# I thought I was doing everything right...



## Alonso83 (Jul 14, 2009)

Hello fellow's LJ's

Today it's been a day that I had learn a huge lesson on the woodworking life. I was cutting some splines for a frame for my in law's.

Everything was going smooth as planned, until….... I decide to change the C-clamps that were holding the pieces of maple on the gig for some spring clamps. I thought I was wasting too much time using the C-clamps so I just wanted to go "a little" faster… boy I was wrong…..

I made the huge mistake of not double checking were the clamp were positioned related to the height of the blade, eventually it was just a "little" too low. So I thought everything was ok and I decided to go for the cut.
Instantly I felt something on my arm that was just a little bit different that saw dust, hundreds (well may be not hundreds but a lot) of tiny razor sharp metal chips with a little bit of blood.

Immediately I turned off the saw and my first reaction was looking for the "lucky" finger, no kidding I actually counted my fingers 2 times just too make sure they were all still attached to my hand, it took me a few seconds to realized that my fingers were ok, the actual deal was on my arm.

Eventually there was some blood (not much) but some, nothing that hurts a lot but it really made me realized the constant danger that we are involved every time we step into the shop.

It took to my wife 15 to 20 minutes to remove all the "chips" out of my arm; we actually counted 73 little tiny chips.

The lesson I learned, always double check *everything* and when you think everything is ok, check again.





Alonso


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## papadan (Mar 6, 2009)

And NEVER forget your eye protection. Just one of those 73 could blind you forever.


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## drfixit (Oct 16, 2009)

2 things always worn in my shop, or you can leave…. ear protection and eye protection! Glad you were not seriously hurt.


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## GaryC (Dec 31, 2008)

Glad you're ok. Papadan is right. All the protection you can get because it's final when it happens


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## a1Jim (Aug 9, 2008)

Wow I 'm glad there wasn't more injuries involved


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## yarydoc (Oct 16, 2009)

Now that was close. Glad it was not worse.


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## sbryan55 (Dec 8, 2007)

I agree it could have been much worse and am glad you were not hurt more seriously than you actually were.


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## snowdog (Jul 1, 2007)

Wow, thanks for the reminder, now that I needed one but is always helps to remeber just how fast somethign can go wrong. Glad you walked away with all 10.


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## hootr (Mar 28, 2009)

glad your ok, i use that same spline jig all the time and hadn't thought about that problem, thanks for sharing
i had a scare with a horizontal grinder
i wear prescription saftey glasses so i don't need a face shield. WRONG!!! pieces sneak around them and poke your eye


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## SnowyRiver (Nov 14, 2008)

Scary to say the least. Glad you are OK.


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## RexMcKinnon (Aug 26, 2009)

In a perfect world there would be no accidents. We are not in a perfect world but I would say that this is the perfect accident. No permenant physical damage but bad enough you will never forget it.

Thanks for sharing and I am glad you are OK.


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## PurpLev (May 30, 2008)

thanks for sharing… sometimes everything we think about , is not everything at all.


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## MsDebbieP (Jan 4, 2007)

silver lining: the safety warning wasn't more serious than this.. (this is bad enough!) 
glad you are ok


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## hairy (Sep 23, 2008)

That'll be funny someday. I'm glad you're ok. The worst part of getting hurt is folks saying how lucky you are. I had a motorcycle wreck 10 years ago, and I didn't want to hear about my good fortune.


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## BTKS (Nov 30, 2008)

Just a thought, might want to trash the blade, no telling if one of the teeth will come off at a bad time now that they have been in direct metal contact, at least a time or two for each tooth. Glad no serious injuries, get well soon, BTKS


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## Karson (May 9, 2006)

Hope everything is healiong up fine. It would be nice to have plastic clamps for times like that.


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## reggiek (Jun 12, 2009)

There is one good thing about an accident like that….it sticks in your mind. It's funny how we don't think about all the times we avoided an accident because we checked…re checked and then re checked again before we used a piece of equipment. I hardly think of those times…..but I remember when I didn't and it gets me.. that kind of shock snaps me back to making sure that I am doing everything possible to avoid those painful mistakes from risky shortcuts.

Best of all….you were not badly injured….pride….and skin abrasions will heal….but like said above….some accidents are permanent….I for one would rather read about the mishap and get the lesson without suffering the consequence….We can all keep stating the obvious about safety first….but it is these lessons that emphasize why…

Thanks for another good lesson on safety….and I am also very glad to hear you are ok…


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