MWA SAFETY DAY

Ok, so the guys over at the Modern Woodworker’s Association asking for people to talk about shop safety today. I didn’t think that I had anything to post about shop safety until about an hour ago, when I was inspired by an incident in my shop…

MWA SAFETY DAY

While cutting a shallow flush cut, the saw slipped and cut rather deeply into my finger. So my first safety tip is to use clamps to hold your work when possible.

A shallow flush cut on the wood and a deep one on the finger

My second safety tip is to go out and buy several tubes of super glue and keep them on hand. Super glue bonds to skin instantly. If you can clean the injury and get it to stop bleeding for just a few seconds, you can apply super glue to the cut and it creates a nearly instant scab. The photo above was taken less than two minutes after I cut my finger. I won’t get too graphic, let’s just say that it was a bit messy until I grabbed a paper towel… I cleaned the wound with alcohol and glued it shut. Five minutes later I went back to work. In a day or so, the glue will fall off and a simple band-aid will be sufficient.

My first aid kit

Another observation about shop safety. So far, I have only hurt myself once, while operating a power tool. I have done so with several different hand tools though. We tend to respect the power tools but assume the hand tools are safer. Truth is, they tend to be a lot sharper. Remember to respect every tool you use, and keep a lot of super glue on hand…