What's the most stupid thing you've done in woodworking?

[Spectric]

Hi

Safety is a huge subject that has several interpretations depending on whether you are in the regulatory bodies, legal side, engineering or just joe public but from an engineering perspective you cannot say to any official, sorry they lost a limb due to an accident, there will be a reason and someone will be responsible even if it is the limbless person. It is unfortunate that many people believe that accidents are just due to bad luck or an unfortunate chance but the vast majority of injuries that occur at work and elsewhere are completely preventable and is the mindset that people need to adopt. It is a shame that HSE does not cover all machinery whether a place of employment or home workshop. Another issue with the home workshop is that all safety is down to yourself, there is no one else to yell at you if you try and do something stupid. With a clear safety mindset you do not just do something in your workshop, you go through a mental process of is what I am about to do likely to result in injury, ie because the light levels are poor, the work area is cluttered, I had a late night, and am I wearing suitable PPE.

Simple analogy I was taught in safety courses was that if you are walking down the road and you get cremated by a lightening strike then that is an accident but if you are on a golf course playing golf and get cremated then it is not an accident because you cannot do anything about the lightening strike but you did not have to be on that golf course during a storm waving a golf club around, and so is your fault.

 

[Max Power]

Carrying a large red hot steel tyre from the fire to the carriage wheel and it slipped landing on my leg.

 

[Bm101]

View attachment 96410
Here's mine!

Ok. How?!?

 

[Trevanion]

Ok. How?!?

Sometimes, when all you've got is a nail, everything looks like a bit of wood.

 

[billw]

Simple analogy I was taught in safety courses was that if you are walking down the road and you get cremated by a lightening strike then that is an accident but if you are on a golf course playing golf and get cremated then it is not an accident because you cannot do anything about the lightening strike but you did not have to be on that golf course during a storm waving a golf club around, and so is your fault.

That’s interesting because in neither example should a person have been outside because there’s a chance of getting hit by lightning, which doesn’t come out of nowhere as there needs to be the right meteorological conditions.

so where is the line?

 

[sometimewoodworker]

It is a shame that HSE does not cover all machinery whether a place of employment or home workshop.

Sorry but I disagree vehemently with the idea that you should extend the remit of HSE outside the workplace. In a workplace the workers do not have a choice or responsibility (in general) for the tools and the role of HSE is needed.
in the home you have the responsibility and ability to control your environment. HSE can provide education but not control. It’s not the job of the state to stop Darwin

 

[sometimewoodworker]

Simple analogy I was taught in safety courses was that if you are walking down the road and you get cremated by a lightening strike then that is an accident but if you are on a golf course playing golf and get cremated then it is not an accident because you cannot do anything about the lightening strike but you did not have to be on that golf course during a storm waving a golf club around, and so is your fault.

In both cases the charred body is at fault, more if they were a numpty on a golf course and didn’t use the lightning shelters, but they were both out in a lightning storm. But in neither case are they totally at fault, people can’t be expected to hide every time there is lightning unless the risks are known to be high (in the case of golf as I mentioned high risk courses have lightning shelters).

 

[NewbieRaf]

My god I have Many but I’m actually having one right now. I’ll probably post a quick vid as it’s easier to explain but essentially I can’t work this Dewalt
Cordless Vac haha. It’s a DCV584L with a quick connector on the end of the hose. I can seem to work out how to attach a normal crevice tool for example.

I’ll post a vid later today - silly
Old me

 

[Doug B]

really, I have several older Axminster white machines, aimed at professionals (I am not) and I have found them to be solid machines?

My problems were nothing to do with the solidity of the machines infact one was very heavy but the casting was garbage, one machine was so inaccurate it was a joke & one from there industrial range obviously designed for companies & large businesses which took 18 weeks to get a spare part for, not ideal when your income is dependent on it.
I’m not alone in my impressions of Axminster’s own brand & know many professional woodwrokers who now would not touch the brand.

 

[HamsterJam]

When I was about eight, I was attempting one of my first woodwork projects which was making a box to house a crystal set I had just built.
I was cutting a mitre down the left hand end of a piece of wood to make one of the corners. Being young and knowing nothing about woodwork, I was cutting it freehand using my dads tenon saw.
The waste broke and the saw jumped out of the cut and onto the bare knuckles of my left hand which was holding the wood below the cut.
Think that is my only ever trip to A&E.

 

[HamsterJam]

With a clear safety mindset you do not just do something in your workshop, you go through a mental process of is what I am about to do likely to result in injury, ie because the light levels are poor, the work area is cluttered, I had a late night, and am I wearing suitable PPE.
.

I work in engineering and we have a strong safety culture.
This includes conducting ‘dynamic risk assessments’ which is what you are alluding to above.
Before each task we are asked to take a couple of minutes to consider what we are about to do, what could go wrong, the likely consequences and how to reduce the likelihood or severity of that happening.

 

[Spectric]

Sorry but I disagree vehemently with the idea that you should extend the remit of HSE outside the workplace. In a workplace the workers do not have a choice or responsibility (in general) for the tools and the role of HSE is needed.

If the HSE had more involvement then the manufacturers would have to up their game and not produce shoddy goods because they know they are being used in a home enviroment. We all know that cheap tools can bit back, think of cheap spanners that suddenly let go and you run around cursing holding your sore knuckles!

In the workplace anybody has the right to refuse to use a machine or perform a task if they deem it as unsafe, one of the key components of safety is that it is the responsibility of both the employer and employee. I will also add that in some cases our safety culture has closed UK business and sent it overseas where they are more relaxed, probably more like we were during the industrial revolution.

 

[sometimewoodworker]

I will also add that in some cases our safety culture has closed UK business and sent it overseas where they are more relaxed, probably more like we were during the industrial revolution.

Like this?



NB This is a couple of years ago so the masks have nothing to do with the current situation.

 

[sometimewoodworker]

If the HSE had more involvement then the manufacturers would have to up their game and not produce shoddy goods because they know they are being used in a home enviroment.

Wrong agency, wrong reasons, wrong to try to expand the responsibility.

Yes RETAILERS should be held responsible for the products they sell.
No manufacturing companies unless they sell direct should not. The manufacturing companies are building to a price/specification. The retailer is specifying that cheap c**p quality.

The manufacturing companies are almost all in China and are perfectly capable of building top quality products but the cheap a*r*s*e*d consumer wants everything and to pay nothing, so the same factory builds down to the price. So all the quality and precision that can be done is out the window to build something “carp”

So take responsibility for buying “carp” and stop trying to make your choices somebody else’s job.

 

[Andy Kev.]

Cutting dovetails and cut out the tails instead of the waste.

So it's not just me then!

Having done that, I preceded to mark and make the corresponding cut on what was supposed to have been the the tail board. Then I glued the two pieces up and cut the boards down to about 4". The resulting right-angled bit of joinery has served as a reminder and a doorstop for my workshop door ever since.

 

[TRITON]

Not woodworking, metal machinery, A metal shaper. Has an arm moves rapidly back and forward, and i was 15 at the time.
Due to the college lecturers having a card school, we were unsupervised and there was no brush(nor guards) and instead of going and getting a brush, I swept away the the metal shavings with my hand.
Worked a couple of times, but metal passing metal doesnt leave room for fingers and my index finger on my right hand(im left handed) filled the gap so off came the end. Boy I must have screamed the place down I 'pinched off the fleshy bit below the finger nail from the tip to the first joint.
26 stitches and its a pretty funny shape now.
The lecturers must have spun a convincing story about how it could have happened, no doubt blaming me, aged 15 with 10 minutes instruction on using industrial metal working machinery as there was no inquiry or anything, certainly no compensation.
But it did provide a very valuable lesson about the dangers of machinery, in that I approach every machine till now with extreme respect. Not frightened of them, just make sure across all circumstances that I'm doing everything HSE would prefer you did. Where to best stand, how to best feed, blade selection, no 'quick' methods or shortcuts.
All in all i was lucky, it could have been all my fingers or half my hand.

 

[porker]

Scariest thing I did was grabbing hold of a moving drill chuck on my Bridgeport mill. The chuck was keyless and when spinning it is very difficult to tell that it is spinning. No excuse however as the power was on so obviously the machine was running. I grabbed it with my hand as if to put a bit in the chuck. Luckily my reflex to let go was quick with no damage but it really shook me.
A simple lapse of concentration is all it takes.

 

[stuartpaul]

View attachment 96410
Here's mine!

Kudos for taking a photo at the appropriate time! Would probably be the last thing on my mind in similar situation.

 

[Peri]

Forgot to set the Z height on the CNC mill.
Who knew you could punch a 10mm drill bit straight through 13mm ali plate?



I know it's not woodworking - but it's in the spirit of the thread !

 

[pe2dave]

Take a tube (plastic my case) 3" diameter. Try to cut a slice off it with the bandsaw...
and watch the tube shoot across the workshop as the saw blade bites!