What Is The Most Difficult Power Tool In The Wood Working Shop?

[mike calabrese]

As usual I am going far off in the weeds here. I believe there is no such thing as a the most difficult power tool in the wood shop. Yes there are many tools that are hard to handle / use but that mostly comes down to the brain power or lack there of someone put into the tool when designed, cut a few corners to fit a market and the brain of the operator.

All power tools have rules we all know them and we all violate them regular.
Routers used with dull bits or pulled into a climb cut when we know it has the capacity to go all wrong.
Shapers that are used by an intimidated operator ( I would guess that is all of us to some degree it sure is me big time scares the crap out of me !)
Jointers oftetn used without blade guards and work pieces fed through without riding the fence
A tablesaw just because we use one so often we get complaicent and too comfortable, especially when there is a dado blade installed. In the UK & Europe if you buy a tablesaw it is deliberatley fitted with short arbors to prevent their use.
I use a 12 inch disc sander and can't tell you how many times I left skin and blood on that 80 grit monster just because I was lazy, stupid and in a hurry.

So all power tools are dangerous even sometimes before we plug them in.
mike calabrese

[John Goodin]

The only tool I haven’t used, that I wouldn’t be excited to use, is the shaper.

[Maurice Mcmurry]

I have to relearn how to use my dovetail jigs every single time I drag one out..... As far as most dangerous goes, I have a 4" right angle grinder that I can fit a carbide tooth blade to. Super handy when I need it, but also terrifying.

I have a saw blade that fits a small grinder too. I tried it for cutting off cantilever floor joists that protruded from a house to create a balcony. I hope to never use it again. I have wondered about the chainsaw tooth carving wheels for a grinder. A coworker who is a skilled sculptor developed carpal tunnel and had to quit with the chisels and mallet. I showed him my grinder and catalogue images of the carving discs. His response "No way man!"

Screen Shot 2022-10-26 at 6.52.53 AM.jpg

Lately I use a multitool when have to cut things like protruding floor joists.

[andy bessette]

...I have wondered about the chainsaw tooth carving wheels for a grinder...

I have one of those branded "Excalibur" IIRC. Excellent at rough hogging lots of material.

[Patrick Johnson]

My vote is for the 3 X 21 and / or 4 X 24 portable belt sander. I have handed both to would be helpers and regretted it. Do others have a least favorite?

Table saw kick back can definitely scare your pants off, and a wood lathe that chucks a 4x4 past your head will give you pause, but I think the most dangerous tool is the drill press due to complacency while trying to hold an object with your hands. Your hands and face are no match for a piece of wood rotating wildly when a bit catches it.

Patrick

[Maurice Mcmurry]

Table saw kick back that results in the work riding over the top of the blade and spinning back at high speed does a good job wrecking the work and potentially the worker as well.

The background for this question comes from having spent time in more than two shops that were in community environments. Anyone in the community could wander in and use the tools. The shop seniors were OK with very few rules and no rules at all. They were unfortunate situations.

[Ronald Blue]

The most difficult tool to master in my shop, although not normally considered a power tool, is the one between my ears.

Agree totally Kevin! Somedays we are sharp and somedays we are dull. That's the days that we are most dangerous. Just like a dull tool we don't always achieve the desired result on the "dull days".

[Moses Yoder]

the table saw is the most commonly used tool in a woodshop that causes trips to the ER. Most shops don't have a shaper and with a router your hands are up away from danger. I got basic safety advice about how to use a table saw in high school shop class but that option is long gone.

[Edward Weber]

Caution.jpeg

Complacency and lack of knowledge are the most dangerous thing in any shop.

[Bruce Mack]

My vote for most damaging/dangerous would be a portable hand planer. There are others but this one tops my list.

I regularly created huge snipe with my Bosch planer.

[Steve H Graham]

I've never seen anyone say, "I did everything right and still had a table saw accident." I guess it must be possible, but generally it's the arrogant or lazy guys who think guards, push sticks, and featherboards are for wimps.

If you want to see some amazing accidents that seem to defy the laws of physics, Google "buffer accident." It is astonishing how clever a buffer can be. You can't trust common sense when it comes to a buffer. You really have to do what the experts tell you. You will not be able to anticipate all the buffer's tricks.

Guy I read about on a knife forum was stabbed in the heart by his buffer. Not a beginner, either.

https://www.bladeforums.com/threads/...ident.1230491/

[Roger Feeley]

My vote for most damaging/dangerous would be a portable hand planer. There are others but this one tops my list.

I have a power planer but I avoid using it unless I’m fully rested. I have this habit of letting my fingers run along the edge of the wood when I hand plane. No problem with a hand plane but if I do that with a power planer…

I don’t know if that qualifies the power planer as the most difficult but it’s certainly the most dangerous.

[Roger Feeley]

I have to relearn how to use my dovetail jigs every single time I drag one out..... As far as most dangerous goes, I have a 4" right angle grinder that I can fit a carbide tooth blade to. Super handy when I need it, but also terrifying.

Michael,
check out Tips From a Shipwright where Louie puts a 10” table saw blade on his angle grinder.

[Warren Lake]

nonsense on the people who dont use guards are arrogant or lazy or thinking people that don't use stuff are wimps. The ones i knew were just trained in the trade and went on for 50 -60 plus years doing stuff as they learned. They were the least arrogant people ive met in my life.

For the grinders i have one has a speed control and ill pick that one every time and dial in what I need for the work im doing. I ground tons of mortar out between bricks and with lower speed and a 1/4 diamond blade you can do pretty good work. Had i no speed control the thing would have been dangerous to use, even just the gyroscopic effect with it running fights you at times.

[Roger Feeley]

Table saw kick back that results in the work riding over the top of the blade and spinning back at high speed does a good job wrecking the work and potentially the worker as well.

The background for this question comes from having spent time in more than two shops that were in community environments. Anyone in the community could wander in and use the tools. The shop seniors were OK with very few rules and no rules at all. They were unfortunate situations.

Maurice,
I belong to Nova Labs, a maker space here in northern Virginia. They have a great system. In order to use a machine, you have to take a safety and skills class. Every member carry’s a proximity fob that they use to turn machines on. It won’t work on machines unless you have taken the class and gotten signed off. I only belong for the two 100w laser engravers so I can’t use their bandsaw even though it’s the same brand and model as mine.