Comments on: Safety Questions Leave Woodworkers Stumped

By: Ed Bonderenka

Ed Bonderenka — Mon, 05 Jan 2009 00:04:22 +0000

My little brother never lost any fingers. He found ‘em, and they sewed ‘em back on.

By: Tbird

Tbird — Sun, 04 Jan 2009 02:28:11 +0000

My old man lost parts of his thumb and two fingers in a shop class in high school. He went on to become a damn good carpenter and a highly skilled cabinet maker. I worked with him in my younger years. His opinion of all the current safety devices was, that they were put in place to protect idiots and keep trial lawyers at bay. His advise was: Look at the machine you’re working with. Learn where you shouldn’t put your fingers. Then GDI don’t put them there!
A good lesson. I’ve worked a lotta wood since and I’ve still got all my digits.

By: Russ

Russ — Sat, 03 Jan 2009 19:57:40 +0000

The blade with the negative rake will cut a lot slower. I’ve no idea if it cuts any cleaner, though.
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I think in woodworking you usually only see those on miter saws, and maybe on radial arm saws – you don’t want the saw to grab and jump at you.
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I use a Forrest narrow-kerf blade in my Delta contractor-style saw. I’ve never used a better blade.

By: Roland the Headless Thompson Gunner

Roland the Headless Thompson Gunner — Sat, 03 Jan 2009 04:07:15 +0000

Hey! There’s a good first project for you. Make a blade cabinet. Blades do cost, and you want to protect them from damage. You’re welcome.

By: Roland the Headless Thompson Gunner

Roland the Headless Thompson Gunner — Sat, 03 Jan 2009 04:01:43 +0000

I’ve never used a laminate blade, but don’t see why they wouldn’t work for crosscutting. For general woodworking, you probably want to start out with 3 blades.
1) A 24 tooth rip blade.
2) A 40 tooth ATB crosscut blade.
3) A 60 or even 80 tooth fine crosscut blade.

As for brands, everybody has their favorites, mine is Amana. Some will tell you that your saw isn’t squat unless it sports a Forrest blade. That’s fine if you want to drop the coin, I can’t knock Forrest. This is one place where you get what you pay for. If you pay for Oldham, that’s what you get. Don’t waste time with a thin kerf blade, either. That saw has horsepower to spare, and will push a blade through just about anything you are likely to feed it. I only have 3 HP, and have yet to bog the thing down. Couldn’t say that about my old Contractors Saw.

By: Gerry N.

Gerry N. — Sat, 03 Jan 2009 03:39:25 +0000

I worked with a guy like that. Far too preoccupied to watch what he does. Over 20 years I watched in awe and fear as he cut off finger after finger in tablesaws, bandsaws, until he cut off so much of his right hand in a 16″ jointer that he became unemployable in any manual trade. He successfully defeated every kind of guard that skilled engineers could design. Luckily he finally found a successful career. Running a car wash. I just let my cars go dirty. I don’t want to run the risk, however miniscule, of running into him. Ever.

Gerry N.

By: JeffW

JeffW — Fri, 02 Jan 2009 22:50:07 +0000

“I bought one to make a hole for my router lift, but the bearing has slid down the shaft, away from the cutting part of the bit.”
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Sounds like the collar is missing or you have a bit that is designed to be used with a hand-router only (rather than a table router) where the bit is always below the router. See the link below for a router bit with bearing and collar:
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http://www.grizzly.com/products/3-4-Pattern-Cutting-Straight-Bit-1-4-Shank/C1308Z
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You can buy collars at most good Hardware stores (in the nuts&bolts section). I don’t know if Home Despot carries them though. Make sure you know the shaft-size when you buy the collar.
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Very glad to hear the Heather’s mom is doing better (and that my prayer mattered). Thanks for updating us.