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New Tools ? the Hard Way

Ironflight

VAF Moderator / Line Boy
Mentor
Everyone loves to acquire new precision tools ? you know, things like surgical scissors, forceps, tweezers?.

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Of course, you can go out and BUY them ? or you can do something stupid in the shop and you get to take home a set for free!! Well?.free after your insurance co-pay that is?.

But wait ? there?s more!! If you have stitches, you get TWO sets ? once when they stitch you up, and once when you go in to have them removed!! What a deal?.

But you know, you CAN just buy them ? less time and effort, less pain, less loss of blood. Fewer stitches (I got nine in the tip of my index finger) and if you get lucky, you go home with all of your body parts like I did. (Sorry Stein?.)

Good safety tip ? NEVER try cutting a short piece of aluminum angle on a table saw. Even with push sticks! How I ever thought it was a good idea?well, the problem was I DIDN?T think - just mindlessly working along and setting the fence to rip down some long pieces, and figured I?d check the dimensions with a scrap first. No need to tell me now that it was stupid ? I figured that out when the piece kicked back at me doing about .87 Mach, stabbed my index finger, nicked the knuckle on my middle finger, and then cut a slice in my vest before heading across the hangar for places unknown.

So?.lesson learned ? there is ALWAYS more to learn, no matter how many years you?ve been using power tools. In talking with others since this happened, everyone has a story about their encounter with a table saw. To bad that we all seem to have to learn the hard way.

All will heal up for me ? the only long term implication is I?ll have to retrain my iPhone with a new fingerprint. That and having a renewed sense of caution around the table saw. And I hope that never leaves me (again).

Paul
 
Ouch!!

Been there, done that and have the scars to prove it. The only difference is I tried to stop the table saw blade with my thumb. The blade won!
 
I feel your pain...

I was in 9th grade shop class and cutting a piece of wood on the table saw without a guide or fence. The wood bound and my hand slid into blade, cutting my left index finger almost off, the middle finger halfway through, and nicking the rest.

A piece of the wood flew over my shoulder and hit a kid behind me in the side.

Fortunately at the time my mother worked for one of the top surgeons in South Florida and he put stuff back together pretty good.

That was 1967 and I haven't been near a table saw since!!!! :eek:
 
Table saw safety

Norm says it best...."Be sure to read, understand AND FOLLOW all of the safety rules that come with your power equipment."

My own awakening came second-hand in 9th grade shop class. One of my classmates was working on a wood lathe, and forgot to fully tuck up his shirt sleeves. The spinning mandrel caught the loose sleeve end, and just about pulled him all the way through the lathe. To this day, I have a problem wearing long sleeve shirts.

Sorry you had a "senior moment" and got bit, Iron. Tough lesson to (re)learn.
 
Even a bandsaw

Supposedly one of the safest saws in a shop, even a bandsaw will bite if you're not wide awake.

I pushed my finger into mine, almost to the bone a coupla years ago.

Best,
 
stealing the thread a bit but all of us are build it/ mechanical geeks so you might enjoy........there is a u tube of a guy that invented an INSTANT brake to a table saw. completing the circuit from your finger to the blade stops it instantly. about $80 damage to the brake but not a scratch to his finger. he demos it by pushing his finger into the spinning blade. amazing.
wouldn't have helped your kickback though, paul. hope your finger heals with no permanent deficits. i have a numb finger tip from running a brad tip bit deep into it.
 
Missed!

Glad it was not worse. People have lost fingers to those saws. Hope you recover completely
 
YOUCH!
Glad you still have all your digits. Better to have one placarded INOP for awhile than lose it.

Depending if it was the pad that was damaged, typing becomes a tricky task more than anything.
 
I still...

have the scar on my stomach from a kickback when I was in cabinetmaking class on '02.:(
Still have all my fingers. My rule when I had the shop in Kentucky:
Never, never work more than 2 hours without a break or when getting tired. So far so good. See you in Lakeland Paul.
 
Sorry to hear that Paul. Nice set of tools though ;)
Sadly, my tag line from Ron White continues to prove itself.....
Get better soon. Doesn't sound like it will slow you down much.

Jon
 
stealing the thread a bit but all of us are build it/ mechanical geeks so you might enjoy........there is a u tube of a guy that invented an INSTANT brake to a table saw. completing the circuit from your finger to the blade stops it instantly. about $80 damage to the brake but not a scratch to his finger. he demos it by pushing his finger into the spinning blade. amazing.
wouldn't have helped your kickback though, paul. hope your finger heals with no permanent deficits. i have a numb finger tip from running a brad tip bit deep into it.

It's actually a commercial product line of table saws Called SawStop. They are a bit pricey, but are well-regarded in the woodworking community. The problem is that the safety feature works by detecting conductivity and cutting aluminum would require defeating it.

The kickback accident is the most common and the most dangerous of table saw accidents. I would advise any builders who are not completely familiar with how a kickback happens to become so before using a table saw. There's quite a bit of good information out there. For a good selection of articles on the subject go on over to lumberjocks.com and search on "kickback".

My most recent bit (pun intended) of power-tool idiocy cost me my left thumbnail (it has since grown back). I was using a forstner bit in my Milwaukee drill and holding the workpiece down with my left hand. The bit caught, jumped out of the hole and did a perfect one-point landing on my thumbnail, shredding it and breaking the bone underneath.
 
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Stiches

Wow Paul. Glad you're ok. Especially with that shard flying. Thanks for the reminder. I too have my share of woops moments and poor Sweetie has taken me to ER a few times for stiches and bone sets. I think the Novacaine shot is the worst. Be well.
 
Glad it was not worse Paul.

My index finger needed seven stitches from RC balsa construction, only using an exacto knife.
Didn't know I could take the tools home.

Heal well!
 
Paul,
Good reminder for all of us. Glad the story had a happy ending. It is unfortunate, but I too have learned many a lesson and felt closer to the almighty by surviving several "cranial anal inversions"
 
It's not just a saw that do the deed. My dad took off two of his fingers with a drill. A piece of wire got wrapped up in the bit and pinched of the two fingers.
Be careful out there.

Allen Blackwell
Tylertown, MS
Very Slow Build RV-7A
 
I might as well jump in here too. Don't ever try to push a small flat piece of wood across a jointer while holding it down on the table with the fingers of your left hand. Guess where your fingers go when the jointer knocks the piece of wood across the shop. To make it worse, the shop teacher (10th grade, back when I knew everything) turned to see what the bang was, while I jumped away from the jointer, so he wouldn't know it was me. I was found out when he followed the blood trail to where I was standing, having no idea of the extent of the injury, because it just felt like a little buzz. To make it worse, they sent me to my father's office across town, who was a physician, to let him sew them up. So, I got the riot act twice. Fortunately, all I lost in the long run was three fingerprints. But, I didn't get to keep any of the instruments, they had an autoclave in the office that sterilized them between uses.
 
Wow Paul. Now I'm going to lay awake at nite thinking about the pnematic cut off wheel I use everyday at work. Nitemares!!!!
get well soon!!
 
Nothing worse than that instant when you know somethign really bad just happened to you and you are too scared to look.

Get well!
 
Heal fast, Paul!
Every time I have one of those "events", just milliseconds before the worst happens my brain is going," Hmmmm. This may not be the smartest move in the world. You better be caref......." Then I kick my own butt during the entire repair/recovery process. :mad:
 
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