Today's Safety Lesson, OR Two Bonehead Moves...

[wolvesclaw]

I do a similar thing to what Nasty does. Before I kick the saw on, I look at my hands to see where they are in relation to the blade and focus on what I am going to do. It comes from when I was a kid and saw a carpenter cut 2 fingers off with a skil saw on a pc. of plywood.

It kills me when I see someone cut things without any regard to how dangerous their saw can become. One time I will never forget. Over 15 years ago now, I was doing a tile job. I needed a pc. of 2 x 4 cut to fill in a gap where 2 sections of a manufactured home didn't quite come together right. The GM was an old Yugoslavian former carpenter, great guy by the way, in charge of building these $150,000 townhouses. He was standing next to me, reached over and grabbed a skil saw, put the 2 x 4 on his knee, and cut it standing on one foot. The blade went past an inch from his leg and I'm thinking this guy is crazy. Then he handed me the pc. of wood I needed and I noticed he was missing about 2 and a half fingers off that hand.
Wonder how that happened. Knows better, just doesn't care.

 

[Yvsa]

reminds me of why I prefer hand tools to power tools.

As was said once on the Old Tool forum, it takes a moment to cut off a finger with a tablesaw. It takes determination with a handsaw.

t.

We were watching the HGTV channel last night and they had a show on about gadgets and new tools.
They showed a table saw that has a microchip in it to stop it from cutting flesh.
A hot dog was placed on top of a piece of plywood and when the plywood was ran threw the saw when it got to the hot dog it stopped immediately. There was the tiniest scratch on the hot dog.
Not that I would trust it but could save some fingers from inexeperienced people.

 

[cognitivefun]

A hot dog was placed on top of a piece of plywood and when the plywood was ran threw the saw when it got to the hot dog it stopped immediately. There was the tiniest scratch on the hot dog.
Not that I would trust it but could save some fingers from inexeperienced people.

Yeah, but what would I use to slice my hot dogs?

 

[Daniel Koster]

at least one knifemaker has died from an errant knife thrown from the buffer, and several have had them embedded in a leg, in the gut, in the hand, etc. Probably every knifemaker that has used a buffer or buffing wheel has had one end up on the floor. I have.


When I finally get around to building a proper buffing station, it will be controlled by a variable speed motor...probably DC (cheaper)....that way I can tone the speed down when needed.

 

[Svashtar]

at least one knifemaker has died from an errant knife thrown from the buffer, and several have had them embedded in a leg, in the gut, in the hand, etc. Probably every knifemaker that has used a buffer or buffing wheel has had one end up on the floor. I have.


When I finally get around to building a proper buffing station, it will be controlled by a variable speed motor...probably DC (cheaper)....that way I can tone the speed down when needed.

Hey Dan:

That would be a nice touch and would save money. Ideally I'd like a Baldor at about 1800 RPM for slow buffing and with slow sharpening wheel for chisels, etc., and then a standard 3600 RPM 8" or 10" for buffing everything else. Currently I have a Craftsman 8" grinder with 2 different grit wheels on the bench, and a buffer / grinder with 8" wheels and 3/4" arbors on a home built stand anchored to the cement floor (made from a hardened tiller disc and piece of truck axle.) Both machines are 3600 RPM. I replaced the grinding wheel on the buffer/grinder with a wire wheel, with a heavy twisted wire wheel standing by for really heavy jobs. Because of the odd 3/4 arbor I had to go clear to Canada to find a wire wheel supplier, but it worked out nicely. Once I get the belt sander then I'll be just about set for sharpening.

One thing I have noticed is that I placed my buffer stand againts a column in the garage, and the column and everything behind the buffer gets coated with compound and wheel threads, etc. I have it rigged so I can clean it up.

Is this something I am going to have to worry about with the belt sander / grinder? The only place I have for it is in the center of the garage floor, but I don't want junk thrown back all over my tools or people working at other tool stations behind the sander.

Thanks for any info.

Norm

 

[Daniel Koster]

Ha!........dust is only half the game, my friend...


FIRE!!!


When I grind, I throw sparks all over the place. Even worse if you grind high carbon steel like 1080, 1095, etc. Hot sparks. Dust piles..... 1+1=?

I haven't learned my lesson yet...


Ok, I take that back...I did learn a partial lesson. I put up a tarp behind my grinder to keep the wall from getting coated in junk. And, I guess having a 3 gallon pail of water within reach helps too....

But I pretty much let the dust fly....and the sparks fly too....and the compound....and the....


The biggest mess of all, comes from working Corian. Talk about dust Everywhere! Looked like it had snowed INSIDE the garage after working 3 small corian bolsters. Thank goodness for respirators. I still haven't cleaned the dust off the belt sander...

 

[Daniel Koster]

I should mention that the sparks go everywhere too....If you press hard when you grind, and most do, you'll get sparks that will come 360 degrees around the belt and hit you in the face.....I am NOT kidding.....happens all the time when I get impatient at the grinder....kind of a good reminder actually....

 

[Yvsa]

I should mention that the sparks go everywhere too....If you press hard when you grind, and most do, you'll get sparks that will come 360 degrees around the belt and hit you in the face.....

And that's why I put up the concrete board in my workroom in the house. Can't take any risk of causing a fire, and the extinguisher is always handy!!!!