[Woodworkers] Which Hand to Watch

[Herb Treuil via Woodworkers]

I spent 6 years teaching Winter Camp Woodcarving to Boy Scouts.  My first
day safety talk included a prediction that I could:

Tell them how many kids in the class would cut themselves before the week
was over.
Tell them who was going to get cut.
Tell them which hand they would cut.

By the end of the week out of a class of 12 kids ~2 would nick themselves.
 (All chisels were razor sharp.)
The kids who were not listening to the safety talk would be the most likely
candidates to get nicked.
The kids would always nick their non dominate hand.  (The dominate hand
holds the tool.  The other hand is the one that receives the least
attention and is in the way of the tool.)

I find that the non dominate hand rule works for most jobs.  If you are
changing spark plugs on your car the non dominate hand is the one that gets
burned on the radiator.  I make a point of telling my kids to look for
their non dominate hand as the last step before starting a chop saw, table
saw or circle saw.

I have a Delta Contractor Saw with a homemade enclosure to keep the dust
down.  I use sharp blades and a ripping blade for extended cuts.  So far I
have been lucky.  I think respecting the tool keeps you that way.

*Herb Treuil*
-------------- next part --------------
An HTML attachment was scrubbed...
URL: <http://lists.sawdusters.org/pipermail/woodworkers-sawdusters.org/attachments/20150909/2889d06c/attachment.htm>