CreekWood wrote
Thanks, guys. I appreciate your feedback. Safety isn't something you experiment with in order to perfect. It's no risk to try out handcarving, hand planing, etc, just to see what's feasible while sitting down, but I wouldn't want to find out the hard way while spinning up a power unit.
The bottomline is you always want to be in control (and feel in control) when doing any woodworking operation, irregardless of whether the operation involves a power source or not. Some would argue that it isn't "safe" to sit while doing certain non-powered woodworking activities, e.g. hand sawing, hand planing, etc. The problem lies in the intended body mechanics of the operation versus what you create by sitting down, e.g. there could be unintended twisting and/or other strain put on the back to attempt to do hand tool woodworking while sitting versus standing. I still say that if you feel in control and don't feel any body alignment or pain issues then most woodworking operations can be performed while sitting and as Russ pointed out there is a forum member here that uses their Shopsmith equipment from a wheelchair.
