What is the most dangerous tool you have ever used?

[TonyGold]

I was looking at a post in the General Straight Razor Talk forum and someone suggested that 'The Dremel is the biggest danger invented for blades since rust.'
This got me to thinking what was the most dangerous tool I have ever had to use in my seventy years of making things. Without a doubt the most fearsome tool I have ever used would have to be an Arbortech Woodcarver. I don't know if it travels under the same name in the rest of the world but the Arbortech is essentially a circular, six toothed chainsaw blade that mounts onto the front of an angle grinder and is used for offhand carving. Turning at 10,000 rpm it cuts like merry hell (ie 1,000 cutting edges per second). What makes it so scarey is that the blade doesn't differentiate between wood knots and bones or soft pine and flesh.
My most chastening experience with it was when carving a big Victorian rocking horse body the cutter hit a knot, escaped from my grasp and swung in between my thighs. It cut a swathe through the leg of my jeans which lined up exactly with my femoral artery. Fortunately no blood was split but the cutter has never ever been used again.
Do you use a tool that fills you with dread?

[nero82]

I was going to say angle grinder... but I think you just made an angle grinder sound like a childs toy.

I know someone who was using one and it pretty much disintegrated in his hand. Totally shredded the hand. Poor guy. I refuse to use angle grinders now. Still hate using the circular saw though.

[Rushman2112]

Not being much of a handy man - no need for it in a rented apartment - but I always chuckle when I remember school woodwork lessons... We were being shown the band saw and the teacher (whose name escapes me now, but no matter) was impressing upon us the dangerousness of it, and promptly sliced the top of his thumb off. Lots of blood, cue boys cracking up and girls turning green.

[spindlecone]

My Rockwell jointer:(

[stobes21]

My dad's a woodworker, so I grew up using a variety of tools that if used improperly can easily remove body parts -- various types of power saws, routers, jointers, etc. Fortunately my dad is a pretty safety minded guy and taught me the right way to use the tools to minimize the risk of injury. But despite that a few years back he nearly lost a finger in a tablesaw accident. In hindsight what he did was stupid and he should have known better, but at the time it seemed like the only way to get the particular cut he needed. It was a very painful lesson to a guy who by all accounts knew better. I try to keep that in mind to keep me humble around those kinds of tools.

I also took a few metalworking classes in high school where we worked with forges, molten metal, arc welders, etc. At the time it seemed perfectly safe but looking back on it there were plenty of things there that could have gone very, very wrong.

And while it may stretch the definition a bit more than you intended firearms are tools that can be extremely dangerous if used improperly. Much like woodworking tools modern firearms are designed to be as "safe" as possible but operator error can and does cause serious injury or death. Even very experienced shooters can make mistakes and hurt or kill themselves or others.

[coyotewhisper]

I worked in kitchens, Meat Slicer and food grinder. I witnessed sereval horrible accidents with both. I have had encounters with a Meat Slicer myself.

[Edcculus]

Since this is in the cooking section...

Large industrial planetary mixers are scary things. I'm sure you could easily lose an arm. In the home kitchen, a Mandolin is pretty dangerous. I don't use one without putting on cut resistant gloves. Also, a person with a sharp knife that doesn't know how to use it is pretty dangerous.

[DogHair]

Mandolin. Scares the crap out of me.

[spindlecone]

Mandolin. Scares the crap out of me.

That is so true,wife uses hers constantly,got her one of those I think carbon fiber gloves.has worked so far.

[professorchaos]

Most dangerous thing I've used with food is a band saw. Cutting through bone isn't much different than cutting through wood. When cutting meat, it grabs onto the flesh and pulls it in towards the blade. Easy to see loosing a finger if you aren't paying attention.

Mandolin. Scares the crap out of me.

That is so true,wife uses hers constantly,got her one of those I think carbon fiber gloves.has worked so far.

French mandolins are far less likely to cut you than the Japanese ones.

[Indigo3]

Why so Henry?


When my chainsaw was stolen I put a 12" rip saw blade on a gas powered stone cutter to cut some logs, just the once mind.

[neo71665]

Working construction as an electricain I've used just about any power tool you can think of. Old tractors are the worse, restored a few while growing up. Open pulleys spinning at speed with big wide leather belts just ask for trouble.



Funny story about those gloves yall like. I watched a salesman need 12 stitches in his hand after he took my dads buck knife across his palm trying to show off. They help but are not cut proof so still be careful guys. I doubt most of yall are being cocky and grabbing a rednecks knife with your hand tho.

[The Count of Merkur Cristo]

Meat Slicer[s] and food grinder[s].

Brad:
+ 1 and from a safety perspective...Vegetable Steamers, Deep Fat Fryers and Knives.

"Success is a lot of small things done correctly". Chef Fernand Point

[tchudson]

I'd probably say the chainsaw. Been cutting my own wood for about 4 years now - no accidents - but I took a Wildland Fire Sawyer class this weekend and saw some pics of injuries caused by chainsaw chains. Scary.

[Edcculus]

I'll +1 to the deep fat fryer. Changing the oil is a pretty scary thing.

[NBKA1BM]

Belt Sander. Caught my ring finger in one while sanding edges of a hardwood floor. Poped the tip off of that baby in a split second. Luckly there was a great team of doctors in the ER that day. They were able to put it all back together. The very next year about the same time I sliced the crap out of my thumb with a wood chisel. My brother in law gave me a really really nice set that Christmas and told me "you will never cut yourself with a sharp chisel" I guess he was wrong. Both of the accidents happened on Super Bowl Sunday. So now the wife will not let me use any tools on Super Bowl Sunday's.

I took me four years to ever use a belt sander again. To this day I am very careful with it and never use the auto trigger feature. Chisels, I was back at them the next weekend. I dont mind getting cut but when parts are missing and have to be put back together I am super nervous

[Trumanj]

I'd probably say the chainsaw. Been cutting my own wood for about 4 years now - no accidents - but I took a Wildland Fire Sawyer class this weekend and saw some pics of injuries caused by chainsaw chains. Scary.

When I was in scouts we were clearing some land and my scoutmaster took a chunk out of his leg. An image you don't forget as a 15 year old.

[xraygun]

A salamander. I think it cooked my brain.
And pulling a 4000 degree Kelvin bowl of Cauliflower soup out of there was always a thrill.

[Sgt-Lenich]

frag grenade

[Dr Roadrash]

I my line of work I see a ton of injuries and as far as nonindustrial stuff I would have to say the most significant injuries come from 1. Snowblowers, 2. Tablesaws, 3. Lawnmowers. Be careful out there. Please don't clear any jams with your hands.
Aaron