Woodworking

[SAUTO]

I took wood in jr high too, ended up making a cutting board lol.

I made a couple hammers in metal working that I still use today.

[TimBone]

Originally Posted by JASONSAUTO

I took wood in jr high too, ended up making a cutting board lol.

I made a couple hammers in metal working that I still use today.

I'm from Texas, so our final project was a Texas shaped birdhouse. I think they should have let us make whatever we wanted to demonstrate the skills we learned up to that point.

We made some cool shit throughout the year, though. Cameras out of quaker oat boxes, wooden racecars powered by c02 cartridges, and rockets that actually shot into ths sky.

[TimBone]

Originally Posted by JASONSAUTO

I took wood in jr high too, ended up making a cutting board lol.

I made a couple hammers in metal working that I still use today.

Amd that part about the hammers is really cool. You ought to stash one away, to ensure that it lasts. Let one of your kids use it as an adult and tell them where it came from.

[SAUTO]

Originally Posted by TimBone

Amd that part about the hammers is really cool. You ought to stash one away, to ensure that it lasts. Let one of your kids use it as an adult and tell them where it came from.

My son already has the first, smallest, one in his tool box.

[TimBone]

Originally Posted by JASONSAUTO

My son already has the first, smallest, one in his tool box.

That's really awesome.

[SAUTO]

Originally Posted by TimBone

That's really awesome.

Right up until he pounds in someone's fender with it lol. He's only 4 and always wants to help.

I have to watch him in the shop. Lately he takes his little section and uses oil dry to build monster truck ramps.

[KCrockaholic]

Do we have any contractors on here who work with home repairs or installs?

[Bugeater]

Table saws freak me out too.

That wood sure finished out nicely, Ed.

[HemiEd]

Originally Posted by Bugeater

Table saws freak me out too.

That wood sure finished out nicely, Ed.

The blade is stable on a table saw, but moving on a compound miter saw. Table saws should be the safest

Thanks Bug, I had one short board left over after the one I built for my wife's sister out of 120 boards I bought. I have to order more wood so it can be curing for next winter.

[Bugeater]

Originally Posted by HemiEd

The blade is stable on a table saw, but moving on a compound miter saw. Table saws should be the safest

Thanks Bug, I had one short board left over after the one I built for my wife's sister out of 120 boards I bought. I have to order more wood so it can be curing for next winter.

My fear goes back to high school woodshop when I was cutting a top for a nightstand on a table saw, and the saw grabbed the piece out of my hand and shot it across the shop. Still to this day don't know what I did to make it do that, but that machine earned my full respect that day.

[HemiEd]

Originally Posted by Bugeater

My fear goes back to high school woodshop when I was cutting a top for a nightstand on a table saw, and the saw grabbed the piece out of my hand and shot it across the shop. Still to this day don't know what I did to make it do that, but that machine earned my full respect that day.

That stuff kind of keeps it from getting boring. I have stopped a couple of my saws lately and you just stay out of the way. Run and hide.

The scary part on the table saw for me is using my dado blades like i used to make these shelves. You are cutting out a very wide path and it whirrs pretty loud. You are also at the limits of the shaft width.

[DJ's left nut]

Originally Posted by Bugeater

My fear goes back to high school woodshop when I was cutting a top for a nightstand on a table saw, and the saw grabbed the piece out of my hand and shot it across the shop. Still to this day don't know what I did to make it do that, but that machine earned my full respect that day.

Kickback.

My guess is that your workpiece was just a little too wide for it's length. When that happens, the backside of the cut can 'grab' at the tooth and the front of the workpiece doesn't have the leverage to hold it down anymore. So it walks up the blade and the blade, because it's spinning towards you, rockets it at you.

The big BIG problem with kickback is your right hand and its tendency to follow the workpiece. When a piece kicks like that (as opposed to a bind that's easy to deal with), it goes up, left and then back...when your hand does that as well, it goes up, left and then into the ****ing blade. That's why you always use a push-stick; that way the piece runs off the push stick and your hand doesn't follow. A push block helps even more.

So, some easy fixes for it and the easiest is a simple splitter. Microjig makes universal ones that go on older saws and work great. Newer saws have what are called riving knives that do the same thing. Kickback paws also exist but I hate them; they grab when you don't want them to.

But you're right, man. Kickback is terrifying. I was building some drawer bottoms with 1/2 ply. Since it was completely square, it was a kickback waiting to happen (like I said, wide and short is a recipe for disaster). I got through about 6 and at about 1 AM one of those things fired back at me. I tried to save it with my left hand around the back of the blade (because I saw it hop first) and all it did was fire into the top of my left hand and sheer some skin off before hitting me in the hip. Took me about 10 minutes to get my heart rate back under control but by God, I was finishing those ****ing drawers....

So a couple of my shot drawers may or may not have blood on the underside of the bottoms.

My saw is a deathtrap. No board buddies, no splitter, no nothing. My buddy is a no-shit craftsman and has built some amazing stuff and he's terrified to work with it. But it's got a great blade and it's a 3 HP, 220 saw so it cuts like butter. With my Vega Pro fence, that saw is a miracle worker and I just don't want to mess with that. I have some of those micro jig splitters, I just haven't gotten around to installing them yet. It's probably gonna be a lot harder to do once I lose a couple of fingers but I suspect that will be the catalyst.

The right safety devices and a willingness to use them makes a huge difference. I have the former....just not the latter.

[jspchief]

Originally Posted by DJ's left nut

Kickback.

My guess is that your workpiece was just a little too wide for it's length. When that happens, the backside of the cut can 'grab' at the tooth and the front of the workpiece doesn't have the leverage to hold it down anymore. So it walks up the blade and the blade, because it's spinning towards you, rockets it at you.

The big BIG problem with kickback is your right hand and its tendency to follow the workpiece. When a piece kicks like that (as opposed to a bind that's easy to deal with), it goes up, left and then back...when your hand does that as well, it goes up, left and then into the ****ing blade. That's why you always use a push-stick; that way the piece runs off the push stick and your hand doesn't follow. A push block helps even more.

So, some easy fixes for it and the easiest is a simple splitter. Microjig makes universal ones that go on older saws and work great. Newer saws have what are called riving knives that do the same thing. Kickback paws also exist but I hate them; they grab when you don't want them to.

But you're right, man. Kickback is terrifying. I was building some drawer bottoms with 1/2 ply. Since it was completely square, it was a kickback waiting to happen (like I said, wide and short is a recipe for disaster). I got through about 6 and at about 1 AM one of those things fired back at me. I tried to save it with my left hand around the back of the blade (because I saw it hop first) and all it did was fire into the top of my left hand and sheer some skin off before hitting me in the hip. Took me about 10 minutes to get my heart rate back under control but by God, I was finishing those ****ing drawers....

So a couple of my shot drawers may or may not have blood on the underside of the bottoms.

My saw is a deathtrap. No board buddies, no splitter, no nothing. My buddy is a no-shit craftsman and has built some amazing stuff and he's terrified to work with it. But it's got a great blade and it's a 3 HP, 220 saw so it cuts like butter. With my Vega Pro fence, that saw is a miracle worker and I just don't want to mess with that. I have some of those micro jig splitters, I just haven't gotten around to installing them yet. It's probably gonna be a lot harder to do once I lose a couple of fingers but I suspect that will be the catalyst.

The right safety devices and a willingness to use them makes a huge difference. I have the former....just not the latter.

Yeah a well tuned saw with a good blade makes a big difference.

[Bugeater]

Originally Posted by DJ's left nut

Kickback.

My guess is that your workpiece was just a little too wide for it's length. When that happens, the backside of the cut can 'grab' at the tooth and the front of the workpiece doesn't have the leverage to hold it down anymore. So it walks up the blade and the blade, because it's spinning towards you, rockets it at you.

The big BIG problem with kickback is your right hand and its tendency to follow the workpiece. When a piece kicks like that (as opposed to a bind that's easy to deal with), it goes up, left and then back...when your hand does that as well, it goes up, left and then into the ****ing blade. That's why you always use a push-stick; that way the piece runs off the push stick and your hand doesn't follow. A push block helps even more.

So, some easy fixes for it and the easiest is a simple splitter. Microjig makes universal ones that go on older saws and work great. Newer saws have what are called riving knives that do the same thing. Kickback paws also exist but I hate them; they grab when you don't want them to.

But you're right, man. Kickback is terrifying. I was building some drawer bottoms with 1/2 ply. Since it was completely square, it was a kickback waiting to happen (like I said, wide and short is a recipe for disaster). I got through about 6 and at about 1 AM one of those things fired back at me. I tried to save it with my left hand around the back of the blade (because I saw it hop first) and all it did was fire into the top of my left hand and sheer some skin off before hitting me in the hip. Took me about 10 minutes to get my heart rate back under control but by God, I was finishing those ****ing drawers....

So a couple of my shot drawers may or may not have blood on the underside of the bottoms.

My saw is a deathtrap. No board buddies, no splitter, no nothing. My buddy is a no-shit craftsman and has built some amazing stuff and he's terrified to work with it. But it's got a great blade and it's a 3 HP, 220 saw so it cuts like butter. With my Vega Pro fence, that saw is a miracle worker and I just don't want to mess with that. I have some of those micro jig splitters, I just haven't gotten around to installing them yet. It's probably gonna be a lot harder to do once I lose a couple of fingers but I suspect that will be the catalyst.

The right safety devices and a willingness to use them makes a huge difference. I have the former....just not the latter.

It didn't come straight back at me. It somehow lifted the board and shot it off almost 90 degrees to the left of me. It had a curved gash from the blade in the bottom afterwards. It was a nearly square piece of wood though so it maybe it did kickback and then the blade caught it again somehow. It was weird.

[Bugeater]

I'm sure fear of lawsuits is a factor as well.