# A little safety reminder...



## BFamous (Jan 26, 2018)

Doing some work out in the shop this morning for one of the first times in a few months as I've been recovering from a ruptured Achilles and standing too long makes my foot swell…

Anyway, i just had to "drill a few quick holes" as I was working on sanding down another piece. Didn't think to take off my gloves (I typically wear gloves while sanding, not while using other power tools). I obviously wasn't paying enough attention or being safe at all… Went to wipe away some sawdust from my drill press bench, without turning off the drill. My glove got caught! Not certain whether the glove ripped first or the bit broke first, it all happened in an instant. Luckily I got out of there without any damage to my hand, other than a bruise between two fingers from where the glove pulled.

This is why you don't wear gloves while using a drill press, and why you wait for the bit to stop moving before putting your hands near it.


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## John Smith_inFL (Dec 15, 2017)

wow - close call !!
I use the dreaded and unpopular Fly Cutter (circle cutter)
quite often in my drill press. nothing else like it to really hone
your "awareness" factors for spinning objects.

.

.


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## kelvancra (May 4, 2010)

Thanks for sharing the reminder.


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## ruger (Feb 20, 2018)

back in 1974 out of high school went to work in Newport News shipyard, at that time the shipyard employed 40.000 workers. in the machine shop I was in a guy was working with a huge drill press, he got his long pony tail hung in the bit. tore most of his hair out of his head removed a lot of his scalp tissue. he was in the hosipital for a while. don't think his hair ever grew back due to losing to much tissue.


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## RichT (Oct 14, 2016)

Yeah, long hair is a real problem in the shop. When I worked at Allis Chalmers right out of college, engineers who dealt with issues in the machine shop were required to wear clip-on ties for obvious reasons.


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## BFamous (Jan 26, 2018)

> back in 1974 out of high school went to work in Newport News shipyard, at that time the shipyard employed 40.000 workers. in the machine shop I was in a guy was working with a huge drill press, he got his long pony tail hung in the bit. tore most of his hair out of his head removed a lot of his scalp tissue. he was in the hosipital for a while. don t think his hair ever grew back due to losing to much tissue.
> 
> - ruger


Ouch is about as much of an understatement as i can imagine. Long hair and long sleeves are worse than gloves.


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## Andybb (Sep 30, 2016)

Wow!


> I use the dreaded and unpopular Fly Cutter (circle cutter)
> quite often in my drill press.
> - John Smith


Those things scare the bejesus out of me!


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## WoodenDreams (Aug 23, 2018)

Grateful to only bruises. But still nice to have reminders from others about safety.


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## MrRon (Jul 9, 2009)

Never try cleaning a chain saw chain with a wire wheel on a bench grinder. The chain got wrapped around the wire wheel and sent me to the ER. Unfortunately we learn after the fact.


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## anthm27 (May 12, 2015)

great work for posting that little story.
Very lucky not to have give yourself a bigger injury.
We all need constant reminders to work safely.
Regards
Anth


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## BurlyBob (Mar 13, 2012)

Just looking at your glove is enough to tighten my sphincter. Very glad you didn't get hurt.


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## Sark (May 31, 2017)

I use thin tight fitting gloves a lot in the shop, but never those big loose leather gloves. Mine have rubber on palm side and stretch tight material across the back. I find that with these sticky gloves I have more control and a better grip-especially feeding wood through the table saw-and less injury to the hands. Thanks for posting though. Good reminder. And fly cutters scare me too, but sometimes they are the only way to get the job done.


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## GrantA (Jul 19, 2014)

Brian, I'm glad you're OK. Now pickup a handful of cheap paint brushes to scatter around the shop for clearing chips!
As for the long hair, maybe that's why the man bun is here? Bahahaha I've never seen one in a working shop so nah maybe not


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## wildwoodbybrianjohns (Aug 22, 2019)

> - ruger
> 
> Ouch is about as much of an understatement as i can imagine. Long hair and long sleeves are worse than gloves.
> 
> - BFamous


I have a follower on instagram who got his right sleeve caught up in a mitre saw, how he did that I have no idea as its the left that is usually the most vulnerable and misplaced-anyway, the photo of the wound he received is now burned into my mind, it was a REAL horror story, could see tenons and bone and gaping hole nearly from the elbow down to the wrist. I will never approach a mitre saw again without thinking of that photo.


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## woodcox (Nov 21, 2012)

That could have been a messy reminder. Thank you for it. Good you are up for shop time with the leg issues.

I've had surgical gloves try to pull me into spinning things. Lately, bench planing has been biting. My toothed planing stop took a chunk while swiping shavings out of the way. Holding a #2 like a coffin and the board corner taking a gouge out of my wrist. I think I need gloves.


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## pottz (Sep 15, 2015)

you should staple that glove to the wall to always remind yourself of the danger,looking at it scares the hell out of me.thanks for posting this it cant be discussed too much.


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## clin (Sep 3, 2015)

A few years ago I looked up shop injury data from OSHA. Gloved hand and drill press was a common if not the most common serious injury. Most of the time the injury was "violent amputation", which I took to mean a finger got pull off.

Really glad you weren't hurt. And thanks for the report. It's good to remind us all where danger lurks.


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## OleGrump (Jun 16, 2017)

Way back in Junior High School (what "Middle School" was called back in them thar days), the "shop teacher" was a lazy old fart who never actually TAUGHT anyone ANYTHING. The drill press chuck key was attached to the head by a short chain, which was just long enough to allow you to turn it to change bits.
One fine day, he was somewhere in the shop, tickling his prostate, or whatever he did on the County payroll, and of course, not paying attention to what anyone was doing. Someone, and I SWEAR I really don't know WHO it was, decided it would be funny to stick the key back in the chuck. When the guy who had been using the drill press came back to drill another hole, he didn't check, and turned on the drill press, which sent the chuck flying across the shop into the cinder block wall.
THAT woke up Mr. Lazy ass, and he ran over with a purple face and cussed out the poor bewildered guy at the drill press, who was standing there trying to figure out what had just happened. We all learned the hard way that day to always check the chuck and spindle area for anything that might get launched when the drill press is on.


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## MSquared (Aug 20, 2018)

BF - Thank you! 
I'm with Pottz on hanging that glove on your shop wall. Not woodworking related, but actually is, as far as power tools are concerned. Many moons ago, I was lighting a job and had a 1000w light on a 10A circuit. -I know better!-, I maxed it out. In a rush, I left the just-adequately-appropriate gauge extension cord in a coil, planning on looping it back and forth down the hallway to keep it from excessively over-heating. I was in a rush. -I know better-!! I smelled something, freaked, and found an orange plastic and copper bubbling "Pizza" about to ignite!-I know better-!!! I hung that mess up on my shop wall and pointed to it daily as a reminder for any on my crew as to what can happen. Seriously averted a potential disaster in a high-rise building that day!

P.S.; Bill-I know! I know better-!!!! Hasn't happened since. That was a scare enough. ( 30 years ago)


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## Cabinetman803 (Sep 7, 2019)

> I use thin tight fitting gloves a lot in the shop, but never those big loose leather gloves. Mine have rubber on palm side and stretch tight material across the back. I find that with these sticky gloves I have more control and a better grip-especially feeding wood through the table saw-and less injury to the hands. Thanks for posting though. Good reminder. And fly cutters scare me too, but sometimes they are the only way to get the job done.
> 
> - Sark


I concur as I wear the same I've had a few close calls in my day with my bare hands on a cold day slipping and almost going into the blade. They are now my must have as there is no question as to where my finger end is with them being so tight.


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