Hey boo-boo

I’ve never had a major injury in my shop*, and with strict attention to safety procedures I hope I never will. But what about those little injuries?

There is almost no time in recent memory where I can say that I don’t have some tiny little injury somewhere on my person. For one thing, I bruise very easily, so I always have a collection of them. I have no idea how I get most of my bruises, but just bumping an elbow or shin in the shop can usually guarantee one.

Drawing blood is the same thing. I always seem to have a little scrape, cut or nick somewhere. I get those constantly in the shop, usually from innocuous causes – poking a finger with the sharp tip of a screw while grabbing a handful or picking up a splinter while wiping dust off the bench with my hand.

Inevitably, all these minor injuries are in annoying spots – fingertip, knuckle, tip of my nose (don’t ask) – so they constantly remind you, despite their diminutive size, that they are still there.

My latest woodworking injury? A paper cut. I need to make eight shelves for my new shed, each of which has to fit snugly in the corners between opposing 2-by studs with appropriate cutouts for the studs. Thought it would be a good idea to cut a template first out of corrugated cardboard, fit it correctly, then just use that as a guide to cut the shelves.

Cut the template fine, and while testing it in the shed for fit, I cut the tip of my finger on the cardboard edge. As with all these annoying minor injuries, it’s perfectly placed to ensure maximize annoyance while woodworking.

In this case, my woodworking task for today is typing up a woodworking article. Boy, that cut smarts.

Till next time,

A.J.

*I did have a major injury on a job site, but that was nearly 40 years ago, and I like to think I’ve learned my lesson. My shop record is clean.