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Overcoming your fears while doing it safely

March 3, 2011 By

We have seen much recent buzz about personal responsibility in the shop, including here on the blog. Heck, I even wrote three articles about resawing on the band saw safely, and also about new flesh-sensing technology to compete with SawStop. And we still learn frequently about someone, somewhere, doing something stupid and getting hurt while working in the shop.

As a reminder, please read the list of references and web sites I received from David Butler, who is developing the new flesh-sensing technology. It is archived here on the blog; it will open as a Microsoft Word document.

Today I want to emphasize the following: No matter the situation you face in the shop, always listen to that little voice that warns you when facing a new situation, or one with which you are not familiar and/or comfortable. Only YOU will know that you have never used a particular machine; using that machine without proper instruction, whether it is help from a friend or a video or book, may result in injury. As I read the woodworking forums, I also see that some people fear the spinning blade on a table saw, or the menacing blade on the band saw, or the fast-spinning bit on the router. These are real fears being expressed by real people; yet they work in their shops, making beautiful things for family, friends, and clients.

Did you know, for example, that:

  • Using the band saw or the table saw to cross cut a round piece will likely result in the piece literally being pulled out of you hand?
  • Pushing a work piece into the blade of a band saw results in sudden movement forward at the end of the cut?
  • The splitter must be in place on the table saw as you prepare for a rip cut?
  • A very small work piece must be held properly on the router table while using a pattern-cutting bit?
  • A climb cut on the router table may not be safe?
  • Using a hand-held router to cut a bevel on the corner of a table top may require special preparation?
  • The work piece must be really secure on the workbench for certain tasks?
  • Finishing a cut with the jig saw while preparing a piece of rough-cut lumber may require special care if people are around you?

These are only a few situations in which you need to prepare yourself for just about anything that might happen while you work in the shop. Rehearse an unfamiliar cut; think about what could go wrong.

None of this means you should give up working in the shop. It means only that you, and only YOU, must know your machines, your tools, and the process required to execute a procedure safely. → ONLY YOU ←

Recently I received a link to a video on YouTube that instantly gave me vertigo. Heights do that to me. I have acrophobia, or fear of heights. And yet I can climb a tall ladder and get on the roof of the house. I have also stepped on the edge of the Grand Canyon and felt helplessly dizzy from the height, and from the sheer beauty of the view before me. I have tackled walking trails in Yosemite with nothing but a precipice on my left, and sheer mountain on the right. But I walked the trails safely.

Others, however, wont even hesitate to tackle the following treacherous trail without preparation. Would you? Are you wearing proper shoes? Would you film the walk as you enjoy the experience? I would love to learn what YOU might do. Enjoy!

Camino del Rey, Málaga, Spain; photo by User Gabirulo on Flickr.

The following video has been seen well over 4 million times in the last three years. El Camino del Rey is a path used by workers of an old hydroelectric project near Málaga, Spain. Today it is not policed or maintained; it is said that several hikers have fallen to their death over the years.

The video:

— Al Navas

Filed Under: Blog, Safety

Resawing on the band saw safely

February 17, 2011 By

I received several comments and a bunch of e-mail following my post on “First look at the tall resaw fence…” One reader commented “…I have to say it made me wince a bit. Have you considered using a push stick to make that operation safer?”

In my reply I mentioned I used a push stick, and highlighted the times on the video at which I pick up the push stick to ensure a safe cut. Currently, the online woodworking community and also federal agencies are quite interested in power tool safety issues, as competing flesh-sensing technologies are developed, patented, and implemented on table saws, changing them forever. Maybe something will come along soon for band saws, too, as regulatory bodies and users seem to be at odds about what direction to go. Should the technology be mandated, or should it be left to the individual in his/her shop?

Meanwhile, for safety’s sake, and in the interest of following up on the reader’s comment, I show in the video below how I use a push stick and a push block to ensure I retain all my fingers without much of a chance of incurring even a scratch. Note that the push block has a piece on the back end that catches the work piece, ensuring I can push it forward; sometimes I also use a push stick to assist pushing the work piece, while the push block helps me keep the work piece flush against the fence and moving forward.

I suggest the following guidelines to everyone working with tools in the shop:

  1. Always, always, always know how a particular machine works. If not sure, don’t use it until you get proper instruction and advice. I believe it is my responsibility, and that it is also your responsibility, to learn to use the machine properly, to avoid injury.
  2. Never, never, never, ever work in the shop while tired, or under the influence of medicine, alcohol, or drugs.
  3. Always think about your next action; rehearse the cut, and make sure you have considered what could possibly go wrong.
  4. Listen to the little voice that tells you “something” is not right. I remember getting ready to rip a board on the table saw; everything seemed right, except the board I milled the day before did not feel “right”. It had twisted, and the jointed edge was no longer straight — the perfect combination that could result in the waste being pushed into the blade, resulting in kickback.
  5. Make sure your fingers are at least 3 inches away from a moving blade at all times.
  6. Use push blocks and push sticks; but do so properly, always using suitable blocks and sticks (not all are suitable). If not sure how to use them, ask for advice on proper design, and learn how how to use them.
  7. Always make sure you touch the work piece or the waste only after the blade has stopped moving completely. Do not touch anything in the vicinity of a moving blade.
  8. Maintain your tools. From time time, make sure all bolts, machine screws, belts and pulleys are tightly in place.
  9. Use machine guards. If you don’t think they are adequate, find suitable replacements. But always use them.
  10. Hand tools: Always aim hand tools, including chisels and screw drivers, away from body parts. And make sure the tip of the tool cannot hit any body part while working.

I hope the following video will help woodworkers work safely at the band saw. The push stick I use is a 6- to 7-inch long stick I normally use to stack boards on the lumber rack; and the push block is one I built to work on the table saw. The push block has 60-grit sandpaper on the bottom, to minimize the risk of slippage while pushing the work piece.

Using push sticks and push blocks
with the DriftMaster fence — Duration: 6:15 minutes

I welcome your comments, either in the Comments section below, or via e-mail.

— Al Navas

Filed Under: Band saw, Blog, Education, Resaw, Safety, Tools, Video Tagged With: , , , ,

Update from the inventor of new table saw safety technology

February 4, 2011 By

Courtesy David Butler, Whilrwind.com

Earlier I wrote David Butler of Whirlwind a note, requesting some additional information on what looks like very impressive technology.
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Although he is quite busy, David replied as follows, adding that he will soon add this information to his web site:

Hello woodworkers,

I hope this message will clear up some points regarding Whirlwind Tool safety. I do not have, and likely never will have, any hardware to sell. Instead I hope to get the machinery manufacturers interested in Whirlwind as a win-win and I now have five operational prototypes and each new one is an improvement over the previous versions with still more designs cued up here in the shop. Of course the manufacturers will probably not move until my patents issue, but we are getting closer each day.

My original design goal was to develop a user-controlled and multi-tiered hazard-avoidance system approach with a suitable balance of end-user cost vs. safety features benefit for the various table saw stakeholders ranging from the machinery manufacturers and retailers to the wide spectrum of table saw operators from the novice to the most advanced users. I hope also to curtail some of the table saw litigation that we see by establishing identifiable responsibility for most table saw related injuries, which I believe is to the benefit of all. To that end I now have five operational prototypes with additional models under development.

This particular table saw hazard avoidance concept is designed to offer hazard protection through a series of FIVE simple steps:

First, the operator must easily and conveniently make personal safety-related decisions prior to operation of the saw, by first choosing to use, partially use or to override and even completely remove the hazard avoidance system with the use of a keyed switch.

Second, if the saw is operated in safe-mode, the operator must quickly and simply acknowledge that safety checks have been completed before each and every start of the machine or the saw will not start. This is not an aircraft-pilot-like pre-flight checklist; instead it is whatever the operator wants it to be – or not to be. The point is that once the operator pushes the ARM button and arms the brake to start the saw, (s)he owns the safety responsibility for the following operation. If there is a resulting injury, there is highly unlikely to be litigation blaming the manufacturer of the saw.

Third, through electronic flesh-sensing, an extra margin of safety is provided the saw operator by non-destructive blade braking if the operator’s hands enter the “danger zone” which should always be avoided.

Fourth, each emergency braking event serves as a learning experience and a warning to novice saw operators that they have crossed into dangerous proximity of the saw blade and must rethink their operating practices to insure their personal safety.

Fifth, if the blade-enclosure hazard avoidance system is used, the dangerous, long-feared, and unpredictable table saw “kick-back” phenomenon is eliminated.

Each time the saw is stopped, either through a normal stop or a flesh sensing emergency stop, the saw will revert to the amber light safe condition. The emergency flesh sensing stop is completely non-destructive. Neither the blade, nor the circuitry, nor the saw are damaged during the stop and the operator may simply correct the dangerous condition, rearm the flesh sensing brake circuit and resume sawing. Think safety twice, cut once.

David

I also received from David a Word document, with links to Reference Documents and Related Website Links. Simply click on the link, and you will be able to download the document. Butler requests that we “…Give credit as appropriate to the source, especially the safety poster, which they were kind enough to allow me to use…”

Thanks, David!

— Al Navas

Filed Under: Blog, Safety, Table saw, Tools Tagged With: , , ,

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