Safety! Please Be Careful.

In the 50 odd years of modeling, I've managed to stab, slash and cut myself with Exacto knives, Scapels, single and double edged razor blades and even an occasional pocket knife.  And that doesn't count the self inflicted damage caused by other sharp objects (needles, pins, scribers etc).  All of which is usually caused by stupidity (not near as prevalent as it was in the beginning) or inattention (which still gets me once and a while).  When I first started modeling, I would manage to damage myself about once ever two or three years and now it's up somewhere between 8 to 10 years.  But it still happens on occasion.  I'm of the oppinion that when talking about modeling and getting cut, there are two kinds of modelers - those who have and those who are going to.

I thought I was going to have a story to add here when my knife rolled off the table last night and stuck in the carpet next to my foot.  If i am lucky I skewered my carpet monster.

Ron Smith wrote:

I guess watching my 9th grade shop teacher give the safety talk and demo on the tablesaw paid off......while saying "Never look up from what your doing" as he was ripping a piece of poplar the sudden streak of red across his safety glasses made him look down and say "Oh sh....!!!!".....he managed to ripcut about an inch of his middle finger. Yep that taught me to keep my head out and my mind on the sharp whirling cutty/slicey things...... I've also seen my share of grisly industrial accidents all of which were due to head up and locked/inattention/stoned/drunk/stupidity....namely not paying attention and not having the appropriate guards in place. I always have and always will laugh at those who manage to have an Xacto roll off the bench and stick in their tender bits. Cold, slightly cruel and the price of stupidity. Stupidity should be painful, willful stupidity should be very painful, preferably fatal.

Bill;

If you have a problem with the X-Acto rolling around on the workbench, here's a little trick my wife taught me when she was in her first year of school and working a lot with X-Acto's. Take a scrap of sprue and either superglue it to the end of the handle or slip it into your elastic band. It does not have to be a very large piece. Even 1/8 of an inch will do. This will stop it rolling.

Cheers;

Gregory

Bgrigg wrote:

My grade 8 shop teacher did a similar thing with the jointer, curled his fingers over the leading edge of the board and shaved his finger tips down an 1/8" on his left hand.

I haven't managed to hurt myself with the X-acto rolling off the table, but it did happen one time and stuck into the floor only a 1/2" or so from my foot. Now I wrap an elastic band around the end and only place it perpendicular to my position on the worktable. I also try to keep it in the drawer I use for my knives and tweezers.

My theory on why we say "that smarts" when we get hurt is because we are supposed to learn from it!