Safety example

watercrawl said:
Pardon the ignorance, but why? Never done it, have no plans to....but I'm curious now.
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The build of of material in and around the grinder, especially in combination with other material that may be near the grinder, can create a situation in which you touch off a fire that is hard to put out. My very first project was grinding a knife shaped object out of a titanium block. All I had at the time was the bench grinder, and nobody had warned me about the dangers. Since it was my first project, there was no other material nearby that could make it too, too dangerous... but the thing threw a massive amount of sparks around, and I did have cardboard and dust bunnies nearby. I got lucky... nothing bad happened. But it was a bad (and unsafe) method of working titanium.

- Greg
 
i tried to call hellgap a few weeks ago and no answer. that might be a bad sign. lets hope he is ok.
 
Will Leavitt said:
A lot of triage statements start with "I've done this a million times before," heard this a lot while an Army medic...
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I was once told that most industrial accidents occur when the worker has +1 year experience on the job. I can't verify the statistics, but my experience does back it up... a person gets too comfortable with a dangerous situation and BLAMMO... injury.

I have scars which are entirely my fault... danger never sleeps and your tools don't care one bit if they cut steel or your flesh.

watercrawl said:
Pardon the ignorance, but why? Never done it, have no plans to....but I'm curious now.
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Nothing wrong with asking an honest question! Trypper answered the Ti thing; let me add that combining aluminum dust and iron/steel dust can be very dangerous. As in, fire-you-can't-put-out dangerous. Google it.

HellGap has been active on other forums recently, and he's showing very nice work.
 
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Please allow me to remind you all of a little thing called HALT. It means, never make any serious decision, or do anything remotely dangerous when you're:
HUNGRY
ANGRY
LONELY
TIRED

as you can see, the point is to take care of yourself first and don't be too stubborn to back off for a moment or even a day.
 
james terrio said:
let me add that combining aluminum dust and iron/steel dust can be very dangerous. As in, fire-you-can't-put-out dangerous.
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Please head this warning. I have personally had to empty just about every fire extinguisher in our 70,000 Sq ft facility to put one of these out. Some new kid decided he would use one of our steel grainers that was available because he did not want to wait and use our Aluminum wet grinder. All I could do was deprive it oxygen. The metal was still on fire.

A lathe story around my area: The owner of a shop is working late by himself on some rush parts. Next day his employees arrive for work and the lights are all on and they hear a whirring sound. Following the sound they find the owner and what was left of his head laying on the ground in front of the machine. The guy was probably in a hurry, and was cutting corners by using too long of a bar. The bar sticking out of the back of head stock became unbalanced and turned into a propeller type object. When a propeller is on you can "see" through it. Apparently the guy heard the noise and decided to have a look...:barf:
 
My wood shop teacher in jr. high used to demonstrate the table saw by standing to the side (no guard on the blade) and sliding a 2x4 into the blade. The door behind the saw was pocked full of holes. He would then point to the ceiling above the lathe and all the holes in it from lathe knives. Needless to say, most people took safety seriously after that.
 
I'm new to all of this, and I've found that the dumbest, most random things can happen with knifemaking equipment. These things often leave you with bandaids AT LEAST. Even with all the safety equipment, and warnings from experienced makers, stuff still manages to happen.

Lets see....I've had a knife cut through a belt and slap the ever loving piss out of my face. Had a 2 inch square red spot on my head for a week.

Chest and lungs hurt all week from steel dust etc, before i was smart enough to get a respirator.

Blade helicoptered in a drill press and made my hand look like I'd been in a fight with a badger.

My whole shirt caught on fire while cutting blanks with a cutoff wheel in an angle grinder.

Cut and burnt myself hundreds of times on the edge of a belt or a disc.

Knife kicked off of the platen somehow and stabbed me in my hand, stomach AND foot.

i consider myself a careful and coordinated kind of guy too. Knifemaking is the devil! :p

This guy is extremely lucky! This lathe is just as big as the ones in those gorey pics. (No lasagna for me tonight, thanks guys...lol)

http://youtu.be/ajNdLT4exps
 
My uncle lost his ring finger jumping off a flat bed, the ring caught on a piece of pipe he was hauling.Pulled his finger off at the joint. Then I remember when I was in school a kid left a chuck key in the chuck and turned the lathe on!! It flew across the shop and took a chunk out of the concrete wall..
 
james terrio said:
very[/B] dangerous. As in, fire-you-can't-put-out dangerous. Google it.
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= Thermite!

Note to self wear both gloves when welding. Just the other week I was in a rush and didn't put my glove on my off hand. I managed to stab my finger with red hot welding wire. It went in about 3/8" and instantaniusly cauterized the hole. That hurt like the dickens! And it would not bleed!
 
I welded for a truck frame and bed building outfit many years ago.. When you stand and make the same welds all day you get fast at it..One fo the guys in the shop had his wire speed at about 85%. He bent over and hit the trigger off a fresh bead. It shot the wire about 10" in his thigh. came to rest near his knee cap..
Southclaw said:
= Thermite!

Note to self wear both gloves when welding. Just the other week I was in a rush and didn't put my glove on my off hand. I managed to stab my finger with red hot welding wire. It went in about 3/8" and instantaniusly cauterized the hole. That hurt like the dickens! And it would not bleed!
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I'll add just a few notes
1) Always "ring" a grinder wheel (stone) before installing. Should there be a crack, the ring will be off and you just might avoid an exploding wheel.
2) never stand in the "flight path" of a machine when powering up. I had a 1 1/4 dia x 18 inch peice of copper I was polishing in the lathe at 3000 rpm come loose on power up. I ducked in time, but after bouncing off the 15ft ceiling it came down squarely on my back. If it had come out headed for my head, I most likely wouldn't be here to tell the tale. This brings us to,
3) Always plan and maintain a clear escape path should things go awry.
4) Never walk away leaving a running machine unattended.
 
lol richard youre right and ive seen it and said im safe..................b.s. ive read every post and im reevaluating my approach in my own little shop, my belt bitten, tipped burn hands need all them fingers, and so does my paying job!!! thanks
 
psycho78 said:
I'm new to all of this, and I've found that the dumbest, most random things can happen with knifemaking equipment. These things often leave you with bandaids AT LEAST. Even with all the safety equipment, and warnings from experienced makers, stuff still manages to happen.

Lets see....I've had a knife cut through a belt and slap the ever loving piss out of my face. Had a 2 inch square red spot on my head for a week.

Chest and lungs hurt all week from steel dust etc, before i was smart enough to get a respirator.

Blade helicoptered in a drill press and made my hand look like I'd been in a fight with a badger.

My whole shirt caught on fire while cutting blanks with a cutoff wheel in an angle grinder.

Cut and burnt myself hundreds of times on the edge of a belt or a disc.

Knife kicked off of the platen somehow and stabbed me in my hand, stomach AND foot.

i consider myself a careful and coordinated kind of guy too. Knifemaking is the devil! :p
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Oh really, with that list.:rolleyes:

I have learned from watching co-workers and my employees some people are just accident prone, and many aren't what I would call careless or lacking common sense, although the latter is the case more often than not.

I love to hear " I wasn't trying too". Of course you weren't, but the problem is you weren't trying not too!

Compared to most in all the stuff I've done which most would consider crazy or unsafe, but not necessarilly so when you know your boundaries, I havn't had any major incidents, knock on wood, and many might say I shouldn't even be here. (Now watch I've probably jinxed myself)

I frequently go to the edge, sometimes you have to. But know where the edge is and know the consequences. Think beyond now.
 
I have a neighbor back home that had a similar thing happen to her when she was 16 (~20 yrs ago). She worked at an ice cream shop in town, and as teenagers do, she sat on the counter near the mixer. Her long hair got caught in the machine, and it ripped her scalp off, and threw her through the plate glass window. I was just getting on the rescue squad at that time, and responded to the call. It was one of the worst non-fatal accidents I've ever seen, especially being a newbie on the squad. She lived, but she has to wear a wig, and she has a lot of scars on her arms and legs from where she went through the plate glass window.
 
Many accident explanations start with the words "I didn't think"

As humans we are gifted with such excellent brains and abilities. We are thus enabled to make ourselves some very clever traps.

Stop to think about what could go wrong with your plan. What, no PLAN! GET ONE FIRST
 
At work when we investigate injuries probably 80% are attributed to people working out of the approved process. When you're trying something new it really helps to sit back and really look at the steps, if you try to apply your normal steps to something new you can injure yourself.
 
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