Kick back in the dick

My brother in law used to wear a vest made from slats of 1 x 2È or something like human ribs sewn into the vest for work on a commercial shaper. One day it happened and the shaper threw a blade at him. It didn't quite cut completely through his human rib vest and possibly have saved his life.

Cross cutting 3/8" x 2" x 18" ply on the TS to get a little 2" x 2

When I started working this morning, I said a little prayer because I was using my shop equipment for construction work around the house. When I am not so worried about precision I somehow also get lax on safety. I needed the cross cut a little item. I had the TS spinning so I just grabbed the miter guage because it was at hand. It is two steps to my miter saw. I didn't setup a stop block as that would require a clamp (3 steps away). The piece was 2 3/4" and I have a rule to always use a hold-down push stick on anything 2" or less but I often use my hand on anything larger.

I am kind of tall and when I stand at the TS my "package" is about 3" above the top of the table. I never realized that until today. When that sucker bound-up and shot at me, it twisted my thumb to the point of making it numb like it had been hit with a hammer. I know it could have easily pulled it into the blade. The 2" x 2 3/4" little piece of ply whacked me right on the head of my d#$%. It dropped me to my knees. I had to go into the bathoroom and check on that little guy and I was 50% sure there would be stitches involved. I started to think about the discussion with the emergency room staff.

Luckily it was just a painful whack.

I was stupid. I was lucky. I broke out my sled to recut the little piece. I might buy a leather apron.

------------------ Yep, you were lucky.

If you family jewels are in the line of fire, perhaps you should wear a cup.

I am certain that you have reviewed all the ways that you could have done it differently. Safety awareness (and practice) is a 24 hour a day thing. There is no good time to throw caution to the winds. Any power tool (and many hand tools) have the capacity to cause extreme injury. Do not take them lightly. It doesn't take more than a minute to drastically change your life. Take the time and do it right.

Be careful, Be safe. Your body and loved ones will thank you for the effort.

Whackin' your wood in the shop and then telling about it: priceless.

Here ya go:

P.S: Congrats on not needing stitches.

-- Remember, in an emergency, dial 1911.

I don't want to sound like a preacher, but WHERE was your PUSH BLOCK?

Anything less than 5" wide doesn't go thru without one, at least that is the way I was taught.

Glad to see you are OK.

Take care.

Lew

Glad everything's ok with your Fes-Tool.

I bought a leather welders apron at Harbor Freight this past fall. I wasn't sure I would like wearing one, but I'll tell you. I feel safer, I know where my pen and pencil are. And my tape measure. This is heavy leather, and for $6.00 it has earned its keep.

Too bad you didn't need CPR:

Better raise the saw up a bit. Extend the legs. (G) ww

"And be sure to call your doctor if you have an erection lasting more than four hours ..."

Makes my eyes water just to think about it.

Maybe we'd all better go and buy ballistic vests! (And cricket boxes)

Dunno if they come with CO2 alarms though :-)

These days, at my age, I'd be happy if one lasted more than four minutes!

I am going to submit a design to the SawStop people. It elevates the saw onto a platform and it will have a radar detection device which will detect the reversal of stock motion and with an explosive charge open up a trapdoor beneath the operator yanking him out of harm's way. Ballistically, the speed of the backwards flying stock will probably out-accellerate the dropping operator's body hitting him in the face instead. At least his junk will be okay....maybe.

Stuart wrote in news: snipped-for-privacy@argonet.co.uk:

I'd say Amen, but that would be oversharing, so I'm not ...

Most people would go to the Yellow Pages and look under "escorts". SEND MORE GIRLS, THE LAST TWO JUST PASSED OUT!

Sorry, someone had to say it.....................

Steve

I am going to submit a design to the SawStop people. It elevates the saw onto a platform and it will have a radar detection device which will detect the reversal of stock motion and with an explosive charge open up a trapdoor beneath the operator yanking him out of harm's way. Ballistically, the speed of the backwards flying stock will probably out-accellerate the dropping operator's body hitting him in the face instead. At least his junk will be okay....maybe.

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I'm short and quit using the Shopsmith as a table saw when a kick back caught me right on the sternum. A Dracula Moment.

Re-read the OP. The problem was that he pushed it through using a miter gauge. The unsupported end was trapped between the blade and the rip fence, which he used to get the correct length, lazily. When the unsupported length tried to turn slightly at a diagonal between the blade and fence as the last little bit of wood cut through, it did no longer fit between the two, which caused the stick to become a dick homing missile.

I teach exactly that lesson as one of my top ten things to not do on a table saw, and point out what part of your male anatomy will pay for noncompliance,

That is one lesson that gets a 16 year old's attention. Every time. And it will kick nearly every time that the width is greater than the length (along the fence) by a factor of about 3 or more.

SO leave the table saw work to the womenÉ

I teach exactly that lesson as one of my top ten things to not do on a table saw, and point out what part of your male anatomy will pay for noncompliance,

That is one lesson that gets a 16 year old's attention. Every time. And it will kick nearly every time that the width is greater than the length (along the fence) by a factor of about 3 or more.

-------------------------------- "Lew Hodgett" wrote:

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"Morgans" wrote:

-------------------------------- I read and understood the problem first time around.

Use a push stick, potential problem never gets a chance to develop, epsecially if you are going to reference against the fence without a stop block.

Lew .