Official Luthiers Forum!

Shaper. That's the most dangerous. Fortunately for us, it's not a critical tool. But the table saw probably causes more accidents given its omnipresence in most wood shops.

Mike

I've got it. The most dangerous tool in the shop is the one you're using wrong or not paying enough attention to. Any tool can be dangerous if used wrong but with the exception of a tool actually breaking under normal operating conditions nearly all shop accidents should be avoidable. I conducted a safety meeting a few weeks back at my shop and told everyone the same thing.

"The tools do not wake up one day and decide that they are going to eat your finger or your hand. The tools are not alive and do not have any malicious intent. When something goes wrong in the shop it is because you are not showing the proper preparation or respect for the tool, or you do not understand the proper way to use it."

The worst accident I've ever seen was when my boss' kid was doing a blind dado 1/2" deep on a piece of solid maple. He had the bulk of the material(it was about 1 1/2" wide overall, and he was removing 3/4" x 1/2" down the whole length) in between the dado stack and the fence and as he got to a point where his hand was directly over the stack the stick bit in and shot back at him so fast that his hand went right into the dado stack.

I drove him to the hospital that day while he held it so tightly that it didn't bleed as bad as you'd think. He didn't let go until the doctor made him and when he did there was nothing on the end of his index finger except for a flap of skin that they just folded over the top.

He didn't even have to do a blind dado on that piece of wood, it was just a cabinet scribe. He was trying to get fancy and had been acting really cocky with the tools before that happened. Even if he had to do a blind dado he would have been much better off making several passes to get to the final dimension. He could have used a hold down or feather board and let the saw wind down while leaving the piece in place. Tools are dangerous, but it's up to us to determine whether that danger lives up to its potential.

The possibility for injury while using a tool is not limited to it's ability to cut, sever or blind the operator. Your hearing can be permanently damaged by not wearing hearing protection. I pretty much keep my headphones on all the time while in my shop. Even a cordless drill is loud enough to do damage to your hearing.
Dust and vapour are another potential hazard that can cause physical damage. Masks and dust collection are a must.

Alex

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"Indecision is the key to flexibility" .... Bumper sticker

I have one of these as well though I've never used it with the DP (maybe I'll start). I use mine about 100% of the time with a router. Makes life much less stressful.

For those that choose to use one with a router, don't forget to unplug when changing bits!

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http://www.birkonium.com CNC Products for Luthiers
http://banduramaker.blogspot.com

Hi guys - thanks for all the well wishes. I haven't responded yet as it's tough to type with your left hand bandaged up.

I've been thinking about my mishap over this past week and really what it boils down to, is that the most dangerous tool in the shop is what's between your ears. And maybe in my case, what wasn't between my ears that day. Lol. I think no matter how many safety precautions we take, if we become complacent, or in my case, distracted, any tool in the shop will bite you. I think we've all had those little wake up calls with the odd nick or cut - but this was a two by four up the side of the head for me. And that's not to say I don't run a safe workshop either. I run a clean shop as that's one of the worst safety violations I can think of. Clutter can kill. As for my tools, I'm extremely cautious and safety orientated. But despite all the precautions one takes, if your head isn't in the game, even for a split second, the potential for injury is huge.

I take my watch off when in the shop, but I haven't been able to get my wedding band off of my finger since my wedding day. I've put on a few pounds since then (my wife is good to me ) and I can't get my ring over the first knuckle. I've been wanting to go in and get it resized, but was reluctant at having it cut off. Call me sentimental. Call me an idiot with a hole in his hand because of it. The jokes have abounded here about the ring and marriage.

Filippo - thanks for the shop safety photos! It's given me some good ideas for improving safety in the shop. I'm wondering if we can get some more shop safety ideas and pics from some of the other members. We have a lot of great guitar building tips on the site - why not extend this to shop safety too?

A tip I can pass on from my experience - always have a roll of those blue shop paper towels lying around or on the wall - those things were phenomenal at stopping the bleeding and didn't leave little blue fibers on the wound when I had to take it off.

As for my hand, I changed the dressing this past Wednesday and had a good look at it for the first time. I think I got very lucky. The entrance wound is small, just under the first knuckle above where my ring was. The bit went down, through and out the other side by the back of the hand where the finger meets the hand. If I didn't have a ring on, I would have gotten a good cut. But because of the ring, the bit grabbed the ring which caused the bit to drive down and through.

Despite all this, I'm headed back out to the workshop for the first time today! There are guitars to be made and they're not making themselves!

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Rob Flindall
Flindall Guitars
http://www.flindallguitars.com
https://www.facebook.com/FlindallGuitars

Glad yer doing okay!

I've said it here before,and I'll say it again,
before turning any machine on,
look at the part that moves
(blade, bit, chuck)
and make sure it's free and clear.
I do that now more than ever!

you can make your own safety signs here: http://www.online-sign.com/
Don't forget the ear defenders!!

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We are all in the gutter but some of us are looking at guitars.

Rob, I wish you fast healing!
It certainly sounds terrible what happened to you, but thinking of bones, tendons and joints it could have been worse.


When using the drill press I thought several times of adding a dead-man foot switch because I find it really awkward to hit the normal switch. This thread finally made me order one (oh well, actually several ones...).

Like Filippo I also put the safety glasses where I must remove them before turning on the stationary power tool - except that until now the drill press and the bandsaw, staying at only 1 meter distance one from each other shared the same glasses! I can't remember having ever operated one of these tools without wearing the safety glasses, but I don't want say one day I hadn't, so that from now on every one of my stationary powertools will have "its own" glasses, plus will there be additional glasses for using with hand held powertools (to not "steal" the ones from the stationary machines). I guess this sounds sillier than it actually is.

Thank you. I should have written "don't forget you still should unplug for bit changes."

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http://www.birkonium.com CNC Products for Luthiers
http://banduramaker.blogspot.com