Some saw accident numbers

[Martin Wasner]

The thing about these threads that kinda cracks me up is the approach carried by some. Are saws potentially dangerous? Of course. But the hand wringing, gadgets, and proposal of missing a chromosome if you don't buy anything other than a particular black saw is pretty humorous. If you step up to that spinning wheel of death knowing full well that it is going to jack you up if you let it, it's a pretty simple relationship to maintain. I'm fortunate, I have a critical mind, a knack for woodworking, and a desire to pick boogers with my index finger so I try pretty hard to hang onto that hombre. I also am incapable of looking at it from the occasional user's perspective, where the senses aren't as crisp, where you don't speak the language and can't anticipate what's about to go wrong.


I've mauled myself six ways from Sunday. No missing digits despite a couple of attempts, but a handful of stitches, and uncountable number of wounds that should've gotten a stitch or two. The little blood sacrifices to the gods of woodworking are a good thing. They're reminders from the tools that say "Pull your head out of your posterior, or I'm going to maul you in ways you won't like." They keep your aim sharp and use diligent.


I've got a couple of pneumatic clamps in the shop for coping door rails. If you stick your finger in the clamp, it's going to hurt. A lot. I know this from experience. I tell everyone that. Nobody listens. Now once your finger is clamped down with 125psi of air pressure between an aluminum plate and whatever specie of hardwood, you have a decision to make. Do I A: Rip my finger out right now, and leave part of it in the clamp. Or. B: Release the clamp then remove my whole, but very much in pain, finger. Most people choose A. I don't really know why. I also explain that part. There has been many finger tips and finger nails ripped off because people don't like to listen.


Anything designed to cut wood will zip through you much more efficiently than a hot knife through butter. It won't notice, it won't care, it won't even draw any more power than were it sitting at an idle rpm. Just like you don't point a firearm at anything you don't want to destroy, you don't stick anything in a saw you don't want to cut.


Whether the statistics on tablesaws are inflated or not, I don't care. I know from exposure to the industry that it pales in comparison to the misused chisel. Every shop I've ever worked at, that tool sent far more people to the doctor than tablesaws.

Tablesaw 101: Material tight to the deck. Material tight to the fence. Proceed with moving material through the blade after confirming the first two, and not much can go wrong.

[Carlos Alvarez]

The exact same things happens on forums for all sorts of potentially dangerous activities. The top four I participate in that generate extremist safety views are motorcycles, boats, SCUBA, and Jeeps. On the one hand you have the nuts who think you're an idiot if you don't wear a life jacket 100% of the time. On the other, the idiots who while I was helping rescue them said they didn't know where they were (and the water in the boat was knee-high). Same with various types of motorcycle gear.

"If you crash in jeans you WILL get road rash and end up in the hospital!!!"

Me: I've crashed in jeans twice, one with no injury at all and one (at 80) that resulted in a dime-size rash spot.

"YOU'RE AN IDIOT!!!"

Almost nobody does EVERYTHING possible to be safe. But so many people claim that they do, instead of realizing that they chose a different compromise