When I went to lunch on my way home, I decided to call my buddy that owns a woodmill/shop, and asked if he had any cut-off pieces that I could stop by and pick up while I was 2 blocks from his house already. His laugh wasn’t what I expected, but he did tell me I was in luck, because he was cleaning out the shop and had a few pieces out front for free, if I wanted them. I figured his free wood would be things like 2 feet or under, of oak or pine of something. I should have known better, because when I got there, I got a HUGE shock.

Out front was over 1000’ feet of various woods, almost all hard woods. I took ALL of the Black Walnut he was throwing out, As well as lots of Red & White oak, some Dutch & Siberian Elm and various other pcs. Whatever I could fit in the back of the Trailblazer. There wasn’t much room at all for me, much less my passenger, who grabbed all the 1/4” Birch Plywood that they could fit on their lap and int eh nooks I left open. Some pcs I got were 24” or a bit less, but most was between 48” and 102”.

There were a few slabs of various woods, plus a nice crotch piece of Poplar that I’ve already decided will be a table of some sort. I took TONS of pics, and measured and marked 20 pieces as well as cutting some rough edges on a few pieces as well. At the end of the day, I still had 50-75 pcs to measure and mark, but All in all it was a GREAT day.

I’d first like to say that I should have known the day was gonna be bad, when I stopped by and picked up breakfast at, well, a place that has a mascot with a big round head and pointy yellow hat, and looked at the O.J. carton… Look closely at the best by date… hehehe

Less than an hour later, I was on the way to the hospital to wait and wait and wait, before the Doctor at the hospital had me transported to another hospital, because he didn’t feel confident stitching my thumb back together. By the end of the night, roughly 12 hours after I sliced the thumb on the table saw, my hand was wrapped up and had a partial cast that looked like this…

Now, 4 weeks to the day since the accident, I’m glad to say that my thumb is healing nicely and I have (thankfully) mostly full use of my right hand, which is good since that’s my writing hand. It still tingles and occasionally itches like crazy, and isn’t the prettiest site in the world (no not gonna show pics at this point), but the Doc I saw a few weeks ago, said I should be as good as before my accident, within about 6 months. At the rate I’m going, I don’t think it’ll take so long, but you never know.

It only takes a momentary lapse of reason as they say, not paying as much attention as you think you are, to find yourself in a position like mine, if not FAR worse. Be safe, work safe and pay attention.

But you might have a part in what I build with some of it. If you have any good suggestions for me.

I’ve got a while before I’m recovered from my hand injury (see my other blog entry), so since I won’t be using the machines anytime REAL soon, I need to occupy my mind with ideas for when that day comes when I get back into the shop.

First up – 6 pieces of Black Walnut (with plenty of sapwood) $8 for all 6 pcs. Varying widths of 5.5” (4), 7.75” (1), & finally 8.25” (1)

http://downloads.ricib.com/wal1.jpg

Next – 12 pcs of 1 3/4” x 1 3/4” x @ 28” (2) – 30” (10) each. Most likely legs for something. $5 for all 12 pcs.

http://downloads.ricib.com/silmpl1.jpg

& finally – A stick of Hickory that he threw in, when I asked if he had any, cheap. $2 for the piece.

http://downloads.ricib.com/hickory1.jpg

Who knows, your ideas could be what I build as my comeback project, hahaha.

Thanks for looking,
R

P/S/ – I’ve got lots more wood to get ideas on in upcoming blog posts.

Well, I’m here to say that all it takes is common sense, as most of you no doubt know by now. Tools are dangerous, and we sometimes take them and the safety required for granted. I’ll call it cockiness, because for me, I’ve been doing it for so long without any major accidents (30+ years), that I let myself feel like NOTHING was going to go wrong.

That is until yesterday morning, when I got distracted (just for a moment) while using my table saw (which doesn’t have the blade guard installed). Let me tell you that the pain is excruciating to say the least. Without too many gory details, let’s just say that 50+ stitches inside and outside, and a thumb nail now gone, aren’t worth it sometimes. You have to be alert AT ALL TIMES, people!!!

Sure we’ll all nick our hands or get a piece of wood kicked back at us, or something in our eyes, but these things can be prevented with some common sense, which I was convinced that I actually had, even if I don’t always use it.

Well, the bottom line of course is that you can’t be too careful. So don’t think that you are invincible, EVER, while using a power tool. RESPECT the tool, and maybe just maybe, you’ll get the job done safely.

I hope this made SOME sense, because of the pain meds, my thoughts are more jumbled than usual.

R