Steve Gass cuts off his finger

[steve68steve]

No argument - just passing it along.

[pconroy]

Originally Posted by boboreilly

That's utterly ridiculous.

Why?

[boboreilly]

Well let's see...

For one, he dunks his hand quite awhile before he does the test. If he really wanted his hand to be cold, he's dunk it, dry it, and do the test. Not wait all that time for his hand to warm up.

Second, what would it accomplish anyways? Stick your hand in the oven and tell me if it hurts. Now dunk your hand in ice water and stick it in the oven and tell me if it hurts. Now wait a minute before you stick it in the oven.

Third, the bulk of the lighting is focused at a very small area right at the tip of the blade, an area that his finger is in for an extremely small amount of time. The rest of the light is nowhere near the intensity of that spot.

Fourth, in the woodnet post, he states that after a few seconds, the heat from the light starts to burn his hand. Well if you look at the video in real-time, his hand is under the lights for about a second. By his own statement, that's before it starts to burn him anyways so why hedge your bets with the ice water???

And fifth, why are you concerned about some heat on your hand when YOU ARE ABOUT TO PUT YOUR FINGER INTO A SPINNING TABLE SAW BLADE.

[pconroy]

What's Woodnet? I didn't read his posts...


Didn't notice the time lag - I had just heard, someplace, that those hi-speed cameras need uber-intense lighting and his explanation seemed plausible.

I would have guessed the ice water was their suggestion not his.

If I was sticking my finger into a spinning saw blade, I think I'd want some protection from the heat so I could concentrate completely on one thing: moving my finger in a controlled manner.

[boboreilly]

Watch the video.

He dunks his hand. Walks around a bit. Adjusts his welding mask. Practices by putting his had under those very same lights. Turns on the saw. Sticks his hand into the blade.

It's laughable. The only thing it could possibly accomplish after that amount of time is that his skin is moister than it would be normally.

[boboreilly]

Originally Posted by boboreilly

Watch the video.

He dunks his hand. Walks around a bit. Adjusts his welding mask. Practices by putting his had under those very same lights. Turns on the saw. Sticks his hand into the blade.

It's laughable. The only thing it could possibly accomplish after that amount of time is that his skin is moister than it would be normally.

If anyone remembers, Steve Gass claimed that the reason he dunked his hand in ice water was to prevent getting serious burns on his hands from the high powered lighting used to facilitate the high speed video on Time Warp.

Well, on tonight's episode. An ice sculptor was able to carve an entire ice sculpture under those very same lights. Must have taken him a couple of minutes and the ice was still there.

Hmmmmmm...

[bobzajicek]

Originally Posted by boboreilly

Well let's see...

Lots of speculation and discussion points, but you weren't there, AFAIK. FWIW, I wasn't either, but I can explain away as many as you can likely raise. We'll have to agree to disagree on what the video proves or doesn't.

We can agree that Gass makes a helluva machine, safety device not withstanding. If detractors had ever test driven his cabinet saw and seen the internals first hand, they'd know this too. I've been present at least half a dozen+ times when Gass himself has demo'd the safety devise at feed rates that far exceed reality and the hotdog never suffered more than a nick.

However, what's really important are the fingers and lifestyles he's preserved and continues to do so.

Carry on.

[boboreilly]

The video certainly proves how well the device works. I've never seen an argument different.

The words of the man on the other hand....

[TowMater]

This video is no longer available due to a copyright claim by Arent Fox LLP.

Guess I won't get to see it.

[atauer]

Me neither Mater.

Can someone post a new link if one is found?