Sandal Woods - Fine Woodworking & Cabinetry

1. I wish I had been more productive - a bad back and a touch of the flu (or a cold?) made me keep a low profile
2. Toward the end of the week my back felt better, thanks to wonderful manipulation!
3. Wrote some stuff for the the blog - I always enjoy writing stuff for the blog
4. Enjoyed reading others’ safety posts
5. Liked all posts, except the gory ones - I have this thing about blood, especially if it is mine
6. Wished I were in the shop <sigh…>
7. Wished to get back in the shop soon!
8. Wished I made something!
9. Spent time with the five granddaughters, which made up for some of the guilt

Here is wishing everyone a safe, successful, and productive rest of the year in the shop! And now, back to the shop, to see if my vertebrae are really in as good shape as I think they are.

Dust collection (DC) is still an issue in my shop, as I don’t have a permanent DC system installed. But I do have all the dust and chip-generating machines hooked up. And it happens to be something remarkably similar to what FineWoodworking Magazine editor Asa Christiana uses. He shares simple strategies for taming dust and shows off the solution he’s arranged in his home shop.

As Asa did, I also hooked up my ROS (random orbital sander) to the Shop Vac - what a difference it makes with one of the worst fine dust generators in the shop, always close to your lungs!

The good thing about this setup: Cost is kept to a minimum, and you can re-route the collection hoses as you need to, until you are ready for a permanent system. After three years, I think I am ready to install the permanent system - provided my back holds up…

Congratulations to David Benton, the winner of today’s giveaway from Sommerfeld Tools for Wood. David wins the following items:

1. First item on the left: One double-sided featherboard
2. In the center, one safety push stick
3. On the right: One complete set of the DVD 7-pack

Congratulations, David! And a big THANKS to our 2008 Woodworkers Safety Week sponsor:

 

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How can staying in shape be related to woodworking?

Back pain, a pulled muscle, a tender nerve, or a twisted ankle all can contribute to accidents in the shop. And the meds we take to make these ailments can affect our performance in the shop, just like the same meds can affect our driving: They can impair our senses, to the point of making us make a costly mistake.

Fortunately, we won’t get a ticket in the shop if we make a left hand turn at the jointer, instead of making a right hand turn to the lumber rack. But the downside of not being in top shape in the shop can be just as bad as if we made the wrong turn on the road; in the shop we may not hurt someone else, as we are likely to hurt (only?) ourselves… or our shop partner, for those of us lucky enough to have a shop partner (I just raised my hand).

In the last two weeks I have experienced first-hand the meaning of being in less than top shape, so I have had to stay out of the shop. My back was sore for a while before this latest incident, until one day last week it went out and I was unable to lift anything heavier than a spoon.

Fast-forward to yesterday: After several visits to the chiropractor, and muscle relaxants and pain killers over several days, and yesterday I finally was able to lift the remaining bundles of brush left over from the ice storm this past Winter. A huge bundle now awaits for a quiet, no-wind day, to get rid of this bundle. Yes, we are allowed burning in our County.

But not being able to lift, or to bend properly at the waist, or to just plain function normally in the shop, kept me out for a long time. Couple the pain with the pain drugs, and I had become dangerous to myself. I am certain I would have done something stupid. I have been in this situation before, e.g., when I felt I had to do things because I was expected to do them. Little did I know I had actually put not only myself at risk, but others too!

My simple message is this: If you feel you are less than 100%, and if you are taking drugs to relieve pain or some other ailment, do yourself and your family a favor and stay out of the shop! It is not worth doing it. It should be a plain and simple decision.

In my case, back trouble is the first sign that I am not in good physical shape. In other words, it is the first sign that I must get back on the Nordic Track or on the tread mill and get back in good shape. For this, I am grateful to my back. But it can also aggravate me, for I know then I have not been doing my work to stay in good shape.

I wish all happy and safe woodworking year-round!

Congratulations to Larry Riddle, the winner of today’s giveaway from Sommerfeld Tools for Wood. Larry also wins the following items:

1. First item on the left: One double-sided featherboard
2. In the center, one safety push stick
3. On the right: One complete set of the DVD 7-pack

Congratulations, Larry! And a big THANKS to our 2008 Woodworkers Safety Week sponsor:

 

 

The following is from Karl, who gave me permission to post his story and photos of this injury he had with a chisel - I am glad to know you are healing well, Karl!

I thought I’d try out a little body piercing with a chisel a while back. Thought you guys might enjoy the pictures. No damage, but it went entirely through my finger and into the table. I didn’t even realise it had gone all the way though for a while. I washed the wound off, superglued the one side shut and sat down in the shop for a bit. A sink full of blood makes my stomach turn. I felt something warm dribbling down my hand and looked at the floor to see a new puddle of the red stuff, but not from what I had already glued shut. Son of a……….Remarkably they cut through flesh very efficiently! Who knew?…Surprisingly it didn’t hurt at all, untill the swelling really kicked in.The following are links to his photos, in case you don’t care to look at something just a little gory:

Photo 1, Photo 2

 

My table saw sits in the middle of the shop, with lots of room all around it. It is a nice machine, but it can also be dangerous, as you learned from my experience in 1964. Learn how to keep your fingers safe and avoid kickback with a short video lesson from FineWoodworking magazine editor Asa Christiana.

 

Congratulations to Howard Levine, the winner of today’s giveaway from Sommerfeld Tools for Wood. You win…drum roll… the following three items:

1. First item on the left: One double-sided featherboard
2. In the center, one safety push stick
3. On the right: One complete set of the DVD 7-pack

Congratulations, Howard! And a big THANKS to our 2008 Woodworkers Safety Week sponsor:

One of Phil’s hobbies is lutherie. He is active on at least one major woodworking forum, where he originally posted what follows. He graciously granted me permission to post his story, and some follow-up photos. Here is Phil’s story, in his own words:

Yesterday I thought there is no way I would post this and look stupid to the world but this morning I was reading the comments in another post and realized the story might be educational and perhaps keep someone else from making the same mistake.

I am making some tool handles from various woods and picked a nice old chunk of mesquite out of the shed. This is a section of branch about seven inches long and four inches in diameter. Before putting it on the lathe I was going to cut away the bulk of the bark and sap wood. The sapwood was fairly thick (around 1/2 inch).

The mesquite being very hard required pretty good pressure to push it through the blade. Guiding with my left hand and pushing with my right I would give the branch a push by hand to get it started and then switch to a push stick before getting too close to the blade.

What I didn’t notice was that a beetle had bored a small hole through the bark and ate away a large section of the sapwood leaving a void filled with sawdust. With me pushing pretty hard the blade hit this void about one inch into the cut. It is easy to picture the rest. Log jumps forward. Hand finds blade.

I consider my shop safety procedures to be good and my last accident with a saw was in 1977 but there is always a new situation. I am new to turning and have little experience working with a bark on branch like this and did not anticipate the problem. I was fortunate in that I try to never push my hands directly toward the blade and I was holding and pushing the wood off to the side of the blade so it just caught the skin on the back of my knuckle.

I am fine and will be back in the shop tomorrow evening but it clearly could have been worse. The biggest negative is it makes my wife less comfortable with me working out in the shop.

Phil

The following are links to his photos - I have posted links only, for the benefit of people with weak stomachs:

Update photo 1, Update photo 2, Update photo 3

Thanks for sharing your story with us, Phil. We wish you a complete and speedy recovery!!!

Congratulations to Donald Dean, the winner of today’s giveaway from Sommerfeld Tools for Wood. Donald wins the following three items:

1. First item on the left: One double-sided featherboard
2. In the center, one safety push stick
3. On the right: One complete set of the DVD 7-pack

Congratulations, Donald! And a big THANKS to our 2008 Woodworkers Safety Week sponsor:

 

 

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