"Paul D" wrote in message
...
Actually you learn to adapt to loosing a part of you anatomy. :~) I
lost
part of my left thumb on the TS 17 years ago and I was not performing a
cutting operation at the time, other than my thumb.

OK curiosity got me, I just have to ask ..... how did you manage that?



I had just completed making narrow dado/grooves in some tool box sides and
had turned the saw off, walked a couple of steps to put the board in the
previously cut stack and came back to remove the rip fence. As I was
reaching over to grab the back of the fence I drug my thumb across the very
top of the slowly turning blade.
Since my cuts were not "through", a guard would not have been usable. I was
simply in a little bit too much of a hurry. I still recall the feeling of
each tooth hitting my thumb and violently shaking my hand. Had the blade
been running at full speed I suspect the cut would have been quite quick and
with less exaggerated shaking of my hand.

For several months I thought I had actually had a kick back but all my wood
was neatly stacked and there was no blood on the wood.

It was a freak accident that 20/20 hind sight can easily foresee but no one
is perfect.