safety in the shop

Paul Gallian

In Memoriam
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I could have added this to several recent threads but I decided to keep it to myself -- now it feels much better and I am more open to sharing.

I was turning a fruit bowl out of Easter Red cedar about 12" OD and about 6" deep. I had shaped the outside getting ready to make a tenon - The cedar was mounted on a powermatic face plate. I was taking ONE more pass toward the head and I heard a snap and sharp pain in my left hand. Afraid to look but I had to look and what I saw was a shock! I had a shaft (like an arrow) sticking out of my hand - the fat part under the little finger. The shaft was a little over 6 inches long -- I grab it to pull it out and it would not budge. Jerked the next try and out it came -- blood and all! grabbed the paper towels to make a compress - into the house so my wife could help. She said to the doctors we go- I said no go to docs. That was couple of week ago, it is still sore but much better now. To make matters worse - a few days ago I reversed it and was hollowing it out - a small catch and I yanked it out of chuck (spit the tenon off). I got to watch it hit and roll! Today I redid the tenon and it is now hollowed out and needs sanding -- for a long time I came close to pitching it into the fire place and saying bad, mean wood, bad, mean wood, bad, mean wood, bad, mean wood, bad, mean wood, bad, mean wood, bad, mean wood,!
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hey paul,, we dont heal as fast as we used to but its good to hear you got back on the horse and broke it:) and that your healing ok.. sometimes our better half's are right.. we should listen to them more than we do sometimes..
 
That had to hurt like crazy!

Glad it didn't get infected.

Reminds me of Carols thread a little while ago about what would we do if we got hurt in the shop.

Sharon and I have been using these little walkie/talkie things lately to communicate.

But that's not the best solution.

Guess we all bought the ticket and take our chances in the shop. Just need to make sure we operate as safely as we can.
 
Ouch! Glad it wasn't worse than it was. Any idea why the arrow broke off?

I had a little walnut bowl that I was helping a friend do a week or so ago that did the same thing with the tennon.. twice.. I probably should have tossed it after the first one, but.. it was kind of her bowl (from the down tree in their backyard) so I sort of felt obligated to continue so proceeded very carefully with scrapers and got it finished.
 
Glad your on the mend...not even 3 days after teasing Kyle about his box cutter encounter, I went & opened my index finger tip to knuckle with my box cutter :doh:
went out that evening & finally sprung for this{ figured what I've been spending on electrical tape and paper towels, I may as well have the right stuff}
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& since I'm accident prone{sounds better than dumb as dirt lol} I keep a reminder hanging at eye level to help kick the ol' brain cells into gear
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It's been hanging for a couple of years now, thinking I might need to tattoo it on the back of both hands :eek:
 
Ouch is right! I've had cedar splinters under the finger nail that I pulled out with needle nose pliers...thought I was going to pass out, but knew they HAD to come out. Helping at the in-laws house a bunch of years ago, got stabbed in the webbing between the thumb and first finger with a wedge of pressure treated lumber. It broke off at the skin level. I could push it up and see the head of the piece, about 1/8" diameter, sticking out. Release pressure and it would disappear. Took a while, but finally got it out. Only issue in the shop so far, knock on my thick skull, was at the drill press. Took 5 stitches at the ER on that one. Funny watching the young nurse taking notes on the PDA when the Dr. opened my hand and blood spurted toward her at the foot of the bed. Doc closed my hand, looked at her and asked slowly..."Are you ok???" She nodded yes with her eyes about as big around as my fist. It was all I could do to keep from laughing. Doc looked at me, smiled and went on about what he was doing. I'll spare you the picture, but that is an excellent idea, print it out and hang it on the wall as a reminder to not be stupid. Hope you heal quick. Jim.
 
I pulled a rookie mistake before Christmas. I was using the 9" vertical sander . I went to turn it off and started walking away , took my eyes off of what I was doing and caught my index finger on the edge of the sander. It made 3 very nice slices in the tip. Always keep your eyes on what your doing. I can't remember when the last time I pulled a boner like that.
 
Must have been a bad week for injuries. I have two friends the suffered injury, shop related and I took a kickback from my table saw in the stomach that took me to my knees. Glad yours wasn't more serious. Let's all have a safe New Year.
 
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