First I'll say, yes I messed up, I see a lot of posts where everyone says always use push sticks and well I didn't use mine tonight and it happened to me.

I was using my band saw completing an order for a friend, I was reproducing a simple piece, on the 12th one I slipped up. Luckily no damage to tendons, but I had to go to the ER and get eight stitches in my thumb just above the first joint.

Learn from me and don't be like me.

Made some parts to turn my drill press into a lathe last night. Today I’m testing it out to see how well it works. Drill speed is 610 rpm here but I’m not sure if I should change that. 610 is the slowest it’ll go.

Today I decided to wipe sawdust off of a planer while it was on.

Now I have one less finger.

Don't be a dumbass.

TDLR: Don't make my mistake. Slow down, work at a consistent, relaxed pace, and treat every tool like it can kill you.

I think a common mistake many people make is to be more careless with some of the less notorious tools (drills, sanders, handsaws, etc.) than the table saws of the world. That happened to me with a belt sander. I'm no professional woodwork, so was using a combination of hand planes and my belt sander to flatten a large tabletop that I over-clamped during glue up. Working with headphones and a facemask on, I had been sanding the top down with 80 grit for a good 30 minutes. I turned off the belt sander and wanted to check the paper. With my headphones blasting music, I couldn't hear that it was still spinning, so instead of waiting a few additional seconds for it to completely stop, I inadvertently touched the paper while it was slowing to a stop. The sander instantly pulled my finger into it, leaving the damage you see here.

Safety is super important to me (I know, right), so I was extremely disappointed in myself for doing something so careless. I've pinpointed the "why" to a combination of bad habits and rushing.

I got in the habit of touching the paper on my orbital sander while it is winding down. I'm still trying to break that habit ... just caught myself touching the orbital paper while winding down when sanding drywall last week. Bad habits are tough to break, especially when you only have a couple of free hours to spend in the shop, but I'm actively trying to incorporate Michael Pekovich's rule, Don't Rush, But Don't Stand Still: "Find a tempo where you feel as though you're moving at a constant pace from task to task, a tempo that allows you to invest the necessary focus for each task without feeling as if you are rushing though some tasks and hitting a wall with others ... The important thing is you always feel in control of the process and of the quality of work you are doing"

University course in model making don't be a smart a*s in sanding. When you have doubts about what you're doing, just make something you can hold on to that is not the wood you are sanding.

Not going to post a picture, I'm sure you don't want to see that. Just a reminder that when you drop sharp things, don't try to catch them. All you're going to do is hurt yourself and it'll probably still hit the ground anyway. Now I have 4 stitches in my finger because I tried to catch my widest chisel and it cut basically to the bone.

Edit: Since people have been asking, here are the photos. If you have a thing about gore, don't look. It's about 1" long since that is the width of the chisel I was using. There really isn't much to the story. We are planning on moving, so I'm finally (6 years later) making our IKEA Billy bookcases look like built-ins by redoing the edge banding to get rid of the gaps between units. I realized the factory banding peels off very easily, so I grabbed a chisel to get under it. On the last one (of course), the chisel slipped, my brain said, "Let it fall," followed by, "Well, I bet I could catch it." Took a direct hit on my finger, cut nearly to the bone. Somehow missed everything important, though, so while I do have a gross mouth on my finger, I still have mobility and feeling.

I have naively been throwing my stain rags in the trash for some time now. I’ve recently learned the danger of spontaneous combustion. I’m going to purchase on of these trash cans. It says empty every night, but how are you disposing of this material properly if you’re not keeping it in this can?

I live pretty rurally so it’s not like I can make daily trips to the dump…

I'm pretty spooked by this and can't really figure out how it happened. I'm wondering if anyone has had a similar experience.

Last night I was routing out a bunch of deep grooves in birch ply. There was a little bit of smoking/burning as by bit started to wear, but it wasn't too bad, or so I thought.

My shop space is in my basement. I made my last cut and swept the floor, which was a few dustpans full of sawdust that I dumped into the 5 gallon bucket I use as a trash can. The only other thing in the buchet was some bits of blue tape I had used as a shim on my router and it had no more than 2-3 inches of debris in the bottom.

I went upstairs, took a shower and went to bed. In bed, about 30 minutes later, I started smelling smoke. After looking everywhere else I went downstairs and the whole shop was filled with smoke and the trash can was smoldering. This is how I found out my smoke detector was not functional and I have already corrected that.

It would not be uncommon for me to finish up in the shop and immediately leave the house, leaving the dogs at home. If I had done that I think this really could have burnt down the house.

Has this happened to anyone else? It's still a mystery to me.

Recently I’ve been running some ¾” MDF through my table saw. Everything is fine except they’re so damn heavy - 100lbs each! I’m a 55 year old woman and I’m not suddenly going to get super strength. So now I’m trying to think of ways to make this easier.

Getting panels from the truck to the storage rack and from the rack to the table saw…

My mind is racing with gantry’s and suction cups and heaven knows.

Does anyone have any neat solutions?

I started woodworking when I was in high school four years ago with my dad and am getting more and more interested in it. I'm starting to tackle more and more difficult projects. However after experiencing kickback that nearly fractured my arm, and my dad cutting a giant chunk of his thumb off with the jointer kinda made me fearful of the table saw and jointer and miter saw. Seeing people on this subreddit talk about degloving and serious injuries, deepened my fear. I love doing it but I can't get over this fear, any advice?

I've had a pair of 3M Worktunes Connect ear muffs for about 4 years, and the battery is no longer charging. I'm really bummed because these have been a real workhorse in the shop and when doing yard work. The only application I struggle with is when using a dust mask or respirator - I think this is more of an issue for me with any over ear style hearing protection, though.

This past Christmas I picked up a set of ISOTunes Plus in ears for $20 during doorbusters sale at Woodcraft. I like that they don't get in the way when showing on the dust mask, but that's about the only time I use them. They are OK, but not spectacular - low Bluetooth volume, less noise reduction, and I really hate the way the cord will work its way tight on one side because the controller "pod" slowly works the cord to one side.

I was thinking about getting a pair of the ISOTunes ear buds (I have a 20% off coupon for Rockler), but wasn't sure if there may be better options out there. I watch a lot of woodworking videos on YouTube, and it seems ISOTunes are everywhere, and not sure if I'm getting influences by all the marketing.

FWIW, I love the 3Ms, and will likely get another pair for the shop, but was curious what experience y'all have had with other hearing protection products... thanks in advance!

Anyone else have a wall of shame in there shop? Just me? Great..

ANSWERED.

I want to do a few (artistic) projects involving cutting many smaller, thin pieces of wood precisely. I was thinking of using my jigsaw as if it were a bandsaw, by clamping it down. What are the potential hazards of doing this, or have I stumbled across a fairly common thing to do?

EDIT: Seems like there are ways to do this, but one redditor (HammerCraftDesign) nailed my intuitive concern. I knew I was missing logic and they addressed it and put it in words. https://reddit.com/r/woodworking/s/ukzSJQ1qgb

I have been trying to build a crosscut sled for my dewalt table saw. I have never had kickback issues before, but I am cautious with the table saw and wanted a sled for increased safety, crosscuts, and an upcoming shaker cabinet project. While doing the cut 2 of 5 of the 5 cut method to square the fence, I got kickback at the end of the cut. My first guess is that the very thin off cut slid into the back fence and wedged in with the blade. My next guess is that just 2 screws on the ends of the fence allowed for some flex while the blade was in the fence. And finally I wonder if maybe I pulled the sled back toward me as I was reaching to turn the saw off, but I though that would be fine and I'm not sure I even did that.

Any thoughts would be appreciated.

Is this a manufacturer defect or is this just for a CNC machine or something? I cut a strip of a pop can and wrapped it around the base as a way to fill the gap but aluminum kinked up when I tightened it down and created a wobble. Should I try too use a steel strip instead of aluminum or is shimming it just a bad idea in general? I bought it on Amazon for 20$

Currently down 4 finger tips ( ˊ̱˂˃ˋ̱ )

I know protective equipment isn't the sexiest way to spend your money, but it's one of the most used tools in most workshops. If you've never tried stoggles, I'm telling you they are hands down better than any of the eye protection you'll find in a hardware store. The antifog is better, the lenses seem more clear, and they're just more comfortable. I was happy with my purchase at $40, but right now they're all on sale for 20-50% off.

I understand that fine dust is bad for lungs, and that it needs to be managed.

I grew up helping around my dad's old cabinet mill, so I'm no stranger to what good dust management looks like. However, at this point, I'm setting up shop in an empty bay of my garage and am generally working for an hour here and there and on weekends. So while I have visions of ductwork dancing in my head, I really can't justify a big spend on dust management.

The shop vac (with HEPA filter) + cyclone + bucket does a decent job. I'll throw on a mask as well when sanding (even though the seal isn't perfect with a beard). But I also just open up the garage door to get good ventilation and/or just sand outside.

I'm not spending hours and hours each day in a production shop sucking in dust. If I ever ramp things up, good dust management is a no-brainer. But for now, do I need to worry that much beyond what I'm already doing?

I’m a fairly new woodworker and I’m questioning whether I’m missing an important piece of PPE - gloves. Do you use them? Does anyone have any good recommendations?

I was ripping some long maple stock yesterday and nicked my finger on the sharp edge of the board when I was picking it up from the outfeed table. ‘Tis but a scratch although that hard maple 90° edge is like a knife edge if you’re not careful.

This is how you want to tighten and loosen router bits. Flip the larger wrench for a smaller space between them when loosening.

1, It keeps you from over-tightening. 2, It allows total control when loosening, even if the collet nut is stuck pretty good.

I always only use the spindle lock for finger tightening while raising the bit a few mm so it just grabs the bit before I use the wrenches.

I recently decided to stop doing remodel work to persue my dream of being a full time woodworker. I live in a small town with very limited options to work in a decent shop. My current job is the only one I could find that fits what I want to do. We build beautiful cabinets and sometimes get to build custom furnature. The shop forman is an absolute ass but is extermely skilled and a wealth of information. The problem is that the work environment isnt safe at all. I think its time for me to walk but I wanted some input before I give up and just build my skills at home in my free time.

Here are just a few of the things that have been issues:

• There are no riving knives on the table saws. I finally got them to dig the one for the panel saw out, thankfully.

• There are air lines and power cords in tangles messes everywhere. Even underfoot sometimes while running machinery.

• We trim short crosscuts and doors on the table saws with no riving knife. The panel saw has a sliding fence but I was told to not use it for that.

• The emergency off switch on the panel saw stopped working and it was just used like that until I took it apart without asking. I found that it had previously broken and was repaired with a small piece of mdf and double sided tape.

• Last week I was asked to rip a sheet of 1/4 plywood into strips on the panel saw and it was so twisted that the middle was more than an inch off the table. It was bouncing on the blade. I was basically told to stop being a baby and just push it through.

• The delivery truck isnt safe to drive and the registration is expired by more than a year.

• There are so many things wrong that LnI would have a field day if they ever came by.

Non-safety related issues:

• The company is horribly mismanaged.

• The plans are never correct causing issues in the shop and in the field. Changes are made without telling me causing huge time losses.

• Customers regularly wait weeks for the finishing touches to be completed. This turns into a panic by the owner when he wants to get paid.

• I get yelled at by customers because the owner ghosts them and Im the only one they can get ahold of because I give them all my number because I feel bad for them.

• Im asked to do work I don't have the experience to do properly. Sometimes it would take mere minutes to explain but the shop foreman gets irritated at my questions and doesn't give clear answers.

• People just don't show up to work. The owner has no idea what happens at the shop. Im here by myself today with nothing to do but compain on reddit. This has been the norm lately. There are at least 3 jobs that need to get done but I don't have the materials for them or any drawings.

So...any advice on what to do? I have started to get jumpy around the machinery due to the obvious safety issues. I cant concentrate most days because I am preoccupied by trying to think of safer ways to make cuts. My fear is bleeding over to my work in my own garage. Ive been running tablesaws since I was 14 and even safe cuts at home have started to make me nervous.