What power tool are you most cautious with?

[K. L. McReynolds]

I was an automotive mechanic for 40+ years. I taught/inspected wheeled and tracked vehicles in the Army. My last job was one where I worked on everything from a switch engine to a chain saw, and many strange/single purpose/home made machines and used tools from a hand wrench to aerial equipment, welders, pneumatic tools, hydraulic tools, and electrical tools.

In my shop, I have table saws, routers(up to 3&1/2 hp), a 13" planer, a jointer, nailers, hand planer, belt sander, spindle sander, air compressors, dust collector, band saw, drills, angle grinder, circular saw, and a slew of hand tools.

To date, the worst injury I have had caused by tools(including all of the above) was when I sliced my left index finger to the bone with a utility knife. Second worst were four smashed left thumbnails from a framing hammer(Involved story).

The only tool I do not trust is an adjustable radial arm saw. I had one and gave it away.

That means I am very careful with power tools, large tools, and specialty tools. My failing is simple hand tools.

[Tapper]

Of course, you can have no fear of any tools in your shop. Your shop, your rules, right? In my shop, I am the king and fear is what has kept me safe all these years.

I remember a wise employer once telling me 40 years of experience could only mean 1 year of experience repeated 40 times. I don't know what to make of your claim that your time in use was about 10 times my 40 years, as we know nothing about each other's shop or work. But I do know one thing that we have in common: I have ten fingers, too, and  all these some 40 years I fear many of my machines.

I don't know if fear or respect is the way to mastery, but I do know neither of them alone will bring mastery in any craft.

Respect your machines as much and often as you like; I will continue to feel fearful when that spinning blade stares at me with no mercy...

Simon

HPAM,

All your points are good ones. Others on this board understand your underlying message and many feel the same way, including me. Just understand one thing, you will never convince "His Majesty" that his way is not for everyone.  If he does it, EVERYONE should do it - end of story.

Doug

[daddo]

Yes yes. I agree with K. L McReynolds. I gave my radial arm saw away too. That was the nervious tool I ever operated!

And Yes- that's a new word I just made up.

[iclark]

I know it's not a machine but what I fear most is myself and my mental state. If I ever get hurt, it will probably be because of a lapse of judgement or a moment of inattention.

Good answer.

My father always told me that the circular saw was the tool in his shop most dangerous to cause an injury. Of my tools, I shared that consideration. Then, I got some chain saws. The circular saw is a strong second, but the chainsaws now top the list when using them to harvest wood for the lathe.

I lean towards agreeing with the concept that any tool that rises to the level of fear (to the level that it impacts my ability to think straight) does not belong in my shop. So, I do not ever expect to own a shaper. I do not do the sort of woodworking that needs one and I do not have access to anyone who could teach me how to use one safely. To quote Dirty Harry, "A man needs to know his limitations."

So far, the injury that I remember most in my current shop is a sliced finger tip when honing a skew chisel with a handheld stone. Momentary carelessness on the drawback and I found out that I had the toe sharp for once.

On the other hand, many years ago, I had a serrated bread knife that I used foe picnics and for slicing 'maters a work. For the first 2 years or so that I had it, pretty much everyone that used that knife cut themselves with it the first time that they reached for it or used it. That was one sharp knife. Part of the reason that it went to work for lunchtime use was to get it out of the house so that it did not bite dates when we were prepping meals. Sliced finger tips were not a good thing for a romantic evening with a date.

My father was a patternmaker (Master Metal Model Maker at NACA) before he became one of the first engineering technicians at NASA. He and some of his co-workers used to tell us about some of the accidents/injuries in the shops. Many of the stories were hard to believe that anyone could have done them. I have tried to learn from those stories and use them to educate others who work in my shop. The very first rule is to never put your fingers inside a machine that is plugged in.

[Handplanesandmore]

Yes yes. I agree with K. L McReynolds. I gave my radial arm saw away too.  That was the nervious tool I ever operated!

And Yes- that's a new word I just made up.

"Nervious"?!

Be careful, even if you were just being nervious, as long as you were not respectful of it, someone could tell you to take up something else and not to do woodworking.

But it is fine with me whether you were nervious or nervous or fearful.

Simon

[Steve N]

Yes yes. I agree with K. L McReynolds. I gave my radial arm saw away too.  That was the nervious tool I ever operated!

And Yes- that's a new word I just made up.

Never gave a moments thought to doing a crosscut with one, now a rip cut was a sure way to get my panties all in a knot, so I just didn't do it. Had an early on Boss who actually thought it was a ripping tool ONLY!!!!!!!!!!! He just never understood my hesitation. I had completed a kitchen the day before crossing on the RAS, ripping on the TS, there was always at least 2 open, because he'd intimidated everyone but me into ripping on the RAS. I was gone the "fateful day" on a job delivering and installing what I had been working on. Came back the next day to find out the dummmmazz had the RAS jump while ripping, took off most of his left hand, which he swore was safely out of the way. There was no gloat because a Man had his life change, but it cemented in my mind those are not a ripping tool. Saw others with injuries with them during my time in the ER, stragely it was about 50/50 between done crosscutting, and ripping. The cross cutters all had simply placed their hands in the blades path, and pulled........


Happiest day in my life was when I saw my first motorized miter saw, second happiest may have been when I found out about TS sleds
I had owned and operated a bunch of meat powered miter boxes, and it wasn't until recent times that I found out about saws that had been "engineered" to cut well.




Some day I'll buy a joint maker Pro  

[Papa Jim]

I lean towards agreeing with the concept that any tool that rises to the level of fear (to the level that it impacts my ability to think straight) does not belong in my shop. So, I do not ever expect to own a shaper.

Of all the comments this comes closest to answering my original question about how I feel about using a bandsaw. On the other hand I was intrigued Steven's comments on how to use a bandsaw without endangering fingers. Perhaps before I write one off completely  I should invest in a good "how to" book on bandsaws.  Any suggestions?

[JGrout]

HPAM,

All your points are good ones. Others on this board understand your underlying message and many feel the same way, including me. Just understand one thing, you will never convince "His Majesty" that his way is not for everyone.  If he does it, EVERYONE should do it - end of story.

Doug

Another fool speaks 




Your fear ran so deep you ditched your Griz saw for a nanny saw 

Careful when you throw stones at glass houses 

signed still using all 10 daily thank you very much mainly becuase  I KNOW THE DIFFERENCE BETWEEN FEAR AND RESPECT 

HTH HAND

[JGrout]

I lean towards agreeing with the concept that any tool that rises to the level of fear (to the level that it impacts my ability to think straight) does not belong in my shop. So, I do not ever expect to own a shaper.

do you own a router table?  If you do you own a cheap and far less accurate shaper  you have limited yourself out of an entire facet of woodworking 

This right here is the PERFECT example of why one should not fear tools and learn and experience the joys of operating a machine that actually can do things you never dreamed about while doing them efficiently 

Someone said they did not like a 5" knife spinning in a shaper earlier and I just thought "that is my life" only I am spinning knives up to 6" these days and lock edge knives that it seems everyone is scared to death of. 

The difference? I took the time to educate myself via older experienced operators and my own investigations of proper setup and use. 

I would not be able to do the sticking  and molding matches that I accomplish when there is no existing knives of the profiles 

I can just see me saying "I am sorry I cannot replicate that"  

TG I have no fear but utter respect for the machine and the Confidence to operate it in a safe manner 

Having these discussions on open forums are just killjoys for those who have not had even a rudimentary education in the safe practices of tool usage

[Handplanesandmore]

The greatest lesson in life is to know that even fools are right sometimes.     

Winston S. Churchill