Router table

ouch comes to mind…

is he generally not safety-oriented? lack of exposure to it? or just cause he doesnt care? if it’s the lack of exposure, i’d definitely have him watch every safety video online there is (woodwhisperer, fine wood working, and others) and suggest some safety devices he can use, if it’s the later…. well, you can only give a man a push stick – it’s up to him to push with it.

-- When in doubt - There is no doubt - Go the safer route.

Here is a coping jig from Rockler that I would heartily recommend. It not only saves fingers but it also saves tearout the endgrain cuts. It can be build but for $60 you probably would put more time in trying to save the money.

-- With God's help all things are possible- even woodworking. Woodworking is not just a hobby, it is an (expletive deleted) expensive hobby.

just don’t say told you so i always find that never helps but i do hope he is ok

andy

-- cut it saw it scrap it

I made my own coping sled cost way less than $60 and is virtually the same as the rockler one…but then again I had the materials/clamp laying around so buy the rockler sled already! I shortened two of the fingers on my left hand 10 years ago…trying to avoid back injury(per employers instructions) if it cost $60 or $6,000 if it saves your fingers and prevents an injury it’s worth it.

-- teh most beautiful about a tree is what you can make out of it...even if that is only a fire!I hate raking

Definitely, a sled is required. Even if you manage to keep your fingers out of harms way, the big cutters required for doors are going to launch that little piece somewhere doing it freehand. (yes, I know – from experience)

-- A thing of beauty is a joy forever...

Buy the Rockler sled. It saves time in set up and definitely keeps you from ruining wood. I ruined a bunch of wood before I got the coping sled. It also is much safer.

-- Randal, DeKalb, Illinois

Wow…a coping sled! I’ve been around this hobby for quite a few years and that is a new one on me. What you don’t learn on this site!

-- Don, Pittsburgh

Jay,

The router can be a very dangerous peice of equpment. I have seen a couple of things. The worst accident that I observed was when someone was routering 1/4” thick ABS and it pulled his finger right into the bit. PET plastics, ABS, and polycarbonates are very nasty as the blade will grab. The key to safe routering is good dog plates and to have the fingers far away from the cutter.

The worst accidents that I have observed are as follows.

1) Someone was filing a peice of metal on the lathe and the file caught and stuck it right through the palm of his hand. I have heard nasty lathe stories. A 7.5hp motor geared way down will not stop for anything.

2) A guy was not cutting all the way through a part on the table saw. He had the blade under his hand and the part kicked and his hand laid down on the saw blade. The blade went through his 3 and 4th fingers.

3) A guy was cutting on a band saw at a very high cutting speed. Sliced right through his finger. The doctor was able to sew it back.

Now the router usually bites the finger when someone is having their finger to close to the cutter or they have their finger in the path of the bit. I have cut with a big pin router and I have hjad parts yanked pulled and all types of scarry stuff but I design dog plates that keep the finger away from the blade.

I also dont take too bit a bites (1” into the material with a 2” thick board). I will cut close with a bandsaw and then I will trim the rest with the router.

Anyway I hope your friend is fine and that he just got a little knick.

Cheers,

Ben

This guy showed me how to make a coping sled for for the table router when I got mine. he just doesn’t use it I guess

-- jay Rambling on and on again

Why was this tagged as humor?
- JJ

-- JJ...... I guess you could say I'm a 54 year old "juniorjock". — Make things with wood.

because we all lived and some of us are sick twisted individuals.

i have to admit when my children run full speed into a wall> I”m a little worried when i see all there teeth intacted and nothing bleeding or broken i think it is funny. I told them not to run in the house and to watch where they are going.

I hope I don’t think it is funny when they flunk out off school and are broke because i study with them and tell them to save there money.

-- jay Rambling on and on again

I built my own sled it works great. All I paid for was the toggle clamp which was like $6. I would never rout end grain with any panel bit. Hopefully he didn’t get it too bad. wing79

-- www.macombstairs.com

I must apoligize for my use of there in place of their i’m not an idiot i promise. along with the use other punc, and gramer mistakes I am a product of the public school system

-- jay Rambling on and on again

I think the guy just needs some education. I’ve done some unsafe things with the router before I learned how to use it safely. One example was the time I was using a 1/2 inch straight bit to rout the full length of the board and because I wasn’t routing all the way through, I was letting my hand go directly over the bit on top of the board. I should have realized something was wrong because of the change in the sound but I didn’t. Anyway, I guess I hadn’t tightened the collet enough and the bit was loose and was working it’s way out of the collet and deeper up into the board and as my hand went over the bit, I felt a weird feeling, like something moving under my hand. I pulled my hand back just as the bit climbed up through the board. It should have only been 1/2 inch into the 3/4 board which should have given me a 1/4 inch buffer between the bit and my hand but that ain’t the way it happened and I got lucky that time. Oh, and I had never even heard of a climbing cut the first time I used it and had the board snatched out of my hand and thrown into the wall, almost pulling my hand through the bit with it.

-- Dale Manning, Carthage, NY

for some people pain is the best educator

-- if the hand is not working it is not a pure hand