeks ago when I caught my left hand in my Jet cabinet saw. I was done cutting and moving to shut off the saw (the old last cut syndrome) .

I did a lot of damage to my hand. The violence and shock of the impact is indescribable. I don’t wish that on anyone. Finger amputation was the planned course of action as I went into surgery. I lucked out, they didn’t amputate and believe I will keep my fingers and they should work when healed (more or less, I will have fused joints). I am also lucky because I live 30 minutes from one of the best hand surgery centers in the country. As they say, time is tissue and the time between my injury and surgery was minimal. A word to the wise, have a plan and know where to go if you ever have one of these injuries. It can make all the difference. Finally, I am very lucky because I have excellent health insurance. This will be an expensive injury (already up to $9000).

So, as I type this rant with a still bandaged hand with pins and metal holding one finger together I have already decided to purchase the Sawstop. Not too tough of a decision since I love woodworking and am pleased to have an option to help minimize the risks associated all but inevitable lapses in attention that can open up the injury risk window. I had been thinking about this purchase for six months. My wife had been bugging me to move forward but I was reluctant to spend the money.


My mistake can be called stupid but I would rather call it preventable. I will have a lot of time to think about it as I go through weeks of healing followed by physical therapy.

[Rod Sheridan]

Robert, I am very sorry to hear of your "preventable accident" and hope that you regain full function of your hand.

A secondary safety system such as the Saw Stop can make all the difference in the world when the primary safety system fails (guarding).

When I replaced my older saw with the General 650, I decided to purchase the Excalibur overarm guard for safety and dust collection reasons. I liked the fact that I could now have a guard on the saw for non through sawing operations.

I did have one scary moment with the new guard, when I punched it hard enough to hurt my finger. I realized at that moment that if it hadn't been for the guard, I'd have stuck my hand in the blade.

Shook me up for a while, I had to go have a mug of tea and relax afterwards.

If I wasn't considering either a Hammer or Felder replacement for the General, it would be a Saw Stop.

Best wishes for your recovery...........Rod.

[Jack Mincey]

Peter,
You are right, I don't leave my students to learn on their own. The first few days my new students or in the shop is always full of me correcting them in the use of the tools. It is interesting to say the least. I recommend that everyone take a few coarses in woodworking before they start using power tools. If this is not available they should have a seasoned woodworker show them how to use tools safely. As far as accidents go in the woodworking world most are to people that have been doing it for years. I think over confidence gets more people hurt than any thing. When you become over confident you tend to do things you know you shouldn't and this is a big mistake.
The sawstop technology is great but not foolproof. We have a sawstop in our high school shop and it is a great machine. It would still cause an injury to a hand that is jerked into the blade quickly. The guard works great and is left on accept when a Dado is to be cut. One of the replies stated that new table saws won't accept a set of dado's. Our saw stop is two years old and a stack dado head fits just fine. It does require a different brake for the dado set up.
Jack

[Tim Thomas]

Dan, you've gotten a lot of good advice here and you probably don't need any more opinions, but I figured I would share my "safety philosophy" anyway since we are kind of in the same boat. I also make my living by typing, writing computer code in my work as a database administrator.

For me it is all about slowing down and taking my time in the shop. Woodworking for me is a hobby only, I don't sell anything I make. For that reason I can take all of the time I need to finish a project. I have to remind myself of this constantly. It is natural to want to make progress as quickly as possible and see your projects come together right away, but for an inexperienced beginner like myself, speed is the enemy of safety. The only way I know of to compensate for my lack of experience in the shop is by taking as long as necessary to set up my tools in such a way as to provide the maximum amount of safety. This means building jigs, using hold downs and featherboards, making custom push sticks for specific jobs, and double and triple checking how exactly I will perform each operation before I plug in a machine. When I have multiple pieces to cut I always stack all of the stock neatly and within easy reach of where I will be standing, and I have a separate safe place to stack each piece after it is cut. I pay close attention to where I will have my feet and where I will be stepping as I use the tool. After I turn off a tool, I stand still and watch the blade until it has completely stopped...

I could go on and on, but the point is I try to let my obsessive compulsive side take control when I am in the shop. I let my fear of getting hurt guide my actions in a positive way. I let my pessimism run wild and try to imagine all of the things that could possibly go wrong and do everything I can to mitigate those possibilities. I've got all the time in the world to work in a safe way, and no excuse not to.

[Nissim Avrahami]

One of the replies stated that new table saws won't accept a set of dado's. Our saw stop is two years old and a stack dado head fits just fine. It does require a different brake for the dado set up.
Jack

Hi Jack

Just a small clarification

The question that I replied to was "why dado blade are prohibited in Europe"

And my reply was... because of the "Blade must stop within 10 seconds" regulation.

In USA, there is no such a regulation so, I think, that you'll continue to use the dado blade as always.

Regards
niki

[Jack Mincey]

Peter,
I agree that anyone getting into woodworking needs to be trained on the tools they are going to use, in school or out of school. A person should find someone to teach them how to safely run any tool they want to use. Woodcraft shops would be one way for an adult to get the help they need. Some Community college's offer cabinet making classes as well. Tools that need them should have anti kick back devices as well. I feel that most of the accidents in woodworking happen to person's that have been in it for years. Over confidence is the biggest danger in a shop. One starts doing things they know are not safe or don't pay attenion to what they are doing for a second and bad things happen. Working safely in a shop requires 100% attention, at all times when using a power tool.
Jack

[Scott Wigginton]

I am always extremely focused when using power tool or hand tool with a blade/teeth, so naturally my largest injury was caused by that oh so inconspicuous framers square!

I suffer from chronic cramped shopitous (sharing a single detached garage with a grill, beach chair, weed eaters, and lumber) which leads to 95% of all bruises/nicks I recieve.

While using my square to check the corners on some plywood panels I had cut with my circ saw, I left the square on the end of a sawhorse. Unfortunately for me the scraps had piled up to a very inconvenient height. While carrying a half-sheet of plywood through my shop that old framers square caught me and left me singing soprano.

My knee-jerk reaction resulted in only one hand supporting the material which fell and missed my foot by a couple inches (I wasn't wearing steel toes).


However that's not the strangest tool to cause me injury, that honor belongs to my Draftsman Brush. One evening last week I forgot to lower my TS blade and went inside for dinner (it was unplugged), came back later to close up and was looking elsewhere while clearing the top causing me to smashe my fingers into the backside of the blade (lost a little skin but no blood).

[Rod Sheridan]

However that's not the strangest tool to cause me injury, that honor belongs to my Draftsman Brush. One evening last week I forgot to lower my TS blade and went inside for dinner (it was unplugged), came back later to close up and was looking elsewhere while clearing the top causing me to smashe my fingers into the backside of the blade (lost a little skin but no blood).


So Scott, was that an accident that could have been prevented by using a guard?

Regards, Rod.

[Tom Kelley]

:rolleyes:Fatigue and impatience can be killers.

I had a kick-back of red oak that missed me but blew through both upper and lower double pained windows. I had made two mistakes;

1. I was tired

2. I was in a hurry to make my last rip for the day.

Yes I have learned my lesson. At the first sign of fatigue I wrap it up for the day. And now If I go any slower I'll be going backwards.


P.S. Oh, and I moved the saw away from the window. Can't be too careful.:rolleyes: