In the last month, I have injured myself more times than I have in the past few years! Now we’re not talking hospital visits here. Just small cuts and scrapes (mostly from hand tools) and a couple of close calls. Enough for me to take a step back and seriously evaluate how I feel before I step into the shop. If there is one thing I learned about myself, it’s that I have NO business being in the shop when I’m tired.

The problem with fatigue is it’s a little like being drunk. You may be a little more complacent than usual. You might make slightly more risky cuts. You might not set up all the proper safety devices. The phrase, “Its just one cut” will likely come out of your mouth. Even something as simple as having a weaker grip on your chisel or push stick could have dangerous ramifications. Basically, all of our safety training goes out the window if you compromise your ability to make good decisions and execute properly.

With this new appreciation for the effects of fatigue on safety, I am happy to say I have been making the decision to stay home much more often than usual. I guess I’ll just edit more video. Like my good buddy Ice Cube says, “Check yo self before you wreck yo self!”

To learn more about the GRR-Ripper, head to MicroJig.com or MicroJig’s YouTube Page.

The Giveaway

MicroJig was kind enough to offer up three GRR-Rippers as a random giveaway! All you have to do is leave a meaningful comment on any one of this week’s safety-related posts. The more you comment, the better your chances of winning. But if you just say something silly, that won’t count. Winners will be announced on Friday May 6th. Giveaway is limited to US and CANADA only.

Products Shown in the Video

Micro Jig GRR-Ripper Basic 3D Push Block System (GR-100) The Micro Jig GRR-Ripper? lets you feed both sides of a workpiece parallel through the saw blade and eliminates bare hand feeding. Micro Jig GRR-Ripper Basic 3D Push Block System (GR-100)

Micro Jig Splitter Steel Pro System, 1/8” Kerf Make table saw rips safer and prevent kickback! Made to handle professional use, even with heavy panels and dense solid wood. Micro Jig Splitter Steel Pro System, 1/8” Kerf

Micro Jig ZeroPlay? Guide Bar System Each guide bar is composed of two interlocking plastic bars that adjust laterally to the exact width of your miter slot to stabilize your jigs. Guide bars are easily calibrated from the top of jig. Micro Jig ZeroPlay? Guide Bar System

Pierre sent me this video and i thought I would share it with you. After a long day in the shop, despite using dust collection and a respirator, tiny dust particles can invade your nasal cavity. So Pierre likes to rinse using a technique called nasal irrigation. Flushing out the nasal passageway removes dust particles so you can breathe easy all day long.

Disclaimer: I am not a doctor, but I did stay at a Holiday Inn once. Even so, you should do some research on this technique and perhaps consult your doctor on the frequency and products you use.

Matt’s Basement Workshop – Sensible About Safety
Tom’s Workbench – Offput By Off-Cuts?
Giant Cypress – Dust thou breathe, and unto dust thou lungs shalt return, redux

Woodworker’s Safety Week is brought to you by the fine folks at MicroJig! Woodworking Evolves!

Special thanks to Jeremy Kriewwaldt, Tom Obrien, Bearwood, Ted Ames, Mark Loughran, Benjamin Roesler, and Don Hall.

Looking for the finger wrap shown in the video?

Flexx-Rap(R) Finger Protection Wrap Flexible wrap helps protect fingers from burns and blisters, plus improves grip. Simply wrap tape around any finger for extra protection. Flexx-Rap(R) Finger Protection Wrap

Stu’s Shed – Filtering the Safety Message
Stu’s Shed – Giving Safety the Finger
Tom’s Workbench – Agony of De Feet
Matt’s Basement Workshop – Minimize the Dust
High Rock Woodworking – Safety Week
Renaissance Woodworker – Shavings Can Be Slippery

Woodworker’s Safety Week is brought to you by the fine folks at MicroJig! Woodworking Evolves!

This Safety Week special article is brought to you by MicroJig!

This cautionary tale was was written by community member Tyler Reichelt.

I had a close call today.

I’m relatively new to the craft and have read up on safety as I’ve gone along. I’ve heard a lot of the horror stories about oily rags and such, but I haven’t used many oil finishes to date, so that topic wasn’t at the forefront of my thoughts just yet.

In any case, I am in the finishing stages of building a workbench and am testing out a few different finishes. One of the finishes I was experimenting with was boiled linseed oil. I hadn’t specifically read up on linseed oil, so I wasn’t very concerned with it. After all, it’s an oil derived from a plant. How dangerous could it be?!

Boy was I was wrong! I was experimenting with both linseed oil and tung oil and was testing different mixtures in little Dixie cups. The linseed oil cup was just about full and the tung oil cup was just about gone. I didn’t think anything of it and poured the tung oil into the linseed cup, stacked them, and promptly poured the mixture right into my dedicated sawdust trash can.

Even when I’m not working in the garage, I still frequently have the urge to go out into the garage and just be around my tools; maybe practice my hand-planing. Well, about an hour after pouring out the oil, I had one of these urges, so I went out. I immediately smelled something burning, but the smell was unfamiliar to me. I thought maybe one of my neighbors was burning something, but when I walked out into the driveway, the smell was gone. I walked back into the garage to try to find the source and when I looked in the sawdust can, I saw a small stream of smoke steadily rising from the sawdust; right where I poured the oil. I immediately ran inside and grabbed a big glass of water and poured it all over the spot. It reminded me of putting out a campfire. When you pour water on it, even though it may not look like much on the surface, when the water hits it, you know something hot is down there. The same applied to the sawdust. Upon digging around with a stick, I pulled out a charred blob about the size of a softball. It was down there smoldering for an hour!

If I had left it much longer or if I had used something bigger than a Dixie cup, the computer I’m typing this on might not have been here right now. I had no idea about the oxidizing properties of boiled linseed oil. Boy do I know it now!

As you can see in the picture(s), this was a disaster in the making. Oily paper towels and linseed oil poured right in the sawdust bin. Lesson learned!

And just to keep things interesting, I’ll be picking my favorite three stories and giving these folks Guild memberships (or extensions if they are already members). Happy Safety Week!

***WINNERS***
Steve Hupp, Neil Aronson, and GMack. Thanks everyone for the excellent stories and so glad you all have enough fingers left to type them out!

• Rough Wood – Hand Tools & Dust
• Stu’s Shed – In the Air Filter or the Lungs? Decisions Decisions…..| Cyclonic Festool
• Kosta’s Workshop – Tablesaw Safety
• Renaissance Woodworker – Lessons Learned And Never Forgotten

With Safety Week here again I wanted to give everyone something to think about. Here is the scenario that I think we can all relate toâ?¦. You get to have some shop time and evening is approaching. Your shop doesn’t have as much natural light as you would like but you work with what you have. The project you are working on has parts in all different locations including the stock you have on the floor. You even needed to rearrange equipment to make everything fit, thank god for mobile bases. You have all your tools at the ready, router, sander, chisels, and dust collection hose.

Everything is going great, you are putting a nice decorative edge on your piece and suddenly the power goes out. There are no lights and it is dark outside so you have no light to see. You can probably set the router down safely after it stops but can you remember where everything is to get out of the shop or to a flashlight without falling or hitting something sharp? You could just stand there and wait for the power to come back on and hope it won’t take hours.

If you really had your safety in mind you would have put up an emergency light. If you look around in commercial buildings you will see them on the walls or ceiling. They are a battery-operated light that will turn on when they lose AC power. The prices of these lights are very low and make a good investment. You can even support TWW by shopping on Amazon.com. I recommend the mounted style, as the plug-in flashlight units tend to walk away and end up in the kids bedroom or kitchen when you need them in the shop. Remember to stay safe and plan ahead to stay that way all year long.
Glenn (Retired F.D. Captain)