Ask Adam Savage: Avoiding Accidents and "The Hands" 

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Last week I screenshot the hands over your shoulder in a video and asked my child (who studied ASL in HS) what the hands said. The answer I received was “nothing a deaf person would understand.” 😂

Regarding the claim that "beginner helicopter pilots don't crash"; I'm a former US Navy Rescue Swimmer and was told the same thing by my instructors during initial training, and distinctly remember being shown statistics to that effect during our regular command safety stand downs. As I recall, some study conducted by the Navy during the cold war found that the majority Naval Aviation mishaps in which the pilot was ruled at fault occurred in a "window" between 1000 and 2000 flying hours. I've been out for years at this point but if you're serious about following up on it US Navy NATOPS Mishap reports and safety briefings would be a good place to start.

The sign language hands: The first one on the left isn't a letter in ASL, the second one from the left (or closest letter to, but still incorrect) is D, the third hand is closest to N, and the last hand on the right is nearly impossible to replicate with any speed at all and isn't even close to any letters in the ASL alphabet. At first glance I saw the second one was close to D, so I thought they were spelling ADAM, which would make total sense, but yeah it's not even close lol Hope this helps!

It is also how you stay alive on a motorcycle, you have to look for the things people could do (or in this case could go wrong) as well as what they are actually doing at the time.

Someone needs to make an animation of of Adam's shop being invaded by clowns with greased ball-bearings!

Any time my grip on a tool gets really tight, I always want to stop what I am doing and take a moment to prepare for slipping or breaking. That's always a moment where I think "this is wrong". Usually I clear away anything that is loose from the immediate area and reposition my body and hands to stay clear of anything they could smash into or that might come flying out.

I love how when Adam got to the point of talking about worst case scenarios he takes his swing from a bottle that, until that moment prior, I thought was some sort of chemical solvent or adhesive

I forgot the lathe chuck key in the chuck and shot it straight up in the ceiling last week, I was unfocused and my mind was elsewhere. Closed shop right away, went home. Did a mental note to be more mindful of my own concentration level when handling tools and machines.

My grandfather had a saying that roughly translated was "plan for the worst, and pray (hope) for the best", it has served me well over the years!

When I had my worst accident, I was not thinking of "What could happen?" I was in a hurry, trying to get something done. I did not take time to predict what "Could happen", rather I just had an idea of what I wanted to have happen. I was using a trim router. I wanted to trim some material off some half-inch or 12mm poly-carbonate plastic sheet. It was too thin of a cut for a saw. I made a bad selection of bit: "3/4" diameter two flute straight cut router bit." The first part of the cut went ok. Then as I pushed it further, the bit cut too deep. All the torque of the bit pulled the trim router out of my hands, flipped it over in the air and went diagonally across the back of my right hand. The bit hit my index finger near the knuckle slicing through the upper back and prying up a wedge of bone. Then it continued across my middle finger middle joint and flew away from me. I only felt the impact. It didn't hurt. I was thankful that I had my friend in the shop that day. The shock had made my hand numb. I looked down and saw some blood. I bent my fingers into a fist and saw more blood and tendons in the wound. I said: "we have to go to the hospital NOW! At the hospital they closed the wound and bandaged. Later after a month or so, I got scheduled for hand surgery. They told me I would likely only have 60% use of my hand. I had an excellent surgeon. My insurance paid for most of it. The surgeon did an excellent job and I paid much attention to the rehab process. I still have some hitches in the hand, opening and closing. It's weaker. I have numbness in my index and middle finger. They had to re-route blood supply and some other things. But I have a grip, I can close my hand and use it well. They didn't reduce the bone chip, it makes a large lump. But I have over 90% use of my hand. And I am now very very careful of what I am doing. Wood working tools still scare me. But I am a machinist so I get to firmly clamp things and crank handles rather than push a tool or the work. And I always game in my head what the forces involved are, where or how an accident could happen and always wear safety glasses. The total cost of the medical treatment was great, but my insurance paid for the vast majority of it. It was close to $30,000 dollars IIRC. Take to heart what Adam is telling you. Don't work with sharp tools, power tools, etc without accounting for what could happen. Don't work in a rush. Don't work tired or distracted. Choose appropriate tools for the job you are doing. Be safe. Know your materials and know your tools. One mistake can ruin your life. I am a maker. I'm lucky I still can.

There's a point when doing something new-- be it a table saw, lift truck or I imagine a helicopter, there's a tricky point where the "fish out of water" feeling wears off, the tool or equipment becomes an extension of one's body and the brain assumes a level of confidence with it that experience doesn't quite yet merit. I think this is where a lot of accidents/mistakes happen.

As soon as I heard the first question about accident prevention, immediate thoughts of Adam putting a vacuum motor to his lips, losing an eyebrow to a gasoline explosion, falling on his face on a treadmill, and almost losing a hand multiple times while attempting to cut his aluminum foil ball in half.

I adopted similar rules for myself when building Adam's Curta calculator. In particular, the rules about bladed tools and, "How is this going to go poorly and how can I stop it from going poorly." The risk in the 3d printed Curta was mostly with a hobby knife either for cleaning up parts before sanding and painting or for getting the fit between parts correct. I, 1. Think about hand placement 2. Think about the direction of the cut 3. Think about what happens if it slips 4. Think about whether I am applying too much force -- this is key and helps me realize that I'm doing something wrong or if I am using a dull tool. 5. I like to do repetitive tasks in an assembly line type fashion. Safety, efficiency, and repeatability are all related and any thoughts on improving one often improves the others. 6. Much of this just comes back to just realizing that every type of making brings with it inherent risk. Respect that risk every time you plan, every time you get started, while you work, and every time you finish.

One more thing, if working in a group always have a "tailgate safety meeting" where everybody talks about their task and what tools they are going to be using and what hazards they could confront. This brings the group into a safety mindset and also allows other to add to the possible hazards that others might face but didn't think about. This is handy when there are people with more experience in the group that can pass on their safety knowledge. This also helps the experienced person from getting complacent.

waiting to find out what the sign language translates to!

The most common mistake that I make is born out of a combination of laziness and impatience. I own the right tool for a job but I'm too lazy/impatient to take the time to get it out so I use the tool I have in my hand, even though it makes the job more difficult.

The entire speech about the table saw is very good. A lot of good information. I lost two fingers on a table saw and I wish I would have been more thoughtful. Incompetence can cost you a lot.

first thing that I learned in a workshop. When somesthing falls watch it and don´t catch it.

After many minor injuries making things when I was a kid (the typical slipping when cutting things, stabbing screwdrivers into fingers, etc), I realised that the point where I think 'this is a bit dodgy - I'd better be careful', isn't the point to carry on and be careful. It's the point to stop and rethink what you're doing.There is often a safer way if you put more effort into thinking about it. I still so the same 30 years later.

I've noticed that often when I do something stupid, the stupid thing flashes in my brain within a minute or two before it actually happens, so I've learned that when I get these flashes, I pay attention and stop what I'm doing and restart with renewed focus and make sure I'm not being sloppy or taking shortcuts.

“Worst case prognosticating” is a key part of living.

Totally know that helicopter pilot axiom. Let us know what you find on that! I suspect it will be fairly accurate. It’s either complacency leading to dangerous flight conditions (eg fog) or complacent pre-flight inspection leading to a missed maintenance issue that should have been caught by the pilot-in-command. Newer pilots are, perhaps, more diligent than those who have been flying for hundreds of hours and think ‘it’ll never happen to me, I’ve been flying for years’

This is great advice. I'm a bit of a worry wort, so I'm always thinking about worst cast scenario, even for things where those outcomes are impossibly rare. I think this has saved me dozens of times when I'm making things. I really resonate with that bit about "I wonder if this will hurt me" right before hurting yourself, and I've learned from it many times, always when I'm in a rush or using the wrong tool. I hope experience will solve this problem, continuing to do the dangerous thing but instead doing it in a way where the force won't hurt me. In reality I should stop and use a vise, a clamp, a better tool, or a different technique. And if experience doesn't help me learn this, well, I can still use it as an excuse to buy new tools for specific tasks ;) Thank you for sharing!

This had the best illustration of the saying "a healthy amount of fear" I have ever heard.

When you talked about gaining experience of trusting and listening to your intuition when use in potentially dangerous situations, having DID makes me appreciate my already gain experience and apply that towards things I'm passionate about (building community gardens) thank you Adam for putting it into words ❤️

When I used to climb, My most scary falls were on routes that I had done flawlessly several times.

I love this. When clients ask me how I learned my trade I usually say something like I've been pretending that I know I what I'm doing for 15 years and Im almost out of wrong ways to do things.

“You’ve learned how wide the disaster cone could be” - love it

Thanks for posting and answering this question. I do safety meetings at work and I’m always on about hands and hand injuries. Fresh tales are always welcome.

I have been told many times that if there isn't that little butterfly in your soul as you tackle a task that has risk - no matter how small that chance is, step back until you find it. I come from a long line of machinists, welders, carpenters, heavy equipment operators, and so on who were able to keep their appendages because of those little butterflies. If that caution is there - even if there is an incident, the results are less serious every time. Stay safe.

I was just reading about Helicopter 🚁 safety. It’s pretty much a mixture of Pilot experience, maintenance, and abiding by safety procedures. Most accidents are from pilot error, therefore experience obviously plays a big role in being able to react to sudden weather changes, knowing your surroundings etc… The most dangerous helicopter flights are sightseeing tours like in Hawaii and the Grand Canyon. They often hire less experienced pilots because it saves them money.

Fighting complacency: I always found the key was to train one's self so all the safety practices become automatic, or second nature. Key to that is not dropping those practices because you're behind schedule on something or any of the other excuses that come to mind. Most of us learn those practices in the work place, things like lock out and bringing stuff to a zero energy state before working on it, reading the labels and being familiar with substances that are used. You have to bring those practices to your workshop and home. Whenever I did electrical work at my old house, I locked out the electrical panel. Because. You. Never. Know.

3:27 "Worst Case Scenario Prognosticating." A lovely term, and it matches up with the 'blessing/curse' that has come with me developing an Engineering mindset, what I've previously referred to as "Engineer Sight" or "Gazing into the Probable Futures." I look at any thing, any scenario and my mind grabs my metaphorical self and forcibly drags it to the deepest darkest alley of "what can go wrong." I *DO* find it helpful when driving, as I see every moron driver who is planning on cutting my off at highway speeds, but it also gives me a false positive on those rare occasions where it is a sane driver in the next lane, one who has NO intention of cutting me off. And, like the White Queen's memory, it does non only work one way. It also shows me what DID go wrong from scant evidence, such as the skid marks cutting across lanes on the highway. My brain GLEEFULLY maps out the trajectories of every locked-brakes event that has left a record on the pavement and reconstructs a simulation every time I pass those marks on my daily commute. ESPECIALLY that one incident (that I never saw firsthand) where one mid-sized car skidded diagonally across four lanes of traffic, hit the concrete median barrier ('Jersey barrier style, with the low shallowish ramp base and the steep ramp wall) at an angle that rolled the driver front tire along the barrier as it turned the vehicle, sending it skidding BACK across all four lanes to hit the concrete shoulder barrier, but at this point, having shed enough momentum that it couldn't 'climb and reverse,' but merely round the passenger front fender into the concrete for about two feet of travel. I get to see that 'ghost car' in my mind every time I drive back home, and those marks are well over a year old at this point, older than my current employment.

This one really made me think back. I look back on younger me, and I am truly amazed that present me has all his parts intact... I wrote in Sharpie on top of my table saw, "Are you thinking about safety?" The question format makes me respond to the question each time instead of just ignoring a simple statement like "Safety"

While i could listen to Adam talk about most anything, I feel like i end up only half listening, as I'm fascinated by all that stuff behind him and spotting a prop piece or an interesting gadget.

if you feel unsafe on your table saw buy a sawstop table saw. if any part of you comes in contact with the blade it stops instantly and drops away. their videos are pretty amazing.

This is truly helpful. Whether its a shop or a home garage or a kitchen understanding what you are working with in one's hands is important. As a recipient of several unintended hand and finger injuries over the years ( I still have all ten digits) your response drives home the need to think through the process of how equipment works and consider the "what if I did this.." results. Its not fun spending an afternoon in the local emergency room. Thanks and cheers!

I'm so glad that I'm not the only person who thinks of every possible accident I could be involved in or every injury I could cause to myself in an effort to ensure I avoid them. I even find myself saying it to my daughter to make sure she considers everything and keeps herself safe too. 😊

Great points!

Staying Injury free for me, comes down to being an interesting mix of excited passionate and fearful of the process. the moment something is a chore or boring, the risk rises. If you're feeling over it in the moment, take a breath, change the music and call your mom.

Complacency is the invitation to mistakes for me. When refretting one of my personal guitars (and one I’m not emotionally attached to) recently, I got to the end and noticed I’d put a few divots into the fretboard with my hammer adjacent to a few frets. As soon as I saw it, I realized it was because I was hurrying and it wasn’t a client instrument or one of mine I was precious about.

Watching this right after Adam's attempts to saw the Aluminum Ball in half is a hell of a trip.

As an Australian, it pleases me immensely to see Adam drinking Bundaberg Ginger Beer....

That Explanation of how safety works is awesome . As I (the safety officer at my work sight) am trying to make my coworkers THINK differently about there SAFETY, Well done thanks Adam

As part of the Human Factors in Aviation, both with pilots and engineering, it is recognised that there are 12 factors that can lead to problems. These are known as "The Dirty Dozen". Complacency is No. 2 on the list. 1. Lack of Communication 2. Complacency 3. Lack of Knowledge 4. Distraction 5. Lack of Teamwork 6. Fatigue 7. Lack of Resources 8. Pressure 9. Lack of Assertiveness 10. Stress 11. Lack of Awareness 12. Norms

Its always drummed into me as a kid due to many incidents to do a risk assessment before any job, i look at what could go wrong and work around that assessment, but complacency, or the worst is fatigued, working when you are tired at the end of the day, no amount of risk assessment will help you there, another saying ive heard alot is its always the last 5% of your journey when your most likely to have a incident, thats from complacency and fatigue

I really enjoy watching your videos, Adam. They're like a manufacturer's version of Bob Ross.

I used to watch This Old House and the New Yankee Workshop. I frequently quote Norm Abrams. "Let's take a moment to talk about shop safety".

Those darned kitchen knives... I once cut the tip of my pinky slicing tomato. It cut in a way it was much like a new ketchup lid with a flap top. I knew it was bad without looking. Wrapped the kitchen towel around it, went out to the garage/shop and grabbed my trusty bottle of Bob Smith Industries CA medium. Once bleeding was controlled, applied a good amount to and hit with instant cure. Yes, it stung but it held for about 4 or 5 days, long enough for cells to start binding and healing. It worked beautifully, and I only lost feeling in the very tippy tip of my left pinky. Scar is hair thin. Zero necrosis. Perfection!

The Helicopter thing reminds me of an axiom I was told when I bought my first motorcycle. "There are two types of riders, those who have been down and those who are going down."

Being tired, rushing, or distracted is also a way to greatly increase your chance of injury. If you can't hold focus, especially when using power tools, do something else. My nemesis is laser cut and punched steel. The only time that I've ever been to the ER. Light fixtures and furnace filters. The kind of things that you just brush against and they cut you deeply. Those fiberglass furnace filters with the round holes cut in sheet metal to retain them. RAZOR sharp. Car parts too.

I have a thing of "training myself not to catch". Just let it fall. Also jump back a step in case of rebound. In working with stained glass, just letting the glass drop, or the X-acto knife, or the soldering iron, could cost you a bit, but not as much as the loss of function, medical bills, and rehab time.

Seriously best video yet💚

The WCGW (What Could Go Wrong) philosophy can be applied to so many things in life. It’s a central tenant of Risk Management. If you don’t think about it you cannot effectively manage any risk.

I’m an underground coal miner and it’s 100% true that new miners have a significant less chance of being injured. Us old guys start to get used to the inherent danger of being underground and the new guys are constantly looking around.

A suggestion for the is the paint dry, when you finished painting, take a piece of scrap material, put some paint on it, then use touch that to see if it is dry. Thought of this right after you mentioned it.

I have an extremely high awareness for "line of fire" ever since I worked with heavy equipment in a surface mine a while back. The idea is to be mindful of which direction energy could potentially be released if something goes badly. Whether it's a pull strap whipping around if it breaks, or a piece of wood getting launched like a spear from a table saw. Imagine where that energy could go, and don't put your soft squishy self in the way.

One of my favorite adages when something that is known to be either finicky or complicated fails for a new trainee: "now you know". You didn't remember to tighten that all the way down? "now you know". You didn't prepare enough material? "now you know". Your software crashed and you lost your save? "now you know". Only when you have failed in every possible way can you truly say you have mastered something.

The vast majority of accidents that have cause me an injury or damaged a project had been do to me forcing a tool or method of building. My mantra is never force it and the hardest way is most likely the best way.

excellent advice, we all have some fraction of OCD - So hack it, use it for good. I have none of these machines, but I have trained myself to never close my front door without keys visible in my hand, hence I never need a locksmith

I remember when I was first starting out someone saying ‘keep an eye on the machines. They’ll bite you if you let ‘em’. The worst accident I ever had was on the table saw, rushing to do a last minute job for Comic Relief. It wasn’t funny.

I have a "what if" mindset for doing most things, shortcuts (impatience) or ignoring my "what if" is when I hurt myself. Thankfully my worst shop injury was 40+ years ago now. No matter what though, an X-Acto blade has my name on it. Even when careful, the heal/rear of the blade always seems to find finger flesh for a paper cut like nick.

Adam, Scan the grip and modify it with integral wire passages and switch mounting points and 3D print. This process works great! One of my skills used in R&D engineering over 3 decades in Aerospace, Medical, Military and Automotive environments was Prototype design and construction utilizing both Subtractive and Additive processes. You can design and build things in 3D additive that could not be done with legacy techniques, and you know everything will fit if you accurately measure and model All of the components of the build in 3D space. Good luck!👍 Mike in San Diego.🌞🎸🚀🖖

Adam has also mentioned urgency, rushing to finish something, as a contributor for mishaps

I had (too many) silly injuries with sharp chisels, blades, and (once .. gawd) a Ryoba saw while learning to use hand tools for woodworking. I rarely do now, possibly out of learned behaviour modification (experience), a dose of RU-vid wisdom, and fear of blood. As a professional musician and pianist ... the finger injuries extend way beyond "no more wood work" for a while. $0.02 Lovin' it Adam.

We do the same process when I have run ropes courses. And when I lead an element, I run the clients through something like that as well. And I find it's the moderately intrusive thoughts about all the things that could go wrong that seem to prepare me for the things that actually do stand a chance of going wrong.

Adam- I have a very similar Apollo grip! I also plan on making it a usable grip but I think I'll re-cast or 3d print a replica because the pitch axis is located mid-grip, not at the base like usual grips (under acceleration this prevents adding pitch due to G force on the arm/hand). Mine was already drilled and threaded so I have a small screw to mount it on (about a 1/4-20 but I don't recall for sure)

As I often say at work, I'm not paranoid, they pay me to be this way.

This reminds me of Chris Hadfield's writings in one of his books talking about the experience as a test pilot and an astronaut thinking "what's the next thing that could kill me?"

MATE! is that a Bundy on Deck! Salute the Bear!!👍👍🤣

For fifty years my right hand has been trying to kill my left, knives , machetes, hammers and saws have all had a try but the most serious attempt was from washing a mug and having the handle break off, nearly slicing my thumb off.

I worked on the railroad for quite some time and the most injuries and fatalities are from older workers. But the ones who are fresh out of school have the books and safety training freshly engraved in their brains. It's not until they get a few years under them when they get complacent and get hurt as a result. Don't let your own confidence defeat you.

i work as a carpenter and at my workplace we talk about safety everyday because there are many dangerous machines in the shop. and accident usally happens when we have to do something real quick without planning it thru

It's a matter of making safety a habit and staying vigilant. Step 1: 1 - Are you wearing loose clothing, jewelry or anything that may interfere or catch? If yes, remove said objects. 2 - Are you in a rush? If yes, then either slow down, ask for a deadline extension, get help, or wait till you can focus on the project. Step 2: 1 - Are you wearing proper ANSI(or equivalent safety organization) rated PPE? If no, then put some on! 2 - Is there a better way to do it? If yes, then use that method. 3 - Is what you are about to do safe? If no, do not proceed and ask a professional or make it safe. Step 3: 1 - Work on project. 2 - Repeat Step 2 for each new task. Step 4: 1 - Clean, organize and maintain your space.

Great video. There is a saying about riding a motorcycle: never ride if you are in a hurry. Time constraints of any type is a distraction with potentially serious results.

Complacency kills for sure. My worst injuries were from being complacent. Often I think to myself "This is dumb, I'm going to hurt myself" right before I actually hurt myself

I’m left handed, 25 years ago I once switched a hot soldering iron to my right hand to check something on the build that could have waited until the morning, and I lost track of my hands… and wondered “what’s that sizzling sound… oh it’s my hand…” [Does Young Frankenstein after the blind man set his thumb on fire to the sink]. About an inch long chunk of flesh behind my index finger met the side of the iron tip. (My iron was one of those old Radio Shack models that hit about 350C.) I’m so much more aware of where the iron is now, and I put it back in the stand instead of switching hands.

As a former crane operator, it isn't complacency as much as over confidence. When you are first starting you are scared of the machine and with experience you will push it closer and closer to its limits and sometimes past it.

Those hands don’t appear to actually spell anything out in asl (American Sign Language) but if you really reach for it, the second from the left spells “d” and the one to its right spells “n”

When I work and I stop thinking about what I'm doing and just do it in automatic mode, it is time to pause, stop and/or possibly quit for the day. If I'm not mentally practicing the action (cut, drill, glue, paint, etc. and what may go wrong), then I'm acting without thinking and bad things can happen.

I do the same thing, and it is funny that you mention it, because i've pictured many injuries while seeing you use the table saw. And yeah, that voice in your head is probably always right when it comes to safety, because i always hurt myself after i "argued" with myself that i'm being silly.

According to the associate professor who taught sign language at Portland State University when I went there, the wooden hands are offering "No signs....more like gestures?!".

Being a designer, programmer, and manufacturer of Automatic and Semi-Automatic machines, I generally use a 'Great White Shark" analogy when considering safety. ie....the easiest way to avoid being eaten by a Great White Shark, is just to not get in the water. If a saw blade never has to spin, it will never cut your hands off...guaranteed. Its only when you HAVE to get in the water for some task...or you NEED the saw blade to spin, that you have to start considering the risks and how to minimize them.

kudos on the bundaberg ginger beer, love to see australian drinks crack the market overseas

As Mike Rowe says "Safety Third" safety is a state of mind that you have to continuously observe, no one else is looking out for you.

In the Air Force we called it O.R.M.(Operational Risk Management). And warnings are written in blood.

I got injured because of safety equipment. I was wearing gloves while drilling with a hole saw bit on a powerful three phase drill press, and the glove got caught In the bit and sucked my hand in. Luckily, the glove ripped and i got away with 'just' 14 stitches and some nerve damage. Fun. Anyway, safety third !

One thing that I learned he hard way it that dull blades cut deepest. That is, when cutting with a sharp blade (knife, Xacto, whatever), less force is needed to get it through the material. A dull blade requires more force, and that is usually when I end up jamming it into myself. And dull or sharp, a blade with enough force behind it, will cut just as deep!

My kitchen knife incident was of the "cut me on the way down" variety. Avoid placing your knife such that a jolt can send it over an edge!

In the Kobe Bryant crash indications are that it was pilot complacency. He turned to chat with the passengers. Because of the fog he didn't see the visual references in his peripheral vision out the windows that he was in the descending spiral. The only reference he would have had was his instruments. If he was even looking in the direction of the instruments he would have seen them moving in a way that would have required immediate response. There was no indication of any control response or radio call of mechanical or electrical problem. Conclusion he wasn't looking in that direction. He pulled back on the stick to initiate a climb. He turned to tell the passengers he was climbing over the fog, and to chat with them for 30 seconds. Meanwhile his leg or his hand shifted the stick slightly to put him in the descending spiral. Another cause of accidents is distraction. Somebody talks to you while you're trying to do or set up the work. You lose track of where you are in the setup. Leave something undone or loose. Worse when it's the boss who comes to talk to you. Basically you have to start the whole setup procedure from the beginning. You should use a push block to push things into a saw. Not your bare hands. All that clutter in your shop is a major safety hazard. It's a distraction, it's in the way. It's in the way of your thinking, of your setup, of your access to tools to setup securely. I'll bet Jamie Hynaman said the same thing. .To set up a vice without damaging the finish you use soft jaws. This can be wood, rubber, a combination of several things. I made the target plates for the Large Hadron Collider. This is the heart of it. It is made of 8 10 ton 4'x1'x8' pure steel plates precision cut, and ground. The purpose was to vacuum weld them into a single 8'x8'x4' block. To lift, and move these 10 ton precision ground blocks without marring the precision surface I had to use steel chains. They would have ruined it. So I put 1 foot pieces of fire hose to cushion the chains. But the weight just made the fire hose push through the chain like putty. So on top of the fire hose I put 1 foot long angle aluminium half inch thick. That worked. The weight of a plate caused the chain to embed into the aluminium half an inch. But the plate was untouched. Several other problems I solved for the precision grind sub contractor. The result was they were so precise they vacuum welded with better than spec tolerance so they would not be a significant variable in the experiment. That's one reason the Higgs boson was found 10 years sooner than expected based on the original specs.

American Sign Language-speaking Deaf fan here - invite an ASL Deaf maker over to your studio and they’ll fix up the hands for ya. :) The current handshapes aren’t ASL for sure.

I get that with table saws. That’s why I like the saw stop

Don't know about helicopter pilots but I remember from driving school looking at crash statistics and the groups most likely to crash were beginner drivers, closely followed by people who've been driving for decades.

Also known as the ‘Dunning Kruger effect’. Well worth looking into.

I think safety first too. Every scenario run .through my mind .It drives some people crazy,but it works.

Have literally heard the same thing when I was first getting my motorcycle license. "Beginning motorcyclists almost never crash. It's the older ones who think they're hot shit."

Perfect timing on this, or rather perfectly ironic that I see this today. Last night while sharpening a chef's knife using poor technique I seriously lacerated my finger. Bad enough that after using QuikClot it was still freely bleeding two hours later. Urgent care was closed and I had some suture kits so I learned a new skill. Lose - Win!

Your comments about the table saw remind me of an old Onion article where the author is pondering the best way to get a pot of chili to a cook-off, and decides to wear rollerblades and cut through the ball-bearing factory.

I work with my hands daily. My complacency is akin to OCD where I check every single angle of potential damage to myself. I've been told to "hurry up" to which I say," No thanks I enjoy having hands."