As we continue through Woodworkers Safety Week, many resources that were previously unknown to me have surfaced.  A new one, is Earth 911.com.  This was brought to my attention by The Woodwhisperer Woodworking Video podcast, Episode 88 - Safety Q&A.  (Before I forget, keep voting for Marc in the BHG contest.   He’s still in second place and hanging strong, so don’t stop voting now!)

Anyway, Earth911 is a search engine you can use to find locations for hazardous materials disposal.  As a woodworker, you could use this to dispose of old, or dirty varnish, or any other material so it doesn’t end up in the landfill.  If you are a DiY tinkerer like I am, the search engine is of GREAT use.  One thing that comes to mind is circuit board disposal (Or any E-Waste) where they can recycle the silver and gold, but also reclaim the lead.  If you don’t know my stance on this issue, you should read this article from last year.

The absolute first thing that I used this site for was car battery disposal.  I have been accumulating these in the garage for some reason…mainly because I didn’t know of a safe way to dispose of them.  Lo and behold, the search engine turned up an unexpected result: Wal Mart.  I was a little skeptical, so I called to verify, and sure enough, they do take car batteries to recycle!

I’m gonna use this website a LOT, and I invite you to do the same.

Hello faithful readers.  In conjunction with woodworkers safety week, I am happy to present to you with an article I have been working on, and some of you have seen in rough form.  Many of us think about woodworkers safety as using the correct guards on our saws, using pushblocks when we cut or join, or using respirators when we sand.  One thing that is often overlooked is maintaining aging tools, whether they be ours, or bought second hand.  This is just as important as safety equipment itself.  A poorly maintained tool is an unsafe tool.
(more…)