Happy Holidays to all, don't forget to use your brain and be safe!

[Alan DuBoff]

As I was out in the garage dimensioning some lumber for shelves, my son came out to work on an art project. I was explaining some safety to him with edge tools, so he can be aware of it. I thought it would be a good time to remind folks that the holiday season is upon us, don't let safety be removed from your thoughts, and keep things safe during the holiday season.

Kinda cool doing some work with my son, he's getting the hang of using a rasp quite well.

My son is working on his art portfolio to submit for college. This is a picture of him that is a part of his portfolio...I had to scale it down and not sure the brain is still rotating, but it's an animated image and the brain spins around inside the brief case.

Happy Holidays to all, create some great work, and most of all be safe, and don't forget to use your own brain when working with sharp tools!

http://www.softorchestra.com/images/mind-moving.gif

EDIT: yeah, after uploading it doesn't seem to animate anymore...I see it was converted to a jpg from gif...so inserting the image from my site.

[Jim Becker]

Excellent message...and a really kewel picture!

[Alan DuBoff]

Excellent message...and a really kewel picture!
I really like that picture. My son is trying to get into UCLA, one of the most difficult Universities in Cali to get accepted in these days. His art teacher has a great track record at getting kids placed into UCLA, so I wish him the best and support him all the way.

I just got done ripping about 20 boards for shelves. I was thinking of my own advice above when using my table saw. It's a beast, 5HP direct drive, and 1600 pounds of iron...it's a machine to respect as it will cut 4 5/8" hot dogs! (about the size of my upper arm) It helps me dimension fast though...:)

I like to get the dirty work out of the way quick, then on to working the wood by hand. This is similar to the approach it seems your taking on your table. It works well for me.

But even a sharp chisel is only an arm's length away, we need to always be careful with how we use sharp edge tools, planes as well. The saw I made a couple weeks ago jumped out of a board while I was testing it and sliced right through my thumb...very small nick/slice, but a good reminder that saws are sharp also, and sharp edge tools go through flesh like butter. :o