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The number one rule about edge tool safety is:
Always keep both hands behind the cutting edge of your tool.
This rule is absolute, and if you follow it absolutely, you’ll absolutely never cut yourself.
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My friend Dean is using the paring technique described in Moxon. Notice where his hands are in relation to the blade.
When working with chisels I use one of two basic grips: Ã? The Moxon grip (above) and the carvers’ grip (below). Ã? In both cases, both hands are behind the edge. These grips need to become your “home” position. Ã? This takes practice. But I think the reason guys break rule number one is because their work holding isn’t holding. Ã? So let’s consider that.
Philadelphia Museum of Art conservator Christopher Storb uses a carving grip to shape a cabriole leg.
Get smart about workholding:
If your workpiece is slipping in the vice such that you need a hand to support it, you’re doing something wrong. Ã? Don’t rely on friction (clamping effect of clamps or vises) to react your effort. Ã? Use the vise or clamps only to position the work and react your effort with a wall (your bench IS against the wall isn’t it?) a planing stop, bench hook or the like. Ã? Take a minute to secure your workpiece. Ã? The time you waste will be offset by the time you’ll lose if you cut yourself.
This rubber mat, a piece of a carpet pad from IKEA, really helps secure work. I recommend using it. Likewise, super-hard, polished workbench tops are probably a mistake. This pad works so well, I can smooth this board without a planing stop. I’m not suggesting you give up your planing stop. But this is a nice way to increase friction and keep your work from slipping. Use it in addition to your planing stop, vise, and holdfasts.
The right tool for the job:
You really shouldn’t need excessive force for most woodworking operations. Ã? If you find your work needs more support than your bench can provide, maybe you need to consider using a different tool. Ã? Dull tools can also be the cause of needing excessive force. Ã? When you take that hand off the back of the chisel, stop and think; Ã? “Is this really the best way to do this?” Ã? Even when it’s the fastest, will the time you save with your hatchet offset the time you wait in the local emergency room?
When to make the trip?
I think many of us have been programmed to think of stitches as only appropriate for serious injurues. Ã? Why make a Federal case out of a small cut? Ã? Don’t think of stitches or the number of stitches as indicative of the seriousness of an injury. Ã? You go for stitches when you need to go for stitches. Ã? Here are my untrained thoughts on the subject:
When you have excessive bleeding, bleeding that doesn’t stop within a few minutes, go to the emergency room. Ã? Don’t mind how deep the cut is. If you can’t stop the bleeding quickly, go.
Any deep cut in a joint area really will benefit from stitches, even when the cut isn’t bleeding perfusely. You want to be able to close a wound and immobilize it. Ã? That’s what stitches do. Ã? They speed healing and stave off infection. Ã? Chances are, if you cut yourself at 10pm on a Saturday night in my neighborhood, you may be waiting 8 hours to be stitched. Ã? You can pack it in for the night, apply a gauze pad and tape as best you can, and head to the hospital in the morning. Ã? I think you can go many hours between the time when the injury occurs and when it is stitched. Ã?Â
Don’t be afraid of your edge tools. Ã? Just make sure you are using a technique that won’t allow you to cut yourself and be prepared it you do.
Adam
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Walking into a clean shop always gives me an energized feeling. Conversely, when the shop’s a mess I don’t want to even walk into it. I’ve learned to clean as I go and dedicate the last 20 minutes or so of shop time to tidying things up. The clean shop then beckons me the next night to come in again.
I know from personal experience that even a very deep cut to an extremity can be stitched successfully up to ten hours after occurring if it’s cleaned and well bandaged immediately. About ten years ago I was up very late one night sharpening the various fixed and folding knives that I used a lot during camping season. I dropped one of the freshly sharpened knives and out of foolish, sleepy instinct tried to ‘catch’ it with my foot to keep it from hitting the floor too hard. I succeeded. I was also barefoot.
The blade caught my little toe on my left foot and left a deep half-moon shape cut in the lobe of flesh on the outer edge of the toe. I stopped the bleeding, cleaned and bandaged the wound (thanks Boy Scout first aid training!) and went to bed. Next morning when I checked on it there was a lot more gray skin than I had hoped for so I called my Mom for a ride to the ER. When all was said and done about ten hours had elapsed from the time of the cut to seeing the doc. He said the stitches had about a 50/50 chance of doing any good at the point but since I’d done good first aid on it (clean and sterile wound still) he’d try. Within in minutes of stitching the color began to return and I healed up fine with barely a scar. Naturally I took the stitches out myself 🙂
Great advice, Adam. Sharp chisels are wonderful, effective, and for the most part safe tools if handled properly, always use the chisel away from yourself – body and extremities.
Guide the blade and use controlled, predictable cuts.
Something that we may disagree on – and it may be a personal preference/comfort item: I never like to ‘lean into’ a chisel with a lot of force. I have seen that done on many woodworking shows and it makes me squint.
I prefer to use my little lignum vitae mallet and just tap my chisel. After a while one can even pare like that – to some extent. Last night I cut a compound angle for a joint in hard maple, first with the handsaw, then with a half-inch low-angle, old Jernbolaget chisel driven with a mallet, after that I used the guide block and a 1/4 inch wide, long paring chisel. With little effort the last pared shaving came off to hit the scribed line.
I’m not yet quite sure how to use the Moxon grip/technique, and frankly wonder if the person who first owned the oldest chisel that I have – a half-inch James Cam – could use that technique with such a relatively short chisel.
Alfred