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Legally blind and still woodworking

Stephen Scott, associate editor

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Tom Fuller, 69, continues working in his shop despite being severely visually impaired. He's diligent about using push sticks, which are very clearly labeled.

Courtesy Rock Hill Herald, www.heraldonline.com

A case piece that Tom built before his vision deteriorated.

Courtesy Tom Fuller

The walnut gun cabinet that Tom built for his daughter.

Courtesy Tom Fuller

Tom Fuller, 69, continues working in his shop despite being severely visually impaired. He's diligent about using push sticks, which are very clearly labeled.

Photo: Courtesy Rock Hill Herald, www.heraldonline.com

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Tom Fuller took up woodworking about 10 years ago after moving to Rock Hill, SC toward the end of his construction career. Back then, with one good eye and one bad one, he built a house full of furniture for he and his wife, Riccie. Chests of drawers, a sideboard, several occasional tables and more.

Since then, though, he lost the bad eye and the good one got worse. Detached retina. Corneal transplant. Legally blind is what the doctors say now - 20/300, with more surgery on the horizon.

But Tom is still a woodworker.

He can't read facial expressions or see the teeth on his tablesaw blade, but he still makes regular trips to his shop in the outbuilding behind his home. His biggest recent project, a gun cabinet for his daughter, was interrupted a couple of times for surgery. It took 2 years to complete.

It might surprise you to learn that Tom's a power-tool guy. His shop is complete with a tablesaw, jointer, thickness planer, drill press, router table, biscuit joiner and jigsaw. The jigsaw is the one he avoids. In order to follow a line with it, he says, "I have to get my eye and face so close to the blade that sawdust becomes a real problem."

Tom uses a visor-style magnifier, but still has to get his eye within 2 inches of the scale when setting his tablesaw fence. For cuts that he makes frequently, he's milled reference blocks for the sake of quick and consistent set-ups.

He's figured other work-arounds, too. He used to get fits trying to line up the dust-suction holes on his random-orbit sander with the holes on a new sanding disc. Then he found that dowels in a couple of the sander holes worked perfectly as indexing pins, helping him feel his way to a good fit. When he needs to drill a hole, he puts a piece of white tape on the workpiece and marks the spot with a black marker. Then he uses a punch to strike a dimple that he can find with his finger to locate the drill bit.

Among his biggest frustrations - trying to get a two-prong plug into an electrical socket and the fact that "it takes me so long to do things."

To see more of Tom's shop and work, check out the story in his local paper, The Rock Hill Herald, or watch the video from the local TV station.  If you're a visually impaired woodworker and you have ideas to share for working safely and quickly,  post a comment. Tom is eager to hear from you.

Setting Up Shop
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Comments (1)

jhonbaker writes: This guy is my new hero, absolutely. I stopped riding a motorcycle and being a m/cycle mechanic after an accident left me with a bum right leg and right hip, that is why I wood work now. I cannot imagine anything tearing me out of my shop even though I am just a beginner, so people like this deserve the admiration from people like me. The only thing I would suggest for my new hero Tom is to take out an ad in a local paper for an apprentice, an unpaid intern of sorts that he can have help him and he can guide into the great journey that wood working is. If I lived close to Tom, I would ump at such an opportunity. Thank you for the inspirational article!
Posted: 1:25 pm on September 15th

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