Bandsaw's bite

OUCH!!!!!!!!!!!! Man you never can let down your guard!!!! If it is down to the bone maybe a visit to the doctor for stitches is in order. Hope it stops throbbing soon….

-- Max "Desperado", Salt Lake City, UT

I had a woodworking instructor that was real safety conscious. He taught us what to watch out for. One day after about 30 years he lost a finger on the bandsaw..

It can happen!! I’m glad you didn’t lose one.

-- -** You are never to old to set another goal or to dream a new dream ****************** Dick, & Barb Cain, Hibbing, MN. http://www.woodcarvingillustrated.com/gallery/member.php?uid=3627&protype=1

I treat my tools like I’m kissing a cobra!- Hand tools too.

p.s. whiskey and tylenol = Morphine ;-)

Good luck with your healing.

Bob

-- A mind, like a home, is furnished by its owner

Oh my but you are lucky to still have that thumb. 15 years ago I shut down the table saw and reached over to flick away a cutoff. It took a lot of stitches. The worst part was that Ii was in the middle of carving a saddle and had to use that thumb to run the swivel knife and all those little tools. I’ve never forgotten and I’ll bet you won’t either. good luck.

-- Thos. Angle

I did something pretty similar yesterday – jabbed a chisel into my hand pretty deep! The hand was never intended to be used as a clamp – but silly me! You’re definitely not alone! i went in for a tetanus shot because of the depth of the wound – would suggest the same depending on how deep your cut is and when you had it last…

-- Dorje (pronounced "door-jay"), Seattle, WA

Ouch.

I had a real close call last year with my table saw. I was tired and it was the last piece of board I was ripping when my finger got a little to close to the blade. I was lucky as the finger of the glove I was wearing (I ALWAYS wear tight fitting mechanics type gloves when working with wood) caught the blade first and gave me a serious wake up call.

I hope you finger feels better soon DD.

-- The significant problems we face cannot be solved by the same level of thinking that created them

Sorry for the cut, I hope you heal quickly. I put 2 fingers into a 1/2 bit on a router table a few weeks back so I feel your pain. Makes you feel like a real dumb a@& doesn’t it! Welcome to the club and thanks for posting, we can only hope that our pain can teach others to avoid such incidents.

-- Dan in Central Oklahoma, Able to turn good wood into saw dust in the blink of an eye!

I like Bob’s analogy to the cobra. I’m so afraid of slicing something off that everytime I start something up I think through all the motions and try to not stray. I resist the urge to brush away pieces. Even that is a slow methodical process for me. I’ll still probably slip someday.

-- Bob, Carver Massachusetts, Sawdust Maker http://www.capecodbaychallenge.org

I agree with Bob. I try to be real scared so to be real careful, especially around the table saw. Too many not near misses and close calls on kickback to not be worried.
Close friends have pared off pieces of their fingers on the jointer and router.
Next to the jig saw I thought the bandsaw was the safest power tool in the shop. Wrong, again.

-- No piece is cut too short. It was meant for a smaller project.

Ok.. thanks for scaring the c..p out of all us newbies…......... but thanks for the wise words

-- James - Geneva, Switzerland

Xavier, there’s no such thing as a “safe” tool—only safe technique.

The bandsaw can fool you. My own “interaction” came when doing a freehand rip on fairly thick stock. The problem was that I hadn’t planned on where the blade would exit the wood at the rear, and had my hand in the way. A little nick to the top of my left index finger cost me a trip to the ER for a tendon repair. This was followed by six weeks with the finger in a brace “pointing the way” for all to see.

I think the best thing to do is to go ahead & put a sign on the injured member for folks to read rather than have to explain what happened over and over and over. I guess they’d just ask anyway.

Better yet, let’s just avoid the whole thing if possible.

I tell people that I learn from my mistakes, but the problem is that there are so many different mistakes out there to make…

-- Robert from Raymond, MS. "We are what we repeatedly do. Excellence is therefore not a practice, but a habit." - Aristotle

It seems there is no way around it. Wood + tools (hand or powered) + our intervention = OUCH.

Hope your wound heals quickly.

-- Joel Tille

ouch.
thanks for sharing your learning experience…

-- ~ Debbie, Canada (http://www.execulink.com/~yohan)

I had a learning experience when using the bandsaw with a paper pattern. The pattern was drawn on the paper and I used spray adhesive to attach it to the wood. I did not trim off the excess paper around the pattern and as I was nearing an outside edge of the pattern the blade popped out of the side of the wood and caught the ends of two of my fingers. A little blood but no bone. Now I trim my patterns down to size.

Good thing I’ve been toughening my finger tips on the belt sander all these years.

-- Leon -- Houston, TX - " I create all my own designs and it looks like it "

good point: know where the edge of the wood is.

-- ~ Debbie, Canada (http://www.execulink.com/~yohan)

Thanks for all your advice, comments and good wishes. Took a little while to be able to use the mouse without re-opening the cuts. Don’t worry, I’m not posting any pics.

No pain now, just awkwardness doing the simplest things. Helps drive home the lesson.

Thanks again.

-- DataDoc, North Carolina, www.craigscrafts.com

:(
don’t go doing anything silly that might result in permanent damage/ infection…

-- ~ Debbie, Canada (http://www.execulink.com/~yohan)

When I was in the Navy … we had this electronics instructor who was showing us a few scars on his left hand and forearm from the mistakes he had made in the past … then he raise his right hand … someone says what happened to your finger … “Oh, that? Someone slammed a door on it when I was a kid and it got infected so they had to lop it off!”

Hope ya get well soon DataDoc!

-- Lip's Dysfuncational Firewood Farm, South Bend, IN

I think GraveDigger said it best.

Most woodworking magazines have some sort of caveat about woodworking being inherently dangerous.
I dasagree.
Most woodWORKERS are inherently dangerous.

All the recent injuries posted, and the stories in this post, illustrate that a little more planning on the part of the user would mostly likely have prevented the injury.

Hmmm. Is Norm talklng louder because he did not wear his ear protection or am I hard of hearing because I did not wear MY hearing protection?

DID YOU REMEMBER TO WEAR SAFETY GLASSES?

-- No piece is cut too short. It was meant for a smaller project.

I just finished watching Spag’s interview with David Marks. Sat 3:30 EST
David Mark’s worst injury was with a bandsaw and he also related a meeting with Sam Maloof and Maloof’s worst injury came from a bandsaw.
Go watch the interview at The Woodwhisperer.

-- No piece is cut too short. It was meant for a smaller project.

I can’t remember where I got this, but seems appropriate here…..The Woodworkers Prayer

Oh Lord, so far today I’ve not cut myself nor anyone else. I’ve not coveted my neighbor’s tools, and I’ve not damaged any of mine. I’ve not been led into temptation to buy one of those fancy laser guided saws that Norm uses on The New Yankee Workshop. I’ve not messed up any of my projects, nor had any cause to take Thy name in vain.

For this I give thanks. But, Lord, I’m gonna get out of bed pretty soon, and then I’ll need all the help You can offer…AMEN…

-- The Gnarly Wood Shoppe

schroeder … you need to put that on a t-shirt … I’ll be the first in line to buy it! lol

Classic!

-- Lip's Dysfuncational Firewood Farm, South Bend, IN