Dangerous tools

G. Shahan said:
Hell boy's,

It's a dangerous world, ain't none of us getting out of here alive!

And, buffers SUCK! Don't even use one.

I have always been intrigued by people's anxiety over certain tools or items (guns come to mind) then they load up the kid's
jump in the car and subject themselves to the irresponsible attitudes of thousands of folks they don't even know without a second thought.

Food for thought, or so I think.


Greg[/QUOTE:


:thumbup:
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Grayzer86 said:
These saws at an awesome idea, however they work a hell of a lot better on hot dogs than hands. My buddy is a high school shop teacher and they have these saws, and they have tripped before potentially saving kids fingers. However if your skin is dry or has sawdust on it like his did, the saw doesn't trip fast enough. He knows this because even with the sawstop he now has one finger that's shorter than it used to be.
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Good to know, thanks for the heads up. My brother takes a college wood class that's held at one of the local high schools and they have 3 sawstops. The saws have saved 3 kids from devastating accidents according to the teacher, but younger kids have young skin.
 
All of my worst injuries are from the knives I make lol. No to the bone cuts yet , but its only a matter of time.

I don't have a table saw but I was lucky to have a good shop class teacher who was a nazi about safety. He threw kids out of the class no questions asked if they did not use a push stick when using the table saw. Same thing with the band saws.

I have had some knuckle damage from grinders and some various burns from metal. I'm actually shocked that forge heated metal doesn't give you worse burns than it really does. I accidentally touched a cherry peice of steel and only got a nasty first degree on my hand. I was expecting a 2nd or 3rd degree burn. But then again it was only a touch and not a grab.

All of the talk on these forums does have me quite scared of buffers though. If my dremal didn't tear up steel so often with the metal collet I would have a lot more shiney knives haha
 
I don't think anyone should be banned from using tools. I never had a HS shop class and I am better with tools than 90% of guys my age. I guess these days though, thats not hard to do.

Few short stories... I walked onto a remodeling site where a crew was revamping a grocery store. One guy used a hand drill, put a wood board over his knee and drilled right into the wood board, into his knee!

I was in my back yard one day about 4 years ago. Some guys at my neighbor's house were doing some roofing job and one guy cut part of his hand off. It really was brutal.

I was working with a jackoff that didn't know how to swing an axe and he was doing it wildly and almost hit me a few times. I later found out the guy was drinking on the job...

And finally, I was using an angle grinder and piece of the disc broke off and hit me, but I was smart enough to be wearing a shop apron. It felt like nothing.

It is really funny how some cheap safety things end up being really important. I was grinding a knife the other day, and when I dipped the knife in water, it of course became wet and slippery. I went to touch it back on the belt grinder and my guiding hand slipped off and hit the belt. I was wearing some very thick gloves and I wasn't even injured. Even when you are being careful, mistakes or accidents can happen so thats why protective gear exists!
 
Probably the worst I've ever hurt myself was with a radial arm saw in my Dad's workshop. I think there's still blood on the ceiling in the basement of that house. Not from arterial spray but from me running around swearing and shaking my hand up and down. That was 43 years ago and I still have the scar.
 
Let me just say that ,while you dont want to be complacent around any power tool ,you dont want to be scared stiff,either .Ive seen/had accidents occur due to an operator being too tentative or ridgid with utter fear.So,I guess Im saying that a certain comfort level with the tool is a good thing.If youre not comfortable with something its time to slow down until you have some experience with whatever tool/procedure youre attempting.Caution is good .Fear is not good.
 
Kentucky said:
The one thing that is pure evil, is the buffer..Its a demon posing as a tool..Its out to hurt you, it means you serious bodily harm..
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Absolutely the truth. I have all the scary tools mentioned on this thread but my one & only close call was the buffer. I hate it (but not enough to get rid of it).
 
A few days back I learned that fire is dangerous.
Again.
Oops.
Fire counts as a tool, right? I already posted about that when it happened. Sum up: I was dumb. :)

I seem to get hurt when I let my mind wander or work outside my comfort zone. My monkey brain didn't evolve to intuitively understand high rpms, very high temperatures, highly sharp objects, high leverage devices, etc. With practice I can get my subconscious mind or autopilot or whatnot to grasp the risks working with a new tool. Until then I have to actively avoid stupidity. That means walking though the motions before turning the tool on and making sure the motions aren't awkward. So often a slight change in stance or grip makes things suddenly click. I relax, the tool starts to actually work, I don't end up bleeding... all the good stuff. Eric said it great above:

eric brinkerhoff said:
Let me just say that ,while you dont want to be complacent around any power tool ,you dont want to be scared stiff,either .Ive seen/had accidents occur due to an operator being too tentative or ridgid with utter fear.So,I guess Im saying that a certain comfort level with the tool is a good thing.If youre not comfortable with something its time to slow down until you have some experience with whatever tool/procedure youre attempting.Caution is good .Fear is not good.
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Other main ones:
Poorly made or wrong tool for the job. Dull blades that have to be forced so I lose control. Daydreaming or rushing.
 
Interesting thread! I was just reflecting this evening about how much I would love to design and make knives, but as a life-long guitarist I just can't take the chance of having an accident while working with hot sharp steel and the tools of the trade. Even the slightest cut means I can't play/teach until completely heald because the slender steel strings will easily open up a wound. As a collector, I can be involved with the art and industry of knife making, but only from the sidelines. I'm reminded of how tough and dangerous knife making can be when I see photos of knifemakers holding their knives...often with visible cuts and abrasions. I know there are knife makers who also play/build guitars, but I suppose they also have experience working with steel and the tools of the trade. I would be starting from the very beginning and without experience, I don't think I am willing to put my trust in "beginners luck"!
I'm off to (carefully) admire my knife collection, and later...I'll be playing one of my guitars, unless I have a careless accident!:eek:
 
Another vote for tablesaws.

Additionally, as a machinist, lathes can be scary if you are doing close work and fuck up somewhere, but I have to say the scariest tool I have used is shears. Both manual and power shears, but mainly the power shears.
 
Always remember to take the chuck key out before turning on the lathe.And your angle grinder will accept a buffing wheel so you can put the work in a vise and feed the tool to the work instead of feeding the work to the tool.
 
If power tools are used correctly and you pay attention to what you are doing, the chances of an accident or slim. Some tools take more skill and more brain power to operate so of course some people should not be using them. No your LIMITS! if you do not think you can do it your probably can't.
 
To the OP about the table saw, one quick word of advice never reach across the blade while it is spinning. My father-in-law use to substitute teach in a school and one of the students in shop class was reaching across a spinning blade of a table saw to get something and his long sleeve shirt got caught in the spinning blade, while it wasnt under power it still had enough momentum to do some serious damage. Table saws and chainsaws have always been my most feared tools, I have only been using my table saw for a few years and always treat it with a huge amount of respect.
 
Always use 2 push sticks when cutting small material on a table saw, one to hold down and the other to push through, easy peezy
 
My dad always said power tools were he most patient things ever created, they will wait 10, 20, even 50 years for you to make that one small mistake, then they will bite you. Tablesaws never bothered me but that's likely because I grew up with them and was taught how to use them pretty early on. Chainsaw kickback scares me though. I got a Stihl brand logging saw with a 30 inch bar for free, and have not cut one thing with it in the 6 years I have had it. I use my small 18 inched for basically everything I need a chainsaw for. My buffer makes me nervous, but I always wear tight long sleeves, a face shield, and a thick leather welding apron, and so far have never had anything catch. I also only use sewn wheels because I have been told they have less tendancy to grab.
 
When I first started making jewelry 35 years ago, I had a pendant fly up and hit me in the eye. Gave me traumatic glaucoma that required an operation to fix.. Fast forward to about 5 years ago. That same injury nicked my optic nerve and really played with my depth perception which really hurt my work. An operation last July has corrected my depth perception (with glasses) , but I no longer am able to do stone setting with stones below 4mm.

A phrase that Gil Hibben used..."turn on your brain before you turn on the machine" really applies. ...Teddy
 
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