# The Most Dangerous Tool in the Shop



## xwingace (Apr 25, 2011)

Where I work we start each meeting with a "safety moment", and recently a fellow did his on shop safety.
He started with "I'm going to talk today about the most dangerous tool in the shop!" 
What could it be? I thought. The table saw? The bottle of whisky?
"The angle grinder!" 
Uuumm… what? One of the safer tools to use in my opinion, but OK, let's see where he's going with this.
"First, I took off the handle because it gets in the way and so I could use it one handed," 
OK, kind of dumb…
"Then I took off the blade guard" 
OK, really dumb…
"And then I put a saw blade on it so I could cut plywood," 
Oo
OK, he's insane!_
He went on to describe how when he was cutting plywood-one handed, with a device modified to cause amputation-he hit a knot, the grinder flew out of his hand and bounced off the wall, and very nearly hit him in the head.
All of this served to reinforce my opinion that the most dangerous tool in the shop is-YOU and ME!
After the meeting I told him he could borrow my Skil Saw… "But those things need two hands," he says…


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## DIYaholic (Jan 28, 2011)

If it weren't so true, it would be funny!


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## stevepeterson (Dec 17, 2009)

That's hillarious. I would say that the most dangerous thing in the shop is HIM. I wonder if he still has two hands.


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## Mosquito (Feb 15, 2012)

Steve, Maybe that's why he had to modify it so it only required one hand…


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## Dwain (Nov 1, 2007)

As I have always said, nothing is idiot-proof; before they can make it that way, they make bigger and better idiots…


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## MrWizard (Sep 21, 2010)

Wow,
I hope he is safer at work then at home. Grinders are un asuming and they look harmless, but putting a blade on it, he was asking to be called lefty! Thanks for sharing


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## cathyb (Jul 8, 2009)

Seventeen years ago, I felt confident enough in my self-taught skills to use the Hickam Air Force Base wood shop. I met a woodworker there who made exceptionally beautiful boxes and small tables. Every time I saw him in the shop, he'd give me a safety tip. Then I got my own shop and he moved to Seattle, end of story- right? Not so fast, about six months ago my husband was at a meeting in Seattle and he saw my friend. My friend, who had lost two fingers on a Skill saw. Are you kidding me!? If a person like Ed, who was so aware of the danger, could have that kind of an accident, NO ONE is safe. It's just the luck of the draw….......


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## MichaelR (Oct 1, 2011)

The only surgery I've ever had, the kind where they knock you out to cut out pieces, was from an angle grinder accident. Yes, I was stupid and didn't think so at the time and thought I was being extremely careful.

The tool that scares me the most is a router, handheld or in a table. Something that sharp should not spin so fast and scream so loudly.


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## millzit (Feb 5, 2012)

drawing blood reminds me of how stupid i can be at times….......


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## timbit2006 (Jan 6, 2012)

At first I thought you said the Grinder as in stationary grinder. I was trying to wrap my head around how plywood could be cut like that.

I think that guy may need a Darwin award if he keeps his lack of safety up.


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## ScottN (Jan 24, 2011)

I'm just glad it wasn't the whiskey bottle.


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## joek30296 (Jul 21, 2010)

Maybe he's just practicing so that when he only HAS one hand….

Joe


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## junebug (Oct 26, 2011)

Actually, the only accident I've had in the shop was from an angle grinder. Was grinding some steel to prep for welding, something caught my eye to my left and my right hand followed my head. The grinder wheel caught me between the knuckle closest to my hand and the second knuckle on my left index finger. Finger got caught between the blade and guard. Stalled the little Makita out. Cut through the bone and my finger was just hanging by some meat and skin. Lucky the doctor on call at the Immediate Care facilty in town was a vascular surgeon. Got out of there with 27 stitches, a splint and an intact finger. Got a pretty little scar, a weird looking knuckle and some stiffness, but the finger works.


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## Manitario (Jul 4, 2010)

Wow, it sounds like he was trying to be as unsafe as possible, like some kind of strange challenge. In honor of this story, I'm going to attach my chainsaw chain to my TS arbor and use that to cut wood today, guardless and one handed of course.


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## drfixit (Oct 16, 2009)




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## willoworks (Jun 1, 2011)

My stupidest moment was years ago when I chucked a small sanding drum into my router table. The second I turned it on, I had a hole in a plywood wall. That could have been me. I think I've gotten smarter since then.


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## richgreer (Dec 25, 2009)

There are tools in the shop that scare me more than others (table saw and jointer). I'm always extra careful around them.

However, the last tool to draw blood was the bandsaw. I've also bled due to incidents with my router (in a router table), drill press, lathe and a hand saw. I consider each of these machines to be less dangerous than a table saw or jointer.

My point - We need to be extra careful around ALL machines.


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## BillWhite (Jul 23, 2007)

Ignorance can be corrected. Stupid is FOREVER!!!!
Bill


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## Tokolosi (Dec 14, 2011)

Robert Heinlein said that the two most common elements in the universe are Hydrogen and stupidity. I dont think I have ever seen a tablesaw jump up and cut someone or a router lying in wait behind a workbench. It requires human interaction.


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## a1Jim (Aug 9, 2008)

We always need to keep control the nut behind the wheel ,but that's always the problem we are the NUTS. )


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## millzit (Feb 5, 2012)

...loose nuts at that!


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## KenBry (Sep 13, 2011)

Yea, my shop teacher at freshman industrial arts made the point very clear that the most dangerous tools in the shops where the students. He then drove that point home by having a slide show of the accidents that occurred in that schools classes. Those images stuck with me now into my 30th year of using tools in a shop environment.


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## MrRon (Jul 9, 2009)

We always hear things like "child proof" and "sailor proof", but the truth is; nothing is fool proof. There are only fools that think it can't happen to them. I have been working with tools most of my life and aside from the occasional cuts and bruises, haven't lost any body parts. I know that something bad is going to happen to me. I just don't know when or how. Call it destiny, but there is an accident out there waiting to happen, so I take extra precautions when I'm in the shop. Maybe I can beat the accident reaper.


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## Everett1 (Jun 18, 2011)

I think the most dangerous thing is being tired in the shop. Not only dangerous, but I made a bad cut on a shelf and had to remake it the other day, ugh!


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