# Be Safe When Cutting Dadoes!



## Hawgnutz (Mar 29, 2007)

I have done it hundreds of times, and I am sure you have too. Doing repetitive cuts on a table saw. But NEVER get complacent when using that table saw!

There I was cutting a dado in a length of soft cedar, guiding it on past the blades, when it bound up and shot back! When it did, it not only broke my newer fetherboard, propeled the board back into my truck tailgate, but it also drew the push block-with my hand-back over the spinning dado blade.

Here is the board. 


I was using a featherboard to keep board against fence and using a pushblock to apply pressure as it went over the dado blades. I was at the end iof the board and I hesitated just a moment, trying to figure a way to keep the board from falling down to the dirt when all hell broke loose. The board flung back and I thought I felt it hitting my little finger on my left hand. I was not until I was picking up the pieces of my broken featherboard that I noticed blood on the ground. I looked at my finger and it did not look good!

Here's what my finger looked like at the site:


Here is the new featherboard and the push board.



(Note groove in push board. This is what gave me the first inkling that the blade, not the board had hit my finger.)

Well, after being told by the local ER that it would be about 5 hours until they saw me, I had my son drive me 30 miles back to Bisbee, and I was seen in 10 minutes. After the wound was soaked and cleaned of all the blood, you could tell that the dado blade had hit it for sure!
Here's what it looked like at the Emergency Room:


I still will cut all the daoes in the wood to fill a project I contrated for, but I will make me a "safer" push block, sorta like the medievel sword shields, and keep my hands in front of the blades whenever I cut dadoes!

Anyway, I have 9 stitches and will have to use a splint on little finger for about a week or so. So, nothing too serious. Just another lesson of hard knocks. We all have them to share!

I can only thank my Lord for protecting me from really serious injury! God is so Good!!

Be Carefull!
God Bless,
Hawg

-Saving barnwood from the scrapyards


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## mattsanf (Jul 20, 2007)

Boy,
Rough injury week for the LumberJocks! These posts are a great wakeup call for the rest of us to stay focused and not cut corners (no pun intended)!

Hope you heal quickly.

Matt


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## Hawgnutz (Mar 29, 2007)

Thanks, Matt. 
I will be back to cutting, soon.

God Bless,
Hawg


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## Tangle (Jul 21, 2007)

Lordy, lordy, Hawg, I'm just glad you've still got the finger! I don't believe I've ever had anything quite like that happen. Now just don't forget that finger is sticking out there while you continue. OOO-ee that thing is gonna throb tonite!!!! Get better. You do know where to look for sympathy in the dictionary, Right?


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## Hawgnutz (Mar 29, 2007)

LOL, Tom. i surely do know where to look for sympathy in the dictionary! I am not looking for sympathy, simply cautioning my fellow woodworkers to be CAREFUL!

It did not throb too much last night. (I have a high pain threshold.) A 500 mg tab of vicaden die me fine.

Keep working safe, Tom! I love your work.

God Bless,
Hawg


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## Chipncut (Aug 18, 2006)

I'm sorry you had this happen to you. We'll be praying for a quick recovery.

It just so happens that I just bought a new piece of safety equipment, called a *GRR-Ripper,* so I posted it

on the forum today. It shows a video demo of it.


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## TomFran (Jun 19, 2007)

Marc,
Very sorry to hear about your accident. First Dorje, now you.

Woodworking is fun, but it is also dangerous. A while back I read a great Fine Woodworking magazine article called "Keeping Ten Fingers." I don't really lilke thinking about such things (tend to have a weak stomach), but I had to read the article and was glad I did. I actually go back from time to time and read it again, to remind myself of the safety principles that were delineated in it.

In the article they said that over 40% of all woodworking accidents (that require hospital visits) happen with the table saw. Partly because it is one of the most used tools in the shop, but also because there are alot of dangers involved with using it. They mentioned dado cutting and using molding head equipment as (2) of the more dangerous procedures.

They also said that the bandsaw is a much safer saw, and so one should try to do as many tasks as possible on it. Only 5% of accidents occur with the bandsaw. Of course, when it comes to cutting dados, you're not going to be able to do that with your bandsaw.

Thanks for the humble reminder to all of us. Praise the Lord that you still have "ten fingers"!!!


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## WayneC (Mar 8, 2007)

Makes me think this was a wise purchase. Little chance of cutting myself with it.

http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&rd=1&item=270147987232&ssPageName=STRK:MEWN:IT&ih=017


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## Radish (Apr 11, 2007)

Thomas, I remember hearing the "sympathy in the dictionary" deal somewhere before, but it's been awhile. How does that run again?


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## boboswin (May 23, 2007)

In this case, where a kerf cut is not involved, it would have been wise to set and additional feather board ahead of the dado blades.
A second option would be a straight edge board clamped outside the cut to guide the cut board through the dado.
I am fairly certain that the blade forced the cut off center when it became partially freed at the bevel end of the cut leaving only a decreasing portion of the blades cutting the wood.

Personally, I am concerned that our liability insurance and the like are eventully going to take a big hike unless we, collectively, begin to observe good safety practices.
I'm glad you just got a warning and hope your finger heals quickly.

Bob


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## Tikka (May 14, 2007)

Sorry to hear about the acciident - Luckily it does not look too bad.

Were you using an outfeed table?, its alway dangerous to stop the work piece over the blade, especially a dado blade. being non decisive is not good - plan every part of the cut before you turn on the motor.

Get better soon


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## Hawgnutz (Mar 29, 2007)

Doug, Email me and I will tell you where sympathy is in teh dictionary….LOL Old joke.

Wayne… Lol I would probably cut myself sharpening it! My developing hernia prevents me from extended plane usage, such as dadoing or massive smoothing of plank. Thanks, but no thanks, though.

That extra runner on the outside of the board is an excellent idea, Bob! Simple, yet extremely functional! Gonna have to try that on the next set of dadoes. I am cutting around 100 linear feet or more, with 4 passes per item to complete these domino holders for a Mexican train set. That outside guide will work great! I an even add a hold-down accessory to it. Thanks a finger or two!

And Tom, I try to use my bandsaw as much as possible, too. Much, Much safer! I was going to use it to cut the dadoed boared to length once I got all 3 dadoes cut.

God Bless,
Hawg


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## PanamaJack (Mar 28, 2007)

Hopefully you will be back in full action soon. A good lesson learned, but also you are *so lucky* that it wasn't a *lost* little finger, or worse. I believe someone was indeed watching out for you. We all have learned a valuable lesson with you Hawg. Take it easy man!


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## snowdog (Jul 1, 2007)

I would shoot the saw <grin> Thanks for the wake up call.

I try to keep the fear/respect in every cut and remember how much I like all my body parts but a reminder is always welcome. I think next to the table saw the chain saw is my most feared/respected tool. I love using them both but always try to remember how quick things can go wrong. Some one above said it, plan every move before you make it but even then things can go wrong. I still love the thrill of dropping a 50 or 100 foot tree in a crowded forest and not really knowing if it will all work out as planed 

9 stitches OUCH!


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## Sawdust2 (Mar 18, 2007)

Two suggestions:

Put a board on the fence that will hold the wood down on tip of the blade, in addition to one that holds is securely against the side of the fence.

Take off your ring when working with power tools. If the blade had caught the ring it would have taken the finger. Some of the first safety rules include no loose clothing and no jewelry or watches.

Be truly thankful it wasn't any worse.

This is just the reason the SawStop was invented.


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## Obi (Oct 19, 2006)

I find myself praying on just about everything. It all started with my router… "Lord? You gotta help me here, cause this thing is dangerous." The it got to the table saw. And i don't remember what it was the other day, but I certainly remember saying close to the same thing.

Left to my own devices, I am sure to injure myself. If I'm in charge, we're all in trouble. I don't want to be in control, I just want to be safe and alert.

Oh, yeah… the ring. MUST come off. If you read the safety manual, I'm sure it said no jewelry or loose-fitting clothing.


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## Chipncut (Aug 18, 2006)

Obi is right on the ring, I was going to mention that.

If the saw caught your ring, it would have been, *BYE BYE FINGER!!*


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## Buckskin (Jun 26, 2007)

Hawg, I hope you heal up quickly and thanks for posting this. We all need a safety reminder from time to time.

Now for those of us who can't get our wedding rings off any more, like me, be extra carefull. As an electronics tech in the Army we used to tape them up with black tape to prevent electical shock, but that is not going to help much when you catch it up in a saw.

Be safe folks!!!!


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## Hawgnutz (Mar 29, 2007)

Thanks for all the feedback! I will definitely LOOSE THE RING when I work, now! Better safe than sorry! The Lord gave me a warning and I will heed it!
I definitely got off real easy all things considering. (The one bad thing is that it is monsoon season, here, and I lost 2 full days of cutting, going on 3 while my finger is in splint. You don't realize just how much you use your little finger to grip until it is out of commission!

Hopefully, I will be completing those dadoes on Monday, sans the ring and including a whole bunch of safety fences to keep the dadoes on track!

God Bless,
Hawg


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## gman (Apr 5, 2007)

I wish you a speedy recovery Hawg.


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## roosterscoop (Oct 12, 2006)

Hawg - A couple of years ago a girl at work had been cutting plywood on the tablesaw. She had a piece about 20" x 20" and had just started it into the blade when it rode up on the blade and turned just like your piece. After the kickback that tore her pinky finger off (which they could not reattach) and badly damaged her ring finger, she went through multiple surgeries. After about a year of therapy and wearing different devices to rehabilitate her middle finger and ring finger, she had her ring finger removed. It was more of a hinderance to have it at this point than to have it removed she told me.

Glad to see you were more fortunate, safety is one to always watch.


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## Zuki (Mar 28, 2007)

OUCH . . . hope you get better soon hawg.

Never thought about the ring . . . would this be another reason not to get married ???


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## knottypine (Aug 5, 2007)

Hawg, Hi there I am sorry to hear about your injury hope you are feeling better soon and back to work. recently had a small accident myself with the table saw and my wrist, boy do I feel lucky to beable to send you this e-mail. I got the inside of my wrist with the back of the blade. Everthing is fine and I was back at it the next day. But the reason that I am writing you is something else off the subject of wood. I recently became a High School teacher teaching Emergency Medicine (First Responders, and other things) I was wondering if it would be ok for me to use you pictures of your finger and story to help to teach my kids. If not that is OK, but if it is ok with you I think that it would be a good subject and story to get the point across to them about safety. As well as what to do for just such an injury.

Please let me know if you are ok with this or not
Thanks


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## TheGravedigger (May 20, 2007)

I posted this on the blog entry, but thought others might see it here:

Let's not forget hand tools. I've had two tendon repairs - one from the bandsaw, and one from a 1" carving knife blade that did a plunge cut when a small piece snapped while held in my left hand (my doctor said that it was the cleanest cut he had ever seen!). Anything that can cut wood can cut us!


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## Hawgnutz (Mar 29, 2007)

Jeff B. The main reaon I posted this was to caution oters about being complacemnt or lacksadaisical using power tools! 
if you want I will email the pictures to you if you cannot download them from the site.

Joel, I am sorry to hear of the girl in your story. I hope this post wil help others to slow down, take the extra time needed to use sop safety, and continue to have all their digits! I came so close to losing 1 or 2 of mine it ain't funny! God was TRULY watching over me!

Robert, if a tool will cut wood, you KNOW what it can do to the human body. Hand tools are danerous, too but power tools go sooo much faster!

Anyway, I will be working in shop this afternoon, fabricating a new 'safety' channel to guide the cedar wood in making the repetitive daadoes. Thanks for ALL the discussion and tips on this! 
I will be making an outfeed tale, but will have to design something new to work on my table saw. It is a Ridgid that has wheels and a collapsible frame. (The TS 2400) i will have to fabricate a 'hook' on the backside to install teh outfeed table to.

Maybe thet will be a new post.
Thanks!
God Bless,
Hawg


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## knottypine (Aug 5, 2007)

Thanks Hawg my intentions with the pictures and story are that safety for my students, and I was able to copy the pictures ok thanks again and hope things are getting better with your finger.


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## DocK16 (Mar 18, 2007)

Had a fall several years ago and spent 2 months in body cast; people kept telling me I was lucky and it could have been worse. I hate it when people tell me that, I didn't feel lucky. So here is my 2 cents "your're lucky it could have been alot worse, you could have lost your whole finger" Really though, thanks for the reminder of how easy it is to get complacent and how quickly things can go wrong.


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## oscorner (Aug 7, 2006)

*Man that had to hurt! * Thanks for sharing your story with us. I pray that you heal well and that this kind of injury will not happen to you are any of us again. I can't help but wonder what they thought of you in the ER with the camera. It seems like most of us get into trouble when we don't set up our work completely.* " I hesitated just a moment, trying to figure a way to keep the board from falling down to the dirt ."* I know we all have done it and have gotten away with it, but you have reminded us that we need to change our ways. Take care of yourself, Hawg.


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## croessler (Jun 22, 2007)

Thanks for the post and the reminder.

I had the index finger of my right hand cut off while I was serving in the military. Fortunately for me it was a very clean cut and they were able to reattach it! it works so well that I am typing with it right now. Don't have much feeling in it; but it works!

That accident made me respect tools and other equipment with what borders on paranoia!

Protect your Sight, your Hearing, and your Hands! It's darned hard to replace any of them. I was blessed; I'm left handed.


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## Hawgnutz (Mar 29, 2007)

Thanks for the reply Chris. My finger is pretty well, now. It looks kinda ugly with the scar and all, but it is still atached, bends freely, and grips things, too! I am a little slower when I use my table saw, now, and take my ring off when I use it.
I jut got my bandsaw fixed, so I will post what I was working on when I cut my finger, soon.

God Bless,
Hawg


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## Tinyshop (Sep 1, 2007)

Do be so carefull!


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