Safety Meeting

SwissHeritageCo said:
I remember hearing an unfortunate story about Lucky Lee dying in a shop related accident.

IIRC, he was either polishing a blade on a buffing wheel or grinding a blade when it snagged and shot off catching him in the neck. I could be wrong on that.

A routine bit of shop work he had likely done a thousand times before.
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From a danger standpoint, buffers are one of the most underrated pieces of equipment in the shop. My buffer made a believer out of me last year. I caught one in the “lower mid section” and it folded me up like a cheap lawn chair. Fortunately it hit handle first or it could have been a disaster. Lots of veins and arteries in the vicinity. I wear my leather apron, safety glasses, and face shield when I use it now.
 
Lorien said:
but when I do it, I make sure that the thing being drilled is oriented with the long end pointed to my left side. That way, if the machine pulls the thing from my grip, it spins it into the column and the column stops it. If it's too short to hit the column, I clamp my vise grips to the table so it hits that.
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Why not start with the piece up against the column or vice grips and avoid the helicoptering altogether instead of waiting for it to stop the helicoptering after it happens?🤨
 
^good question

I had a belt break on me the other day, (first time) and I was glad to be wearing my flip up/down face shield. The face shield doesn't go over my face when I'm grinding, its bottom edge is just above my sight line. It lets the light through from above, keeps some of the particles from going straight into my face, and turns out does a good job of keeping a snapped belt from slapping me in the forehead.
 
Since we are working with various oils and finishes, I'd like to throw this one here. I can't say with certainty how often spontaneous combustion occurs on oily rags but it's easy to avoid.

 
Use push sticks and push tools for bandsaws and tablesaws. We all know that carpenter that is missing a part of his thumb or a finger or two.

Be aware or trajection the object or the tool you are working with might take, stand aside when working if possible.

I had couple of scary spinning blades on the drill press. Those make your heart skip for a minute or two.

Be aware of sharp edges when handsanding. Clamp your work in way that if you slip, you cannot catch the edge or tip of the knife.

Wear leather gloves when working with stainless foil for heat treat. That thing is sharp as hell.

I also loved the idea of taping nails and fingers when freehanding on the belt grinder.
 
The body part I am most paranoid about projecting in knife shop are my lungs. I shave each morning before knife shop and always wear a respirator with p100 filters. I am continually amazed when I see people working without a respirator in knife shop.

Worst injury I have had in knife shop was running my finger into portaband blade when the piece of material I was cutting suddenly shifted and my thumb was pushed into the blade from the pressure. I now make sure my hands are on the Swag table and use push sticks more often.
 
fitzo said:
Don't grind blades in yer underwear, and if you do, please don't post pictures.

Couple of you old timers may remember that one... ;)
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How else am i supposed to promote my Onlyfans? :p

Training yourself to not catch things that fall is a good idea. As noted elsewhere unsharpened knives can cut you, and hot steel isn't fun
 
I feel like my portaband might be the most dangerous piece of equipment in my shop.

One thing that has happened to me a few times (with no accidents fortunately) is I reach for some belts behind the table where I have it and accidentally step on the foot pedal to the band saw and it turns on. Never had bit me yet but easily could.

Now I just unplug when not in use. I use a respirator but will admit that sometimes I don’t at times when I should be
 
I slapped this together for tonight's drill sesh. Didn't clamp my work down at all, and no worries about helicoptering
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man. I cannot wait to get a mill
 
Stacy E. Apelt - Bladesmith said:
If you use bench magnets to catch the stray grinding particles, clean them off regularly. The steel dust will ignite easily and we all have watched the little red dot running back and forth along the magnets. Normally, it will just go out on its own, but it can also set a wooden bench on fire. It may not be obvious that a burn spot has started under the magnet, but most of us have a black area on our bench that shows where the hot spots were/are.
A metal bench top in the grinder area is the best choice for avoiding these hot spots.
Another way to limit stray sparks and hot spots is to place the grinder so the wheels and platens extend as far as possible past the bench.
Next, observe where the sparks go when grinding. They didn't all go straight down into the catch funnel or trash can. Some go around the belt and exit behind the grinder. This is an area that is also a big dust and debris catch area. Making a curved metal spark shield under and behind the grinder will let the sparks cool off harmlessly. Some folks put a second exhaust port here, too.
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Normally, it will just go out on its own...................BUT if you grind wood after steel and you did not clean magnet and after that you grind steel you will get nice ball of flame :) It happened to me two days ago .It was night so I couldn't take my belt grinder for wood outside and decided to shape the hammer handle on another grinder for steel . After that I grind some steel and I know what could happen and that it wasn't dangerous, so I did it. It's strange how the flames suddenly burst out......
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Natlek said:
It can go Up !
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And Up makes it go spinny spin spin. 😵

What Natlek is saying is If you use a sacrificial piece underneath (plywood, hardwood, metal, etc) you won't get that "suck up".

Me, I only put a piece of material underneath when free float drilling thin stuff.
I was a tool room machinist most of my life, and have a pretty good feel for drilling.

Really this set up is no different than Just using that C- clamp.
Let your part register against the C-clamp directly for anti-rotation.

However, if anyone clamped my 1-2-3 blocks down and used them on a drill press like that, I'd probably kill them! Haha

Just use a piece of cheap scrap steel.
 
We've had a close call with fire a couple times. We've needed to use a fire extinguisher twice in our shop history. And one of those times would have been a pretty bad situation had there not been one real handy.

They're not expensive. Put them up everywhere. If you don't have them, stop what you're doing right now and order them.
 
madcap_magician said:
... I note that in concession to the hazards of the profession you said nothing about whether they needed to be attached to your body at that time.
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Well , I will be buried with * excess * parts 🤣 More then 25 years I have about 5mm shrapnel in my left shoulder from this chisel . My children grew up playing with the magnet on my shoulder :)

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FOCUS.

Distractions cause mistakes.

The wife is trained not to bug me when I'm running a machine. I wish she would extend that to all of my working time ...

As much as I may be tempted to do something in the shop after dinner (and a pre-dinner cocktail) I know that it is inviting disaster. The other night I broke my own rule and sliced my thumb putting an edge on a knife. Doh!

Telephone, visitors, a run in with some a$$hole ... let it go and pay attention to what you are doing.
 
Nathan the Machinist said:
We've had a close call with fire a couple times. We've needed to use a fire extinguisher twice in our shop history. And one of those times would have been a pretty bad situation had there not been one real handy.

They're not expensive. Put them up everywhere. If you don't have them, stop what you're doing right now and order them.
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And don't forget to have one at the farthest point from the shop door(s) in case you have to fight through fire to escape. A nice big one, like maybe CO2 because it'll clear a flame-free bubble ahead of you to run through.
 
A spray bottle filled with water near your grinder is handy for putting out "spark fires" in the metal grindings and debris.
Cleaning that stuff up helps, too.
 
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