Assuagement
Just to soothe Mom- the New York Times just published a nice article on the risks I was running as a carpenter, the job I had before moving to China. They frame it, understandably, as “risks for the do-it-yourselfer”, but most of the guys in the building trade I’ve met take the same kind of dumb risks.
I won’t list any of my own close calls here, but I recall one time, standing on a board, acting as a wedge and counter-weight, while my boss walked the plank, three stories up, trying to get at the sofit.
Or the time he cut the live wire with the aviator’s shears- I told him that I wasn’t sure if it was on the circuit we shut off- I couldn’t trace the wires, because they ran straight through a beam. He was going to cut them with metal-handled pliers, and I insisted he use the insulated shears. The blades welded together from the voltage, and he got mad at me for jinxing him.
Why don’t I feel assuaged? M
May 4th, 2007 at 6:21 pmI remember a close call from when I worked in the theatre shop at SLC. I was using the bandsaw to cut out some shapes for a set. I kept thinking to myself, “this saw doesn’t feel right,” but I blew it off as my imagination – I’d never used that saw before, and how would I know what it was “supposed” to feel like?
So I finished cutting my piece, picked it up, and pivoted my body to put it on the shelf next to me. That was when the blade on the still-running saw snapped, slapped the work area where my hands had just been, and slithered across the shop floor.
May 5th, 2007 at 1:15 amAlexis- Did someone leave the nut off the saw? (In other words, did it fall off the arbor or did the blade physically snap in pieces?) My brother spent years working as a shop-tech at Cooper Union, trying to keep art students from lopping off appendages. It would be my nightmare job, and I’m glad to leave carpentry behind.
On an interesting note, though, Ellen and I are in Tibet right now, and we ran into a guy whose specialty is traditional architecture. He showed us around a 500 year old apartment building he was restoring. Interesting stuff.
Tomorrow, we’re visiting his home village. So this might be my last message.
May 8th, 2007 at 5:34 pmThe blade actually broke, it didn’t slip. There was just one very, very long blade lying on the ground when everything was done. I think I just calmly turned the machine off after it happened – probably in shock.
Do you remember Dana Schloss? She had an accident in the shop once when she was pushing something through a table saw. It hit a knot and the board jumped back and smashed her hand and she passed out from the pain. She had to go to the hospital, but I don’t remember if she actually broke her hand or not. I guess that’s a pretty common sort of accident to have happen, and not something that can be completely avoided.
I was also roommates with a Mr. Kornbluth when he used a circular saw in the shop and shaved off the tips of several fingers. He sued the school because the protective guard wasn’t on the saw. Nice guy, but I did have to personally question how someone would let a saw get that near their fingers, with or without a plastic guard. That seems like a more avoidable type of mishap.
As for Tibet:
Ooohhh. Do tell stories once you get back!
May 9th, 2007 at 4:39 amWhoops, I misread your post- a band saw. That makes more sense, although I’ve always had the saw get sucked up into the body of the machine when it snapped. That would be a close call.
I actually got sick, yesterday, a combination of a cold with altitude sickness, so I didn’t make it out to Mr. Popo’s village. According to Ellen, it was fairly awesome. He’s a temple-restoration magnate, and took her and Tim to his bronze workshop, where they hammer out 10 foot tall Buddhas. I stayed back at the miserable hostel, and read the New Yorker.
On the other hand, I’ll be an extra in an American movie tomorrow, so that might be interesting…
May 10th, 2007 at 6:58 pmHey, here is a totally random question for you (I will blithely use your blog for what I should use e-mail for, mainly because I am so bad at responding to e-mail but so good at responding to blog comments):
Do you use del.icio.us at all? It would be awesome if you linked me up to your account so I can see the crazy things you browse all day.
May 12th, 2007 at 6:37 am