Breaking rules

Rennie Heuer

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I stupidly broke two rules a week or so ago. One a basic rule of safety - stay out of the line of fire, and the other a woodworking rule, clamp, don't hold.

The first is dead simple, never place any body part in the line of fire of a tool. This can be putting hands or fingers in the plane of a blade, forcing a wrench so when the nut breaks you smash your knuckles, or cutting towards yourself with a knife. The second requires no explanation. Always clamp work to a bench instead of trying to hold it when doing anything, but especially when using cutting tools.

Case in point, this is what can happen when not keeping out of the line of fire while holding a workpiece that should be clamped down. The chisel darn near went to the bone on its way through my nail and side of my thumb. Some blood, some cussing. Pressure, then ice, then crazy glue. 30 Min later I was back at work calling myself lots of colorful names. It's healing, but its gonna leave a mark.

Watch closely the fool lest you learn not from his lessons.

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i'll be willing to bet you were thinking of something else, be sure to get it checked out anyway. nothing the pros hate worse, than amateur surgeons...

miyagi say, better to put chisel on wood, than thumb, cuts better that way.
 
Dang gone Rennie. Got a student that put his pointer finger between the push block and piece of firewood! Crushed the bone, split the meat like a grape. So it could be worse. I'll bet every time you reach for something you bump that thumb. Heal well and keep the blood off of the projects!
 
First off, glad that wasn’t worse.

Second off, isn’t this the sort of thing that usually follows right after the phrase “here, hold my beer”.?

Sorry, just trying to add a little levity. Seriously glad that wasn’t worse.
 
That looks like no fun at all. Glad it wasn't worse, but sorry it happened at all. Every once in awhile we need reminders about those two cardinal rules, huh? Sorry you were our example, but thanks for sharing with us.
 
Nothing to add to what has been said Rennie. I wish it heals soon. Question: You say crazy glue? Did you used cianoacrilate to seal the wound? or is it a special type of glue. I know they use it in surgery and in war to close soldier's wounds. Are there any special instructions to use it?
 
glad it wasn't worse.. rennie. my brother got himself with a badsaw yesterday cut to bone on first knuckle of index finger. we are all old enough to know but our brains slip up when we disengage the common sense gear.
 
Dang gone Rennie. Got a student that put his pointer finger between the push block and piece of firewood! Crushed the bone, split the meat like a grape. So it could be worse. I'll bet every time you reach for something you bump that thumb. Heal well and keep the blood off of the projects!
Aww, if there's no blood in the work, it's probably not mine....

Rennie, sorry for your injury, we do get distracted, careless or just over confident in the shop and usually pay for it.... glad it wasn't worse and you heal quickly.
But keep the incident in mind so it doesn't hapen again.... I learned a serious lesson when one of my bowls bounce off my face, cut my cheek and blacked an eye.... I now reach for a face shield before I reach for the on switch on the lathe.
 
Nothing to add to what has been said Rennie. I wish it heals soon. Question: You say crazy glue? Did you used cyanoacrylate to seal the wound? or is it a special type of glue. I know they use it in surgery and in war to close soldier's wounds. Are there any special instructions to use it?
You can go to just about any pharmacy here and buy cyanoacrylate glue for wounds. Most come in a little blue one use vial and are sold as second skin or some such. I had some thick cyanoacrylate I use in the shop. I just pinched everything together and gave it a liberal coating. (In spite of how it looks it went back together rather easily) I held everything still for a couple of minutes so the glue would cure and then put on a couple of Band-Aids with some antibacterial gel. I did this for a couple of days then stopped using the glue. Its looking better, but I'm sure I'll carry the visual reminder of this little adventure for the rest of my days.
 
Sorry for your injury Rennie, it will heal snd you will remember doing it. Many times when working with my chisels, I stop and ask myself why are my hands where they are an reposition accordingly for safety, these reminders do help.
 
glad you are ok
i did the same, few years ago..stuck a chisel in the heel of my hand
had to go to emergency room to get the bleeding stopped:eek:
another reason for a vise
 
It is an unintended habit of mine to leave a small DNA sample on all of my projects. :rofl:
Having well sharpened tools like chisels and gouges, make you find streaks of blood in your piece without even noticing and trying to find where that blood came from. Each time I carve, there is a point where I see blood on the piece and it takes me a while to find out where did I cut myself.
 
Having well sharpened tools like chisels and gouges, make you find streaks of blood in your piece without even noticing and trying to find where that blood came from. Each time I carve, there is a point where I see blood on the piece and it takes me a while to find out where did I cut myself.
You will find that this is a situation that repeats itself with increasing regularity as you get older. :rofl:
 
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