Sunday, May 3, 2009

Safety's No Joke

My terrier/chihuahua mix, Daisy, who fancies herself a Rhodes Scholar, thought she'd play a trick on me with a handsaw that she fashioned from a piece of cardboard and aluminum foil.

Safety's not funny, Daisy. No one's laughing.

Making light of safety, horsing around in the workshop, playing "catch the circular saw blade" with your buddy or "pin the 6-penny nail on the spinning lathepiece"...that's how accidents happen.

While we all want to enjoy our time in the shop, we must continually be aware of potentially dangerous situations.

Like the guy who cut his thumb off three times on the bandsaw (as told to me by a mutual friend).

I'll give you one, maybe two, but if you cut your thumb off and have it reattached three times, you either need to take up word search puzzles as a hobby or you deserve the nickname "Blunder Thumb," "You could kick my butt at Nintendo cuz only one thumb works," or "Non-opposable Ninny."

We should strive to be more like Rosie, my Cairn terrier, who always practices shop safety. And although she may be a few kibbles short of a full bowl, she does still have both her dewclaws.

Happy Woodworkers Safety Week!

Woodworkers Safety Week is the brainchild of Marc Spagnuolo, The Wood Whisperer.