This is my latest stick dulcimer 'Kick Ass Goat'. I experimented with making the sound box bigger - it's 8" wide at the bottom - to get a fuller sound with more volume and in this respect it's been a great success.
Years ago, my mom was cutting wood to make a picture frame. She used to paint - I have some of her wonderful paintings with homemade frames. My dad always told her not to get her hands any where near the saw blade, but rather push the wood thru with another block of wood. One day, she had finished cutting her wood, and with that extra block of wood still in her hand, she bent down to turn the saw off. You know the rest of the story. She lost 1/2 of her thumb. She was extremely fortunate (though it sure didn't seem like it at the time) to not have lost more than she did.
It's unsightly and she hates it, but it certainly gets the kids' attention!
I worked in a Custom Woodshop where they always took the safety guards off the table saws. OSHA would come for an inspection and the employees at the shop would have attached the guards back on. When OSHA left, off came the guards again. I remember a good many guys with missing digits and entire fingers gone. I decided to quit while I still had all 10
Regarding the "Kick Ass Goat"- it looks nice (and great name). From my understanding those are not actually "dulcimers" per se, because the neck is not built onto the top of the soundbox.
For the last three years I've cut my sound boards from stock using a table saw with safety guard removed to increase the depth of cut. This Easter my luck ran out and I suffered a very bad injury which cost me my little finger and nearly cost me my thumb. Thanks to over five hours of surgery by a couple of highly skilled surgeons the severed arteries, nerves and tendons in my thumb and remaining fingers were saved (the amputated pinky was used as a source of spares for the ring finger!).
Years ago, my mom was cutting wood to make a picture frame. She used to paint - I have some of her wonderful paintings with homemade frames. My dad always told her not to get her hands any where near the saw blade, but rather push the wood thru with another block of wood. One day, she had finished cutting her wood, and with that extra block of wood still in her hand, she bent down to turn the saw off. You know the rest of the story. She lost 1/2 of her thumb. She was extremely fortunate (though it sure didn't seem like it at the time) to not have lost more than she did.
It's unsightly and she hates it, but it certainly gets the kids' attention!
I worked in a Custom Woodshop where they always took the safety guards off the table saws. OSHA would come for an inspection and the employees at the shop would have attached the guards back on. When OSHA left, off came the guards again. I remember a good many guys with missing digits and entire fingers gone. I decided to quit while I still had all 10
Regarding the "Kick Ass Goat"- it looks nice (and great name). From my understanding those are not actually "dulcimers" per se, because the neck is not built onto the top of the soundbox.
For the last three years I've cut my sound boards from stock using a table saw with safety guard removed to increase the depth of cut. This Easter my luck ran out and I suffered a very bad injury which cost me my little finger and nearly cost me my thumb. Thanks to over five hours of surgery by a couple of highly skilled surgeons the severed arteries, nerves and tendons in my thumb and remaining fingers were saved (the amputated pinky was used as a source of spares for the ring finger!).