*mustache-twirling intensifies*
-EDIT- Modified the comic to fix an artist error. Blade guards are important.
Original draft had Theo smacking Selkie's hand away from the tablesaw, but that felt a bit out of character.
*mustache-twirling intensifies*
-EDIT- Modified the comic to fix an artist error. Blade guards are important.
A workshop IS NOT a playpen.
Disagree. I was 5 and 6 years old operating power tools under supervision. And was used as slave labor… cause Infinite energy of a young child + determination= work horse. Sure I could only carry a half stack of shingles but I could do it ALL day up and down the ladder, ALL DAY same with Lumber.
Joe, that sounds more like a sweatshop than a workshop.
Ai_Vin. Working with my grandfather… and father.. some of the best times I ever had. And Id kill everyone in this thread to go back and spend more time with my grandfather. I miss the old fart.
I don’t think there’s anything wrong with this if it met the following criteria:
a. You were under the supervision of family members or close family friends.
b. The task was related to family or close friends of family — the primary workers were family/friends, and you were along to make that job a little easier, a little more fun, or a way to include you and thus not have to hire a babysitter.
c. You weren’t in distress.
d. You could have stopped — if you’d pointed out that you were tired or hurt or even just really bored, your guardians wouldn’t have made you continue.
e. You were finding the activity interesting or useful in some fashion that mattered to you (even if “I’m helping the family” was all the excuse you needed).
Because there are a lot of tasks that a child can go through repetitively that would be much worse for an adult — because the adult has already mastered the relevant skills, and has no reason to be doing such a task.
Consider drills like handwriting or the multiplication table. Or sorting simple shapes into piles. Or picking up objects and moving them to new places. They’re ways of training the child in motor skills, giving them an appropriate amount of exercise, helping the brain to focus, and so forth. Even just climbing up and down a short ladder is good practice for a child, and (assuming proper safety precautions were taken) this found a reason to do that exercise over and over, learning how to properly balance the body and working out the muscles that are used for that task.
Plus, there’s something to be said for clan loyalty, as it were. I recall helping my mom with camp laundry at the Laundromat she worked for. One day each week during the summer, we’d get like 80 bags of laundry, and, after hours, our entire family (Mom, Dad, three kids in their early teens) would get that laundry washed, dried, folded, and stuffed back into the sacks it came from. IIRC, the pay was really good (for the family), but it was simply too much for my mom to handle on her own, and bringing the family in allowed us to complete the task without having to hire outside workers.
Come early morning, us kids would be worn out, and Dad would drive us home to sleep, while Mom finished up. It was hard work, but also kinda fun, and I think it was a good experience; it’s certainly a good family memory, and one we refer to with a laugh even now.
(By “much worse” I mean, we tend to judge those tasks through the eyes of adulthood, but they can be more interesting, fun, or useful for a child — an adult would need outside motivation to do them (e.g. a paycheck), but a child might find the task rewarding in and of itself, due to the way they’re learning/practicing a new skill.)
This was an excellent comment, thank you.
Which is why it’s encouraging that Theo is calling them out IMMEDIATELY when they start treating it as such.
I helped build a house when I was 5. I broke my collarbone, but that wasn’t due to the construction project but me falling headfirst off the top bunk of the caravaner (I was entertaining my little brother who was on the bottom bunk). All the powertools and hammers and nails and such never once hurt me, because dad taught me to be careful with them. 😀
I get the feeling maybe Amanda shouldn’t be there…she’s just not taking things as seriously and I mean, dangerzone!
Wisdom from Grandpa
I’m glad the girls are wearing goggles, but what about hair ties? That wild saw blade is going to scalp Amanda if she’s not careful trying to feed it.
On an unrelated note, I’m glad to see the grandparents again. I missed them.
I agree that hair ties need to be discussed, but might I add that when they are, Selkie’s sensitivity about her ears will undoubtedly come up.
That table saw is Missing parts!!! there needs to be a blade guard on it… You should NEVER EVER EVER EVER FUCKING EVER run with an open exposed blade.
Super old ones didn’t have them, if I recall, and I’m guessing Grandpa is the sort to keep his stuff in good (if old) condition.
But yeah, if you’re going to have kids learning tool & such, ones with current safety measures included are a must.
The one in my middle school wood shop back in the early 90s didn’t have a guard. ‘Ol Choppy sat there, exposes to the world.
And it’s not running, is it? The guard is removable, because you cannot adjust the size of your cut, or adjust the angle of the blade, with the guard in place. The guard sticks out about an inch on each side of the blade. You have to remove the guard to set the saw up.
Was the language really necessary?
alpo, yes you can infact adjust depth, angle and such with the guard in place.
I’m gonna own up to that being an Artist Mistake. Drew the table saw from memory rather than from reference.
As long as you are laying claim to an artistic mistake, a table saw is called a table saw because the saw blade is sitting in the middle of a table that is about 3 ft wide. Not sticking up out of the center of a 2 by 6. 🙂
How dare you prove me wrong mathematically. 😉
I never knew they were supposed to have bladeguards, but then the ones I’ve used were 1970’s-1980’s ones, and safety wasn’t as big a thing back then… basically “don’t put your hand in it, stupid” was the all the safety it was considered to need. 😛
Joel, if your saw even in the 70s and 80s didn’t have a blade guard… someone removed it. Even the Makita that is Older than I am by half a decade Has one (and im 40)
I’m from Finland. I think it’s a fair guess that what you’re used to and what I’m familiar with, from my childhood, were unlikely to be the same thing. Until like late 1990’s I don’t think I recall any kind of bench saw thing (including school woodwork workshops) having any kind of protection things on the blades (I didn’t even know there are supposed to be some until I was properly grown up). But I think that was just the atttitude of the time – some kind of Darwinian selection in action.
…come to think of it, I can’t recall anyone ever having a proper injury (not counting scrapes and the couple of oopses with glue or paint) in shop class. The effectiveness of the safety lectures was greatly boosted by the shop class teacher missing most of a finger (of course rumours had it that he’d lost it to one of the saws in the workshop).
I get the bad feeling that Chekhov’s gun has just been loaded.
Your comment just proved to me what is going to happen, but I don’t want to say anything and spoil it or annoy dave.
Dave, just a quick note – I love Theo for his work safety lessons, just wanted to add 3 things. No loose clothing or hair, hearing and dust protection. Loss of hearing is pretty much irreparable, and wood dust is irritative at best, carcinogenic at worst. The part about loose stuff is self-evident, do not search for “lathe accident” on Google.
I’m not saying that they should go full heavy industry with Versaflo helmets and Peltor earpieces, just something within the realm of sanity.
(also, I’m a huge fan of your comic 😀)
Question: Swedish pattern cross-pein, German, French, Peddinghaus, or Hofi style hammer? Just askin’
We are more cutlers than smiths, so we don’t do enough forgework to legitimise spending on quality hammers. We use cheap German ones when we do need them (though we have two old soviet tractor repair hammers as well, those are quite good) . Their main advantage is we can regrind them to any shape we want or need without feeling bad about ruining something nice.
How is no one noticing that this comic has Amanda exhibiting the same evil scientist vibe Selkie gives and how cute it is the sisters share this quality/ I wonder if it will bring them closer
Now I’m scared little ones’re gonna lose fingers. Thanks, Dave. XD
I do believe Grandpa there… built his own table saw bench. 🙂 It looks like it is made of wood.
Good on Grandpa.
I have a few issues with this
1. He shouldn’t have grabbed her like that, what if it had the complete opposite result? People can flail and stuff when startled.
2. Why wouldn’t his table saw be unplugged or the safety key pulled from it?
3. Why is it sitting there out in the open without a blade guard on it? Even the cheapest fucking table saws have them.
Grandpa made his own mistakes today.
Instinct kicks in when the kid does something dumb. Also, even unplugged, the saw is still sharp and he wants to make hs point while it’s off and not runnng.
And Dave forgot to draw the blade guard. Not Grandpa’s fault there.
What did I forget? I forget nothing. There is no mistake in Ba Sing Se.