Amazingly enough it is already May, which means it is already time for another Woodworker’s Safety Week. For the 2011 edition, we wanted to post some of the excellent two-minute safety tips we have featured in our online woodworking newsletter, Wood News.
Today’s tip was a favorite of all of us at Highland Woodworking, not to mention many of our customers who read it. Bill Peterson wrote:
As I grow more “antiqueish”, I have found an old comfortable chair to be one of the safest tools in my shop. Whenever I get puzzled over the next step or feel at all frazzled, I shuffle over to my deerskin covered chair and take a few minutes to close my eyes. Then I talk to myself about the problems I might be having with my current project, how to solve it, and then think about my next steps. I take a few bites out of my apple, and get back to work. These breaks don’t take many minutes out of the day and are cheap insurance against a missing digit or two.
We appreciate all of the tips that our readers have sent in over the past year. Highlighting good safety practices in the shop is important all year round, but we are committed to devote a special focus to it this week here on our blog.
Stay safe in your shops everyone, and happy woodworking!
Do you have a great idea for staying alert and helping to avoid injuries in your workshop? If so, we want to hear about it!. Receive a $25 store gift card if we feature your tip in a future issue of Wood News.
When I have a project going the first thing I do is check out just how sharp the tools I will be using such as chisels and then I put a very sharp edge on them, because a tool that is not properly sharpened is a dangerous tool. A lesson learned the hard way at a cost of eight stitches to the heel of my left hand. Now my wood turning tools, carving tools, band saw blades, table saw blades, all tools. Rule of thumb is if you have to force the cut, stop and change the blade or sharpen it.
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