Your most dangerous tool

[WillRockwell]

I am extremely careful with my bandsaw and MAPP torch, and have not had an accident. The tool I hurt myself on most frequently is my grinder, I use it with fingers very close, and one touch removes skin.
I've found that my Dremel with cut-off wheel attachment can be deadly. When cutting metal, the wheel will sometimes fly apart, sending shrapnel into my face at 30,000 rpm. I always wear goggles when I use the cut-off wheel.

[Herkimer]

Thermonic Drew, beat me to the punch.

Electricity, has bitten me more than once.  Of course when your job requires you to troubleshoot, machines that are still in operation, you are exposed to the possibility of electrocution more often than most folks are. Most of the time, being careful is enough, but it also pays to keep one hand out of the way at all times.  Either holding the meter, or stuffed in a back pocket.  This reduces the chance that a shock can go through your heart.  Still it's dangerous work.

120v ac, been bitten by this more times than I can count.  It usually just makes you jump. It is however the number 1 killer in electrocution cases. Primarily because it's so common.  

220v ac, gotten bit a few times, but I rarely deal with it.
208/277v 3ph ac... Yup I've gotten bit a few times, but not often as this is usually commercial lighting or industrial motors. Both are easily turned off.

480v 3 ph ac.  This stuff is violent.  I got bit hard with it once, even after flipping the breaker at the panel, locking out the disconnect on the machine, and metering it.   Unfortunately someone had fed the panel from a different source (the machine next to it...) and then just pulled the fuses from that block and left it hot.  I hurled myself backwards, threw my wrench a good 60ft (20 meters) and literally thought I'd just been run over by a forklift for a while.  
Once I figured out the problem, I removed the wires and fuse block completely to prevent it from happening to anyone else.


9999999999999999999???v  I also got hit by lightening when I was 12 and passed out for a bit. Thankfully it was indirect. Of course like any 12 year old I ran and told my dad,  he took one look at me, saw that I wasn't smoldering, and refused to believe me.

[elShoggotho]

Not a tool, but a chemical. I keep pure sodium hydroxide crystals in my kitchen, in an airtight jar. I also keep 5 percent sodium hydroxide solution there, for cooking purposes.

The most dangerous tool? A freehand wire brush attached to a power drill. Taught me the value of welding mittens.

[maduncle]

Not a tool, but a chemical. I keep pure sodium hydroxide crystals in my kitchen, in an airtight jar. I also keep 5 percent sodium hydroxide solution there, for cooking purposes.

The most dangerous tool? A freehand wire brush attached to a power drill. Taught me the value of welding mittens.

Try a freehand wire wheel attached to an angle grinder  - I spent an hour picking little wires out of my leather blacksmiths apron and my shirt.

And since pulling a piece of wire out of the edge of my eye socket (2mm from my eye) I always wear safety glasses in the workshop now, and a mask when paint stripping.

My latest deadliest tool would be the antique bench drill that caught fire on Sunday after I had restored it and turned it on. I think it was a combination of a very old motor unable to carry the load and the degreaser overspray inside the motor.

The tool that constantly costs me the most skin would be the simple hacksaw, I suffer so many knuckle cuts for some strange reason.

[cryptolucien]

The one that gets me the most is "the knuckle-buster"; my adjustable wrench.Bruised knuckles, cuts on the knuckles, smashed fingers, sheesh... I don't use it unless I have to (use the right tool for the job and all that), but there are times when I do not have a choice.
 
I am an Industrial Electrical/Electronic/Mechanical Technician. I've been bitten by voltage (120/220/480) and don't particularly care for it, but the wrench is by far the worst. Mostly due to how long it takes knuckles to heal.

Lucien

[ironwood]

I have a very health respect for my tools especially the power one's.  I think the most dangerous are the none power tools.  I once became complacent (think that's the right word) with my grandfathers Wood Chisels as a teenager.  I learned real fast to respect them.  I plunged one into my hand, the doctor told me 1/8" deeper and I would have lost the use of my index finger.  I was luck I walked away with 5 stitches.

[eruannu]

wood chisels that are sharpened incorrectly are the most dangerous thing dad got over I have around (my step dad got overzealous and sharpened the beveled edges on the sides with the sander and buffing wheel. razor sharp and deadly)

[Dave_G]

My nemesis is the 9" angle grinder.... I have had several run-in's with this swine. Experience now dictates I always use it "to one side" of centre, then if it does "kick" it goes over my shoulder.... wearing goggles or a visor of course.
I have had 30 stitches in my left hand.7 when I caught my wedding ring on a bracket as I jumped off a machine plinth. 11 at the base of my thumb, where I slipped with an industrial razor blade cutting off a pneumatic seal, and 12 in the heel of my hand where I tripped carrying a bottle of wine.
Add to this a corneal ulcer and several hundred other minor cuts and bruises.... not bad for nearly 40 years in industry.

[Captain]

Probably:



Nothing quite like a little splattered lead.  I have a kiln, buffer, chain saw, and brazing torch that I am also hesitant to let others use unsupervised.  I do not have a reason to justify owning a band saw.  I have seen folks hurt themselves on just about any tool though.  

[von Adler]

At the risk of derailing this thread a bit as it is not a tool which I myself own, but the most dangerous tool I've apparently used was a humble sheet metal bender at a workshop where I used to rent space. The said bender was quite old and of very open design, having little in the way of safety features: the workshop then had some coverings retrofitted to prevent someone from putting their hand into it while bending, which, thanks to completely inept installation, prevented the bender from being used at all as the jaws got caught in the covering; in that respect, most effective safety feature I've ever seen and so it certainly must have been the most dangerous tool there (including the 1930's vintage arc welder that caused a brownout in the entire building if it was ever used).

[Professor Fzz]

I'm always very careful around the circular saw.  My grandfather ran his own joinery business for 35 years, and generally knew what he was doing.  But one moment of inattention using the big circular saw, and he was short the entire index finger on his right hand.  Another half inch, and he'd have lost the thumb too.  He had the most fearsome grip with the remaining three fingers, but even so, he didn't recommend the experience.  

[Affian]

I only have been caught off-guard by one piece of machinery thus far: a drill press. It was my own fault though.. the piece I was drilling in didn't fit in the little vice at the bottom. Sure, I could have gotten another one but I figured I could just hold the object no problem.. I also figured a tiny piot hole was sufficient, then I could go on right away with drilling an 8mm hole.. Turns out I was wrong.. Going from a 2mm pilot hole to a 8mm hole in hardened steel is actually a pretty damn bad idea, even more so when you're holding the metal piece yourself.. The drill bit got stuck, causing the metal plate to spin violently. Of course I let go of the press right away, but my reflexes were too slow and I got a pretty deep slice in my finger.

So yeah, use the vice. Wear gloves and goggles and take it easy when drilling through tough materials!

Lesson learned

They should design those things with slip gears

Also the tool I have that I'm most scared of would be my Jigsaw, it's a bit more power than my little dremel. A little fear inspires a lot of respect. Stuck my finger in a lightsocket once (New Zealand has 220/240v mains) to see if the light was plugged in... don't ask...

[Narsil]

I only have been caught off-guard by one piece of machinery thus far: a drill press. It was my own fault though.. the piece I was drilling in didn't fit in the little vice at the bottom. Sure, I could have gotten another one but I figured I could just hold the object no problem.. I also figured a tiny piot hole was sufficient, then I could go on right away with drilling an 8mm hole.. Turns out I was wrong.. Going from a 2mm pilot hole to a 8mm hole in hardened steel is actually a pretty damn bad idea, even more so when you're holding the metal piece yourself.. The drill bit got stuck, causing the metal plate to spin violently. Of course I let go of the press right away, but my reflexes were too slow and I got a pretty deep slice in my finger.

So yeah, use the vice. Wear gloves and goggles and take it easy when drilling through tough materials!

Lesson learned

They should design those things with slip gears

Also the tool I have that I'm most scared of would be my Jigsaw, it's a bit more power than my little dremel. A little fear inspires a lot of respect. Stuck my finger in a lightsocket once (New Zealand has 220/240v mains) to see if the light was plugged in... don't ask...

Pillar drills are usually driven by pulleys, which will slip, but unfortunately the torque required to drill a decent sized hole in steel is more than enough to do some damage the human body especially if you've been less than rigorous in de burring.

Wearing gloves isn't always the best idea, there are a lot of circumstances where the injuries caused by getting gloves caught in rotating machinery are much worse than you would have got without them.

The same goes for the mad practice of putting guards on buffing wheels, they make them ten times as dangerous with no benefit whatsoever.

[Athanor]

Shop safety is mostly applied common sense; such as simply accepting the fact that a blade - any blade, motorised or not - can cut flesh and bone just as easily as wood or metal; the blade doesn't care. Same with grinding wheels, torch flames, hot metal, electrickery.....

I've spent something like 55 years working in an astounding variety of situations - everything from a steam locomotive erecting shop to a jeweller's workbench to a diamond drilling rig. I still have all my fingers, and both eyes, but have come close to losing them a few times. I've cut open the tip of my finger with a table saw, and lacerated my thumb with a table router, both incidents requiring a trip to Emergency; I now have very distinctive fingerprints, so I guess I'd be no use at all as a burglar....  On another occasion I've had 120 volts flash through the frame of my glasses while changing a fluorescent ballast - which was a surprise more than anything (I could have sworn that I'd flipped the breaker on that particular circuit - I know, I know, I should have put the multimeter to it...), but another quarter inch and it would have flashed through my head. I've also had to use a magnet and a mirror, to pull a steel splinter out of my eye after doing some grinding; yes, yes, I know I should have been wearing eye protection, but it's a little job, just take a few seconds...  Like I said, mostly common sense.

However, the most dangerous tool? My vote would be for the radial arm saw. Cutting off small pieces of MDF with a screaming 15" diameter blade an eigth of an inch from my fingertips, driven by a 5HP 220-volt motor, for several hours at a stretch, can be a nerve-shattering experience. I use exaggerated care around those beasts, and I've never had an accident with one, but I've heard some horrific tales. Crosscutting with a radial saw is bad enough, but it's supposedly possible to rip with one. I've never known anyone who has actually done it, but the whole setup looks positively terrifying.

[maduncle]

I reckon you feel more comfortable around the tools you get comfortable using - and have a healthy respect for.

My combination cross-cut/drop saw doesn't phase me, but anything to do with exposed electrics can freak me out a bit.

Potentially explosive devices can unnerve me a bit too.

[jringling]

I reckon you feel more comfortable around the tools you get comfortable using - and have a healthy respect for.

My combination cross-cut/drop saw doesn't phase me, but anything to do with exposed electrics can freak me out a bit.

Potentially explosive devices can unnerve me a bit too.

table saw, bandsaw, circular saw, radial arm saw, cut-off saw, jigsaw, scroll saw... no worries...

exposed wires and welders... I pay EXTRA attention to...

[Miss Teri ablaze]

I have to admit, as I think others may have said, that the most dangerous tool in my workroom is usually me - especially with of all things a screwdriver!

To be fair it is generally because I am not using it for what it was intended but instead being foolhardy and too lazy to get the correct implement needed.

For reference it is an undoubted fact that flat head screwdrivers do not make for good chisel type instruments, prizing off the backs of watches or other items, or even as murphy's hammer - despite what one's father might once have said as he used such to bang things with!

When using a screwdriver in such unseemly ways it has often been my misfortune to cause injury to myself and upon occasion damage to otherwise fine tools or the implement being worked on 

[Kittybriton]

If I were to be uncharitable I would name one of my relations (well, he can be a bit of a ...). But although his woodwork looks decidedly haphazard, he has never, in my presence, shown any promise with regard to the Darwin Awards.

[Prof Thadeus Q. Wychlock]

For me, I'd have to agree with Eruannu.
An unsharp or wrongly sharpened wood chisel has bitten be a couple of times.

On the anecdotal front .......
A couple of years ago I saw the woodwork teacher nearly take off his index and middle finger with a bandsaw.
Ended up with very deep lacerations and a lot of stitches.
Familiarity breeds complacency as they say

[Utini420]

I think, in all probability, that I am the most dangerous tool in my shop.  None of the others come up with this many stupid ideas.

[Slackratchet]

The only ones that really strike me as menacing are the one with the rotating blades that take a second of inattention to lose a body part, the Table Saw and Miter Saw. I have a health respect for the band saw but the two spinning blades of finger eating are a different story. A hammer looks like it wants to help you and occasionally play a practical joke where it substitutes your finger for a nail. The other two just look hungry all the time.

[Dr Insidious T BoneHammer]

You know there's a reason there are Lots of used Radial Arm Saws for sale on eBay and Craig's list.... They are not only hungry for human flesh, they have a tendency to try to chase it down.  Sort of like one of those nature shows about Lions on the hunt.  The blade will crawl up the wood you are trying to dissect and come right at you with teeth baring down.  I swear that thing can smell human blood.  But knowing this.. I highly respect the machine and use extreme caution with it.

[Birdnest]

I would have to say my table saw, probably, but I agree that any tool used incorrectly can be dangerous. I can't stress safety glasses enough to anybody! I always wore them when using my power tools but had the bad habit of taking them off with the hand tools. I was chiseling a dove tail one day and a chip of wood hit me right in the eye. No damage was done but I wear safety's at all times now. My biggest pet peeve is to see people in a shop wearing gloves at a grinder or belt sander, or trying to grind aluminum.

I must agree on all points.  We actually forbid the use of any kind of glove around machines with moving parts.

Table Saws - most treacherous, and I've got a shortened thumb to prove it (whack, in the blink of an eye, then lots of blood and cursing)

btw - hand chiseling a dovetail?  very, very crafty like!

[Just call me Rob]

My Dremel.

It looks so small, so innocent, so sweet.
It's too easy to forget how dangerous it is.

My angle grinder, table saw and chainsaw all look like big scary machines that could remove a limb, so I have a healthy respect for them.
The dremel is just an overblown screwdriver - meh - not scary at al. . . . ow, my eye..!!!!

[Wormster]

Any tool that is not used correctly!