On Mon, 20 Sep 2010 17:28:02 -0500, "Leon"
wrote:


"Doug Miller" wrote in message
...
..subtitled, Thank God For Faceshields.

This story starts, as do most stories of accidents, with a poor choice on
my
part: trying to make a miter cut with a chop saw on a piece that, in
retrospect, was really too small to try to hold with my free hand. I
should've
used a clamp.

Apparently, it shifted a bit when the saw blade hit it, and the blade
grabbed
it out of my fingers and -- somehow -- threw it *toward* me. At about
mouth
level. Right into the faceshield, so hard that _it knocked it off my
head_.

I'm basically unhurt: my left thumb has a minor bruise from the workpiece
being wrenched out of my hand, I have superficial cuts on two knuckles
from
sharp edges on the wood, and another bruise on my left pec where the wood
hit
after bouncing off the faceshield. Still haven't found where it went after
that...

Lessons:
1. Clamp small workpieces.
2. Wood sometimes can be ejected in unexpected directions.
3. Clamp small workpieces.
4. Respect the power of a kickback.
5. Clamp small workpieces.

And, last but not least... if you've been around this ng for any length of
time, you've heard me say this befo You have other things on your face
besides your eyes that are worth protecting! That's not the only reason I
use
a faceshield instead of goggles -- but it's the only one that's on my mind
right now.

Just one of the reasons I don't use a miter saw in the shop any more. A
face shield does not cover everything,;~) I have been hit in the arms and
stomach and that too makes you stop and think about what you are doing. I
find that holding small parts with your hand is a dangerious proposition. I
typically will cut every thing on the TS or BS these days and will use a
pencil erasor to hold the small parts.

Small parts can be held with brads, hotglue, double-sided tape, toggle
clamps, and pencils. If I ever attack a blade with a small part in my
hand, it's held very loosely. If the part catches, it goes into the
blade -without- my finner, thankyouverymuch.

--
Some people hear voices. Some see invisible people.
Others have no imagination whatsoever.