How about an 'I learnt from that' sticky?

[Shady]

Mike's 'boneheaded moments' thread elsewhere in here got me thinking. Might be nice to have a thread for honest discussion of those stupid moments for all our safety/amusement...

Two 'Starters for 10' from me:

The cheapo perform tablesaw blades (TCT tipped) from Axminster will safely cut through carcass screws without doing you any serious damage if you're lucky, despite the scary noise and urge to leap back in terror... :roll: This was a reminder that (a) safety glasses are an excellent idea at all times, and (b) never assume old bits of furniture are screw free when re-cycling them. In the event, there are no apparent chips/nicks in the perimeter of the saw, but the thought of a piece of steel/TCT/screw emerging at serious mph made me think a little.

On the same front, a portable circular saw will go through the MDF jaws of a workmate without you realising it. Just hope you're lucky like me, and when you lift off the work that you were cutting, the diagonal line running from one end of a workmate jaw to the other has missed the carriage bolts holding it to the chassis by, at the closest, about 3 mm... I don't reckon the blade would have cut through that lump of metal, and life would have got very exciting very quickly.

 

[cambournepete]

The cheapo perform tablesaw blades (TCT tipped) from Axminster will safely cut through carcass screws without doing you any serious damage if you're lucky, despite the scary noise and urge to leap back in terror... :roll:

Maybe, but if you cut through the screw lengthwise it does blunt the blade...

On the same front, a portable circular saw will go through the MDF jaws of a workmate without you realising it.

And through the top edge of a galvanised steel trailer (not to mention the tarpaulin cover)

Pete

 

[RogerS]

Yup...and yesterday I discovered that hedgetrimmers slice through the mains cable very effectively and that circuit breakers do what they are supposed to do.

Today I discovered that it's not a good idea to put the portable power planer down on top of the mains cable either when the planer is still running down after switching off and the metal guard is still open.

 

[Shady]

Did it make that really scary 'bang' Roger?? I did that one with a pair of insulated cutters once (and thank God they were) Scared me witless as I fused the entire house...

 

[Alf]

On the same front, a portable circular saw will go through the MDF jaws of a workmate without you realising it.

A long-standing denizen of The Porch famously sawed through a Workmutt* in similar fashion. Now he wouldn't have done that with a handsaw... :roll: :lol:

Cheers, Alf

*Good grief; the spellcheck wanted to correctly spell it as Workmate! 'S'trodinary.

 

[Philly]

Today whilst moving my dust extractor it caught on an offcut and tipped up, neatly severing the power cable. Whiz, Bang, Smoke, Lights out.... :shock:
Unplug it from the mains and reset the breaker-all is o.k. except for my underwear. I checked with the hospital, they should be alright for me to wear again in a few days........ :lol:
Thank goodness for fuses!
Philly

 

[Noel]

Re-profiling an edge on a plane iron using the Tormek, getting bored swinging the blade back and forth across the wheel, started day dreaming and looking out of the window, blade falls off the edge of the wheel, catches the side of the wheel and is somersaulted back over the bar into the tips of my fingers. Only a minor nick or two. Moral - stay awake when using motorised sharpening.
Off to watch lots of WRCs tomorrow, should be more fun...

Noel

 

[Chris Knight]

Doing what Noel did more or less but putting a lot of pressure on the blade. Slip off the edge and discover that Tormek wheels cut fingers just as effectively as chisels when used in this way.

 

[dedee]

It is the heat you know....

Managed to lose the adjustment bolt from the bath plug - option 1) remove bath panel & extract bolt from the u bend or 2) make a new bolt.

Option 2 seemed easier. M6 bolt required just need to file down the head and a couple of nuts. Easiest on the bench grinder I thought.

Did I mention it was over 40 degrees in the workshop? Too hot for a pair of plastic safety goggles for just a few minutes work.

Got the bolt head to size in a few minutes and started on the nuts. Managed to catch one of the nuts (attached to the bolt) on the wheel which forced it to jump back at the same time I heard something behind me drop to the floor - thought nothing of it sounded like a small off-cut fell off the bench. Carried on for a few minutes until the nuts were the right size then switched the grinder off. As it stopped I notice a chunk missing from the wheel about 3/4 inch long by a 1/4 deep - how it got passed me I do not know - perhaps next time I might just put on those safety goggles!

Andy

 

[Shady]

Blimey Andy - that is a scary one... I used to think that all the eye warnings on things like hammers and cold chisels were a bit OTT, but I've become increasingly conscious that I have tempted fate in the past.

I use stuff like these: very light and comfy compared to goggles, but they are a first line of defence...

http://www.axminster.co.uk/product.asp?pf_id=21419&name=safety glasses&sfile=1&jump=4

 

[Pete W]

All together now....

"There is no more important safety rule..."

 

[sxlalan]

...than to wear these...

 

[cambournepete]

...safety glasses.

:norm:

 

[mahking51]

...tap,tap...

 

[Philly]

LOL
Philly :lol:

 

[MikeW]

Not directly woodworking...but when the mrs. takes off for a beach holiday, one should remember to remove one's prescription safety glasses from the vehicle before she leaves...

It would have made for a more productive workday.

Oh well, I do have some reading glasses. Guess I'll spend the afternoon on the porch with some G&T reading and napping.

That way I won't have something really bad to report on the Boneheaded thread...

MikeW--still with all my fingers (but less one toe...)

 

[RogerS]

Modifying some trellis for the missus. Actually, quite nice stuff, planed, hardwood..not your usual naff Homebase stuff. Anyway, I digress. Cut one panel in half so need two new stiles.

Cut wood to length, need to run a groove all the way down to accept the trellis ends. So..router table and rather than use a 1/4" smallish cutter and do it in several passes, decide to stick in a fat 1/2" woodrat cutter. That cutter is LONG and sticks up above the table. So only problem is that the minimum cutting depth I can do is about 12mm. Not to worry. Ho hum.

Start feeding in wood and all goes OK with stile #1. Getting cocky, start feeding in stile #2, not enough downard pressure, bit catches a tough bit...result one flying projectile ..fast..across the workshop. Lucky I was only using the baby Ryobi. Think the Makita 1/2" router would have sent it through the wall.

 

[mudman]

When drilling pen blanks. Make sure that the drill bit you put into the drill is the 7mm bit you took out for the purpose and not the 9mm one you carelessly left lying by the side of the drill. #-o
Took a bit of wondering why the hole was so big before it twigged.