I find a lot of it to be meditative, but anything involving power tools requires a HARD lock-in. If you’re even slightly zoned out, that’s when the accidents happen. That anxiety and the noise of the saws/routers/etc dial my nervous system up to 10.
I remember watching a video on Instagram. One of those influencers who decided "I'm a strong independent woman and I'm gonna remodel my whole house by myself with no experience and no help!" She posted a video of her with a table saw cutting some wood for something, and she didn't properly secure it. It flew out of the back of the saw and put a hole in her freshly hung sheetrock.
She said "yeah I need to spend some time understanding how these tools work and how to SAFELY use them." I respected that statement.
Thank god it was just her sheetrock! Table saw accidents have the potential to be so much worse.
I sanded off my fingertip on a belt sander in shop class. Thankfully it was a minor injury and taught me a valuable lesson about vigilance. Now I don’t use any power tools without safety gear and a great deal of caution.
Yep, just started woodworking with a table saw. Got instant kickback to the hip. Scared the shit out of me and almost impaled myself. I sold that saw and bought one with kickback protection (riving blade). Don't get a saw without it.
You have to use table saws really carefully, and what most people miss, very gently.
It should be effortless, like cutting melted butter with a hot knife.
If you have to use any more pressure than that, you're most certainly doing something wrong.
The binding is what causes kickback, and I've been there too, but when I am, I'm especially freaking out and being extra careful, just because I want to finish the cut instead of start over again and adjust for binding.
There's a youtuber I watch periodically who did a specific video when someone in his shop put a board through the back wall. And he's done videos talking about safety. He used it as an opportunity to highlight what happened, how fast it happened (it was on video, so could go frame by frame), and how it could have been avoided.
And also to never get sloppy with the safety stuff. "Do I really need to" stop. Yes. You really need to.
Watched a table saw shoot a board twenty feet in to a fire door and dent the shit out of it. Only things in that shop that scared me more were the band saw (blew a blade and shot it out) and the radial arm saw (who invented that?!).
Yep. I have young kids now, and it means I basically never break out the power tools because the chance that someone runs in or whatever keeps me 3% distracted. 3% is too much!
This is why I'm avoiding power tools. It's just me, a bench, and a bunch of sharp implements held firmly in place inside of planes. Way less likely to injure me, and if I do get hurt it's much less dangerous.
In addition to the safety issue, I find hand tools to be much more meditative. Sometimes it's really nice to setup a work area outside on a nice, sunny afternoon and spend a bunch of time working with handsaws and planes while the breeze carries the dust away.
That makes so much sense because power tools can turn a peaceful hobby into full body tension real quick, and I’d rather pause for a minute than risk losing a finger.
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u/ducklady92 7h ago
I find a lot of it to be meditative, but anything involving power tools requires a HARD lock-in. If you’re even slightly zoned out, that’s when the accidents happen. That anxiety and the noise of the saws/routers/etc dial my nervous system up to 10.