Comment by 123yawaworht456 11 hours ago
> Another few seconds and it could have become a very memorable incident.
it takes a bit of pressure for an angle grinder to cut, even when you're cutting soft material like wood. accidental contact with a spinning disc would give you a nasty flesh wound, but you wouldn't lose your fingers or anything.
the real danger is the disc breaking up at 10K RPM and shrapnel flying in your face. you might easily lose an eye.
The 4.5" angle grinder is like an agressive little dog that's just waiting for a chance to bite you.
The table saw is like an old pitbull that generally sleeps.
The 6"/7"/9" grinder is a skunk.
Everyone who's ever given it the chance has a story about the time the angle grinder nipped at them. The people who pestered the old pitbull until it got sick of their crap have 9 fingers. Nobody has problems with the skunk because it's pretty obvious what'll happen if you disrespect it.
Yea, if I have to use my table saw, I’m planning cuts so they perform themselves with guides, and my focus is on pushing the wood properly through the guides while primarily keeping my hands at least a foot away from the blade. My grandfather went through life without his right index finger and it wasn’t too bad for him, but I use a keyboard for a living!
See also: Chainsaws.
I used to do a decent amount with them, dropping trees and bucking them for firewood/thinning. Then started doing things like cutting chairs out of bigger logs. I caught myself onetime being really sloppy with where my hands were. All from doing it enough, and then doing something a little more complicated that I probably shouldn't have been doing.
> The angle grinder can suddenly shift in practically any direction. It’s very easy to lose control of it.
Especially when you recoil in pain as it unexpectedly scrapes your finger; it's likely you'll just release your grip entirely, so it'll fly off in a random direction, slicing through anything it hits, possibly bouncing and/or breaking the disk, before it runs out of kinetic energy. $deity help you if the trigger lock is on.
thats only a problem if it catches your clothes and gets dragged into your body. only turn the switch into the locked position when really necessary. I usually wear leathers. but if it does happen you're looking at a couple months of road rash, not amputation.
> the real danger is the disc breaking up at 10K RPM and shrapnel flying in your face. you might easily lose an eye.
For anyone wondering, OSHA would tell you to use safety glasses and a face shield. Neither is sufficient protection alone.
You should also do the "ring" test before mounting a disc.
https://youtu.be/QSQiLxDBpu8