Ben Blatt is a reporter for The Upshot and an amateur woodworker who once received stitches for a band saw injury. What’s it worth to you to minimize the risk of cutting off a finger? $300? $600?

Here’s an attention-grabbing headline from The New York Times: “How Much Would You Pay to Make Sure You Never Sawed Off a Finger?” At first I assumed this was a story about the latest GOP fundraising ...