KIDS!

[Inferno]

Both of my sons are pretty smart in their own way. I won't take that away from them but sometimes they have to prove that you don't have to be dumb to do dumb things.

Yesterday my older son was showing me the design he was making for a new workbench. As soon as he showed me the drawing, I knew it was a workbench.
He likes to mock things up in a furniture design program before building, unlike his dad who has it all in his head and goes from there. Nothing wrong with that. It's efficient for him.
When I looked at the drawing, and knew it was a workbench, I jokingly said "Shouldn't you finish the bathroom cabinets (also drawn up in the same program) before starting the build on a workbench? He replied that the workbench was to help finish the cabinets and started to explain why.

He has a portable table saw. While he's been doing his remodeling he's been doing all his cutting on the ground, despite my offer of a pair of sawhorses. He doesn't trust them to be sturdy enough. Store bought, sturdy sawhorses. Anyhow, he's been cutting on the ground. All the miter cutting. All the table saw cutting.

Here's where he went dumb.

He bought this table saw new. All the rest of the power tools, aside from a drill, have been mine.
He said the miter saw was OK on the ground and so was the circular saw but the table saw scared him because he could slip and fall on the blade. I said "That's why you have the blade guard". He said he didn't have one. Then he told me there was a stupid metal piece after the saw blade for keeping the cut parts apart, which was stupid, and he was thinking about taking it off.
We went back and forth about how he HAS to have a blade guard on a NEW saw. He assured me there wasn't one. He said the only "safety" thing was the separator for the pieces after the blade. Figured it was to keep the two pieces from pinching and flipping up. He said there wasn't even a way to mount a guard, even if there was one.
Finally I said I wanted to see this saw because it was illegal in the United States to sell a circular bladed saw without a guard. Still argued but I went out to look.

We went outside and the first thing I saw was that metal piece he was talking about. I exclaimed "That's the mount for the stupid blade guard!!". He wasn't feeling stupid yet.
Then I said that there HAD to be a guard in the box somewhere and he said "no way". And I asked to see the box it came in. He didn't have it anymore. I wanted to see the picture on the box to show him.
I was about to google the thing when he handed me the owners manual. The second page had the identification of controls and safety devices and showed a blade guard. Of course I pointed it out and had my AHA moment but he said that it didn't come with the guard and then said "Unless it's this" and pointed to the blade guard attached to the side of the saw for shipping. He then said "I didn't know what it was for so I just left it there".

HE HAD THE OWNERS MANUAL!!

So I pointed out page after page in the manual stating "Blade Guard" and showing that part.

UGH! He can be so stubborn.

Too many times I tell him RTDM when he's having difficulty.
I know he took it out of the box, plugged it in and turned it on without ever looking at the manual.

OK, I admit I rarely look at a manual but I won't argue with someone telling me something isn't right without looking at the manual to see if they're right.

Hope he doesn't kill himself building that workbench.

 

[Cadillac]

After all that I would still be happy and proud that he’s out in the shop doing building something with his own two hands. And to top it off he has his father there to direct him and point out his mistakes. Enjoy and cherish!
Ps I wouldn’t have installed the blade guard either.

 

[Reddinr]

No doubt, I'm kind of dumb too. I've on occasion run my miter saw on the floor to avoid the 2 minutes it would have taken to carry the saw horses up from the shop. When I had a dad I often didn't listen to him either but quite often I did, whether he realized it or not.

I got rid of the blade guard on my (now) 25-year-old powermatic cabinet saw. It would bind, get filed with dust, obscure the cut and made it next to impossible to cut narrow stock. I'm typing this, so far, with all 8 fingers and two thumbs. I do wish it had a riving knife out front as I have bound and launched one or two chunks of wood over the years. I could probably retrofit one...

I do use push-sticks, finger-boards etc. I think that the most important safety feature is in the skull. You just can't let your mind wander when operating a power tool like a table saw. I also think that, for me, a bigger risk is with my vertical band-saw. I need to constantly remind myself just how efficiently that innocent-looking, quiet, cunning blade could do a number on a finger. Just visit the local butcher for a demo.

Who isn't guilty of skipping the 8 pages of safety instructions that come with every dremel, drill, skill-saw? They have to do it for CYA but I do wish they would have a one-pager with the more-important, tool-specific safety instructions on it. Leave from that page the "don't run the skill saw through the cord*", "blade is sharp", "do not mount skill saw blade backwards*", "tool is heavy, don't drop on your foot*", "avoid use while hang gliding, under water, while driving" etc.

My worst tool-related accident, knock on wood, was with an X-acto knife. If I had only read, "tool is sharp" in the manual maybe I would not have that big scar still on my finger from when I was 10 or so.

* Yes, I've done all of these...

 

[markba633csi]

Supervise him for a while using that thing even if he gets peeved. Table saws are nothing to fool around with- that's a fact

 

[Mill Lee farm]

From my previous career as a field product specialist, my coworkers and I came to realize the owners manual is almost always mistaken for packing material….

 

[Inferno]

I should have mentioned he's 34. He's working on his own house.

 

[strantor]

Don't take it personally, there's something about dads that makes them always wrong about stuff but still the first person you go to when you have a question.

 

[Ken226]

 

[MyLilMule]

I work in IT and at one point, was the system admin for a small company. So many times I wanted to do this.

 

[T Bredehoft]

I bought my first table saw in 1967, Sears Crafstman, 10 In, CI table, double belt drive. Guard? what's a guard? It never drew blood.

Last year I bought my second table saw, HBM 10 in., (Don't count the 12 In Sheppach construction saw, I don't.)
HBM has an electrical brake and a fancy guard. Since the guard was not installed, I continued the tradition of using a table saw without a guard. My Mistake... It has a habit of vibrating the table, encouraging loose pieces of wood to vibrate toward the blade. Once they encounter the blade they take off at supersonic speed toward the operator. The first one went straight toward my right thumb holding the push-stick. It took off half a square inch/cm if skin from the end, shattered the thumbnail. I changed my attitude toward it, no longer stand in line of fire. The second time it did this, I was standing well off to the left, a chunk of wood encountered my lower lip and bruised my jaw. The third time It hit my left hand thumb, drawing blood from the knuckle.

Third time's the charm.

The guard went on. That was over a month ago and it hasn't bit me since.

I had 45 years of safety with that old craftsman saw, and no safety at all with the HBM. If wishes were horses, and freight was free, I'd have the old saw today in my shop outside Rotterdam.

I have to take the guard off to run a dado cutter, or any cut deeper than the blade is set. I can rip wood to 3 1/8", but i cannot cut wood 3 1/4", the permanent safety support is in the way and needs to be critically adjusted when re-installed.

Use your guards, guys. the new saws are out to get you.