Eastie
25th February 2003, 10:53 AM
A couple of weeks ago a friend and old colleague took a jagged piece of flesh out of the base of his right thumb. This occurred whilst ripping 22mm strips from a 1000 x 500 x 22 mm board (LWH).
Instead of holding the push block fair and square on top he admitted regularly holding the rear edge, leaving a good proportion of his hand exposed to the blade as the last section of cut was made. Unfortunately his grip shifted and his hand contacted the blade. The below diagram is a fairly accurate depiction of what he was using.
http://www.woodworkingtips.com/woodtips/images/wstip12b.gif
There are a few ways to counter this from happening – other than the obvious (un)common sense of holding it on top.
Options to improve the design are plenty, i.e. attaching a handle to rear of the push block (an old plane handle would be ideal – watch for the depth of screws compared to the required depth of cut).
Another option is to insert an overhang that prevents hands slipping towards the blade – i.e. cut a horizontal groove with a tenon saw or similar around 1” from the top of the rear of the block & insert a sturdy piece of ply that overhangs the sides slightly and the rear of the block by 2” – if vision is a must use perspex.
Other ideas are more than welcome.
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"A good scare is worth more than good advice"
Instead of holding the push block fair and square on top he admitted regularly holding the rear edge, leaving a good proportion of his hand exposed to the blade as the last section of cut was made. Unfortunately his grip shifted and his hand contacted the blade. The below diagram is a fairly accurate depiction of what he was using.
http://www.woodworkingtips.com/woodtips/images/wstip12b.gif
There are a few ways to counter this from happening – other than the obvious (un)common sense of holding it on top.
Options to improve the design are plenty, i.e. attaching a handle to rear of the push block (an old plane handle would be ideal – watch for the depth of screws compared to the required depth of cut).
Another option is to insert an overhang that prevents hands slipping towards the blade – i.e. cut a horizontal groove with a tenon saw or similar around 1” from the top of the rear of the block & insert a sturdy piece of ply that overhangs the sides slightly and the rear of the block by 2” – if vision is a must use perspex.
Other ideas are more than welcome.
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"A good scare is worth more than good advice"