Table Saw Safety

#341
It's fascinating, how things are imprinted.
I watched my house burn down when I was 4. Even though I frequently have clogged sinuses from allergies, working, etc, and don't have great smell, I'm hyper sensitive to any kind of smoke. Cigarettes, blown out candles, I've even smelled warm wires from a good distance. And I mean from distances that no one else around me can detect.
I frequently say, "can you smell that?" And I always get the look like I'm nuts.
I am nuts, but I can smell stuff related to fire that others can't.
I'm also hyper anal when I install gas or propane connections, constantly check the knobs on the stove in the kitchen, etc.
I thought it was OCD, but I'm convinced now that the fire when I was 4, rewired my brain.
 
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#342
RitcherScale you are right on the button when it comes to things that stay with us from our youth.
A friend I went to school with lost his home to a fire. Unfortunately, the after math to a young mind,just reinforces the event.
So I get it. So are you nuts? Maybe by choice but not by past events that is just pure self preservation.

What I didn’t put in my last post was my Father asked a friend of his to help him when I would not. His friend was a contractor and used saws all the time.
Both men had a lot of experience and all should of been fine…… it wasn’t!

They got careless and wanted to get the job done faster. This table saw was the three phase Steven King version and sent a piece of wood right into the wall of the garage almost all the way through.

That was the last time that saw was used.
Moral of the Story; you feel you have enough experience to use saws with out safety features….. you will find out blades do not have a conscious.

Clayton
 
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#343
I still get a slight tingling of anticipatory primal fear every time I touch the tablesaw after not using it for a while. I think that's probably a good thing. Outright fear of a tool can be mesmerizing, I've read stories about factory workers repeating a previous injury in a kind of dread fascination, but a little healthy wariness can't hurt. I've been watching my local Craigslist for used Sawstop listings, but still haven't pulled the trigger. Some other more pressing financial need always seems to come along. Famous last words....
 
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#345
TomB said:
Never lose focus when working with any rotating blade. …ever. It’s that simple.
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A very good reminder. :) Sounds simple enough, but repetitive motion leads to muscle memory and automated processes through motor learning. At some point the cerebellum takes over our well-automated motion and allows us to process other higher cognitive functions (i.e. daydreaming). It's difficult to remain alert if you are doing the same thing over and over and over and over again. Anyone ever drive home from work and can't remember the drive? Your cerebellum was driving. :D
 
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#347
Beej said:
Anyone ever drive home from work and can't remember the drive?
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All kidding aside, that's happened more times than I like to admit.
Scary.
The part that's frustrating is all the times I needed to take a different route because I need to stop somewhere on the way in and suddenly snap out of it and realize my muscle memory has driven me half way to work on my usual route.
 
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#348
Luckily I'm not in a production shop where I'm using the same tool for 8 hrs a day, for months or years. I used spinny blady sharp tools often, but not often enough to fall asleep on them.
Actually,.....and this may or may not sound weird, but it's true,....every time I'm about to run the table saw, I'm envisioning worst case scenarios. Like, I turn it on and the blade flys off. I envision how bad it would hurt to have a finger lopped off and think about the amount of blood I would lose and if I would pass out before I could yell for help or grab my phone and dial 911 with whatever digits still worked. And the whole time I'm cutting, those thoughts are there the whole time. On the outside, you'd never guess that was all going on in my head. But it does,...every time. It's kept me alert, respectful, cautious and makes take an extra few seconds to plan my moves.
The router too. That is one angry little machine. I make sure the blade is clear before firing it up and I'm knees bent, elbows locked, like I'm prepared for that thing to try to throwing me across the room and then jump on me and try to kill me.
Am I nuts? Maybe. But I've never had a mishap from a spinny blady tool.
Now, hand tools? That's different. I'm always trying to mame myself with hand tools.
Not sure what's going on there. I even warn myself,....that's gonna slip, you're gonna stab yourself, your gonna bust your knuckle, that's gonna pop off and hit you in the eye, etc.
And yep, I don't listen and that stuff happens.
 
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#349
Two table saw accidents (relatively minor) years ago when I was young and new to the cabinetmaking trade (one of which was a repetitive task/distraction situation), coupled with the last 30 years of teaching high school wood shop has left me with a laser focus when using machinery. And that's not to say that I don't sometimes do things that I would never have condoned my students attempting. Always focused, always aware of consequences.
 
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#350
bajaandy said:
Two table saw accidents (relatively minor) years ago when I was young and new to the cabinetmaking trade (one of which was a repetitive task/distraction situation), coupled with the last 30 years of teaching high school wood shop has left me with a laser focus when using machinery. And that's not to say that I don't sometimes do things that I would never have condoned my students attempting. Always focused, always aware of consequences.
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Absolutely
 
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#354
joelns said:
The one that scares me is the shaper table. I no longer own one. That large bit spinning really fast was a bit much for me. Table saw I can deal with, push sticks are essential, along with the "dogs".
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I hear you about the shaper table. I hate them and router tables (or routers in general). They seem simple enough, but that ridiculously high rpm bit gives me nightmares.
 
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#355
mapleglo said:
I love my table saw, and use it on pretty much every build. Just treat it with respect, and everything is fine. Now my router is a different story. I'm terrified of that thing.
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Yes! Routers make me break out in a cold sweat. I use several on every build, but have learned to go shallow, don't take too much off at once, make plenty of passes, and take your time. Those things are so scary.
 
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#359
buldog5151bass said:
Unfortunately, the pros are often the ones who take shortcuts.
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Sadly true, I've seen some really hair-raising saw cuts by really talented and experienced carpenters, for which I blame the job supers. There's a culture of ignoring safety precautions, at least in my local area, almost a Macho "don't be a pu$$y" type vibe. It's not uncommon to see masons using stone saws with no mask, no eye or ear protection, roofers with no safety harness, etc. If these guy get hurt, they don't work, but that reality doesn't seem to translate in behavior unless OSHA shows up on the jobsite.
 
#360
I wish I had stumbled into this table saw safety forum last week for a reminder before the fact. Grim reminder fellow woodworkers, at 64 years old with 45 years of woodworking under my belt, 40 years owning a table saw, and having run thousands of linear feet of timber through it, it just happened to me four days ago. Caught my thumb. Why the lapse in attention, I really don't know. I know better. This was not a random accident, it was random user error. I am humbled and still shuddering at the thought of what happened.

Luckily i still have the thumb and it missed any major artery or the bone, but it is seriously mangled, a nasty ragged deep laceration that the doc was not able to stitch entirely closed, there is a gaping open section. And the end of the thumb remains numb. It apparently did catch the nerve.

I was given 5 days of antibiotic, and will be requesting another 5 tomorrow with how open it still is. i will be pleasantly surprised if it heals well. I'll have a followup with a hand surgeon in 10 days.

Be careful my friends.
 
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