"Jay Windley" wrote in message
...
Even though I'm just an amateur, I've tried to condition myself to the
basic rules such as turning off and disarming equipment and letting it
come to a stop before reaching
near the moving parts. ....

Sounds like as an amature, you have developed the right kind of respect.
Don't let the fear fade too much as it did with me a few years ago. I was
cutting some small pieces for spacers on my table saw. I turned the saw off
and as I was walking away, realized I had left some of them on the table. I
absent-mindedly reached over to retrieve them and heard "tink-tink-tink" as
the blade was being stopped by my right index finger. I was very, very
lucky. In spite of the bloody towel and not having enought good meat to
stitch, it was fairly superficial and healed in a month or two.

I try to think of how stupid I'm going to look sitting in the emergency
room with a bloody towel around my hand.

Oh, it is better than that. As we sat in the emergency room my wife
commented "Didn't you tell me a couple of weeks ago how well you were doing?
30 years of power tools and no significant injuries!" (Grrrrr!)

Also, it was neat when I walked into work Monday with the big wad gauze and
metal brace. So far it has taken 3 years to live it down.