Hurt woodworking

[Ed62]

I was just wondering how many of us have been hurt substantially while woodworking. I'm not talking about scratches or close calls. I'm talking about losing part of a finger or something like that. Since almost all accidents are caused by the operator, what did you learn from getting hurt? I've been very fortunate, with nothing to report.

Ed

[crokett]

I've also been fortunate with nothing to report. The worst woodworking-related injury I have to date was from a coping saw. I was installing the quarter-round to trim out a laminate floor. After being very careful when using my mitre saw I was making the very last cope cut on the very last piece and the blade jumped. Cut into my pinkie right at the base of the nail and I lost the nail eventually.

[Hellrazor]

I've drawn blood but nothing major. The worst thing I did was not notice the plastic guard fell off my jigsaw and I managed to pinch my thumb on the blades upstoke. Needless to say that didn't feel real great and the edge of my nail cut really nicely into my thumb. Worst part... it was the last cut of the day on a part I didn't quite cut right.

[Richard in Smithville]

Like the rest, nothing major. I did however have a serious minor a few years ago. I was building a Stickly stye quilt rack for a young lady getting married. I used my ts, cms, jig saw, and scroll saw. I was doing fine until I went to put away a 1/4 inch chisel and sliced open my finger.

[leehljp]

At about 9 years old, I was playing around with a planer/jointer that had the belt removed. I gave the pulley a spin. While not turning fast. I place my the palm of my hand to see if it would stop it. It did and sliced two big slices on the palm of my left hand and 3/4 of the tip of my index finger. Still have the scars some 50 years later. A palm reader would have a hey day with that!

Not woodworking but mechanical:
I did loose 1/3 of the tip of my right thumb to a fork lift accident. While in grad school, working nights at a freight distribution place loading and unloading trucks, A fork lift picked up a large pallet of goods. The goods started to tilt away from the fork lift. Instinctively I grabbed the pallet with my left hand and the fork lift with my right to hold the pallet from spilling over. The driver let the pallet down immediately and my thumb was in the path of the mechanics of it. From the back side of the thumb nail to the tip was flat as a nickel.

Many cuts and nicks with a few stitches over the years but nothing else major from woodworking since the kid experiment.

[dkerfoot]

I slipped with a 1/2" chisel and jammed it quite deeply into the fat part of my palm at the base of my thumb. It was a very scary moment while it flashed through my mind whether I had just done something potentially life altering.

Thankfully I missed any major nerves, tendons,etc... 100% preventable, I just didn't take the 30 seconds needed to put the workpiece in a vice.

The potential seriousness of it was brought home by an earlier non-ww accident. It is a long story, but I cut my left pointer finger quite badly with a table knife of all things. I did suffer nerve damage and six or seven years later the tip is still slightly numb. I only notice it now while trying to get nuts on bolts - particularly if I am doing it around a blind corner. But for about three years, it was very profoundly numb - or more accurately - it felt as though it had fallen asleep. I had that constant "pins & needles" feeling. Very annoying and it put a stop to my bass playing.

[dbhost]

Not woodworking, but I DID break the large bone to the thumb while working on a Benz 5cyl Diesel when I was doing that for a living...

Lesson learned: DOUBLE CHECK YOUR EQUIPMENT BEFORE STARTING WORK!

[Tom Slick]

Wasn't during wood working but I did cut the tip of my pinky finger with a metal cutting bandsaw (DoAll). Luckily it was only a flesh wound and after an x-ray and cleaning I was sent home just bandaged. I was really glad I was using a 18 tpi blade, if it was a 8 tpi or less, I'd have less finger left.

I have a cousin with a pinky nub, he cut it off with a table saw. how I don't know.

Had a coworker that removed his ring finger by grabbing a spinning drill chuck while wearing a ring. That happened before I worked with him though. He became one of my safety examples in the shop, he enjoyed it.

[twistsol]

Surgery for a Sliver

My worst injury occurred just over a year ago. I was chiseling out a groove in a window frame and the piece split. A sliver rode up the chisel and into the knuckle of my pointer finger on my right hand. I did a little home surgery and pulled out a piece about 1/8" around and 1.5" long.

A week or so later, the infection started, I got an antibiotic and cleared that up, but still had a small lump on my knuckle. Th lump continued to grow and in March, I had surgery to remove a ganglion cyst that was attached to the tendon and had grown around a piece of the sliver I missed.

In the end, it cost about 6k of which I had to pay about 4k out of pocket. The happy note is that for the first time in my life, I met my annual out of pocket maximum on my insurance and haven't paid dime since March.

[Pappy]

Took the tips off the middle and ring fingers on my right hand with a jointer. At the time I ran the WW hobby shop in Iwakuni, Japan. I was face jointing stock ann a 'customer' tapped me on the shoulder to ask for something from the tool room. As I was wrapping a towel around my hand and telling one of my regulars who to call, he asked me if he could get a hammer. After I finished at the clinic, I went back to the shop and kicked him and his project out.

Lesson learned, don't let idiots in the shop!

[eccentrictinkerer]

I pulled a dumb stunt by trying to miter a piece of molding by holding the piece with my left hand against the right side of the saw. I pulled the saw down with my right hand.

I'd done it before, but this time the saw didn't raise up as fast as it should and I lifted the back of my left hand into the spinning blade.

I nicked (severed) the tendons of my ring finger and 'pinky'. The ER doctor sewed me up right away and recommended micro surgery. Two days later a surgeon fixed me up good as new.

When I called Makita about how to adjust the 'return' spring so I wouldn't do this again, the tech referred me to his boss. He told me bring the saw into the service shop immediately.

Five minutes later the manager of the local service center called me to be sure I knew where the shop was located. Really good service, unfortunately Makita closed the shop last month.

I now make sure that I can see both hands when using power tools, I avoid doing stupid stuff and I make sure my tools are in tiptop shape.

[Uncle Cracker]

Had my pride bruised and my heart broken a few times, but no substantial physical damage...

[rja]

No big deal, but I was cleaning out the sawdust chute of my Delta benchtop jointer. The jointer was off at the time. I stuck my fingers into the chute a little too far and sliced open one of them on the jointer blade.

[scmhogg]

I tapered my little finger on the TS [first BT3 injury so far?]. It bled profusely, with a bit of skin hanging off. I wrapped it up with a rag and drove myself to the nearby ER. They took my name and told me to have a seat. I heard a siren, and then the PA went crazy, code red, code blue...every other color you could imagine. People started running and slamming through the big double door to the ER.

I took another look at my finger and left. I could see myself standing up and saying, "I know you are busy, BUT, WHAT ABOUT MY PINKIE!"

A couple of band-aids stopped the bleeding. It still has a taper and is a little numb.

I was at the end of a long session of repetitive cuts for a tambour. I had my left hand on the top of a wide board and simply ran my finger into the blade. Inattention and bad technique.

What really surprised me was how it felt. There was no cutting or slicing feeling. There was a bang and it felt like I had been hit with a hard hammer blow. The hard blow also numbed my finger to postpone the pain.

Steve

[Schleeper]

I was working in a ladder factory, assembling wooden stepladders. While drilling the holes for the rivets for the bottom rung supports, I nodded off momentarily and dropped the power drill I was using. I had the switch lock on, so the bit drilled its way through the top and sole of my boot, and into the wood floor. By the time I reacted, I was pinned to the floor. I couldn't move from the spot; all I could do was pivot!

Fortunately, the spinning bit passed between my big and second toes. All I ended up with were some scrapes between the toes, two holes in my right boot, and a red face.