Custom Knives: General Safety

Video Transcript

"My name is Jared Todd, and I'm going to talk to you a little bit about safety, and the things that you need to do, and the things that you need to be aware of while you're making a knife. As you can see, you work with heavy, power equipment, especially this belt grinder. It moves quite fast. It can remove skin, bone, whatever you get close to this grinder, it will remove. That's the nice thing about a belt grinder; it doesn't care what it grinds. You want to make sure that you know where your hands are when you're grinding. You will end up getting your fingers close to it. Just make sure that you don't jam your finger into the belt. It will remove quite a bit of skin. Another dangerous part of the belt grinder is the edge. When it's rotating at that type of speed, about thirty-six hundred feet per second, this edge becomes like a razor blade. It will slice your finger right to the bone. So you want to make sure that especially when you have your belt tracked over the wheel, and it's sticking out a quarter of an inch or so, that when you're grinding, you don't run your finger or your knuckle into that. It will take off a good chunk of skin. Another thing is this: you never, ever want to get your finger stuck between this and the wheel. It will remove your fingers. That goes with also wearing gloves with this machine. A lot of people think that it's better to wear gloves, because it will protect your hands. It's actually the opposite. I know a couple of knife makers who have worn gloves while they run this machine. They'll grind, a loose piece of material in the glove will get caught into this, and it will take off their fingers. You know, some people still choose to wear gloves. But it's just a bad idea. It also allows you to be able to feel the metal, and feel the temperature that the steel is at, and when it gets too hot to hold it's a good time to cool it down. Another very important aspect to grinding is this: you must wear safety goggles. Some people prefer to use a full face shield. You've just got to make sure that seals around your eyes. I choose these because they are a little bit tinted because the sparks that come off are a little bit brighter, so I am able to look directly on the edge. They are comfortable, and they are impact resistant. I used to not wear eye guards, until last year when I got a piece of metal from the grinding belt lodged in the cornea of my eye. And I wasn't sure that that was what had happened, and I almost ended up going blind in one eye. I had to go to the doctor, and they had to remove it. So you know, you only have one set of eyes. So you need to do whatever you can to protect them. If the goggles that you have are scratched or fuzzy, go get a new pair. It's not worth risking your eyesight just to do a quick job. Because when you're not wearing your eye protection, that's when an accident will happen."