If Your Head Isn't In The Game, Dont Step Up To The Plate


Boatworks Today

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Fall is coming and that generally means more shop time for most of us.  Just wanted to share a nearly catastrophic incident I just had as a reminder to all that power tools demand 100% of your focus!

It's the end of the day, I'm tired and my mind was not where it should have been when cutting some small wedges on the bandsaw.  Generally I consider the BS to be fairly safe, however today I got a little too lax and was heavily distracted by the amount of flies buzzing around the lights in my shop.  I just had the building sprayed an hour ago and I was dreaming of the piles of dead flies I'd be sweeping up in the morning :-)

Right then, my finger touched a brand new 3/4" Woodslicer running full steam.  As soon as I felt and heard the nick I immediately pulled back, braced myself for what I was going to see and LUCKILY a minor nick to my fingernail is all I had..  My ego took most of the damage :-/

I know better than this.  It was a foolish, careless mistake that never should have happened.  I consider myself extremely lucky as it could have been so much worse.

So, as a reminder to us all, if you're distracted, tired, etc and your head is not 100% on the task at hand, don't be running your tools!

I'm going home for a beer and clean out my shorts...

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Glad to hear you're ok. I usually keep my thumb nail about 3/16" long for playing guitar. I hit my thumb nail on the bandsaw blade and cut it. No blood, but close call the pucker and instant panic isn't fun. ABCs of woodworking, Always Be Cautious. Thanks for sharing. Sent from my 831C using Tapatalk

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Thanks for sharing. It seems that the machines that we are most comfortable using are the ones that jump up and bite us. I'm glad your bite wasn't more severe. In my case, it will be the jointer that gets me. I  use it every day and it's repetition after repetition. I find my mind wanders when I'm using it. NOT A GOOD THING!

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==>The bandsaw...the easiest machine to get complacent with.

+1

 

You know when it gets really dangerous?? The second you turn it off... I can't tell you how many times I hit the off/brake while reaching around the blade to clear a small off-cut... It's like an OCD thing -- for some reason, I like the table clear at the end of an operation... Don't know why, but just do... Got to be OCD.... Even braked, it takes time to spin down -- all silently... Funny, I never try that with a table saw, chop saw or just about any other tool... Just the bandsaw... Go figure...

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