Yesterday, my uncle lost most of the first joint of left ring finger
in a jointer. Last year I almost lost my left ring finger while
adjusting lower guides on a band saw that was running with lower cover
open.

For those that track these kind of things, which fingers seem to get
bit most often? I'm thinking that thumb, fore finger, and index
finger don't get hit as often as ring finger since we tend to work
with those three vs all five.

I think we fixate on the key three and loose track of the other two
per hand.

The whole point of this message is to remind people to think about all
your fingers and not just the ones that are guiding your stock.

Wes


--
Reply to:
Whiskey Echo Sierra Sierra AT Gee Tee EYE EYE dot COM
Lycos address is a spam trap.

clutch did say:
For those that track these kind of things, which fingers seem to get
bit most often? I'm thinking that thumb, fore finger, and index
finger don't get hit as often as ring finger since we tend to work
with those three vs all five.

My only casualty is a thumb. Don't know what the stats are overall though.

WoodMangler notes:


clutch did say:
For those that track these kind of things, which fingers seem to get
bit most often? I'm thinking that thumb, fore finger, and index
finger don't get hit as often as ring finger since we tend to work
with those three vs all five.

My only casualty is a thumb. Don't know what the stats are overall though

Well, as clutch found out, adjusting blade guides on a running bandsaw is not
conducive to maintaining one's full finger count for a lifetime.

I'm not sure how you would factor that into any stats.

Charlie Self
"The modern conservative is engaged in one of man's oldest exercises in moral
philosophy; that is, the search for a superior moral justification for
selfishness." John Kenneth Galbraith

High School chum using hid fathers TS has a sliver fall through the
table and rest one end ON the blade under the table. Lost four
fingers from first knuckle beyond palm attempting to flick them away
from the blade. Mid 1940s when reattach was a dream. Couple of years
earlier a lad lost similar finger when his older brother slammed the
car door on his hand not realizing he was trying to get out of the car
also.

Last year my middle finger, left hand was trimmed by about the same amount
as your uncle's ring finger and in the very say way. Boy, am I stupid!

Don

wrote in message
...
Yesterday, my uncle lost most of the first joint of left ring finger
in a jointer. Last year I almost lost my left ring finger while
adjusting lower guides on a band saw that was running with lower cover
open.

For those that track these kind of things, which fingers seem to get
bit most often? I'm thinking that thumb, fore finger, and index
finger don't get hit as often as ring finger since we tend to work
with those three vs all five.

I think we fixate on the key three and loose track of the other two
per hand.

The whole point of this message is to remind people to think about all
your fingers and not just the ones that are guiding your stock.

Wes


--
Reply to:
Whiskey Echo Sierra Sierra AT Gee Tee EYE EYE dot COM
Lycos address is a spam trap.

I never wear my wedding ring in the shop. When I was a boy, I met several men
who were missing their left ring finger. They had worn their wedding ring to
work in the mines. Left a lasting impression on me!

Grant



"Donald Drew, Jr" wrote:

Last year my middle finger, left hand was trimmed by about the same amount
as your uncle's ring finger and in the very say way. Boy, am I stupid!

Don

wrote in message
...
Yesterday, my uncle lost most of the first joint of left ring finger
in a jointer. Last year I almost lost my left ring finger while
adjusting lower guides on a band saw that was running with lower cover
open.

For those that track these kind of things, which fingers seem to get
bit most often? I'm thinking that thumb, fore finger, and index
finger don't get hit as often as ring finger since we tend to work
with those three vs all five.

I think we fixate on the key three and loose track of the other two
per hand.

The whole point of this message is to remind people to think about all
your fingers and not just the ones that are guiding your stock.

Wes


--
Reply to:
Whiskey Echo Sierra Sierra AT Gee Tee EYE EYE dot COM
Lycos address is a spam trap.

I did right ring finger knuckle. Almost lengthwise cut on the bandsaw.

When the doc, a woodworker himself, asked me how, I had to admit that I had
turned off the saw, then went to brush dust away. Stupid for a moment,
maimed for life.

wrote in message
...
Yesterday, my uncle lost most of the first joint of left ring finger
in a jointer. Last year I almost lost my left ring finger while
adjusting lower guides on a band saw that was running with lower cover
open.

For those that track these kind of things, which fingers seem to get
bit most often?

In article , wrote:
Yesterday, my uncle lost most of the first joint of left ring finger
in a jointer. Last year I almost lost my left ring finger while
adjusting lower guides on a band saw that was running with lower cover
open.
[snip]
The whole point of this message is to remind people to think about all
your fingers and not just the ones that are guiding your stock.

Seems to me that a better point would be to remind people not to adjust
machinery while it's running. Hope you've recovered from your injury.

--
Regards,
Doug Miller (alphageek-at-milmac-dot-com)

Get a copy of my NEW AND IMPROVED TrollFilter for NewsProxy/Nfilter
by sending email to autoresponder at filterinfo-at-milmac-dot-com
You must use your REAL email address to get a response.

On Sat, 09 Oct 2004 07:13:04 -0400, wrote:

Yesterday, my uncle lost most of the first joint of left ring finger
in a jointer. Last year I almost lost my left ring finger while
adjusting lower guides on a band saw that was running with lower cover
open.

For those that track these kind of things, which fingers seem to get
bit most often? I'm thinking that thumb, fore finger, and index
finger don't get hit as often as ring finger since we tend to work
with those three vs all five.

I think we fixate on the key three and loose track of the other two
per hand.

The whole point of this message is to remind people to think about all
your fingers and not just the ones that are guiding your stock.

Wes

I think about my whole friggin' arm.. I've grown sort of attached to
it and want to keep it intact...
I've mangled a lot of different push sticks, but never any body
parts..

Every time I go into my shop I take a second to consider that most of the
machines in that room are trying to kill me. Even though I'm just an
amateur, I've tried to condition myself to the basic rules such as turning
off and disarming equipment and letting it come to a stop before reaching
near the moving parts. (Those little pull-out arming pins are a pain the
neck and easily lost, but I very nearly turned on my band saw accidentally
with my knuckles pressed up against the band.)

When I was eight or so I watched my dad sacrifice his finger and thumb tips
in a fine red mist to a very sturdy jointer while building our house. (And
he was using a pusher stick just as he'd been taught.) Maybe everyone needs
to be indoctrinated into the reality of power tools at such an early age.
But whenever I'm tempted to be cavalier, I try to think of how stupid I'm
going to look sitting in the emergency room with a bloody towel around my
hand.

Remember, it's not paranoia if they really are out to get you.

--Jay

On Mon, 11 Oct 2004 14:13:48 -0600, "Jay Windley"
wrote:

Remember, it's not paranoia if they really are out to get you.

As an experiemnt, I once placed a couple of sausages into an old
welding glove and went at it with the plasma cutter. Given that one
day I'm inevitably going to try and plasma-cut my hand, it was quite a
relief to find that leather and sausage is considerably more
plasma-resistant than steel.

When I get the time machine working, I plan to cause havoc in the
Boudiccan era

"Jay Windley" wrote in message ...
turning
off and disarming equipment and letting it come to a stop before reaching
near the moving parts.

Patience. You can spend 10 minutes cutting on the bandsaw or table saw but
it seems so long waiting the 15 seconds or so for the blade to stop before
moving away the scrap. Very tempting to just reach in and grab.

Edwin Pawlowski wrote:
"Jay Windley" wrote in message ...
turning
off and disarming equipment and letting it come to a stop before
reaching near the moving parts.

Patience. You can spend 10 minutes cutting on the bandsaw or table
saw but it seems so long waiting the 15 seconds or so for the blade
to stop before moving away the scrap. Very tempting to just reach
in and grab.

Isn't that why you should have a push stick in each hand? I started out
making neat push sticks maybe 18" long by about 3/4 and cutting a neat "v"
or 45 degree angle in the pointed in and then round up the handle end to
just fit comfortably in my hand. I'd take off a chunk here and chunk there
and they'd get shorter and shorter 'til I'd throw them away. Now I make
then a lot less often (fewer "Oops") and with a lot less fuss. The "shoe"
type I haven't damaged at all so far.

Josie

On Mon, 11 Oct 2004 23:08:43 -0400, "firstjois"
wrote:

Edwin Pawlowski wrote:
"Jay Windley" wrote in message ...
turning
off and disarming equipment and letting it come to a stop before
reaching near the moving parts.

Patience. You can spend 10 minutes cutting on the bandsaw or table
saw but it seems so long waiting the 15 seconds or so for the blade
to stop before moving away the scrap. Very tempting to just reach
in and grab.

Isn't that why you should have a push stick in each hand? I started out
making neat push sticks maybe 18" long by about 3/4 and cutting a neat "v"
or 45 degree angle in the pointed in and then round up the handle end to
just fit comfortably in my hand. I'd take off a chunk here and chunk there
and they'd get shorter and shorter 'til I'd throw them away. Now I make
then a lot less often (fewer "Oops") and with a lot less fuss. The "shoe"
type I haven't damaged at all so far.

Josie

I was showing a friend that's getting into woodworking my old
shopsmith push stick.. one of those red plastic ones with the notch in
the end...
it got retired years ago with too many notches and dings in it and
better designs available, but it sure is a good teaching tool.. *g*
I told him that every ding in it was one that wasn't on my HANDS, and
to keep that in mind no matter how "safe" a tool seems at the time..

Seem to rrecall several months ago a post describing how the plastic
push stick. The one a neighbor gave me went and was replaced by the
first of many push sticks now in use, all wood.

On Tue, 12 Oct 2004 15:26:21 GMT, mac davis
wrote:

On Mon, 11 Oct 2004 23:08:43 -0400, "firstjois"
wrote:

Edwin Pawlowski wrote:
"Jay Windley" wrote in message ...
turning
off and disarming equipment and letting it come to a stop before
reaching near the moving parts.

Patience. You can spend 10 minutes cutting on the bandsaw or table
saw but it seems so long waiting the 15 seconds or so for the blade
to stop before moving away the scrap. Very tempting to just reach
in and grab.

Isn't that why you should have a push stick in each hand? I started out
making neat push sticks maybe 18" long by about 3/4 and cutting a neat "v"
or 45 degree angle in the pointed in and then round up the handle end to
just fit comfortably in my hand. I'd take off a chunk here and chunk there
and they'd get shorter and shorter 'til I'd throw them away. Now I make
then a lot less often (fewer "Oops") and with a lot less fuss. The "shoe"
type I haven't damaged at all so far.

Josie

I was showing a friend that's getting into woodworking my old
shopsmith push stick.. one of those red plastic ones with the notch in
the end...
it got retired years ago with too many notches and dings in it and
better designs available, but it sure is a good teaching tool.. *g*
I told him that every ding in it was one that wasn't on my HANDS, and
to keep that in mind no matter how "safe" a tool seems at the time..

I spend the days working in a machine shop so, to me, the reflexive way of
clearing a chip or offcut is the airgun. Mine is always in easy reach
(though I do miss the 30 horse compressor when working at home).

"Edwin Pawlowski" wrote in message news:UjHad.14489

Patience. You can spend 10 minutes cutting on the bandsaw or table saw but
it seems so long waiting the 15 seconds or so for the blade to stop before
moving away the scrap. Very tempting to just reach in and grab.

On Mon, 11 Oct 2004 20:59:07 -0700, "CW" no adddress@spam free.com
wrote:

I spend the days working in a machine shop so, to me, the reflexive way of
clearing a chip or offcut is the airgun. Mine is always in easy reach
(though I do miss the 30 horse compressor when working at home).

I do a little metalworking in my woodshop. I don't dare use the airgun
to move swarf- the last thing I want is airborne cutting oil around
all of that wood. I do sometimes use it to clear stuff away from
spinning cutters on woodworking machines though.






"Edwin Pawlowski" wrote in message news:UjHad.14489

Patience. You can spend 10 minutes cutting on the bandsaw or table saw but
it seems so long waiting the 15 seconds or so for the blade to stop before
moving away the scrap. Very tempting to just reach in and grab.

"Jay Windley" wrote in message
...
Even though I'm just an amateur, I've tried to condition myself to the
basic rules such as turning off and disarming equipment and letting it
come to a stop before reaching
near the moving parts. ....

Sounds like as an amature, you have developed the right kind of respect.
Don't let the fear fade too much as it did with me a few years ago. I was
cutting some small pieces for spacers on my table saw. I turned the saw off
and as I was walking away, realized I had left some of them on the table. I
absent-mindedly reached over to retrieve them and heard "tink-tink-tink" as
the blade was being stopped by my right index finger. I was very, very
lucky. In spite of the bloody towel and not having enought good meat to
stitch, it was fairly superficial and healed in a month or two.

I try to think of how stupid I'm going to look sitting in the emergency
room with a bloody towel around my hand.

Oh, it is better than that. As we sat in the emergency room my wife
commented "Didn't you tell me a couple of weeks ago how well you were doing?
30 years of power tools and no significant injuries!" (Grrrrr!)

Also, it was neat when I walked into work Monday with the big wad gauze and
metal brace. So far it has taken 3 years to live it down.

RonB wrote:
"Jay Windley" wrote in message
...

Even though I'm just an amateur, I've tried to condition myself to the
basic rules such as turning off and disarming equipment and letting it
come to a stop before reaching
near the moving parts. ....


Sounds like as an amature, you have developed the right kind of respect.
Don't let the fear fade too much as it did with me a few years ago. I was
cutting some small pieces for spacers on my table saw. I turned the saw off
and as I was walking away, realized I had left some of them on the table. I
absent-mindedly reached over to retrieve them and heard "tink-tink-tink" as
the blade was being stopped by my right index finger. I was very, very
lucky. In spite of the bloody towel and not having enought good meat to
stitch, it was fairly superficial and healed in a month or two.


I try to think of how stupid I'm going to look sitting in the emergency
room with a bloody towel around my hand.


Oh, it is better than that. As we sat in the emergency room my wife
commented "Didn't you tell me a couple of weeks ago how well you were doing?
30 years of power tools and no significant injuries!" (Grrrrr!)

Also, it was neat when I walked into work Monday with the big wad gauze and
metal brace. So far it has taken 3 years to live it down.



I've never hurt myself (yet) but the closest calls seem to come from
impatience waiting for the saw to stop. Those 15 seconds waiting for
the blade to stop sure are long.

I'm working on a mod to my saw right now to add resistive braking. I
figure I need about 10 ohms, but I'm not sure how much power rating it
will need. Perhaps a heater coil would be best.

Anyway, the resistor across the motor windings should slow it down much
faster than just letting inertia do the job and hopefully reduce the
risk of being impatient.

I'll keep you posted.
Rob

"Rob Mitchell" wrote in message

I'm working on a mod to my saw right now to add resistive braking. I
figure I need about 10 ohms, but I'm not sure how much power rating it
will need. Perhaps a heater coil would be best.

Are you going to use hot dogs to test it? If it works you can market it
with a catchy name. One comes to mind, how about "Stop Saw"?

Edwin Pawlowski wrote:
"Rob Mitchell" wrote in message


I'm working on a mod to my saw right now to add resistive braking. I
figure I need about 10 ohms, but I'm not sure how much power rating it
will need. Perhaps a heater coil would be best.


Are you going to use hot dogs to test it? If it works you can market it
with a catchy name. One comes to mind, how about "Stop Saw"?


Edwin

I Googled 'stop saw' and found what you are referring to. Not quite
the same thing. That person I believe has released an entire table saw
with his safety technology. If it works, I have to hand it to him. I
suspect he is using capacitance much like those lamps that you can turn
on just by touching them.

No, what I'm attempting is much simpler. It doesn't sense a finger in
the blade, just stop the blade faster when you hit the stop switch or
take your foot off the footswitch. This type of circuit is common in
industrial motor control. (Anyone else here using one? Everyone?)
From my own work habits I think the greatest risk of injury (for me) is
impatience waiting for the blade to stop before clearing junk from the
blade, or retrieving the cut piece.

I doubt there is enough energy in a 3hp motor to cook a hotdog.
(Perhaps you could test that out for me

Rob

"Jay Windley" wrote in message ...
Every time I go into my shop I take a second to consider that most of the
machines in that room are trying to kill me. Even though I'm just an
amateur, I've tried to condition myself to the basic rules such as turning
off and disarming equipment and letting it come to a stop before reaching
near the moving parts. (Those little pull-out arming pins are a pain the
neck and easily lost, but I very nearly turned on my band saw accidentally
with my knuckles pressed up against the band.)

When I was eight or so I watched my dad sacrifice his finger and thumb tips
in a fine red mist to a very sturdy jointer while building our house. (And
he was using a pusher stick just as he'd been taught.) Maybe everyone needs
to be indoctrinated into the reality of power tools at such an early age.
But whenever I'm tempted to be cavalier, I try to think of how stupid I'm
going to look sitting in the emergency room with a bloody towel around my
hand.

Remember, it's not paranoia if they really are out to get you.

--Jay
Hi Jay. This tools 're design 75-100 years ago. And yes. they will get
you at first chance. But is never to late for you to learn of another
way.
The Dead Wood Concept by Eurekazone. Where the wood stays put and your
hands never go close to any moving blade.
Hi Guys. My name is Dino (the carpenter) and my mission is to make
woodworking Fun-safe-Smart-Easy and affordable to anyone.
Because woodworking is a good thing. Please visit our website
www.eurekazone.com and I will be happy to answer any questions,
I saw some hits in our site from this forum and I stop over to say Hi.
Hi Guys.
Your carpenter friend.
YCF Dino

Dino the Carpenter wrote:

"Jay Windley" wrote in message
...
Every time I go into my shop I take a second to consider that most of the
machines in that room are trying to kill me. Even though I'm just an
amateur, I've tried to condition myself to the basic rules such as
turning off and disarming equipment and letting it come to a stop before
reaching
near the moving parts. (Those little pull-out arming pins are a pain the
neck and easily lost, but I very nearly turned on my band saw
accidentally with my knuckles pressed up against the band.)

When I was eight or so I watched my dad sacrifice his finger and thumb
tips
in a fine red mist to a very sturdy jointer while building our house.
(And
he was using a pusher stick just as he'd been taught.) Maybe everyone
needs to be indoctrinated into the reality of power tools at such an
early age. But whenever I'm tempted to be cavalier, I try to think of how
stupid I'm going to look sitting in the emergency room with a bloody
towel around my hand.

Remember, it's not paranoia if they really are out to get you.

--Jay
Hi Jay. This tools 're design 75-100 years ago. And yes. they will get
you at first chance. But is never to late for you to learn of another
way.
The Dead Wood Concept by Eurekazone. Where the wood stays put and your
hands never go close to any moving blade.
Hi Guys. My name is Dino (the carpenter) and my mission is to make
woodworking Fun-safe-Smart-Easy and affordable to anyone.
Because woodworking is a good thing. Please visit our website
www.eurekazone.com and I will be happy to answer any questions,
I saw some hits in our site from this forum and I stop over to say Hi.

I hate to tell you this but with a radial arm saw the wood stays put and
your hands never need to go close to any moving blade but people cut
themselves with those regularly. Also with miter saws, which work on the
same deal. Also with circular saws, same deal.

Safety doesn't come from gadgets, it comes from safe work habits. The
gadgets are the second line for when you momentarily forget the first.
Hi Guys.
Your carpenter friend.
YCF Dino

--
--John
Reply to jclarke at ae tee tee global dot net
(was jclarke at eye bee em dot net)

I try to think of how stupid I'm going to look sitting in the emergency
room with a bloody towel around my hand.

Remember, it's not paranoia if they really are out to get you.


There ain't much wrong with a bit of paranoia in the wood shop. You won't
just look stupid with the bloody towel. You feel stupid and besides that,
DAMN IT HURTS!

Experience talking here. After 25 years of woodworking I had the incredibly
stupid gall to say to my wife "....done pretty well because after 25 years I
haven't been injured" The real message was I had reached a level of
complacency. I still went through some of the motions associated with a
safe shop but the mind wasn't fully engaged.

My mind got itself engaged one week later.

wrote in message ...
Yesterday, my uncle lost most of the first joint of left ring finger
in a jointer. Last year I almost lost my left ring finger while
adjusting lower guides on a band saw that was running with lower cover
open.

For those that track these kind of things, which fingers seem to get
bit most often? I'm thinking that thumb, fore finger, and index
finger don't get hit as often as ring finger since we tend to work
with those three vs all five.

I think we fixate on the key three and loose track of the other two
per hand.

The whole point of this message is to remind people to think about all
your fingers and not just the ones that are guiding your stock.

Wes
Same exact injury to me, first (dip) joint, ring finger, left hand.
Only on a dado blade in a table saw. Went to hold down a test piece.
Beyond stupid.

-jtpr

On Sat, 09 Oct 2004 07:13:04 -0400, wrote:

Yesterday, my uncle lost most of the first joint of left ring finger
in a jointer. Last year I almost lost my left ring finger while
adjusting lower guides on a band saw that was running with lower cover
open.

For those that track these kind of things, which fingers seem to get
bit most often? I'm thinking that thumb, fore finger, and index
finger don't get hit as often as ring finger since we tend to work
with those three vs all five.

I think we fixate on the key three and loose track of the other two
per hand.

The whole point of this message is to remind people to think about all
your fingers and not just the ones that are guiding your stock.

Wes


I've gotten bit on the index and pinkie, and only with chisels when
not clamping my workpiece. RIng finger has only been nicked by the
belt sander.

Last year I cut the tip of my left index finger off on the TS. I was
cutting some thin strips from a 2x4 on a friends crappy contractor
saw. Dull blade, underpowered saw, and light saw frame, so I was
holding down the saw with my left foot while feeding with both hands.
I was down to the last strip from a 2x4 and was pushing with my right
hand using a pushstick. Since the wood was so hard to feed into the
crap blade, my left hand ended up doing some pushing instead of just
guiding the wood against the fence. The saw also had a gaping wide
throat plate, and the sliver of an offcut ended up getting sucked into
the throatplate, which sucked the workpiece into the blade really
fast. I tried to pull my left hand back, but it was too late and I
watched it go in. Felt like someone hit my fingers with a big stick or
something, and I pulled my hand back and saw hanging parts of meat
from my fingers with a bunch of blood. At that point I didn't feel I
could look at it any more and just said "Oh ****. I think you'd better
drive me to the hospital." So I ended up in the emergency room with a
bloody rag wrapped around my hand. Kind of the "walk of shame" for a
woodworker, eh? I was blacking out by thinking about my fingers
getting cut off, since at that point I wasn't really sure what the
extent of the damage was.

Luckily the hunk that got cut off was hanging off by a little piece of
skin, so we didn't have to go looking for it in the saw. The blade
chewed off the end of the bone, but they were able to kind of file it
off and cover it up with the chunk of flesh. I had a good orthopedic
surgeon, and the repair seems to have taken, and even regrown some
nerves in the chunk that was cut off. The nail sort of grew out from
the piece of cuticle that was left and out over the repaired piece. So
now its a little shorter, is shaped funny, has a wierd nail, and
doesn't have good feeling in it. But my surgeon said thats about as
good as you can hope for when you put your hand in the table saw. He
also said that the most popular injury for him was fingers in the
table saw and toes in the lawnmower. So I feel relatively lucky.

Well, thats probably more detail than you wanted to hear. Kind of
gross, really!

Now I'm scared to cut my fingers off every single time I use the table
saw, and have started imagining how I could be hurt by nearly every
other tool I use too. I guess that is for the better, and it could
have been a more costly lesson.

Lessons learned:

- use a zero clearance throat plate

- use a sharp blade

- use good tools

- don't get into a situation where if something goes wrong your hands
will end up in the cutter. I of course knew this, and actually right
before the incident happened I was starting to get little alarm bells
in my head that this might not be the best situation.

So even before my finger was out from under dressings, I went out and
bought a 1973 Powermatic 66 and have been restoring it for the last
year. Now its up and running with a WWII and a zero clearance insert,
good fence, etc. It cuts well and I don't need to jam wood through it,
and isn't tipping over when I feed boards. Much harder for things to
be sucked into the throat plate now as well.

After reading about TS injuries though, I am probably even more scared
about kickback, so I now have a little screw in splitter in my throat
plate too. Probably will get a blade guard at some point but I haven't
decided which option will be the least annoying.

-Holly

Prometheus wrote in message . ..
On Sat, 09 Oct 2004 07:13:04 -0400, wrote:

Yesterday, my uncle lost most of the first joint of left ring finger
in a jointer. Last year I almost lost my left ring finger while
adjusting lower guides on a band saw that was running with lower cover
open.

For those that track these kind of things, which fingers seem to get
bit most often? I'm thinking that thumb, fore finger, and index
finger don't get hit as often as ring finger since we tend to work
with those three vs all five.

I think we fixate on the key three and loose track of the other two
per hand.

The whole point of this message is to remind people to think about all
your fingers and not just the ones that are guiding your stock.

Wes

"Holly Gates" wrote in message
om...
: Last year I cut the tip of my left index finger off on the TS. I was
: cutting some thin strips from a 2x4 on a friends crappy contractor
: saw. Dull blade, underpowered saw, and light saw frame, so I was
: holding down the saw with my left foot while feeding with both hands.
: I was down to the last strip from a 2x4 and was pushing with my right
: hand using a pushstick. Since the wood was so hard to feed into the
: crap blade, my left hand ended up doing some pushing instead of just
: guiding the wood against the fence. The saw also had a gaping wide
: throat plate, and the sliver of an offcut ended up getting sucked into
: the throatplate, which sucked the workpiece into the blade really
: fast. I tried to pull my left hand back, but it was too late and I
: watched it go in. Felt like someone hit my fingers with a big stick or
: something, and I pulled my hand back and saw hanging parts of meat
: from my fingers with a bunch of blood. At that point I didn't feel I
: could look at it any more and just said "Oh ****. I think you'd better
: drive me to the hospital." So I ended up in the emergency room with a
: bloody rag wrapped around my hand. Kind of the "walk of shame" for a
: woodworker, eh? I was blacking out by thinking about my fingers
: getting cut off, since at that point I wasn't really sure what the
: extent of the damage was.
:
: Luckily the hunk that got cut off was hanging off by a little piece of
: skin, so we didn't have to go looking for it in the saw. The blade
: chewed off the end of the bone, but they were able to kind of file it
: off and cover it up with the chunk of flesh. I had a good orthopedic
: surgeon, and the repair seems to have taken, and even regrown some
: nerves in the chunk that was cut off. The nail sort of grew out from
: the piece of cuticle that was left and out over the repaired piece. So
: now its a little shorter, is shaped funny, has a wierd nail, and
: doesn't have good feeling in it. But my surgeon said thats about as
: good as you can hope for when you put your hand in the table saw. He
: also said that the most popular injury for him was fingers in the
: table saw and toes in the lawnmower. So I feel relatively lucky.
:
: Well, thats probably more detail than you wanted to hear. Kind of
: gross, really!
:
: Now I'm scared to cut my fingers off every single time I use the table
: saw, and have started imagining how I could be hurt by nearly every
: other tool I use too. I guess that is for the better, and it could
: have been a more costly lesson.
:
: Lessons learned:
:
: - use a zero clearance throat plate
:
: - use a sharp blade
:
: - use good tools
:
: - don't get into a situation where if something goes wrong your hands
: will end up in the cutter. I of course knew this, and actually right
: before the incident happened I was starting to get little alarm bells
: in my head that this might not be the best situation.
:
: So even before my finger was out from under dressings, I went out and
: bought a 1973 Powermatic 66 and have been restoring it for the last
: year. Now its up and running with a WWII and a zero clearance insert,
: good fence, etc. It cuts well and I don't need to jam wood through it,
: and isn't tipping over when I feed boards. Much harder for things to
: be sucked into the throat plate now as well.
:
: After reading about TS injuries though, I am probably even more scared
: about kickback, so I now have a little screw in splitter in my throat
: plate too. Probably will get a blade guard at some point but I haven't
: decided which option will be the least annoying.
:
: -Holly
:
Yikes, made my heart beat faster just reading about your injury. The
blade guard on my Delta is pretty standard and I've gotten used to it very
quickly, I was surprised. I now think thrice before removing it, working
out the steps I need to take exactly. And I put it back asap. Doesn't
look expensive - are they sold in catalogues? Glad you are back
woodworking!

Josie

In article , (Holly Gates) wrote:
[snip gross but instructive story]

- don't get into a situation where if something goes wrong your hands
will end up in the cutter. I of course knew this, and actually right
before the incident happened I was starting to get little alarm bells
in my head that this might not be the best situation.

This is probably the most important of the lessons to take out of that
experience: *listen* to that voice inside your head that says "this is not a
good idea".

--
Regards,
Doug Miller (alphageek-at-milmac-dot-com)

Get a copy of my NEW AND IMPROVED TrollFilter for NewsProxy/Nfilter
by sending email to autoresponder at filterinfo-at-milmac-dot-com
You must use your REAL email address to get a response.

Doug Miller wrote:

This is probably the most important of the lessons to take out of that
experience: *listen* to that voice inside your head that says "this is not
a good idea".

Amen to that. That little voice is smart.

--
Michael McIntyre ---- Silvan
Linux fanatic, and certified Geek; registered Linux user #243621
http://www.geocities.com/Paris/Rue/5407/
http://rosegarden.sourceforge.net/tutorial/

It's your mother....

"Silvan" wrote in message
...
Doug Miller wrote:

This is probably the most important of the lessons to take out of that
experience: *listen* to that voice inside your head that says "this is
not
a good idea".

Amen to that. That little voice is smart.

--
Michael McIntyre ---- Silvan
Linux fanatic, and certified Geek; registered Linux user #243621
http://www.geocities.com/Paris/Rue/5407/
http://rosegarden.sourceforge.net/tutorial/

In article , Silvan wrote:
Doug Miller wrote:

This is probably the most important of the lessons to take out of that
experience: *listen* to that voice inside your head that says "this is not
a good idea".

Amen to that. That little voice is smart.

It's all the *other* voices in my head that I have to watch out for...

--
Regards,
Doug Miller (alphageek-at-milmac-dot-com)

Get a copy of my NEW AND IMPROVED TrollFilter for NewsProxy/Nfilter
by sending email to autoresponder at filterinfo-at-milmac-dot-com
You must use your REAL email address to get a response.

Doug Miller did say:

This is probably the most important of the lessons to take out of that
experience: *listen* to that voice inside your head that says "this is not a
good idea".

With all the voices competing for attention in there, how do I know which
one ISN'T trying to kill me?

--
New project = new tool. Hard and fast rule.