Disregard for safety and common sense

[Bluekingfisher]

While watching a repeat of the TV show "This old House" the other evening on TV, I was watching one of the contractors scribe and fit a baseboard to a kitchen standalone island. While conducting this application I noticed the contractor, Patrick Malone, had a thumb missing. After scribing the line along the base with a pencil and compass, he took the 2 ft long lenght of baseboard to a bench top table saw with no guard, then pushed it through free hand, (No push stick) following the pencil line with the blade. (not usingthe fence)

I was about to leap behind the couch fearing the iminent horror about to ensue, but thankfully he made the cut without mishap before I made the leap. I was amazed however that he had only lost the one digit during his career???? Strangely enough there was a bandsaw right behind him, although perhaps it wasn't his to use?

What is your take on this kind of practice, particularly in light of the guy who won a squillion bucks payout in a fairly recent lawsuit undertaking a simialr move while cutting parquet flooring.

David

 

[Benchwayze]

Same as yours David.

The man must be a fool; and worse a fool who never learns.
Circular saws are another case in point.

I see Pros using hand held circular saws freehand, all the time and I wince. Forty years ago a friend of mine (A DIY'er) tried this and he lost a thumb when the saw kicked back and leapt clear of the work. He tried to catch the saw!

I always use a straight edge with a circular-saw, or at the very least, I fit the fence that comes with them. Freehand cutting means one little twist too far from the straight and narrow, and the saw leaps back at you. With a guide, the twisting shouldn't occur. I will probably be laughed at by some Pros here, but I can still count to ten on the 'abacus' I was born with! :wink:

 

[Bluekingfisher]

John - I almost laughed there, trying to catch a circular saw in mid "buzz" ? not to be recommended.

 

[Benchwayze]

True David,

And in those days, the guards weren't so well-sprung, and able to shut back as quickly as they are today.

Mind you, in my early days I only just stopped myself from catching a spinning router, I dropped. Good job I had safety boots on, even though I did jump back at the last second!

 

[Bluekingfisher]

It can be a dangerous sport John, but generally I would suggest spinning high speed/carbide steel is always going to come off a winner against skin and bone.

Of course it must be a natural reaction to grab out when your highly prized and priced power tool is plummeting to almost certain death towards a concrete floor.

 

[woodaxed]

When i was a kid guy next door a diy nut (the loose sort ) had a b/d circular saw the type that fitted to a drill in those days had a habit of resting it on his thigh when he finished a cut, anyway one day he took the guard off as it was in the way finished the cut and rested it on his thigh dont think you need a picture for the rest of the story

 

[cambournepete]

It can be a dangerous sport John, but generally I would suggest spinning high speed/carbide steel is always going to come off a winner against skin and bone.

It did with my finger when I tried to clear some chippings from the spinning bit... #-o

When i was a kid guy next door a diy nut (the loose sort ) had a b/d circular saw the type that fitted to a drill in those days had a habit of resting it on his thigh when he finished a cut, anyway one day he took the guard off as it was in the way finished the cut and rested it on his thigh dont think you need a picture for the rest of the story

I don't feel well now...!

 

[Bluekingfisher]

I posted this same topic on a US based WW forum, this was one guys response........you couldn't make it up...see below


While I have never made cuts on my table saw without a fence I don’t use a gaurd on my table saw or use a pushstick on anything bigger that 1 1/2in although I probably should since I have cut 1 thumb and a middlefinger off of my left hand. Lucky they both got put back on with little loss of function. I guess my biggest issue with the gaurds and pushsticks is I don’t feel like i am in control of the material while I making the cut. So I guess my point is some of us will compromise safety to an extent for comfort or speed. I try to always be aware of what will happen with any cutting process. Accidents will always happen with you are to comfortable with the process and you don’t respect the Tools you are using.

 

[theturner]

A few years ago now, I saw a contractor cutting a groove
in a board with what looked to be a 1 in chisel, he had the
board resting on the garden wall and proceeded to hammer
the chisel towards himself whilst stopping the board from
slipping with his body.
I moved on quickly. I didn't hear an ambulance nor was there
any sign of blood when I passed later.But I have never seen
that guy again. :shock:
Roger

 

[Bluekingfisher]

That story reminds me of a friend of mone who became an apprecntice butcher, a simialr sort of action lead him to slipping and severing his themeral artery. Life extinct aged 16.

 

[Digit]

although I probably should since I have cut 1 thumb and a middlefinger off of my left hand.

No! Absolutely not, carry on being 'in control' I say.

Roy.

 

[lanemaux]

Do not know if you guys have an equivalent program , but we in Canuckia have " Canadas Worst Handyman". For a number of years I have cringed at the sight of people subjecting perfectly innocent tools to horrendous abuse. The host of the program tries his best to keep the contestants from serious bodily harm , but he just can't be everywhere at once. People using themselves as tool backstops is not uncommon , in fact it is the norm. Watching a sabre saw jerking madly off a board with the blade backwardly mounted it might be reasoned that any idiocy might happen. But it was the episode where a post hole auger ejected both it's operators in a display of centrifugal ire that scared me. It seems that safety never enters some folks head at all. The examples are too numerous to even get a good handle on, so I leave it to this one to wrap up on. Joe "the Bullet " Barberra on season 4 I believe , got so intent on demolition of a bathroom that he was unaware that after a while he was actually destroying the room next door. He just set himself on autopilot and swung the sledge hammer til nothing was in front of him. Frightening enough in itself, right? When the host got involved , it was because another of the contestants came near to demo material himself. If not for the host Joe would have just gone right through him , no kidding!!! It was like he was invisible and in Joes way.

 

[Digit]

We had a series entitled 'Britain's Worst DIYer' that raised a few laughs, one of the best was the guy who used a staple gun to hang some wall paper!

Roy.

 

[Fiddler]

A mate of mine fell off a ladder whilst using a grinderette; by the miracle of modern surgery he now has full use of his hand again. I also found this pic somewhere on the web, I hope it was a joke albeit a sick one

 

[mailee]

I learned my lesson many years ago using one of the Black and Decker saw attachments for a drill. The guard had always been stiff and didn't always return. So there I was trying to cut a piece of wood resting on a car ramp held down with my foot! :roll:
when the sawblade hit the car ramp it jumped back out of the cut straight onto my hand with the guard still in it's retracted position! The blade glanced across the base of my thumb and luckily only touched the bone but made a mess. I still have the scar and it tingles on cold days but I can still use it. It did make me buy a few books and learn how to use power tools correctly.

 

[studders]

Not just powertools. I almost removed my head when the, wrongly fitted, spring clamps came off a MacPherson strut just as I was removing the top plate. Still makes me shudder when I think of it.

 

[Fiddler]

Not just powertools. I almost removed my head when the, wrongly fitted, spring clamps came off a MacPherson strut just as I was removing the top plate. Still makes me shudder when I think of it.

Two of my colleagues lost their front teeth doing just the same thing!

 

[Unib]

I once saw a TV programme where someone managed to cut his whole hand off with a mitre saw - that takes some serious lack of concentration!

Worst thing I've managed to do (so far) is smash my front tooth my standing on the base of a folded ladder to see if the light had gone out in a boiler - once I put the weight on the bottom of the ladder in swung forward and hit me full on in the face. #-o

The light hadn't gone out in the boiler

 

[Hudson Carpentry]

Thankfully the worst I remember every doing is using an Impact driver to drive a screw into a floor when the screw slipped and the drivers tip still turning landed on my finger or thumb full belt that was holding the thing I was screwing down.

Regarding C/S's they have riving knifes (well decent ones do at least) so kick back isn't possible unless the knife is set wrong. They can catch and eject still. I often use mine freehand to follow a straight line. It can take twice as long to do some jobs if you have to keep clamping straight edges to the work piece.

 

[Benchwayze]

I often use mine freehand to follow a straight line. It can take twice as long to do some jobs if you have to keep clamping straight edges to the work piece.

I rest my case; albeit from the viewpoint of a man who doesn't have to fill out a work return at the end of the day!
I know the feeling Hud, so I hope it doesn't happen to thee.

My old Coronet Sawbench attachment (Now reposing under the bench in a dismantled state) has a good riving knife, but occasionally it kicked back. Fortunately on the occasions when it did so, the timber being ripped was heavy and it only ever numbed my arm a couple of times!