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Chainsaw accident
Thursday afternoon was a great day to be in the woods. I was continuing my work of thinning the forest between the house and the lake. I had felled a gnarly spruce, the kind full of twisted branches and hardened sap, all from a hard life of growing in the forest.
The tree felled where I wanted it to and I set out to delimb the tree. Careful as I am, the bar kicked bar and the nose caught into the chainsaw safety pants. I never go into the woods without wearing them, and a good thing I was. The chain hooked and tore into the kevlar lining. The lining on its own is designed to hook the teeth of the chain and pretty much bring the rotation to a stop. Which it did, but the force of the kickback had enough momentum to cut through the safety pants, catch the canvas pants I was wearing (pictured above) and cut into it. The result was a short gash on the inside of my left leg, just about 2 inches from the kneecap.
Limped up to the house, called out for some help and proceed to make our way to the hospital. 3 hours later we’re back home and I have 3 stitches to close the wound. Close call.
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Sounding off with the BOSS
If you have ever used a benchtop oscillating spindle sander, you know that its not loud. Its quite easy to carry on a conversation while using one, although I don’t suggest it. Full attention is needed when operating any power tool. When it comes to sanders, it can be very easy to remove too much material. That will leave you in a pickle for sure. So this sound test with a decibel metre is more of a curiosity.
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Fan-tasticly loud in the workshop
When I’m working with dusty material in the workshop, not only do I use a respirator but hearing protection as well. That’s because I turn on the workshop fan to create air flow in the workshop. The fan is small, portable and built for commercial use. It moves a lot of air. In doing so, it also makes a lot of noise.
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Sounding off with the belt sander
Workplace safety, we all hear about it but how many actually practice it? Recently I purchased a decibel metre to record the different sounds in the workshop. In this first sound test, we take a look at the belt sander. While making some plywood layered candle holders earlier today, I took the opportunity to test out the metre reader.
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Safety Check for our wood chipper
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Damn door jambs – not for the squemish
OK, fair warning, this story is about installing laminate flooring and what can happen when you take all the necessary safety precaution with exception to using the proper tool.