Isn't it odd how some people never really learn? Even basic safety procedures.
I mean, that one about not cutting towards yourself - always cutting away. That one is so basic that you'd think it would be second nature. Anyone who ignores that one *deserves* to have stabbed themselves in the chest with a No 10A Swann-Morton scalpel blade!
Well the first time is OK, but if it happens twice ya gotta kind of wonder. So to avoid looking completely stupid, I change the blade types frequently. ;-)
'Never' use the words "Always" or "Never". There are 'always' exceptions. A spoke shave immediately comes to mind, and then there is peeling potatoes with a knife. :-) You miss taking out the garbage a few times and your wife says "You never take out the garbage". :-)
Well, no. I end up in potentially dangerous situations when I either drop a knife (clumsyness is a way of life...) or when I lose control of the blade. As a result I always cut down into the table, or towards myself, or at least towards my thumb, in a similar fashion as when peeling potatoes, thus keeping things under control. If I try to cut away from myself, chances are that I'll either slash into the hand holding whatever I'm working on, or smash my knife hand into something.
How many people here instinctively try to use their foot to soften the fall of something dropped, like a glass, cup, or plate, etc.? And how many have instinctively, but erroneously, did the same when the falling object was a knife? :-)
Not me. I might make a grab for it (not all that smart either, of course), but my feet either stay where they are or I jump back. I learned long ago that I don't want big clumsy feet moving anywhere near the place something fragile has fallen (bit of model aircraft come to mind..)
While not dangerous, usually, droppng miniscule parts to the parts eating carpet is my never-learned accident.
Three tries to complete 1/72 scale swords for a cavalry diorama was just the latest. The problem is that the scenario is almost always the same. The part bounces off the belly. Being a too rounded, too soft surface the part never drops straight down, always somewhere else. The solution is, of course, to sit close enough to the work bench, that way there is no gap open to the floor. Of course I always start out that way, but slowly get further and further away from the bench. That's when the part goes flying.
Oh, the danger element. Hands and knees on the floor with a flashlight, once in awhile I forget that I'm under the work bench and wham! That one is rare, though. Decades crawling around in airplanes taught me the dangers of overhead hazards.
I do the same. I use a regular office desk for my workbench. If I remember (and usually don't), I pull out the drawer so that it rests against my belly and anything that falls will wind up in the drawer. Anything small that falls on an indoor-outdoor carpet will bounce, sometimes up to a 1/4 mile away, or so it seems. :-) How about a part that falls and after you search on the floor for an hour and a half, is found on your clothing or stuck in the laces of your shoes, sometimes being glued there?
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