If you follow some simple woodworking safety regulations, woodworking may be a safe and fun hobby or vocation. All of the guidelines are plain sense, yet breaking them increases your chances of getting hurt while working with your instruments. The wood shop is not the place to be hurried or to believe that "it won't happen to me." Make these ten guidelines a habit, and your woodworking activities will be safer and more pleasurable.
1. Always wear protective equipment.
Wearing suitable safety equipment is the first and most fundamental guideline of woodworking. While hearing protection is required for some highly noisy machines, including as routers and surface planers, and latex gloves may be required when applying finishes, you should never be without your safety glasses in the wood shop. Put them on when you enter the store and leave them on when you leave.
2. Wear Appropriate Clothing
Avoid wearing loose-fitting clothing when working in the wood shop since you don't want any of your clothing to become entangled in a saw blade or cutting head. Wear clothing that is both comfortable for the setting in which you are working and protects your body from any stray wood chips that may arise during cutting. Before you begin, take off any dangling jewelry, such as neck chains or bracelets.
3. Stay away from drugs and alcohol.
Intoxicants and woodworking are a risky combination. If you are under the influence of any intoxicants, stay away from the wood shop. While it may appear innocent for the weekend woodworker to break open a beer (or six) while working on a project, resist the urge until the woodworking is completed. When dealing with power equipment, you're considerably less likely to encounter a problem if you're clean and sober.
4. Before changing the blade, turn off the power.
Before you begin changing a blade on a power tool, be sure the equipment is unplugged and the battery is fully charged. Many a woodworker has lost fingers (or worse) due to a simple but critical guideline.
5. Use Only One Extension Cord
One heavy-duty extension cord is required. Not one for each tool, but one overall. This forces you to switch the cord from tool to tool before using the tool. This way, you'll always remember to plug and unplug the power when switching tools, and you'll be more aware of the necessity to disconnect the power when changing bits or blades.
6. Sharp blades and bits should be used.
This may seem like common sense, but a dull cutting instrument can be extremely hazardous. An under-sharpened saw blade means that the woodworker and his or her tools will have to work harder in order to finish the required task. Kickback and binding are more likely to occur in certain situations. Furthermore, a cleaner cut is produced by a sharper cutting tool, thus the benefits go beyond mere safety. You'll be more successful and safer if you keep your blade in top shape and free of pitch.
7. Always Examine for Nails, Screws, and Other Metals
Before making a cut, always examine the stock for any metal (nails, screws, staples, etc.). Nails and quickly revolving saw blades do not mix. Not only can this damage the cutting head and the stock, but it can also cause the stock to kick back, which is a major source of injury. Before cutting, inspect the stock (or better still, use a metal detector).
8. Always work in the opposite direction as the cutter.
Woodworking power tools are constructed so that the direction in which the wood goes through the tool (or the direction in which the tool moves over the wood) is opposite the direction in which the cutting head moves. To put it another way, a router bit or saw blade should cut against the motion rather than with it. The cutter should cut into the stock rather than with it.
9. Never remove cut-offs by reaching over a blade
Never put your hands near a moving blade when using a table saw, miter saw, or other power tools, especially when removing waste or cut-offs. Wait until the blade stops moving before reaching for the cut-off. Even better, after the saw blade has stopped, use a scrap piece or a push stick to move the waste away from the blade. Remember that switches might be accidentally bumped or malfunction, so don't relax and put your hands too close just because the blade has stopped.
10. Distractions should be avoided.
Working in a woodshop is no exception to the rule of constant distractions. If you're using a power tool and something interrupts your work, make sure you finish the cut safely before addressing the interruption. If you take your eyes off of the woodworking tool, you're setting yourself up for disaster.
