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I like woodworking because it doesn’t easily forgive a mistake.
by moistly 4y ago
I like woodworking because it doesn’t easily forgive a mistake.
- klipt 4y agoOur school had a woodworking teacher who was missing part of a finger. Unforgiving indeed, especially with power tools.
- mgkimsal 4y agoIn 7th grade, our wood shop teacher lost a finger on the table saw, in the classroom. Not when I was there, and I'm not even sure it was during a class or with kids around, but she'd lost a finger, and that room was closed the rest of the year. A few years later, a different teacher also lost part of a finger on a table saw, just working on something in his garage. These weren't major factors, but have been partially responsible for me never developing a taste for hardware. I enjoyed metal shop in 6th grade for a bit, but... it got very loud, sometimes very hot, and the cost of doing anything wrong was great pain or death. Contrast that with "nerdy" computer stuff... I could sit, relaxed, and 'create' stuff myself (often just typing in code from magazines and books, but it was a start!)
- CoastalCoder 4y agoWhen was that? I'm just curious what era of safety devices were likely available.
- dionidium 4y agoThe primary safety feature on a modern table saw is the riving knife, which helps prevent kickback. My old Craftsman contractor saw doesn't have one. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Riving_knife https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Riving_knife
- evnp 4y agoWhile not as tight to the blade as a riving knife, I've found these splitters[1] paired with a zero-clearance insert are an excellent alternative, and can be custom-fitted to almost any saw with nothing but a hand drill and the saw itself. [1] https://www.microjig.com/collections/mj-splitter https://www.microjig.com/collections/mj-splitter
- FlyingRobot 4y agoI learned respect for my table saw early in my software engineer turned part time woodworker career after a near miss kick back incident. I’ve been using MJ splitters ever since on my old school Delta unisaw.
- neverartful 4y agoNeat! I didn't know this existed. A wonderful retro-fit for older saws!
- mgkimsal 4y agoMid 80s. We were in a 'newer' school district - the middle school was less than 10 years old at that time. All equipment was relatively 'new'.
- CoastalCoder 4y agoThanks. I only started using table saws a few years ago, so I watched a lot of youtube videos on safe operation. It seems clear that using (riving knife) + (blade guard) + (push sticks or similar) + (feather board) + (careful adherence to safe operation) eliminates most of the risk. I'm still unclear how much risk remains when following those rules. Maybe because most injuries I hear about involve people skipping at least one of those five elements.
- Gatsky 4y agoSawStop table saws effectively prevent complete amputations. You can still do much worse of course, like chewing off all your fingers in a jointer or embedding an angle grinder wheel in your face.
- eurasiantiger 4y agoWrapping yourself around a rotating axle is also fun for the whole family.
- fy20 4y agoContrary to what YouTube will make you believe, you don't actually need any power tools to take up wood working as a hobby. You can do everything with hand tools, it will just take longer and often needs more skills. My father was a professional cabinet maker and a decade ago he built a new kitchen from scratch. The only power tools he used were a table saw (which admittedly is one of the worse) and a belt sander. Everything else he did with hand tools.
- deleted 4y ago[deleted]
- TheRealWatson 4y agoI know it doesn't cover all the risks (including other tools and even poisoning) but it was a no-brainer for me to upgrade to a SawStop when I decided I was liking this hobby and was going to stick with it for a while.
- moistly 4y agoBy mistakes, I mean you can’t make an incorrect cut without real cost. You can’t edit the mistake. There’s no undo. It costs real money.