The safety crowd makes my insides sad.
Guest
The safety crowd makes my insides sad.
Member
Well, I started it. I am pretty far from being a safety nazi but the guides all the way up on a bandsaw, when it seems they only cut ~ 3/4" stock, just seems to be tempting fate a little too much with no increase in speed or convenience. In the shop in question, grandma could trip and launch little Rover right through the blade...Originally Posted by Martin Wasner
Of all the laws Brandolini's may be the most universally true.
Deep thought for the day:
Your bandsaw weighs more when you leave the spring compressed instead of relieving the tension.
Guest
They would all have a heart attack and die if they saw the things I do.
Guest
Even with my guides down, there is still 10" of exposed blade above that, mostly because I am too lazy to make a new little piece of wood that oliver put there originally. I have it laying right by the saw too. Lol
Guest
Really, almost any professional. This is an example of it. We do things differently, understand the risks better. I'm sure there's things that you do that would make me squeamish and the other way around.
I had a dude working for me that literally ran away doing something on a shaper that I had done hundreds of times with zero issue. Everybody has their comfort level. But to question somebody who's comfortable with what they do and really not risking themselves at all, is weird to me.
I saw the same thing with the bandsaw as Van. Not my bag, and I carry the guides as low as they'll go typically. But, I also noticed her body language, hand placement, and what she was actually doing. Didn't seem that off to me. I'm a long ways from a bandsaw guru too. We just don't use it much.
I think it's; "I'm safer than you, therefore superior", and that just isn't true. Typically, some people just do stupid things....
Contributor
I had two older guys (over ten years younger than I am now) working for me back in the '80's. The only time we ever came close to having "words" was when I told them they had to use the guard on the jointer. They really, really didn't want to, and said that they never had. They did decide to keep working for me, and used the guard from then on though.
Guest
No guard on my 30" half the time it's off my 12"
[OP]
Member
The bandsaw in the video probably never gets the blade guide changed. If the guide was brought down, she would probably cut a thumb off!
Member
She was fine, I just couldn't help but notice it and comment, again mainly because I saw zero advantage to leaving them up based on what she used the saw for. Out of all the machines in a shop I am most proficient with a bandsaw probably because I have spent more time with them than any other machine. However, the most intimidated I have ever been was staring at 24" of unguarded blade preparing to cut veneer out of a 22" tall piece of walnut burl. It took me two days to work up the confidence and jigs to start hand feeding that chunk partly because I didn't want to ruin the wood and partly because I didn't want to ruin my body.
All this said the really scary bandsaw users are meat and fish cutters in production facilities. They run with the guards all the way up and move at a pace that is near inhuman. Like pages out of Sinclair's The Jungle I can't help but wonder why I don't find more fingers in my fish, guess they just use those batches in the fish stix.
Of all the laws Brandolini's may be the most universally true.
Deep thought for the day:
Your bandsaw weighs more when you leave the spring compressed instead of relieving the tension.
Member
On the other side of the coin, I think there's also the "I'm a salty sailor who's been plying the seas since before Sinbad, and safety gear is for sissies, arrrggghhhh!" pirate poseur thing going on, sometimes.
My brother used to run a RAS without a guard. How he never lost an arm is a mystery to me...
Guest
He didn't get cut by the blade seems like the answer? At least that's what I'd bet on.
Member
For me my shaper is the machine that I pay attention to the most. This is one that I am learning on my own, with years of router table use my only experiece before I bought my first shaper. Lately I have been on a shaper tooling binge and as I discover more and more ways to use this machine it is becoming a shop favorite quickly.My method is to think through what I am doing and setup then ask "What could go wrong ?'' I have learned a lot from books and some youtube. Also from reading everything you guys put on this forum. Not a safety Nazi but do intend to work safely and die with all my digits still intact.Mike.
Contributor
labeling a machine is not as relevant as it used to be. The shaper was more dangerous as older tooling generations were more dangerous. They taught us on serrated and that was already better than slip edge. night and day but no guarantee. The old guy said one shaper operator quit at one big shop for something safer and that was to become a cop. Back then it likely was safer, these days at least last time a cop was shot id say not so much so. In that case he was walking past a car with tinted windows and a guy shot him through the window. Cop had no warning. Lucky he had a vest and think released later in the day. Guy in the car not so lucky after that. The shop the old guy mentioned had two guys that worked in their own isolated room big room to lay out windows on the floor as some were so large. He said some knives were massive to make huge coves. New tooling makes them safer, now they wont throw things at you. Then the anti kick back stuff. Never found them to be that nasty, you set up right and they were not so inclined to do that. Ive been in places twice when that happened. One a student, one a guy with his masters papers, apparently they arent that much help when you are an alchoholic. He had a love hate thing with that machine.
I only saw a minimum of that video and will watch it sometime. The blade guides are number one blade guides and should be set near the work to do their job, thats one of the first things they teach you on bandsaw set up. support the blade near the work. Put the guides where they are supposed to be the blade cuts more accurate and it takes care of safety aspect.
Member
It's possible she just doesn't know the advantages of keeping the guides close to the stock.
Contributor
On some of the bigger props she would need the guide up pretty high to do the angled cut up near the hub. I looked at the safety label on my Jet bandsaw tonight and it didn't say "do not carry a dog in one hand while operating this saw" but it seems to me it would be a good thing to add, just in case. It looks to me like she is very experienced with the bandsaw and has methods that work for her. I like to have my guides pretty close, personally.
Zach
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