Pictures to encourage focus when using shop tools....

[Alan R McDaniel Jr]

If you have any slight inclination to vomit at the sight of gruesome injuries, you should close this thread now....

The watch band didn't slow the chop saw down to any discernible degree...


There's still time to close....






Every time I look at this I hurt all the way to the bone.

But, I do think about it EVERY time I flip a switch in the shop. I've never had anything like this (as I'm getting bloody knuckles from knocking on wood) but I have had some close calls and fate has given me some gentle reminders as to just how lucky I am.



I asked how he did it and he said he didn't know but that it happened really fast. I'm guessing he was reaching across, holding the stock with his right hand and pulling the saw down with his left (I can't say I haven't done that), and after the cut brought his arm back across too close to the saw. I'm not sure how it could happen with guards in place, so I also surmise that they were not.

This happened over four years ago and he has (remarkably/miraculously) fully recovered and regained full use of his arm and hand. He works as a firefighter.

Alan

 

[Vaughn McMillan]

Thanks for posting this, Alan. It's a hard lesson to learn, but a valuable one.

 

[glenn bradley]

Yikes and thanks. We can't have enough reminders that our safety is in our own hands.

 

[David Johnson]

CANNOT be to careful around power tools or any sharp tool.
David

 

[Frank Fusco]

"happened really fast" My son is an ER physician. He is not happy that I have a woodworking shop. He says he has heard those words many times. He also frequently hears, "I never do it that way....but just this once.....".

 

[Alan R McDaniel Jr]

I'll have to admit that when I had a 16'x16' crowded shop and had to move EVERYTHING just to make one cut on a radial arm saw I was probably more careful. Now that I have all this room and every workstation (nearly) clear and ready to go, I have become less careful. It is nice to be able to go from one piece of equipment to another but I do catch myself being somewhat nonchalant about it. Overconfidence is a dangerous place to be when working with machines specifically designed to cut things off....

I was going to cut down a dead tree this morning. Had everything ready and all the math done on where to notch and where to push to make it fall just right... Heavy fog and a little drizzle made everything wet and slick... Decided to wait for another day when, if I have to bail, I won't be doing the Fred Flintstone run with a hyped up chainsaw, trying to get ahead of a 2 ton dead white oak if it goes wrong...

Alan

 

[Rick Prosser]

I have been clearing a wooded section of land for a garden and had to fell 10-15 large trees. All came down just as planned until the last two. A little breeze started up at the end of the day and both of them refused to cooperate and tried to fall the opposite way.
I was able to force them over the way I wanted with some mechanical help, but you just never know when things will go south - always plan for murphy and a way out (or another day).

 

[Alan R McDaniel Jr]

One thing I learned about cutting down trees was when it finally starts to go, get the heck away from it. Don't stand around yelling Tiiiimber and watching it go down. Once you separate that tree from Mother Earth it's gonna do what it wants. Some of them lay over, some kick back, some to the side. Branches too! I always tie off my ladder, tie a rope on the chainsaw, and wrap the safety harness around some part of the tree I'm not cutting off. A branch will swing around and knock that ladder out from under you like it was nothing, then what are you going to do, Fly? Well, briefly anyway at 32'/sec/sec... Topping trees is a lot of fun too, for young men who are invincible...

Alan