Safety First, Attention Gap, No Harm

[glenn bradley]

For the sake of transparency . . .

So, your branding iron gets bumped off the little holder and you are so focused on what you are doing that you don't notice. You are now so pleased with yourself for having done what you were doing that you run off to show the wife in the house. You return to the shop after chatting up SWMBO, making a cup of coffee, and generally goofing off.

I smell SMOKE!!!



Sorry I didn't get a pic without the template in place.

Route out the bad, cut an inlay to match . . .



You can see that the iron had time to burn down a good 1/4". I routed to 5/16" to get rid of it.



Fettle the fit a little.



Lay in some glue and drive it near flush (I scaled the patch to be a bit proud).



Card scrape it flush.



After a bit of finish it should . . .



. . . be a big, fat, constant, reminder for me to stay focused on safety!!!

 

[Vaughn McMillan]

There's not many things that will get one's attention in a woodshop more than smoke, huh? Glad you caught it and fixed it before it became more than a cautionary tale to tell friends.

 

[Leo Voisine]

I just KNEW that was opportunity there.

 

[Darren Wright]

Yikes! Nice looking patch though.

I had that fear with my wife's curling iron. I finally just installed a timer on the plug that it was always used it. Might be worth considering a portable one to use with the branding iron.

 

[Ted Calver]

What is this focus you speak of?

 

[Chuck Ellis]

There's not many things that will get one's attention in a woodshop more than smoke, huh? Glad you caught it and fixed it before it became more than a cautionary tale to tell friends.

I have an old Montgomery Wards microwave in my shop that I use to dry woods on occasion.... back when I was turning pens, I had a handful of pen blanks that seemed a little green... stuck them in the microwave, hit cook and got busy doing other things.... started smelling smoke and couldn't find it any where.... finally remembered the pen blanks in the microwave.... they were beginning to glow... another minute -- and OBOY.... being the brilliant red neck I am, grabbed the blanks and tossed them out the door.... into a pile of dry leaves. ... fortunately I also had a jug of water in the shop so no forest fire.