My shop just got a little safer

Eric Patterson

Eric Patterson

Administrator
Staff member
About a month ago my mom called me at work with some bad news. A former minister or ours retired a few years ago and was really into his woodworking spending his time making shaker styler furniture if I recall. At the end of the day making the last cut he had a lapse of concentration and got his hand in the tablesaw blade. That split second lapse cost him his thumb and index finger. Stuff like that really sobers you up and makes you think how easy it can happen and how lasting the effect are. We aren't lizards so appendages don't grow back.

During hunting season I ran across a sad bastard of a powerfeeder. The guy wanted $175 for it. They run close to a grand new so I figured I'd take a chance on a non-working unit. Harold's injury caused me to move this to the top of the resto list jumping the planer and shaper. It had more problems than I realized. Motor was burned up and had to be rewound, switch was bad, wheels shot, and bearings screamed. About $400 later I'm in business. Not a great deal but I think something that reduces risk of severe injury is probably worth it. I won't be able to use it for every cut but it will handle many tablesaw and shaper operations and keep my hands a very safe distance from the blade and reduce kickback events. When you lessen exposure you decrease odds of injury.

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Sweet,,,,,,,,,,, So now that you are set up for prodution mode, when are you going to build me my custom Devlin Bluebill? First boat is "on the house", right? ;>)
 
Niiice..

I watched my father try to remove both index fingers when I wa a kid,
and it has scared the crap out of me since. I am always super careful with
tablesaws.

At work we just bought 18 of the Saw-Stop saws because of lost appendages.
Great items. They may even make up for stupidity.

Great website from these guys too.

Your restorations always come out so nice, its a pleasure to see pride in
a job well done.
 
Looks like a serious piece of equipment. Truth be told, I cant think of a big power tool I wouldnt love to have! Nice find.
 
Well, you had already made it germ free, so why not take the next step :) That is one clean place... and as always a neat restoration... I wish I had one of those because I hate using a table saw...

It doesn't take big tools to do damage. I got lucky this winter building a blind. I was using a drill to screw a deck screw into a panel that I was holding with my left hand. The drill jumped off the screw head and into the webbing between my thumb and forefinger on the hand I was holding the panel with. Of course, this happened very fast and the drill bit was still going when it hit my hand. After pulling the square drive bit out of my hand and picking the skin off the bit, I was glad to see it didn't go as deep as it would have had it been a real drill bit or even a phillip's bit. What I was doing had been done a billion times by others and it only takes a second to put a lot of blood in a shop with a power tool I found.

That being said, I didn't bleed nearly as much as when I knocked the skin etc. off my knuckles using a ratchet to drive a lag bolt while I was putting the walls up on the blind. I love to have blood in the blind, but I prefer its not mine and that I am not a 3 mile boat ride from my truck :)

What are all the knife-looking things on the wall in the second picture?
 
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eh, you're only a programmer Eric, what's the problem with 10 fingers plus or minus a few? I've never seen one of these operate, but the few times I've worked with table saws, I can see the desire to have a device like this. As the others have said, you do awesome work on these restorations.
 
Back in high school shop a friend of mine sliced his thumb open on a table saw. Because I had my study halls transferred to shop to help the teacher I was the lucky one who got to clean up the saw. Sawdust does a good job of soaking up blood but it still sticks to everything. I sure wish my school would have had a piece of machinery like that. Whoever would have to clean it up after an accident thanks you.

I hope you aren't doing any kickflips or ollies in the shop.

Tim
 
Nice looking wood shop!! Wish I had the space to build one like it. But for goodness sake pick up the skateboard before someone steps on it and breaks their neck ...... LOL.
 
Ben, I see that Eric hasn't answered so I'll butt in. Those are turning tools (gouges, skews, parting tools etc.) used with the Oliver lathe in the picture.
I have heard that some mere mortals try and get by with as few as 5 or 6.........he he he he.


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"knife looking things????"



Naw, those are just there in case Eric has an unwelcome visitor or sombody makes a comment about his carving skills or lack there of. ;>) ;>)
 
Thanks Robert. When I looked at them closer, I figured that may be what they were, but I just couldn't imagine that there were that many different varieties. I bet it would be fun to turn one piece of wood and use each on it to see the differences... although, I guess with that many the piece of wood would have to be a telephone pole...
 
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Appreciate the comments. Yes the shop is clean in the pics. I try to keep it clean inbetween projects so dirt doesn't get tracked in the house. Maybe I should rethink that. Maybe is a lot of dust and grime got tracked in Michelle would demand I build a dedicated shop outback. Nah, that will never happen.

As greusome as some fo the injury stories can get I actually find them useful. If everytime I walked out in the shop I had one of these stories fresh on my mind I'd be more conscious of what I'm doing and that's always a good thing.

Ben, those are throwing knives. I take out squirrels and rabbits should they come in the shop. Actually the other guys answered your question, turning tools. They are old carbon steel ones that don't hold an edge like today's high speed steel (HSS) ones. If you have a bunch you can swap tools whenever one gets dull and keep turning. I sharpen them in bulk so I don't have to stop in the middle of turning to resharpen a single tool. I'll upgrade to HSS oneday when I can find some cheap. New they are expensive.

Terry, that's Andrew's skateboard. I'm too old for one. Might break a hip.

Eric
 
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