Farmall Cub

I like old tools often better than the newer versions, however, they may be lacking in some safety features. I have an old power hacksaw that I use quite a bit. It is a lot slower than my bandsaw but for some reason I still tend to favor the hacksaw. The person I bought it from told me the man he bought it from cut off one of his fingers. I thought, well that is never going to happen to me. The saw has a sliding frame that holds the blade and slides back and forth on a thick steel bar. One day, while it was cutting a piece, I decided to put my finger against the moving cast frame. Unfortunately there was a lip on that frame that trapped my finger between the steel bar and the cast blade frame. The steel bar started to gillotine off the tip of my finger. The belt is loose on the motor and I keep it that way so if the saw were to jam, it would slip the belt rather than destroy my 50 cent hacksaw blade. Lucky my finger was enough to stop the saw and I was able to pull my finger out of the jam. My fingernail remained in the saw.

I looked around at some of the power tools I have and noticed that I definitely have removed many of the safety guards or disable some of the safety features. Time to put that blade guard back on the table saw!



Don't put your finger in there!

I got a little queezy just reading your story, glad you didn't show us a pic of the accident

Old tools and tractors too. Safety features tend to annoy operators, but evolved for a number of reasons. You can't even push start a standard tranny car anymore.

I clearly remember 'hooking' one of the dually wheels on a stump with the Gravely L8 when mowing. The major 'safety' on that machine is they moved the kill switch from the magneto to the end of the handle bar.

Always need to pay attention!

I got one just about like that. A little on the slow side but faster than doing it by hand.
Ron in Mid Missouri