Domino Safety

[Birdhunter]

I almost nailed my hand yesterday using (misusing) my Domino and wanted to share what I learned.

I was cutting a series of mortises into the narrow edge of 3/4" boards using a #5 cutter set at 20mm. The boards were 1 1/2" across. I positioned the Domino on each pencil mark and, holding the board against the Domino face with my free hand, cut the mortise.

No problem.

I then had to cut a series of mortises at a depth of 40mm into some 3/4 by 2" boards using the same technique.

No problem.

I realized I had missed cutting a mortise with the 20mm setting.

I grabbed the board with the missing mortise, held the Domino on the pencil mark and the wood against the Domino fence with my free hand. Just before I started plunging the Domino, I realized the cutter would be below the wood and, potentially, hitting the hand holding the board. I had not reset the fence from 40mm to 20mm.

I put the Domino and the board down on the MFT, walked out of the shop, and thought about how my sloppy technique almost cost me a trip to the emergency room.

I'm exposing my dumbness in the hope that no one repeats my mistake and hurts themselves.

 

[sancho57]

That isnt dumbness buddy. You are not alone and  have no idea what Ive done . Im just happy nothing happened to ou

 

[grbmds]

No matter how I try I still do some stupid things. I have been very lucky, though, and each time something happens I try to learn from it.

 

[Rick Christopherson]

I'm not one of those "safety czars" that wigs out if I hear someone doing something a little dangerous, but holding the workpiece like that is really a habit you should break. It is one thing to hold the workpiece like that after much forethought, but it is another for it to be such a habit that you don't pause to think about it first.

There is an unnamed member here, I'll just call him the "hyphenated-man" [big grin], that shows this quite often in his videos. It's not a good habit to be in.

I always giggle when I have to type his name, because it is a hyphenated first name and a hyphenated last name.

 

[Birdhunter]

I think I made it very clear that I was dumb to have used an unsafe method of using the Domino. I don't expect to never make a dumb mistake. I do expect to not repeat one.