Thread: Work Shop Safety

G'day Phil,
At the risk of sounding glib, didn't the box say biscuit jointer notfinger jointer .
Seriously though it always amazes me the capacity we have for random acts of stupidity, especially myself. In other words how relatively sane, intelligent people will occassionally think "it'll be ok if I stick my head in that tigers mouth just the once & really quickly, see nothing to it....................CHOMP.

Make the eyes water.

I use a radial arm saw with a dado cutter set-up to cut tennons. The dam things takes forever to stop spinning after the machine is switched off. After the cutter heads stop spinning, I sweep away all the sawdust on the surface behind the cutters. Yesterday I forgot the dam thing was still spinning furiously and went to sweep the sawdust away - luckily with a small dustpan brush. Whamo - got quite a shock when the brush touched the spinning blades. One more thing I hopefully won't do again. Don't know about you guys but I seem to learn too many safety lessons by "close calls".

Thanks for sharing.

I have become much more aware of what can go wrong because people here have been prepared to share. The brush one is something I'd never have thought of as being dangerous (in fact it made sense to use a brush on metal working machines as it kept the fingers out of the sharp swarf) but getting the brush caught and pulling you into a rotating part ... well its good to be made aware of .... as well as the fact that large mass and high speed machines take time to stop!

THUS... turn off, pull plug, when it is not moving, and won't by itself, then put paws to work near it!

Must say the handheld electric plane is a machine that is effective but scares me -- got to keep 2 hands on it, never around it even when it is off and unplugged (don't want a reflex action to cath me out), one hand on each handle and turn it off at the wall when the planing is done. There is a lot to be said for a switch above the bench. How do you guys cope with jointers/thicknessers/spindle moulders? My father in-laws small table saw has enough hazards to keep me fully occupied!

Sorry about your finger Phil .. ouch

Owwwwwwwwwwwwch!! :eek:

My finger is almost healed now after its excusion with my benchsaw blade. I can very much appreciate the pain involved, and yup like you say ...a random lapse can have catastrophic repercussions.

Hope you mend quickly and can get back amongst the shavings

Originally Posted by Richardwoodhead

I use a radial arm saw with a dado cutter set-up to cut tennons. The dam things takes forever to stop spinning after the machine is switched off. After the cutter heads stop spinning, I sweep away all the sawdust on the surface behind the cutters. Yesterday I forgot the dam thing was still spinning furiously and went to sweep the sawdust away - luckily with a small dustpan brush. Whamo - got quite a shock when the brush touched the spinning blades. One more thing I hopefully won't do again. Don't know about you guys but I seem to learn too many safety lessons by "close calls".

Compressed air would be a safer way.