Tolpin

One of the consistently dangerous practices that I commonly observe both in commercial as well as hobby shops is the inappropriate use of power tools. I can't count the number of times I've seen workers cutting very small parts on table saws and miter saws and planing short and narrow boards on power jointers. In all these cases, the smallness of the stock forces you to bring your hands far too close to the cutters (almost no one bothers to rig holddowns in place of their hands)...which is doubly dangerous because these small parts can't be readily leveraged against the torque of the machines. It is 99% safer to cut small stock with hand tools--and in most cases with small components its more efficient to do so anyway. It seems we are far too indoctrinated to using machines to think clearly about the issue of appropriate usage.

Get up to speed with handtools (ok, you can have a bandsaw for resawing)and, as a hobbyist woodworker, you won't need one, or miss one.

Basically, the point is to stand out of the line of fire (which is the line between the blade and the fence. If your saw has the switch on the right, then move is to the left. Also put a paddle of some sort over the switch so you can hit the paddle with your foot or hip to turn off the saw--that way, you can keep your hands on the board or panel if it starts to shift and you want to turn off the saw. If you are mostly cutting solid stock for making small furniture for the fun of it, you actually don't need a table saw--but that's a whole 'nuther story!

Yet another good reason to learn to use a good, old fashioned 8 point crosscut hand saw! Its nearly as fast--faster for making just a few cuts, in fact--and its actually quite fun. Really. The trick is to learn what makes for a good handsaw, to learn how to use it as intended (like having a saw horse at the correct height, not the height they have evolved to for use with circular saws) and how to keep it sharp and tuned. Once you do this, you will NEVER bother to crosscut a board on a table saw; and you will almost never bother to use a miter box when making just a few cuts. For me a few now means a couple of dozen before I start thinking about machinery.

The clip brings back memories: Over 30 years ago, living on a farm in PA, I learned how to make traditional hay forks and rakes from green white oak from Dave Sawyer--now a Windsor Chairmaker up in Vermont. We used all hand tools--mostly axe, wedges, froes, drawknives and spokeshaves. It was probably the most fun I ever had in working wood. I've spent far too long machining wood!