HF BENCH SAW ACCIDENT

Well, since so many people seem prone to spread it around when they have an accident on a power tool, thought I would too.

This was my first ever accident involving a bench/table saw - ever

- since I first fired up a table saw, in my high school sophmore shop class, in the fall of 1955.

This is a little HF bench saw I got new for about $79 a few years back, 10". I don't use it a lot, but I was out today and got a deal on a carbide tip blade. So, decided to change blades, as the plywood blade on it was getting dull.

The long crescent wrench was in the house, so used a short one. When it loosened, my hand slipped, and nicked the ring finger on my right hand. If I'd used a longer crescent wrench, this could probably have been avoided.

And I bet you guys thought you were going to hear something horrible about a HF saw causing an accident. LOL Actually, it's a pretty decent saw, I don't use it a lot, but it does just what I need. I tuned it after the new blade was on, and the tilt was dead on right from the factory. It was a bit off from the mitre slot, but a couple of minutes put it very close to dead on. I didn't use a dial calipher, but a new steel rule.

Our shop teacher showed us what kickback was, and told us to stay out of line, before we were allowed to touch the saw. Told us to use push sticks too. I've never had kickback, and I feel it is because I listened to my shop teacher, all those years ago.

In fact, the worst shop accident I ever had was in shop class the year before. I was sanding something on a disc/belt combination sander, huge industrial size, and let a finger touch the disc. Took about an eighth of an inch off. That's when I learned, keep the body parts away from the whirly parts. Now days, the school and teacher would probably get sued. Back then, they bandaged it up, told me next time be careful. No big deal with the folks either, basically told me the same.

Ah, how times have changed. Back then they figured if you got hurt doing something stupid, it was your own fault, because you were stupid. Now if you get hurt from doing something stupid, they figure it's the school/teacher at fault for letting you be stupid.

JOAT Failure is not an option. But it is definitely a possibility.

Life just ain't life without good music. - JOAT Web Page Update 2 Sep 2003. Some tunes I like.

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Jack-of-all-trades - JOAT
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Reply to
bobbg

In terms of wood, 1/8th of an inch isn't much. Where flesh is concerned, the measurements take on a whole new significance...

Reply to
David Binkowski

Thu, Sep 4, 2003, 1:45pm (EDT+5) snipped-for-privacy@codesmiths.com (Andy=A0Dingley) says: Put a new CMT thin-kerf on my Wadkin a while ago. Damn thing was so sharp that I accidentally let it roll across the back of my hand as I was getting it out of the box, and it left a trail of cuts behind !

Gotcha beat on that. My new blade had something like a slit piece of plastic tubing over the tips. Didn't take it off until the blade was mounted. Great idea.

JOAT Failure is not an option. But it is definitely a possibility.

Life just ain't life without good music. - JOAT Web Page Update 2 Sep 2003. Some tunes I like.

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Jack-of-all-trades - JOAT

Gotcha beat on that. My new blade had something like a slit piece of plastic tubing over the tips. Didn't take it off until the blade was mounted. Great idea.

I had one blade I forgot to peel the dipped goo off of, I started the table saw and it flew of very quickly.

Reply to
Bob Gramza

I too always remember what my shop teacher told us back in 1983. "If you cut yourself, please don't bleed on my floor" That sort of woke us up to the fact that these power tools might hurt you and there was no horseplay or any accidents. Of course, the fact that he was missing a couple fingers also was enlightening to a bunch of kids.

However, I lightly touched my 6x48" belt sander the other day and now have a bandaid on a fingertip. I always wear gloves when using that thing, but for some reason I wasn't that day.

-Greg

Jack-of-all-trades - JOAT wrote:

Reply to
Greg Sellers

wearing gloves around spinny things is a good way to lose parts of your hands, if not your entire hand and arm.

Reply to
Charlie Spitzer

Yeah, I kind of thought the same thing. I figured a sharp spinning thing would likely amputate a part of my finger if I strayed too close, but were a piece of fabric to get caught in it, I would very lose much more. I only wear gloves when moving stock around because I've already had to dig multitudes of splinters out of my hands and it hurts and I'm sick of doing it. :)

Reply to
Ben Siders

You removed the factory wrench guard, didn't you?

djb

Reply to
Dave Balderstone

Oooooh - I've done that "sand off a bit on the disc sander" myself. Gets your attention much more than a normal cut.

Reply to
Stephanie and Tim

Thu, Sep 4, 2003, 10:07pm snipped-for-privacy@sover.net (Stephanie=A0and=A0Tim) one of them said: Oooooh - I've done that "sand off a bit on the disc sander" myself. Gets your attention much more than a normal cut.

I don't know about more than a normal cut; but, it got my attention enough that, close to 50 years later, I'm still thinking about not repeating.

JOAT Failure is not an option. But it is definitely a possibility.

Life just ain't life without good music. - JOAT Web Page Update 2 Sep 2003. Some tunes I like.

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Jack-of-all-trades - JOAT

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