Dial Indicator Attachment

[mklotz]

Along those lines are the folks who, when polishing on the lathe, will wrap the emery strip around their hand (or hands) before applying it to the workpiece. A classic case of not thinking things through. The emery should be glued on a board or something and not hand held.

In modelmaking, we use jewelers' polishing "threads" and "tapes". These are like strings or narrow strips embedded with polishing compound meant for getting into tiny recesses. The work more or less dictates that they be hand-held. The safest technique is to hold a short length using the thumb and index fingertip of each hand. Then, if it's grabbed it's plucked out of your grasp without dragging your hand into the work. Of course, much of this work is done on Unimat-scale machines driven by sewing-machine-like motors so they don't really have the torque to do great damage.

Another danger that's often overlooked is knurling. No sharp tools so it looks safe. But get a shop towel near those knurls and watch a vivid demonstration of what it can do. DAMHIKT.

My Dad taught me to "always imagine where the chisel will go when it slips because it will always slip". I think of that advice every time I pick up a chisel, knife, or saw.