fearless

The baseboards in the second bedroom are pretty much done now. All that's left is to paint the nail holes that I've already filled with spackel. It's probably a good thing that they're done b/c I think I've lost my fearful respect for my 10" compound miter saw.

When I first started using the $50( $25 after applying a $25 gift card) miter saw I bought from Amazon.com, I was absolutely terrified of it. For my first couple cuts, I had the 2x4's clamped down on both ends, I'd dug out a pair of ear plugs, was wearing long sleeves, leather shoes, work gloves, a ventilation mask and safety glasses- pretty much everything they recommend in the owner's manual - and I was still scared shitless as the 10 inches of carbide tipped saw blade spun up to it's unloaded angular velocity of ~5200 RPM while emitting a deafening high-pitched scream (the saw was making the screaming noise - not me). I think I was mostly afraid that the blade was come loose and dismember me as I crouched over the cutting arm (for $50, I thought it was very plausible).

This morning, as I was making my final cuts to complete the baseboard installation in the 2nd bedroom, I distinctly remember one point when I was making a 45° cut on a piece of baseboard that was about 4" long that I wanted closer to 2". Since it was too small to clamp down with the built in clamp, I was holding it against the guard by hand and since my work gloves were a little too baggy and I didn't want my hand to slip, I was doing it bare handed. As I was finishing the cut, the piece that had just been liberated caught the spinning blade, bounced off of the guard, whizzed within a few inches of my right temple and bounced off of the wall about 8-10 feet behind me. I thought to myself at this point that the safety glasses were probably a good idea.

There were also a couple times where I'd left my safety glasses somewhere, but was too lazy to find them, so I'd clamp down my piece and simply look away while I made the cut. Thinking about this now, I could totally see myself losing fingers/appendages if I continue to do this stuff.

My work with the Dremel isn't much better. Instead of wearing the ventilation mask, I've started holding my breath and rushing my cuts - taking a breath when I finished my first cuts and needed to turn the piece over then repeating the procedure for the next cuts.

Definitely not the smartest things I've ever done.