Lesson Learned: A close call

I am a Scoutmaster of a troop of Boy Scouts at my church. One of them is working towards the Eagle rank and for part of his project we are building a 4’X8’ car for a library. The hood and trunk are made to hold books that the librarian is featuring. Anyways, time was short, so while some people were using my cabinet saw I pulled out my old piece of junk benchtop tablesaw to make some cuts. The reason I hated this saw and bought the saw I should have got in the first place is that nothing is lined up and set up is tedious. I had forgotten this being spoiled by my nicer machine. I didn’t align the blade and fence. It turns out the back of the blade and fence were narrower than the fronts. . . workpiece binded and hit the drywall about 8’ away. It put a hole on our side of the wall and made a slight dent on the drywall on the other side of the wall. Worst of all, there was a scout making some headlights on the scroll saw about a foot from where the board hit the wall! It was an eye opener to say the least.

Morale of the story: They say you learn from mistakes, but WW isn’t very forgiving. Don’t get comfortable with your tools. Expect the worst and be prepared for it. Never operate a machine with others in the line of fire. Proper tuning of equipment is paramount to safety.

ANY OTHER CLOSE CALLS IN YOUR SHOP?

-- Jeff, South Carolina