OT Router safety

Back a few years ago when my Dad was still living, my then 35 yr old brother-in law Jeremy was talking about wanting a router to try out his woodworking talent. My Dad got up from his chair and went out to the workshop to get one, and Jeremy followed, after finishing the conversation with my Mom. Dad and Jeremy met at the top of the back steps, so they just stood there and talked about the tool. The router had a 3/4" through-slotted cutter in it, protruding about 3/8". Jeremy wanted to hear the router run, so Dad directed him to the overhead soffit, where there was an electrical plug used for Christmas lights. Jeremy, holding the router in his left hand, dangles it down by his left hip as he stretches upwards with his right hand to plug the unit in. The toggle switch on the router was apparently in the "on" position, un-noticed at the time, where Jeremy had been absent-mindedly flipping it back and forth while talking. When he plugged the tool in, it of course instantly started. Dad said he heard a heavy propeller-like sound and saw something big go flying by his head into the yard, so he turned to see what it was. There was the router, now unplugged, with a pair of men's briefs hung up in the cutter, lying on the ground!! Dad whirled back around to see Jeremy shaken, face white as a sheet, and eyes big as saucers. Jeremy FLEW to the bathroom to see what damage had been done. (privates seemed to be a major concern) The only physical damage was a 3/4" hole in the left hip seam of his jeans, with a slight band-aid wound on his hip where the router bit had nicked him. The router had sucked his entire pair of underwear out of his pants in hundredths of a second! Luckily, nothing critical was hurt, but he ended up with a bruise in his inner crotch at his left leg, and a severely injured pride. In-law visitation dwindled for a while after that. For years afterward, my Dad could not tell the story without crying from laughing so hard, telling how he stood outside the bathroom door, along with my HIGHLY concerned sister asking "Jeremy, are you all right?" Jeremy never mentioned wanting to take up woodworking again.

RJ

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