30 Replies

no…he doesn’t. wait till your done then cough politely is the right thing.

I hate it when that happens. I’ve thought about putting an old style shopkeepers bell on my door so it rings if the door opens. I never work with the overhead open as I don’t want to advertise that the " garage" is really a woodshop.

I have 2 simple jigs for doors. First take a 2×6 about 2 ft long and lay it flat on the floor. Next take some 3/4" plywood and cut it to about 6" x28", you’ll need 2. Then in the center of the 2×6 attach the plywood to the edge so it sticks up in the air. Space about 2-3/4" allowing a gap and attach the other plywood. When you put the door on edge into that gap it will rest on the 2×6 and you will have a portable door stand. I have 2 made and I’ll get a pic the next time I go to the shop, camping season is almost over.

I’ve had my wife startle me when I’m in the workshop…now she knows not to come into the shop until the machines are off.

Glad you are OK Brian. I have the family trained to flash the lights before they come in the shop.

Thorreain, I actually had the door clamped to something, so it was very stable, but the edge of the door is still narrow and the router likes a wide flat surface for stability. That, in my humble opinion, is a recipe for danger. I certainly do everything I can to increase safety, but getting startled by a stranger yelling and flapping his wings doesn’t fit any equation. ;-)

Defiantly not. I had a similar experience with a UPS delivery man. Even my wife knows enough to just wait until the machine stops running, no matter what it is. Delivery people must be just in too much of a rush I think.

That is a scary scenario,like you said all he needed was a small dose of common sense.
You may or may not of heard of the trick of clamping a pair of boards on each side of thin doors to give you a bigger surface to balance your router on.

Glad you were not hurt, i have people come to my shop (garage) and all that have so far have waited for power tool to stop. I also try and make it a habit to face the door, for that instance, but sometimes you just can see who is coming. Maybe a sign will have to be made. I would hate to hurt myself for that reason.

I lock my door and have a door bell . If I’m running something and don’t hear them they have to wait till the noise stops . My wife and friends my cell before coming out to the shop.

The thing that really burns me is that there’s no signature required and they usually just leave packages on a table I made outside the front door. Yeah, the table was made for delivery people to leave packages! LOL. But this guy thought he was being nice by leaving it with me since he saw me there. When he saw that I was intensely focused using a loud machine with a sharp bit spinning at 10000 rpm, he could have said to himself, you know, maybe I’ll just leave it here on the table a few feet away instead of disturbing this fellow that appears to be intensely focused using a loud, dangerous machine. I’m telling you – that would have been using some good old fashioned common sense.

And also, when I told my wife about it, she agreed completely. She never disturbs be while I’m in the middle of cutting. Immediately afterwards, well that’s another story. ;-)

Common Scence is not common.

A1Jim, I thought about making a jig for this operation that would give me a nice working surface for the router, but I just don’t need it often enough to justify the time spent making the jig. But I have a beauty in mind. :-)

hey boys I am back from fl glad you ok brian

I don’t get many visitors, but I do worry about that exact happenstance. Glad you weren’t hurt.

My wife knows to wait. She’s afraid of distracting me. Still, there’s nothing like turning around and seeing someone materialize from out of nowhere.

I’ve even thought of turning EVERYTHING in my shop around so I face the door running the table saw, band saw, jointers, stationary sanders, pin router and so forth just to avoid being startled.

As someone else suggested, a sensor and a bell wouldn’t be a bad idea either. I just happen to have one I picked up yard saleing.

I haven’t looked into them, but a garage door sensor might be handy for setting up a warning bell. I suspect they run off low voltage and DC, so would need their food source by way of four diodes and a transformer.

I have a 12" sprinkler I snagged from a demo job once. I’m pretty sure that thing going off would be worse than the mailman. LOL

What are you going to do when Amazon starts delivering with drones? Duck! Duck! Hit the ground!

I hate that, I’m glad you didn’t rout yourself a new hinge hole…….

For anybody putting in hinges, here is a sketch up drawing of little jig I had made.

The idea I have is similar to yours but has only one vertical supporting side so it can also be used on jambs of any width. Maybe I will get around to making it.

Yeah I would be pretty upset also!

nice work on the jig

I just made the jig. Very simple but it was a lot of work and definitely not perfect.

Pictures show a test run. It’s not so bad, I guess and it’s really to make it uniform and easy to cut. I eyeballed the radius and finished it off with a curved file. I think I can tighten it up by putting a little strip of edge banding on the right side. Using 1/2" bit with 5/8" collar.

it will work that’s good

Looks like it fits pretty good to me .

Back on topic, my next door neighbor did the same thing yesterday as the mailman before. Only this time it was worse. He screeched in a deliberate effort to startle me. Fortunately for me I was just using a palm sander and fortunately for him he brought beer with him. Needless to say he got a lecture.

I think its time to start closing the garage door. Weather is getting cooler now anyway.

Another Reason I am glad that I have my stand alone shop in the back yard.

To get to my workshop you have to get inside the fence, and cross the yard that is patrolled by two Great Pyrenees, and a Pitt Bull with a combined weight of 300 pounds. I don’t generally get surprised in my shop. Even my wife just sends me a text message because it’s easier.