Fingers as featherboard?

ChuckM

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The saw used wasn't a SawStop. Even if it were.... [scared]

Imagine the scene if a kickback happened.
 

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ChuckS said:
Imagine the scene if a kickback happened.
Easy to imagine. The "featherboard" is pushing right into the back of the blade. But not to worry, there are still two finger left.
 
Well, probably the former owner would learn a new word: "kickback".

I think what we really need is a good quality wood shop safety video channel which will go systematically over the various tools and various safety risks associated with them. Maybe some gov can even fund that.

Maybe a topic for dedicated video series by SedgeTool ?

In the old times with no tube, people would ask friends/local hobbyists on how to use the "big" tools. They all heard the stumpy stories so wer scared. These folks would transfer the basic safety advice as one of the first points of discussion. No allways the correct advice, but one the often got from someone a decade ago, not always the personal experience.

With the new tube culture, safety is not selling. So it is skipped in the interest of maximizing the channel revenue. So we have now thousands if not millions of people who watched hundreds of hours of videos, feel like they KNOW while having absolutely no clue of the risks.

What is worse, with today safety features built into the tools, the people are usually fine until s**t hits the fan so they think all is dandy.

I had a speech last year in our community shop about kickback and how I do not want us procuring a TS given most folks are not really qualified to run it safely.
Spoke how you can have pieces of wood flying across the shop in no time and how you simply cannot just stop 5 pounds of steel moving at 5000 rpm no matter how much you try.

I won the argument thanks to knowing stuff from peter Parfit and the folks. But it was not easy. There was more than one comment about "how those folks who earn a living do it differently on the tube"...
 
Jonathan Katz-Moses recently did a slow-mo safety video about kickback in a table saw and went to the extent of getting a ballistics-gel dummy as a stand in.

Stumpy Nubs talks shop safety occasionally as well.

I don't spend the number of hours on YouTube as my brother does, so I haven't watched all of their videos or even many videos on YouTube, but it's not like the videos and information aren't out there.

And Stumpy Nubs and J K-M aren't necessarily obscure, either.

I think the other issue is that you used to have to purchase these tools in person and had the opportunity for a speech or training offer at the point of sale.  Now I can buy a bandsaw online with a credit card and never have to interact with a human being other than the delivery driver.

I was fortunate to have a band director growing up who had survived a table saw accident and had the mangled hand to prove it.  It wasn't something he talked about very much, since he wasn't teaching a shop class, but it still came up from time to time.

Even so, I think the home hobby user is probably safer in the United States than the average site worker.  I'm still trying to figure out who decided that a knee and bare hand were the best clamping mechanism for a free-hand circular saw cut on dimensional lumber...
 
I have shop made push sticks made from 3/4" thick plywood, mdf or particleboard (whatever is handy).  It has small tab at the rear to push the stock and it is about 12" long to apply pressure down to prevent kick up.

When I am using that, I will sometimes assist my magnetic feather board with my hand pressure.

This is similar to what I make (but mine are simpler in design).  I will post a photo when I get home.

making-a-push-stick%20(5).jpg
 
squall_line said:
Snip.

I don't spend the number of hours on YouTube as my brother does, so I haven't watched all of their videos or even many videos on YouTube, but it's not like the videos and information aren't out there.

Snip.
Roughly, I'd say in 50% or more of the YouTube videos that I watch, I can spot some unsafe shop practices. More so when the user is seen at the table saw; no wonder table saw injuries account for the most # of serious accidents for woodworkers. Here is an example I came across this morning, making crosscuts with the saw fence as a stop:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?t=264&v=Du6AIWrlt7s&feature=youtu.be

Another common mistake seen made by YouTubers is the act of picking up or removing an offcut while the blade is coasting down. (To the credit of the woodworker whose hand is shown below, he shared his moment of lapse, and pointed out that even though he was using a SawStop, that was a stupid move.)
 

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