Folks -

Well, good safety habits pay off. Tonight I have been working on a small
lap tray and a keepsake box - both of them have mitered corners that I've
been cutting on the tablesaw sled.

I was cutting the last section of surround for the lap tray out of black
walnut. The saw sled that I built has an inverted "U" plastic guard, about
3" wide, that runs the depth of the sled, above the blade path. I usually
wear a face shield as well. Anyway, I was trimming the end of the board and
heard this LOUD pop and felt my right hand sting - nothing serious... I
turned off the saw to see WTF happened and somehow the offcut of walnut had
ricocheted off of the side of the plastic blade guard, breaking about 9"
off - the plastic knicked the knuckle of my index finger at the first joint.
I was VERY suprised that it had that much force - the offcut was only
slightly larger than about a 2" chunk of pencil in size.

Each of my hands were well away from the path of the cut. I can't see how
this upset could have been prevented, short of using a backsaw and doing it
by hand. So, accidents DO happen - don your safety gear, especially for
that "one little cut".

John Moorhead

John Moorhead wrote:

by hand. So, accidents DO happen - don your safety gear, especially for
that "one little cut".

Same thing goes for that one time you're tempted to fire up the DP and drill
one li'l ol' hole without finding your eyes.

Getting that sick "I shouldn't be doing this" feeling when you're about to
hit the switch is a GOOD sign.

--
Michael McIntyre ---- Silvan
Linux fanatic, and certified Geek; registered Linux user #243621
http://www.geocities.com/Paris/Rue/5407/
http://rosegarden.sourceforge.net/tutorial/

One good thing about living in the sunbelt is you get in the habit of having
your sunglasses on a "croakie". Mine are ANSI Z.87.1/CSA Z.94.3
I slip them on whenever I get that queezy feeling about anything anyone is
doing and certainly anytime I am doing any thing that could loose a projectile
(drilling, sawing. hammering or even squeezing something with pliers).

Silvan wrote:

John Moorhead wrote:



by hand. So, accidents DO happen - don your safety gear, especially for
that "one little cut".



Same thing goes for that one time you're tempted to fire up the DP and drill
one li'l ol' hole without finding your eyes.

Getting that sick "I shouldn't be doing this" feeling when you're about to
hit the switch is a GOOD sign.



I guess that's one advantage of needing prescription glasses.. Have the
safety glasses on at all times in the shop or else I wouldn't see anything.

Rick

In article , RKG wrote:

I guess that's one advantage of needing prescription glasses.. Have the
safety glasses on at all times in the shop or else I wouldn't see anything.

Those won't protect your eyes from everything that might come flying at you.
And there are other things on your face worth protecting besides your eyes.
Teeth, for instance. That's why I use a full-face shield.

Oh, one more thing... please turn off the HTML in your newsreader before
posting again.

--
Regards,
Doug Miller (alphageek-at-milmac-dot-com)

Get a copy of my NEW AND IMPROVED TrollFilter for NewsProxy/Nfilter
by sending email to autoresponder at filterinfo-at-milmac-dot-com
You must use your REAL email address to get a response.

Doug Miller wrote:

Those won't protect your eyes from everything that might come flying at
you. And there are other thingopthalmologyace worth protecting besides
your
eyes. Teeth, for instance. That's why I use a full-face shield.

I don't always use a full face shield, but I do whenever there's a high
airborn content. On the lathe, say, or certain operations that spew
rooster tails of dust off the TS.

Safety glasses will *not* protect you all the time, and regular prescription
glasses especially not. Last time I went to the ophthalmologist to deal
with a scratched cornea (the second time) it was over some piece of debris
the weed eater kicked up under my big oversized bugeye safety glasses.
(The first time was a low branch on a pine tree when I went after a lost
baseball as a boy.) Face shields are good. I wish I had discovered them
sooner.

--
Michael McIntyre ---- Silvan
Linux fanatic, and certified Geek; registered Linux user #243621
http://www.geocities.com/Paris/Rue/5407/
http://rosegarden.sourceforge.net/tutorial/

I think non-off us realize how dangerous kick-back really can be. This
was just a piece of cutoff that found its way over the top of the
blade. Trust me, that blade can toss several board feet at the same
velocity, given a chance.

I recall reading one of the wood mags saying how this month one of
their usual contributing editors was not contributing as she recovered
from the two fingers she was now missing due to some kick back. I don't
know how many times I had piece with some tension in the wood start to
close up on the back side of the TS blade and start to lift and
chatter. That's whene I remind myself I really should get a splitter
and I move my head a bit tho the left.

BW

On Fri, 17 Dec 2004 04:37:11 GMT, "John Moorhead"
wrote:

Folks -

Well, good safety habits pay off. Tonight I have been working on a small
lap tray and a keepsake box - both of them have mitered corners that I've
been cutting on the tablesaw sled.

I was cutting the last section of surround for the lap tray out of black
walnut. The saw sled that I built has an inverted "U" plastic guard, about
3" wide, that runs the depth of the sled, above the blade path. I usually
wear a face shield as well. Anyway, I was trimming the end of the board and
heard this LOUD pop and felt my right hand sting - nothing serious... I
turned off the saw to see WTF happened and somehow the offcut of walnut had
ricocheted off of the side of the plastic blade guard, breaking about 9"
off - the plastic knicked the knuckle of my index finger at the first joint.
I was VERY suprised that it had that much force - the offcut was only
slightly larger than about a 2" chunk of pencil in size.

While I agree that taking as many safety precautions as reasonable is
the way to go, it sounds like this is one of those rare situations
where your safety precautions made the situation *worse* rather than a
shining example of why you should always take them. It sounds to me
like the off cut got wedged between the blade and guard somehow and
then ejected. Pieces just don't come flying off a crosscut at high
velocity unless there's some binding somewhere. If the guard isn't
there that doesn't happen. And even if it wasn't caused by the guard,
if the guard isn't there it gets launched harmlessly off to the side.
And if you had one finger or a clamp holding down the off cut it never
gets off the sled in the first place. Those little pieces can get
themselves into all sorts of places if you let them flop around.

I have one sled for cutting 3/4" material, what I work with the vast
majority of the time, that has a lip at the front that the work piece
slips under. I don't even have to touch it to keep it where it
belongs, but with my hand on there it's held in place on all 4 sides,
and I can't get it out without waiting for the blade to stop.


-Leuf

RKG wrote:


I guess that's one advantage of needing prescription glasses.. Have
the
safety glasses on at all times in the shop or else I wouldn't see
anything.


There are safety glasses and there are safety glasses. When I worked
in a lab we were being constantly reminded that the safety glasses
sold to consumers did NOT meet the OSHA safety specs for what we
were doing. Still, 'ordinary' safety glasses will probably be better
than nothing in most woodworking situations. I generally use a face
shield.

Moreover I have never found any optician dealing in ordinary consumer
glasses who acknowledged that any such difference in OSHA vs
consumer safety standards existed. Maybe they no longer exist, it
has been a long time since I worked in a lab.

Once at Pearle the salesidiots told me they offered quartz lenses.
After a bit of inquiry it became clear that they were talking about
polycarbonate lenses. Their sales literature said that polycarbonate
was the material used for the tranparent cover (what do they call
that?)
on Seiko quartx watches. A classic example of confabulation.
--

FF

I think non-off us realize how dangerous kick-back really can be. This
was just a piece of cutoff that found its way over the top of the
blade. Trust me, that blade can toss several board feet at the same
velocity, given a chance.

I recall reading one of the wood mags saying how this month one of
their usual contributing editors was not contributing as she recovered
from the two fingers she was now missing due to some kick back. I don't
know how many times I had piece with some tension in the wood start to
close up on the back side of the TS blade and start to lift and
chatter. That's whene I remind myself I really should get a splitter
and I move my head a bit tho the left.

wrote:

RKG wrote:


I guess that's one advantage of needing prescription glasses.. Have


the


safety glasses on at all times in the shop or else I wouldn't see


anything.



There are safety glasses and there are safety glasses. When I worked
in a lab we were being constantly reminded that the safety glasses
sold to consumers did NOT meet the OSHA safety specs for what we
were doing. Still, 'ordinary' safety glasses will probably be better
than nothing in most woodworking situations. I generally use a face
shield.

Moreover I have never found any optician dealing in ordinary consumer
glasses who acknowledged that any such difference in OSHA vs
consumer safety standards existed. Maybe they no longer exist, it
has been a long time since I worked in a lab.

Once at Pearle the salesidiots told me they offered quartz lenses.
After a bit of inquiry it became clear that they were talking about
polycarbonate lenses. Their sales literature said that polycarbonate
was the material used for the tranparent cover (what do they call
that?)
on Seiko quartx watches. A classic example of confabulation.


Got these at work about a month before I retired, they meet all the
safety standards including side shields which on these are removeable,
I don't really like them but have had a small piece of wire from someone
else bounce off them while at work so they stay on.

Rick

When I worked
in a lab we were being constantly reminded that the safety glasses
sold to consumers did NOT meet the OSHA safety specs

My wife is a builder. (about as close as it gets to what we do here)
When the OSHA man shows up on a job site he wants to see Z 87.1 stamped or
molded on safety glasses. That will stop a 1/4" steel ball coming at 150 FPS It
must provide frontal and side protection.
Other activities (acids, chemicals, welding etc) may require more extensive
protection.

As an electrical inspector I choose non-conductive (all plastic) Crews glasses
that also provide UV-a, UV-b and IR protection.
If you buy them by the box they are pretty cheap (~$5) and my eye doctor gives
them a good lack of optical distortion rating.

On Fri, 17 Dec 2004 19:54:56 GMT, Leuf
wrote:
snip
While I agree that taking as many safety precautions as reasonable is
the way to go, it sounds like this is one of those rare situations
where your safety precautions made the situation *worse* rather than a
shining example of why you should always take them. It sounds to me
like the off cut got wedged between the blade and guard somehow and
then ejected. Pieces just don't come flying off a crosscut at high
velocity unless there's some binding somewhere. If the guard isn't
there that doesn't happen. And even if it wasn't caused by the guard,
if the guard isn't there it gets launched harmlessly off to the side.
And if you had one finger or a clamp holding down the off cut it never
gets off the sled in the first place. Those little pieces can get
themselves into all sorts of places if you let them flop around.

for sure.. seems like someone here mentioned cutting wedges or
something and one got sucked into the DC hood...
They weren't using a cyclone and the piece hit the DC impeller..

After reading that, I built a cyclone for my 2 day old DC..lol

Leuf -

The offcut didn't get wedged - at less than 2" long, it wasn't long enough
to jam between the crosscut table and the guard - appx 4"... As for
clamping the offcut - it was less than 1/2" wide - don't see how I could
have done it... a more substantial piece, yes...That sucker sure did zing
somewhere though...

As for the solution being worse than the cure, I'll take my chances with
guards, clamps and face shields.

John



"Leuf" wrote in message
...
On Fri, 17 Dec 2004 04:37:11 GMT, "John Moorhead"
wrote:

Folks -

Well, good safety habits pay off. Tonight I have been working on a small
lap tray and a keepsake box - both of them have mitered corners that I've
been cutting on the tablesaw sled.

I was cutting the last section of surround for the lap tray out of black
walnut. The saw sled that I built has an inverted "U" plastic guard,
about
3" wide, that runs the depth of the sled, above the blade path. I usually
wear a face shield as well. Anyway, I was trimming the end of the board
and
heard this LOUD pop and felt my right hand sting - nothing serious... I
turned off the saw to see WTF happened and somehow the offcut of walnut
had
ricocheted off of the side of the plastic blade guard, breaking about 9"
off - the plastic knicked the knuckle of my index finger at the first
joint.
I was VERY suprised that it had that much force - the offcut was only
slightly larger than about a 2" chunk of pencil in size.

While I agree that taking as many safety precautions as reasonable is
the way to go, it sounds like this is one of those rare situations
where your safety precautions made the situation *worse* rather than a
shining example of why you should always take them. It sounds to me
like the off cut got wedged between the blade and guard somehow and
then ejected. Pieces just don't come flying off a crosscut at high
velocity unless there's some binding somewhere. If the guard isn't
there that doesn't happen. And even if it wasn't caused by the guard,
if the guard isn't there it gets launched harmlessly off to the side.
And if you had one finger or a clamp holding down the off cut it never
gets off the sled in the first place. Those little pieces can get
themselves into all sorts of places if you let them flop around.

I have one sled for cutting 3/4" material, what I work with the vast
majority of the time, that has a lip at the front that the work piece
slips under. I don't even have to touch it to keep it where it
belongs, but with my hand on there it's held in place on all 4 sides,
and I can't get it out without waiting for the blade to stop.


-Leuf