This reminds me of a movie they showed in every shop class I had taken.
IIRC it was called the ABS's of Hand Tools produced by GM. It featured a
little cartoon caveman named Primitive Pete. The narrator would say
something like "Don't do it that way Pete, you could smash your knuckles!"
and sure enough the tool would slip and ol' Pete would be screaming.

My Junior High wood shop teacher would explain that if a blade was spinning
at 1750 RPM and the blade had 80 teeth that would be 2333 teeth per second
so if you only tapped your finger on the blade for one second and each sharp
edge only shaved .001" inches of flesh or bone you would be all the way
through a 1/2 inch finger in less than a 1/4 second. Then he would show the
pictures of wounds and say this guy was fast, but not fast enough.

Junior High shop was 1973 and I still remember this. I can also attest to
the fact that setting the blade only high enough has saved two of my
fingertips.

--

Roger Shoaf

About the time I had mastered getting the toothpaste back in the tube, then
they come up with this striped stuff.
"Glen" wrote in message
ink.net...
I just thought I would post a reminder to my rec. friends to think about
safety. As some of you know I teach HS woodshop (greatest job in the
world!). Our school is one of a decreasing number of schools in SoCal
that have an outstanding voc. ed. program. We have (had) two wood
teachers. Yesterday afternoon the other teacher was working in the shop
cutting some stock for the new term. He is a nice guy but is somewhat
complacent in his personal concern for safety. I have mentioned it to
him a few times, but his answer was always something like, "I know this
isn't the best way, but I'm in a hurry. Besides, I know what I'm doing."
Well, to make a long story short, he was ripping a short board
(wider than long), guard removed and no pushstick. The board kicked
back and his right hand continued forward into the blade. He lost about
3/4 to an inch of his middle finger (can't be reattached) and about two
inches of his pointer. The did reattach it, but they are doubtful about
if it will keep.

Here is a guy, experienced, but over confident who will have a long time
to think about safety every time he looks at his hand. Please, guys, as
I tell my kids, never rush. Be safe!

Glen