Dangerous Tools

11 Responses to “Dangerous Tools”

1. nick on February 23rd, 2007 2:30 pm

   i would have thought the RAS would have been higher up on the list. the most dangerous tools in the shop are the ones you are most comfortable with and the ones you dont have experience with.

2. Richard Furbee on February 24th, 2007 8:01 am

   10 months ago, I was cutting a jig to safely cut a small part when a kickback threw the board. I automatically reacted to knock the board away and my hand crossed the blade cutting all four fingers, one has nerve damage, and 3/4 of my index finger was cut off. My son accidentally locked me in so I had to knock the door down. My finger was reattached but could barely move, had no feeling and had to be removed later due to complications.

   I always keept my hands a least a 6″ from the blades but never considered reflexive reactions. I realize now there is no sure way to prevent reflex reactions so never operate a saw without some sort of guard. I purchased an over arm blade guard that rarely needs to be removed and a splitter. I also treat all cutting tools like a RAS, use mechanical devices to hold the work instead of your hand.

3. nick on February 25th, 2007 9:22 am

   I’ve only been woodworking for about a year and a half and the scariest thing that happened to me was having an up spiral router bit fly out of the collet while table mounted. luckily there was a plexiglass guard in place over the bit. i was not the one who set it up and now i know to never trust someone else’s set up, always double check if everything is tight and locked down. i compulsivly check if the fence is locked down and that i know where my hands are at all times.

4. PaulieBoy on February 25th, 2007 4:38 pm

   I would have reversed that list!
   The number 1 is a copout, it’s just plain silly “if you never went into your workshop, there would never be an accident” , well blow me down with a feather :-)
   IMHO, a static power tool is fairly safe, you have to be an idiot to injure yourself on a table saw. People injure themselves on a shaper? Were they asleep at the time ? High on glue ?

   A chainsaw comes in at number 4, and a router comes in at number 5 ?
   Hello ? A router is more dangerous than a chainsaw.. have these people used these tools!
   There is a small tip exposed on a router, that did cut my hand one day cos I was being silly, had I done the same trick with a chainsaw I would have no hand !
   The chainsaw should have been number 1 most dangerous tool.
   And a router as about the safest thing you can use, if it flies off the handle your gonna get a cut, but that’s it….

   The chisel is number 8 and the circular saw is number 10 ?????? OK, so it’s clear now that this survey was done with little old ladies at a knitting class. Someone out there thinks that a chisel is more dangerous than a circular saw!

   Perhaps if the circular saw was not plugged in that may be the case.

   The angle grinder is at number 14. I give up!
   Of all the power tools I used the angle grinder is about the most dangerous.

   It’s not the actual tool itself, it’s the work piece and the conditions of working.
   The angle grinder is normally used on site, cutting something that can’t really be clamped properly, and is the one tool that I do use all the safety gear I can put on. I look like a gladiator using an angle grinder! I happily wear a suit using a chisel :-)

   Regards.
   Paul

5. thewoodwhisperer on February 25th, 2007 5:25 pm

   I certainly can’t disagree with you Paul. I did not exactly agree with the order of the list either. But the links to safety information were valuable enough for me to include this article in a posting. My personal list definitely would have looked quite different. :)
   Thanks for the valid points.

   marc

6. Tim on February 25th, 2007 10:19 pm

   Hey PaulieBoy,

   Well if you wanted to throw down against another woodworker the smarter choice would be to grab a chisel against someone with circular saw. You could pull his plug or run far enough so he couldn’t get you. Must be what they were thinking when they made that list! :)

7. PaulieBoy on February 26th, 2007 2:59 pm

   Hi Tim :-)
   Yeah I guess your correct! Unless it’s a cordless circular saw… just keep running till his battery runs out :-)

   @Marc, yup the links were good, and really it don’t matter what the order is, it’s good to point out that they all can be dangerous.
   We can ( well I can ) be complacent when using tools.
   I was just being my usual sarcastic self ….
   Regards
   Paul

8. Richard Furbee on February 26th, 2007 3:53 pm

   The accident reports show the Table saw to be one of the most dangerous. You could spend a week reading them as I did after my surgery or you could read the stats at SawStop.com 33,000 per year and increasing every 9 minutes. Average accident is a around 13 years experience not a novice.

   I used to think that it was enough to know where the blade was relative to my hands until my accident. I’ve had many woodworkers say things like “you gotta pay attention” so I tell them if I threw a board at your face, would you knock it away. What if there was a blade in the way? That’s what happened to me. My boss at work said something similar and later told me he thought about it later and decided to buy the Uniguard as I ended up doing.

9. Tim on February 26th, 2007 5:53 pm

   Richard,

   I could believe that. A more experienced guy has other things he always has to think about and gets to relaxed when using a saw and forgets about how quickly they can bite. It is also funny how bosses don’t care about safety till its to late. I worked in this one place once where all the guides where either removed or made so they didn’t work properly because it was more important not to scratch the material. Than after one guy cut 3 of his fingers off, about an hour later before the blood was even cleaned up, all the safety guides where on. Course me being the a*s that I am, I pointed that out to the insurance lady or how ever she was when she came through. :)

10. Richard Furbee on February 26th, 2007 6:54 pm

    Hey Tim,

    I’ve heard those stories. How much did the comp go up at your shop? The guy at Woodcraft sold 5 of the big SawStop saws last month. The reduced insurance rates are paying for them. I can’t wait for the new contractor SawStop to come out and I’ll be replacing my AMT. Just have to move the Incra saw train and router extension over.

    I hope Mark’s wife isn’t reading all of these stories. I’m lucky I didn’t come home to find my wife sold everything in my shop. She did let me open the checkbook as long as I could justify it as “for safety.” She also said my favorite words “the really messes up my remodel”

11. mag884 on June 21st, 2007 7:26 am

    with regards to:
    “IMHO, a static power tool is fairly safe, you have to be an idiot to injure yourself on a table saw”

    I couldn’t disagree more! I think in the wood shop the tablesaw is the most dangerous tool by far. Many very experienced and safety minded woodworkers get injured by this beast all the time. I do think that one has to be an idiot to underestimate its dangers!

Got something to say?