Bad Habits to good. learning new habits. What are yours?

On the good side, I’m very meticulous about blade safety. I always use blade guards when possible, and push sticks when appropriate. I’m also very conscious of kickbacks, and take all precautions to avoid them (including standing out of the path of one if it were to occur).

On the down side, I don’t have a dust collection system, don’t wear a mask or respirator very often, and don’t use hearing protection.

-- Charlie M. "Woodworking - patience = firewood"

I am very cautious when using the table saw, router and other high speed cuting instruments.

But like Charlie I don’t have dust colection and I rarely wear a mask. I have gotten better about wearing hearing protection and try to remeber my safety glasses. However it is not uncommon for me to start cutting on the table saw before I realize I forgot to put my glasses on. Of all my habits I really need to fix this one.

-- Glenn, New Mexico

I have worked hard on the Saftey Glasses and have just about got that one down. The other biggy for me is not to rush things, I either mess up the cut (try 10 drawer bottoms cut to small) or get hurt when I try to get that one last thing for the day done.

-- //FC - Round Rock, TX - "Experience is what you get just after you need it"

Push sticks and blade/bit safety seem to always be on my mind. Dust, well my dust collector is a squirrel cage furnace blower motor mounted in the basement window- when I remember to turn it on. I do wear a respirator when sanding on the lathe. Hearing, what??!!?? :>) lost a lot of that working around military jets and the rest from old age but I do wear ear protection when running the table saw and router. I do need to get a fire extinguisher, however.

Lew

There are push sticks and then there are push sticks. Most of the commercial ones are an accident wasiting to happen. Make sure that your push stick not only pushes but can hold down the length of the wood (not just the back edge) as well.

-- Bruce from Central New York

Ahh sIke, yea the wanting to get it done factor. Been there. I have been working on that hard when working on the jigs and I have improved that alot. Lew I understand. I did loose alot of mine working with the airlines. Even though they tested ours every year, I felt like it was for the corporate protection since know one was every advised to do anything about thier hearing. Kickbacks as most of you have mentioned can get super ugly fast. Point made brunob. I do need to modify or make some new push sticks.

You know. I have only turned my lathe on once to make sure it worked. I need to bolt it down and set down some safety rules on the wall behind it since this is my first one. I use to work with metal lathes and mills many many moons ago. Safety Glasses were always a priority there. Even though I have some I have yet to wear them mistakingly thinking my glasses were good enough.

-- Jerry, Measure 10 times cut once. Set in the foothills of the Smokey's

Can anyone point me to the do’s and don’t’s of good push sticks? I must confess I have never used them and it is only a matter of time before I will be missing fingers.

I just bought this one couple of weekends ago, and though I haven’t heavily used it I really liked it.

-- //FC - Round Rock, TX - "Experience is what you get just after you need it"

Safety has never been a problem for me,after spending most of my life working as a Paramedic. I have had the opportunity of seeing the results of what a mistake will do to the human body. And I have have been blessed with attending one of the best Woodworking schools in the country. At school safety came before anything else.
I have found for me that if I just leave my safety glasses I don’t have to remember to put them on. My hearing protection, I keep around my neck, as well as my dust mask.
But I am still like everyone else and have to remind myself to slow down and think, this has been my weakest link.

-- Ed Collinge- Edmonds, WA.

About 5 years ago, I was chasing methamphetamine addicts into a field and I got into some Annhydrous Ammonia and it burned the top part of my lungs up. For years I wore a respirator when I did anything in the shop, construction, burned leaves, etc. Now, I’ve gotten out of that habit. I need to start wearing it again (it’s hard to do that when it’s 90 degrees in your shop). I don’t use a dust collecter.

I do wear hearing protection, but only eye protection if I have my glasses on (which is terrible!). I’m an avid believer in push sticks. I make my own out of any softwood, just because I know what feels right in my hand. Store bought ones are expensive, and sometimes they don’t “feel right” in my hand. Plus, if it gets chewed up in the saw, so what? Make another.

I got cut by a tablesaw about 4 years ago (I’ve still got all 10!), and since then I’ve woke up to the fact that my safety methods with them were terrible. I’m much more cautious now than I was, and I take that approach to all my machines.

I also have tried to NOT work when I’m tired. It doesn’t matter what I want to get done, if I’m going to work with machinery or sharp knives, and I’m tired, I quit. Period.

Some of us, without a mentor, are subject to learning on our own. I wish this site was around 15 years ago when I started!!! The information from all these great, experienced people is invaluable!!

-- As iron sharpens iron, so one man sharpens another. (Proverbs 27:17)