Woodworking: Basic Safety Tips
Woodworking can be a dangerous undertaking if you are not careful and choose to disregard safety guidelines. A circular saw, router, or other piece of power equipment can disfigure and even kill if not used properly. Even hand tools, which must be extremely sharp to provide best results, can cause serious injuries. In addition, the sawdust and fumes from wood can be harmful to the lungs if inhaled on a regular basis, especially if the wood was harvested from an orchard or tree farm where pesticides were used to control insects.
Fortunately, the advances in equipment and safety products have made it much more easy to have a safe working environment. Many tools come with built-in safety features like blade guards or emergency shut off switches. Other items such as feather boards and bench dogs can be made or purchased very inexpensively. And other parts of woodworking safety don't cost a thing, but draw instead on practice and common sense.
There are several key aspects of safety when it comes to woodworking, and they apply whether you have an advanced shop with many different power tools or are working with basic hand tools in your basement or den.
Protect Yourself
Protecting your body from accidents is a key aspect of woodworking safety. Unfortunately, people get lazy or too comfortable or they feel that the safety equipment gets in the way. A vast majority of shop accidents and injuries occur because people were not using their safety equipment.
Eye Protection
One of the main concerns when working with wood is eye protection. Wood chips can fly off when sawing, drilling, hammering, or any other task that penetrates the material. It usually happens far too quickly to be able to close your eyes or look away. Safety glasses solve this problem. In addition, if tools should break or a part comes loose, your eyes and forehead will be protected. Too many accidents have happened to just brush away this safety concern. It would be very difficult to pursue any woodworking interests with only one eye.
A good pair or safety glasses should be on everyone's list of safety equipment and should be used any time you will be cutting or removing wood with force or power tools. A quality pair of glasses will cost around $12 and could last you your entire life if properly cared for and put away when not in use. Those who need vision correction can even purchase safety classes with bifocal inserts in different strengths for under $20.
Ear Protection
Some power tools can be quite noisy and can damage hearing. Even repetitive hammering produces loud sharp noises. Many of us know a longtime woodworker who has difficulty hearing due to exposure to equipment over the years. Protecting your ears from the loud decibels is important, especially if you use noisy power equipment such as saws, on a regular basis.
Earplugs work well, earmuffs work even better, and a combination of the two is ideal when working with loud equipment that produces sound in the high decibel range. Earplugs cost just pennies, and a set of earmuffs runs about $15. You can get them with a radio and antenna built in for around $50.
Dust Collection
Over the past decade or two, extensive research has been done on the hazards of inhaling wood dust and particles, and the results show that it can cause respiratory diseases. Treated lumber or wood that came from commercial orchards is especially volatile. It is important to capture and remove these particles from the air or protect yourself from breathing them.
A work area with good ventilation will help, but even if you are working in an open area, you will be breathing in the dust if you are standing over the machine while it cuts the wood. If you plan to do a lot of cutting, drilling or sanding, it is best to have a machine that keeps the particles away from your face and prevents you from breathing them in.
There are several methods available, with the most basic being a dust mask. These lightweight masks made of filtering materials fit over your nose and mouth and are typically held in place by a rubber band. Innovative designs improve breathing and deter fogging of safety glasses. A box of 10 high quality dust masks costs around $10. They do not filter out toxic materials with fumes.
You can also purchase a dust collection system or respirator that you wear on your head or strap on your body. These systems are battery powered and allow you to move around freely. Some people feel that they are uncomfortable and impair vision, but they can be a critical way to protect your long-term health if you plan to spend a lot of tim
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