Band saws need respect

Re: Band saws need respect

jesse cloud

Best wishes for a speedy and complete recovery!!

Re: Band saws need respect

Dick Coers

Best analogy I've ever heard is comparing saw teeth to a rattle snake. Would you get your fingers that close to a rattle snake? If the answer is yes, it's a safe procedure.

Craziest band saw injury I was told, was a guy that reached around a coasting down band saw. He bumped the back of his arm on the blade, just below his elbow. Seemed minor, but when he bent his elbow to inspect the damage, the open skin slid over the joint exposing the bone. He said he almost dropped to the floor, but was able to get to the phone to call 911. No way was he driving himself.

Hope you heal quickly!

Consider it a warning from the Woodworking Gods...

Bill Tindall, E.Tn.

......to us all.

Re: Familiarity breeds contempt

Hank Knight

I don't know if "contempt" is the right word, but certainly carelessness fits the bill. It's hard t be vigilant all the time but vigilance is essential!

Re: Band saws need respect

Thomas Skaggs, Foothills of Mount Level

Bummer. But sure glad it wasn't worse. Thanks for reminding all of us!! T.

Meat saw

Jack Guzman from Maine

I always keep in mind that a bandsaw is the same tool butchers use to cut beef carcases in half. It cuts through bone as easily as wood. Glad you didn't get it worse.---Jack

Re: Band saws need respect

John in NM

I hope it's not too bad, healing is good either way.

Congratulations on making it this long without getting bit (I wish I could say the same )

The drill press is the one that's gotten me a bunch of times. I think I've finally learned my lesson though!

Re: Band saws need respect

Mark hennebury

Glad that it wasn't worse, i hope that it heals well.

In some ways it's a good thing to have happen, every once in a while if you get a minor run in with a machine it keeps you on your toes for a long time, makes you realize how quick and easy it is to have a serious accident. Done my share of minor ones, heard plenty of horror stories of the big ones.

Re: Meat saw

Mark hennebury

Reminds me of the local butcher in my town telling me about the time a customer cut their hand off pointing to a piece of meat the butcher was cutting on a bandsaw. They have a bout 18" or more of exposed blade on those when they are cutting up carcases.

Re: Band saws need respect

john lucas

Hope you heel well and quickly. I have had the same problem with the rear of my inserts actually warped in the middle so some pieces of wood hit the back edge of the hole. I plan to build that up and file it back down flush so that never happens again. Perhaps reading this will spur me on.

I seem to remember reading many many years ago about a lady who actually cut her hand off on the bandsaw. She was a nurse and knew how to stop the bleading. Can't remember the rest of the story because it's been too long but I think about it almost every time i get to the bandsaw.

One of the scariest machines I ever photographed (I'm a retired photographer) was a horizontal bandsaw that had a throat of 10 feet. It was used to cut those giant foam mattresses. It had a razor blade for the blade. It didn't make any noise other than a hiss. I imagine it would cut your arm off so fast it probably wouldn't even hurt for a few seconds.

Re: Band saws need respect

Barry Irby

Hope you heal well and soon. As they say, let this be a lesson to you and thnks for posting so it can be a lesson tot he rest of us.

I nearly cut the tip of my thumb off with a RAS. I have not cut myself on the bandsaw but did get a minor burn off the back edge of the blade. My son was cutting a thick bowl blank and the blade popped out of the front and his hand went into the blade. a fairly deep cut in the webbing between his thumb and hand was the result. We took him to the emergency room. The doctor that sewed him up had a terrible "Frankenstein" cut down is face from his hairline down beside his nose. Stitches that looked like shoe laces. I couldn't resist asking what happened and did he sew that up himself? A piece of plexiglass fell out of a skylight just as he looked up to see what the noise was. He was anxious to finish what he was working on , so he went to the house and sewed up his own face. sheesh!

Re: Meat saw

Ron Pemberton

One of my old bandsaws I was selling to upgrade saws, don't remember the make, was sold to a local butcher.

Another good woodworking tool for butchering

Keith Newton

Jack, My cordless reciprocating saw does crossover to butchering too.

Re: Band saws need respect

Don Orr

Yikes! Sure glad it wasn't worse but sorry it happened at all. Let us all be reminded of the potential of cutting tools of all sorts.

Re: Band saws need respect

Brian Holcombe

Barry, he seems like a handy fellow.

Sorry to hear about that Johanna!

I have a big carbide 1.3T blade on my saw, i've worked with it for a year and it gives me the willies when I see a large exposure of that blade.

Thanks for the heads-up!

Jim Dillon

Johanna, as many others have said, your post is a reminder to us to always think-through any operation involving power tools that could inflict serious injury. Yet, I am reminded of the instinctual reaction to trying to catch a falling knife. We try to work safely, but on rare occasions "stuff" happens. Oddly, for me, the scariest tools in my shop are the sliding-compound-miter-saw, the lathe, and the drill press - and not the TS or band saw. I lost count of the number of times a VERY slightly bowed board, when cut (partly or completely) pinched the CMS blade and bounced the entire assembly out at me. The board would not move because it was against a fence, but the whole motor assembly would recoil toward me. And catches on the lathe spook me to this day. Accidents using a drill press are not rare either. And with more and more powerful battery-powered drills, it is not uncommon to read about a powerful drill jamming throwing the operator, on a ladder, off the ladder. It's a dangerous world out there . More seriously Johanna, thanks for your post and heal quickly. Jim

Re: Thanks for the heads-up!

William Duffield

Perhaps not surprisingly (due I think to complacency) OSHA reports that the drill press causes the most number of accidental injuries in woodshops. Of course, other tools which shall remain unnamed, usually cause much more serious injuries, people all too often don't clamp their work to the DP table, the bit catches and either (or both) lifts and spins the work, along with the fingers holding it.

Re: Thanks for the heads-up!

Barry Irby

Interesting. I thought Table Saws caused the most injuries. I thought that was because the table saw was the most common shop tool.

My most common error using the DP is to leave the key stuck in the chuck and when I turn it on it flies out and hits me in the chest.

Re: Meat saw

AZ in Colorado Springs

That is exactly what I tell students when I introduce them to the band saw. So, they need to work carefully and be sure to work safely. Gets their attention.

Re: Thanks for the heads-up!

William Duffield

Probably, table saws cause the most damage and most expense. Drill presses usually don't result in amputations, just bruises and lacerations, but lots of them.