Hello Folks,
New to all of this and I have spent a great deal of time reading post, books and watching videos about knife making, about tools used for knife making and the like. One of the exciting parts of all of this to me is thinking about new or different or just optimal ways to set up my work station.
I am a bit of time out from obtaining a buffer, but as I read and learn more and more I understand the inherent safety issue better. In Wayne Goddard's $50 Knife Shop, he describes a couple of instances where a blade has gotten away from a maker, bounce back up into the buffing wheel and then was thrown into a nice meaty portion of the makers hand. So...this is scary to me and I'm trying to think of ways to improve safety.
Mr. Goddard suggests having the buffer attached to a board that sits about 8 inches off the bench rather than attaching directly to the table top. He then goes on the suggest that floor covering will protect the object if it is thrown down onto the floor as well as absorb energy from the object to prevent as high a bounce. He also suggests a full guard for the unit. Finally, he uses vise pliers to hold the blade.
So my question is this, has anyone mounted their buffer under the bench, below the work surface table? It seems to me that, if the bench was open underneath, this would accomplish a few things: one would be a lower and potentially stronger hold on the pliers/blade, two would be that the unit could have the same floor covering under it to prevent bouncing and protect the blade and three that the user might be able to lean some protective surface up against their legs (plywood) to protect them further.
As a science guy, I know that theoretical is never as good as actual, so I am looking for experienced makers to chime in on why this idea is terrible! If nothing else, sharing Mr. Goddard's safety ideas seem like a decent thing to do...
Thanks,
Keith
New to all of this and I have spent a great deal of time reading post, books and watching videos about knife making, about tools used for knife making and the like. One of the exciting parts of all of this to me is thinking about new or different or just optimal ways to set up my work station.
I am a bit of time out from obtaining a buffer, but as I read and learn more and more I understand the inherent safety issue better. In Wayne Goddard's $50 Knife Shop, he describes a couple of instances where a blade has gotten away from a maker, bounce back up into the buffing wheel and then was thrown into a nice meaty portion of the makers hand. So...this is scary to me and I'm trying to think of ways to improve safety.
Mr. Goddard suggests having the buffer attached to a board that sits about 8 inches off the bench rather than attaching directly to the table top. He then goes on the suggest that floor covering will protect the object if it is thrown down onto the floor as well as absorb energy from the object to prevent as high a bounce. He also suggests a full guard for the unit. Finally, he uses vise pliers to hold the blade.
So my question is this, has anyone mounted their buffer under the bench, below the work surface table? It seems to me that, if the bench was open underneath, this would accomplish a few things: one would be a lower and potentially stronger hold on the pliers/blade, two would be that the unit could have the same floor covering under it to prevent bouncing and protect the blade and three that the user might be able to lean some protective surface up against their legs (plywood) to protect them further.
As a science guy, I know that theoretical is never as good as actual, so I am looking for experienced makers to chime in on why this idea is terrible! If nothing else, sharing Mr. Goddard's safety ideas seem like a decent thing to do...
Thanks,
Keith