On Thu, 24 Mar 2011 16:13:03 -0500, -MIKE-
wrote:

On 3/24/11 3:55 PM, dpb wrote:
On 3/24/2011 3:41 PM, Robert Allison wrote:
...

I guess my safety practices has nothing to do with it. I use my table
saw almost every day. For decades. Safety is my main concern. I just
don't depend on those new fangled "safety" devices. I depend on my
attention and safe practices. Still have all ten fingers and toes and I
can say that I have never cut myself on a table saw. Cut myself with a
bandsaw once, though.

There's no point in it, but...

Agree Robert, and I'm (apparently) even older as I've "gotten by" for 50
years (altho not every day, still frequent and there were periods that
were scattered thru there).

I think the big problem w/ guys like Mike is they don't have that
experience

In my case that is incorrect.


and didn't (apparently) come from the time when such was the
norm that there weren't any such apparati at all, anyway, whether one
cared or not. Pre- the OSHA furor beginning in the 60s when I began,
there wasn't even a guard available for the TS from the manufacturer and
splitters were essentially unheard of except for a few commercial saws.

W/ the growing up that way, one learns a whole different skill set I
believe and that remains as times and technology...

There are places where they work well, sometimes they can be coped with,
other times they really are more a detriment than a help.

I don't have the bandwidth to see the particular setup but my gut guess
is it isn't terribly unsafe; it's only unconventional and therefore
judged on that basis as much or more than the actual facts.

Would it meet OSHA? Probably not...then again, I don't meet OSHA often
on farm work and don't feel I take any undue risks at all.

--

There are just as many old guys who grew up without antilock brakes,
airbag, seatbelts, power steering and all that new fanged stuff who
swear a model T is safer and easier to drive. :-)
Easier? NEVER. I know lots of guys who drove "T"s, and NONE would say
they were "easy" to drive compared to virtually anything built in the
last 70 years. And virtually none would say they were SAFER either.
2 wheel mechanical brakes on narrow "skidders" that would go flat if
they saw a thorn or a sharp stone within 50 yards, not to mention at
least 100 other things that routinely went wrong with them - like
bouncing off the road after hitting a pothole, dog, or hog, and
rolling over on their sides with little provocation (high center of
gravity and poor or non-existant "damping".

That's after you got it started without breaking a wrist or thumb.

They were, in many ways, better than a horse.