Scary Sharp!!

Ever had a close call in your shop?

  • Yes

    Votes: 56 77.8%
  • No

    Votes: 8 11.1%
  • Maybe ...lemme see...I cant remember :)

    Votes: 5 6.9%
  • Yes but I'm too shy to say so

    Votes: 3 4.2%

  • Total voters
    72
Messages
57
Location
Hamilton, New Zealand
Today I cut my left thumb on a still spinning saw blade.

Momentary lapse of reason as I was attempting to flick a small offcut away from the blade.

My thumb slid over the offcut and the blade took a small but very painful bite out of the ball of my left thumb. Ordinarily I do this task with the push stick, but for some reason decided to do it by hand.

Now i am going to have a painful reminder of my folly for the next week or two. It just goes to show that if you let your focus relax things can get nasty very very quickly.

Oh and I wont repeat what the wife called me
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I was finishing up a set of 6 shelf support brackets by running them though a round-over bit on the router table. I got lazy on the very last bracket and allowed the end of the bracket to slip off the running router bit. the bit cut a nice clean flap of skin off my right hand just behind my little finger.

I grabbed a shop towel, wrapped the wound, and headed for the house where upon I announced that I had a problem. LOML took over and put the flap back and loaded up the wound with Neosporin, followed by a gauze bandage and an elastic bandage. The bandage was changed everyday and I wore it for about 2 weeks. Today you have to look very closely to see any marks from the ordeal. LOML is a licensed LVN.

It took about 10 minutes to clean up the blood spots on the shop floor. Guess who is especially careful around the router table now.;)
 
I have had 2 accidents in the shop, one more serious than the other.

1st. (less serious)
I was putting my table saw together and I was scrubbing the packing grease off the cast iron top. I was scrubbing using a degreaser and a scrub brush. Some where in the midest of my scrubbing frenzy, I dragged my nuckle over the edge of one of the miter slots. This removed a a nice layer of skin from that nuckle. The odd thing was that it didn't hurt. I only realized what had happened when I looked down at the floor, for some reason, and saw blood all over the place. Apparenly as I had been scrubbing the blood droplets were flying off left and right. I must have been in a zone, as to not have noticed them. I had my wife bandage me back up. when I came back into the basement, it looked like someone was just murdered there. From then on, I refer to this as "the OJ Crime Scene";)


2nd.
I was loosening the collet on my router while it was in the router table. I had a carbide tipped pattern bit in the collet at the time (bearing near the table). Apparently I had tightened it more that what I remember. When the collet finally loosened up, it caused my arm to move fast. Not only did my arm move with the wrench fast, but it dragged across the tip of one of the carbide edges of the bit. I ended up with a decent cut about 4 1/2 in long on the inside of my right forearm. It was one of those where it didn't bleed right away. This gave me a chance to look at it. About 2 inches looked bad enough to warrant stiches. The ER was not where I wanted to spend my day. Going back to my Boy Scout days, I immediatly grabbed it as tight as I could with my left hand. At that point, I realized that I probably wasn't going to be able to handle this by myself. As I was all alone at home, I called my Mom for some help. Don't laugh.... She's been a nurse for over 30 years. She also was about 10 minutes away. I continued to keep a death grip on my arm with my left hand. When she arrived, cleaned it up and looked at it, apparently the direct pressure did the trick. She said that if I hadn't done that, I would have definatly needed stiches. She steri-striped it back together, bandaged it, and I went back to work. I guess the good thing was that it never really hurt that much. Actually for a while my left hand hurt more from the 20+ minute direct pressure death grip.

This picture is about a week after it happened. :doh:
 

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i also have several stories about accidents in the shop. i have a skin graft on the top of my middle finger, right hand from the table saw. i was doing a repetitve rip on a number of pieces and in one motion i let the top of that finger get into the UNCOVERED blade.

here's the message. i absolutely will not do anything that i think could be dangerous in the shop. that means i now take the extra time to use the safety devices i have available, no matter how trivial the task. saving a few minutes in the shop and spending hours in the emergency room is not a good tradeoff.
 
.....................here's the message. i absolutely will not do anything that i think could be dangerous in the shop. that means i now take the extra time to use the safety devices i have available, no matter how trivial the task. saving a few minutes in the shop and spending hours in the emergency room is not a good tradeoff.

That is so true!

I have a highly developed sense of "This could cost me a finger" :eek: and I REALLY listen to it, ALL the time :thumb: :wave:
 
Doctor and X-rays say there's nothing in there but I still have a small bump/knot beneath the skin on my RH ring finger. I was resawing some thin stock on the TS when you guessed it - some went down the factory insert and came shooting back in a shower of splinters. Lots of little punctures and some of it hit so hard I actually thought I'd broken bones in a couple of fingers. I've never not used a zero-clearance insert since then.
 
My Grandfather lost his hand doing the same thing to a Planer (flicking away shaving building up on the chip breaker) bad decision.... My dad at age 16 was bringing him lunch and saw him do it. When I went into WWing for a career he told me the story.... `(MY Grandfather, dad's side, was dead before I was born) I remember that story of how he saw it happen , to this day... As a teacher of WWing for over 30 years I have seen a lot of careless acts but none of my students ever lost a didgit or limb. Cut or scrapes but no serious injury. I warned then of every act that could cause injury. I feel no sorrow for your woe or hurt for it is of you own doings that caused the harm. Am I a hard and nasty old guy for my comments, yes, but it is for your own good to learn that sharp spinning things will eat you. Animals as well as Machines with sharp teeth are designed to eat meat, Saw, Planes, have sharp teeth . therefore they eat meat, Man is made of Meat.... See the relationship?
 
Sure, the occassional piece coming out of the TS, usually a funny shaped drop from cutting a compound angled tenon cheek for a chair (that's the one that sticks in my mind). I once had a big fat leg come out of a really crappy lathe at work - fortunately it hit the wall rather than me. Got two fingers caugt in a biscuit joiner at work too, just plain dumb, but fortunately the blade was winding down so I still have the fingers (with nails intact). That was the first time I really thought I should maybe do something else for a living :D
 
Other than a few stitches here & there, I have never seriously hurt myself. I have done some things where I could have hurt myself badly. :eek:
That includes many years making my living as a machinist.
 
Aside from the typical scrapes and bruises, the closest I've come to a bloodletting was while vacuuming the table on the bandsaw as it was running down after turning it off. I brushed the inside of my wrist on the back of the still-moving blade, and although it wasn't deep, it left a reminder for a couple weeks how stupid of a move it was. I'm now very adamant about not doing anything (other than the intended cut) around any moving blade until it stops. I don't even move scrap cutoffs away from the tablesaw blade until it stops spinning. I figure waiting is worth the time spent.

To echo Bruce's comment, there have been some things I've done in my earlier days that were not safe, but it was before I knew safer methods existed. (Like cutting thin strips on the tablesaw without a zero clearance insert. Saw a few of those go flying backwards, but at least I knew to stand out of the line of fire.)
 
Some of those stories give me the willies, especially the one on the router...owwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwch!!!

I take blood thinners and anti-coagulants for a heart condition, so every time I have a "incident" in the shop I loose a fair amount of the red stuff before clotting gets underway.

Nice to see I'm not alone in the category of "Momentary lapse " :)
 
My worst so far has been with a carving chisel. I wasn't working smart, and I had my left hand in line with the sharp pointy end. Of course it slipped, and I now have a nice 1" scar at the base of my left thumb. Thankfully it didn't need stitches, but it took a good bit of gauze and about two weeks to heal up. Left some nice stains in the concrete floor of the shop to remind me. I now have one of the "carvers gloves" that will apparently help guard against such injuries. Even so, I try to hold the object so that no part of my body is in line with the sharp pointy parts!

As far as the power tools, I've always taken the time to set up the proper fingerboards or other safety things first. Even with those precautions, I have a healthy respect for fast-moving sharp pointy things. Blades and bits can cut too fast. It's just never a good idea to be complacent. I'm still a beginner, though, so my experience is limited. I have yet to really do any production work. I hope I can say that I remember the safety devices no matter how many of what I'm making. It seems to me that a good many accidents occur while doing repetitive cuts on many boards. Something to keep in mind.
 
Safety first!!!!

Like Bruce, I also have worked in the tool & die trade & a press/sheet metal/machine shop for almost 30 years. I have had a few stitches a few times but nothing serious. I did nearly amputate the end of my middle finger a few years ago. I had worked nearly 24 hours straight installing my out-door wood stove. When it was finaly ready to fire up , I went out and loaded it up and when trying to put the last block of wood in the top of the stove I slipped on the ice and pinched the finger on a 3/16 lip of the stove opening. The doctors did a good job repairing the damage. I figure I broke at least 3 safety rules. 1) Never work long hours to the point of being really,really tired. the injury % goes up drasticly. 2) Keep the area around equipment free of debre and slipping hazards. 3) Never hold a block of wood from the top when throwing it into the stove. ( I would have known this if I had read the instruction booklet)

I have wittnessed many horrific accidents, including fatalities aroung industrial equipment and pride myself for my safety awareness. It does help to keep you safe too see first hand the wreakage of thoughtlessness. It gives mental images burned into your memory.

I am never shy about giving unsolicited safety advice. I also expect a kick in the rear by anyone observing me doing something unsafe. Emergency first aid is good to learn.
 
I've had one near miss, when I First was learning to use the router table. I set the fence wrong and trapped the piece. sure enough... grab -zoom! I always use push blocks but it sure was a wake-up call.

the only time I've gotten cut in the shop my Scrollsaw jumped a gap in a piece I was cutting and I got a 1/8" deep cut right down the middle of my index finger, nail and all. didn't hurt, but it sure bled after a minute or two. No permanent damage, but typing at work was fun for awhile.
 
Early on in my current shop and with one of the first times I used a table saw, I was Kay-O'd by a kick-back to the solar plexus. Down and out for about 15 min. Much hurt, no fun at all. If the question is, for near amputations, my answer is: No.
 
Just last night I took half the flesh off a knuckle on a stationary planer blade. I sure luff super glue :D

I figure it serves me right for installing new blades (that I'd also honed the burr off of, so they were somewhere past scary:eek: ), and THEN deciding to tweak the rollers after a test cut :doh:
 
With woodworking, nothing but minor cuts and bruises. Have had a couple kick backs lately where I knew it was a high probability it would happen, did it anyway, but made sure I was out of the danger zone, so no problem. Did have a piece of 2X4 cutoff I was holding on to that got grabbed and twisted as it popped back. After 3 weeks that thumb is still sore. The worst one was a kick back on a repeated cut on the miter saw. Hit me in the lower stomach, just off center. No marks or bruises, but it took me to my knees for a couple seconds.
For those weird cuts on the table saw, I really like using my Joint-Tech Smart-Miter sled. I have the separate sled piece for the right of the blade so the cut off piece doesn't fall, then it also has a handle to pull the sled back to get the cut off away from the blade for safe removal. Works great. But I do see a set of Grippers in my future for TS rips.
My worst cut was installing an alarm on my wife's previous minivan. Had the lower console off to hide electronics and over-ride switches, and reached into a blind spot, felt something hit me, pulled my hand back and cradeled it with my other hand, stood up, and there was instantly a puddle of blood in my cradle hand. Nasty slice from a metal support for the console that was literally razor sharp. Unfortuanately I was home alone with LOML out of town. At least the cut wasn't on my dominant hand, but it was still awkward bandaging it one handed. In all the years I installed stereos for a living, never saw metal in a dash that sharp. The other incident was in a customer's Nissan. I was pulling out a stereo and there was a wire running across the dash. I asked him if it was fused, he said it was. I grabbed the wire in my left hand across the inside of the knuckles and it grounded out and lit up while I was holding it. Was able to let go and cut the wire, but it is the closest I've ever come to passing out from pain. Yeah, he had the wire fused alright, under the hot leg of the fuse, not the fused leg.:doh: I never even asked a customer about it after that, I just assumed it was hot and delt with it accordingly! Jim.
 
Close, but no cigar

The one where I had the worst potential for injury was on the table saw putting a bevel on a narrow strip. When I was reaching for the push stick for the last 10 inches or so, the blade caught and zipped the strip back at me catching me square in the hip. Few inches to one side and I might not be a daddy today. :eek: But, I'd have to say I'm pleased with my reaction as my first thought was to turn the saw off. I wasn't allowed to show off the bruise.

The actual worst event was without electricity. Don't remember the purpose of the operation but like Sandy, I had my left index finger in-line with my 3/4" freshly sharpened wood chisel. It slipped and cleanly went to the bone. Severed one of the nerves so I only have feeling in half of the finger tip. Fairly decent and constant reminder to think before doing something stupid.
 
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