Monday, May 10th, 2010
This 3rd annual Wood Workers Safety Week was organized for the community by the ubiquitous Marc ‘The Wood Whisperer’ Spagnuolo.
What I want to actually show you all today are the dangers of wearing baggy or loose clothing while operating a table saw. I realized that this would be a great subject while filming the next video that will come out later this week.
So, here we have a dummy with a single arm that should be a good representation of a left arm too close to the saw blade while wearing a baggy long-sleeved shirt. Yes I understand that the dummy is mostly positioned in front of the blade, but this could also happen with a right arm too. Just watch…
I’m showing the ‘naked’ dummy so you know how solid the structure is. A human would be constantly moving, while this dummy is solidly constructed and won’t move unless about 100 pounds of force push or pull it.
You might be able to make out that the cuff of the sleeve is already caught in a tooth of the blade. This is for our safety. If I were to pull the sleeve into an already spinning blade, the results would be very unpredictable. Here, we’ll start the blade with the shirt already caught in it.
Make him a little more human with a hat … and a face… And, let’s go.
OK, let’s look at what happened. In two frames of this film, the blade tore the cuff of the sleeve down into the saw. A third frame, and enough of the shirt was grabbed to lift off the zero clearance insert and destroy it. 4 more frames and the saw blade is so caught up with the shirt that it won’t turn anymore. So, that equates to 7 1/100ths of a second to destroy a shirt, a zero clearance insert, and possibly your arm.
Regardless of my initial observations, my zero clearance insert was not the only thing damaged. While removing the shirt from the blade I noticed the shirt shoulder had been ripped by the wooden arm’s sharp rear corners. I’ll show this later.
Let’s do another run with no insert.
This time, with no insert, the shirt was pulled in even further and almost completely around the blade. Let’s look at the aftermath.
A length of shirt about equal to my entire forearm was pulled down to where the dummy’s ‘hand’ was. Meaning, an entire forearm could have been damaged in this kind of an accident. I totally do not advise sawing without a zero clearance insert if this is the case. And, I think I’m making my next one out of hardwood instead of hardboard…
Joey, as my kids named the dummy, doesn’t look too happy here, huh?
Here’s that shot of the shirt ripped off the shoulder. And this was a pretty tough shirt to begin with…
Let’s gear up for a final test.
This time I moved the arm closer to the blade and stapled the shirt to the arm. I originally intended for the wooden arm to fall into the blade for the extra gore factor, so here I’m trying my hardest to get this to happen.
OK, looks like Joey’s ready…
OK, so no wooden arm or hand splinters flying, but still a good example of how fast an accident can ruin your day.
This split in the wood is not from the blade hitting it. The arm was made up of 2 3/8” strips of lyptus screwed together.
Here you can see that my once nice-looking shop shirt is trashed. And so is Joey…
I want to thank my kids for help with this demo and to my baby for napping long enough for us to set up and shoot it.
Stay tuned for my second video later this week.
Tags: Rick Waters, Safety, splintered board, Table saw, wood, woodwork, Woodworking
Posted in Uncategorized | 1 Comment »
Tuesday, October 6th, 2009
I opened up my email the other day expecting to see an important message that I have been anxiously awaiting. Instead of receiving my personal invitation to the Playboy Mansion, I received an ad for another boutique tool.
Most woodworkers have received these ads in one way or another. And I would bet that we’ve all thought, if only for a moment, ‘That’s one sweet tool,’ or even ‘I’ve gotta have it.’ But, reality soon sets in…right about the time we see the price tag.
Though our eyes continue to caress the shining bronze and stainless steel, the smooth mahogany, fiddleback makore or rich cocobolo, we know that this picture is as close as we will ever get to owning such tools (barring, of course, fondling them at trade shows). Some brave souls have given in to temptation, only to invite the unforgiving and inevitable wrath of their significant other.
Even for well-funded woodworkers (or tool collectors), with tricked out shops and tool collections, there are always going to be gorgeous tools that are way out of even their price range.
I started my tool collection with a $7 block plane from a home store, added a few low-end power tools, received a few second-hand tools from friends, then rescued a ton of old hand tools from a friend’s basement. Though some of the old hand tools are in such good shape that they are worth many more times that of their brand new mid-range brothers, these cannot, in my opinion, be considered boutique tools. Those are antiques.
Yesterday I read an old article in the New York Times about hand tools which mentioned that Garrett Wade and Woodcraft were ‘high-end tool catalogue businesses’ and grouped them with Lie-Nielsen and Bridge City Toolworks.
I wasn’t into woodworking in 1998 when this article was published, so maybe things have changed in the past 11 years, but in my opinion, Woodcraft is not a retailer that I associate with high-end tools. I associate it with overpriced tools, but not high-end tools. I’m just now becoming familiar with Garrett Wade and, contrary to the article’s statement that Garrett Wade was ‘the first of the ”boutique” woodworking catalogue businesses’, I would say they are an outlet for higher-end tools than Woodcraft, but still not high-end ’boutique’ tools.
No, rather, I classify a Boutique Tool as one whose competition consists of a few alternatives that range in their accuracy and price, from low-priced poorly made ‘junk’ tools that, normally, only new woodworkers would buy from their hardware stores or discount tools outlets, through to high priced 100% accurate and precise tools that, if used correctly, will return excellent results every time.
What sets Boutique Tools apart from these high-end tools that work perfectly? Mainly, price. To me, a $48 well-made, accurate, and comfortable to use marking gauge is high end. A $145 marking gauge with nickel plated body, stainless steel knobs, and electro polished beam, or a $180 solid ebony gauge are both examples of boutique tools.
Don’t get me wrong, I don’t condemn either of these tool makers. I’ve purchased items from both companies. In fact, the owner of one of these companies is a friend of mine. And no, his name is not John.
Take, for instance, a couple of automotive comparisons.
What’s the difference between buying a Geo Metro and a Toyota Prius? Both are tiny little cars that get great mileage. One screams ‘LOOK AT ME, I’M SAVING THE ENVIRONMENT!’ while the other says politely ‘I know my car doesn’t accelerate that quickly, please pass me while I burn half the gas that your car does.’
I used to own a Chrysler PT Cruiser, what’s the difference between that and the Porsche Cayenne? Both are vehicles that offer seating for 5, are SUV-like, and plenty of storage. The Porsche also offers much more comfort, style, and power, while the Cruiser offers affordable maintenance.
In both examples, what is the main difference between the mid-to-low-end cars and the high-end cars (yes, I understand the Prius is not a boutique car and the Porsche is, but work with me here)? #1. Price. #2. The statement.
I understand the sociological differences between owning an $100k car versus a $20k car and a $250 hand plane versus a $2500 hand plane. I also understand that the expensive handplane in a tool collection may only ever be seen by a handful of people, while an expensive car is seen by everyone in the community.
I guess when you compare a boutique tool to a boutique car, the answer to the ‘why does this tool even exist?’ question ends up being ‘because someone, somewhere, is going to buy it.’
Anyway, to drive home how ridiculous some of these tools’ price tags are, I’m going to site some specific tools. And I already know that Bridge City Toolworks is going to come up quite a bit. I don’t want to be misunderstood. I don’t believe their entire line of tools are boutique. Some of their tools have no equal. This actually makes BCT one of the toolmakers I respect the most. They are the only ones coming up with truly NEW tools.
Boutique Tools:
Bridge City Toolworks:
MG-5, CT-4, CT-15, CS-6, Dead Blow Mallet, SS-2×4 Aluminum Saddle Square, HG-1, CS-2, DSS-6, KM-1
Blue Spruce Toolworks:
Mallet
Grand Slam Tools:
Ebony Marking Gauge
EC Emmerich:
All of their tools
Tags: Boutique tools, Bridge city toolworks, ec emmerich, garrett wade, Geo Metro, grand slam tools, handplane, handtool, harbor freight, high price tools, jig saw, lie-nielsen, new york times, Podcast, Porsche Cayanne, PT Cruiser, steel city tools, Table saw, Tommy MacDonald, Tools, Toyota Prius, woodcraft
Posted in Design, Podcast, Tools, Woodworking | 1 Comment »
Tuesday, July 21st, 2009
[display_podcast]
So, I’ve taken a couple of months off of the Splintered Board Podcast. I’m sorry about that, but sometimes you just need a break.
In this episode I:
Links for this show:
Tags: brace, delta | porter-cable, Dewalt DW735, Dust collector, general finishes, grand slam tools, Greg Crites, hand tools, Jointer, Lumberjocks, Maloof, Micro Jig, neil lamens, Pete Bretzke, plane, Podcast, Renaissance Woodworker, Rigid, rockler, router, sander, Shannon Rogers, splintered board, SRICKS, Table saw, the sawdust chronicles, Thickness planer, Tommy MacDonald, veinarmor, Woodworker, Woodworking, Woodworking in America
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Tuesday, September 30th, 2008
When last we left him, Rick Waters, aka ‘Splintered Board’ the self described ‘Woodworker Un-extraordinaire’ was about to continue his project in completing the most difficult, most dangerous, possibly the most disgusting project of his woodworking career the Baby Diaper Changing Table. Said table has quickly and rightly become Splintered Board’s nemesis.
With such heinous acts against the woodworker as: repeatedly demanding more and more wood; requiring many extra hours of design; consistently jamming up an 18″ thickness planer; having so many pieces that the woodworker can’t possibly keep track of them all; weighing so much that the constant shuttling back and forth to the school woodshop is breaking the woodworker’s back, this table has now resorted to pulling out the big guns.
It has now called in the woodworker’s wife to comment on the lack of progress! Splintered Board has no choice, this table is going down!
Meanwhile, locked away in the bowels of the ‘Mancave of Sawdust’, Splintered Board tackles another project. This first commission (pro bono, naturally) proves to be no challenge for Rick’s fledgling skills.
And if that’s not enough, in this episode, your hero, Splintered Board will share a tip on wood identification, some anecdotal information about a pen-turner, and the possible future of THE SPLINTERED BOARD PODCAST!
Thanks, Greg, for the great intro!!!
Please visit Greg Crites’ website VeinArmor.com
Tags: art, basement workshop, box, chisel, chronicles, furnitology, Furniture, hand tools, Jointer, miter, modern woodshop, planer, Podcast, power tools, Renaissance Woodworker, rough cut, saw, sawdust, Table saw, the wood whisperer, toolmonger, Tools, wood, woodwork, Woodworker
Posted in Hobbies, Podcast, Tools, Woodworking | No Comments »
Wednesday, September 24th, 2008
I talk about a Drying Times Document, Fine Woodworking Index CD, Fine Woodworking Content CD.
What I learned this week…
I love the Bandsaw!!!
Mark your waste.
Don’t look like an idiot.
Newbies don’t know scrap!
Tags: art, basement workshop, box, chisel, chronicles, furnitology, Furniture, hand tools, Jointer, miter, modern woodshop, planer, Podcast, power tools, Renaissance Woodworker, rough cut, saw, sawdust, Table saw, the wood whisperer, toolmonger, Tools, wood, woodwork, Woodworker
Posted in Uncategorized | No Comments »