Just a little nick while holding a smallish piece of Cocobolo and cutting with a small pull saw. (Don’t send sympathies! Not needed.)
My saw stopping:
- did not require a $3000 saw.
- did not require 44 granted patents and more pending.
- did not require a government agency to coerce a particular technology.
- did not require any amount of cronyism.
About three pounds of “wetware” reacted instantly, stopping the saw.
My ‘wetware’ usually reacts with a few choice 4 letter words when this happens.
Glad that I am not the only one that practices Maya bloodletting while woodworking.
While not likely to take a finger, Japanese saws can do some serious damage. I cut right through a thumb nail when my pull saw jumped out of a piece of nice springy pine. I would have to say I have gotten far more injuries from hand tools than power tools.
Plus you don’t have to replace your saw blade!
I notive that you have a lot of your tools on open shelves or racks. Is rust an issue for you? I am in a basement shop and I run a dehumidifier a lot. We have talked in forums before. I am re- doing my hand tool shopand open shelves/ racksmake things more visible and accessible and are a Heck of a lot cheaper and easier to build than cabinets or chests
if you don’t bleed on it at least once…
it ain’t yours
I agree wholeheartedly with your post, and always tell my wife:
It’s damn hard, honey, to plane my finger off!
in response to Ron’s comment, I too have open shelves, but in a non-climate controlled garage, when I don’t feel like working I oil tools. Veritas planes rust faster than LN but not so much that a swipe of 000 steel wool and a dash of Camellia oil can’t take care of. Use your tools, wipe them with an oily rag when you put them away and wipe them all occasionally and even the most poorly maintained shop can have sparkling, rust-free tools.
Thanks all!
Ron, it’s pretty muggy here in some of the summer months, but not year round. (knocking on wood) I’m fortunate to have no rust problems. The shop is in a re-purposed garage in the lower half of the house, not underground, and is not insulated well. So, it’s exposed to ambient humidity.
I don’t pay a lot of attention to avoiding rust, but once in a while wipe tools just enough to keep them clean. I am particular about not leaving shavings and sawdust in the tools. My logic there is that leftover “dust” absorbs and holds moisture, exactly what we don’t need.
Carl sounds like he has some good suggestions.
How do you store your bench planes?
Hi Ron,
My planes sit in the open on a shelf formed from the top course of a cinder block half-wall. Thin strips of cedar (left over from a boat building project) provides a wood cushion from the blocks. You can see some of them in this photo.
Handy. I am trying to figure out a solution. I’ll post a photo when I figure it out. I have two ideas that I am tossing around
Just don’t get any Cocobolo dust in that cut! Nasty stuff that
Hear here Shannon! Fair warning.
My sinuses objected immediately to a wee bit of Cocobolo sanding dust.
Carl, my motto exactly. Without some blood it isn’t a real piece of artwork. Good thing that chocolate powered saws stop immediately.
I was ripping a board the other day and nicked my finger like that with the big old rip teeth. If I had been doing this on a table saw or band saw, instant trip to the ER and probably no woodworking for a month. Instead, I cleaned it, slapped a bandaid on it, and finished ripping the board.