# Accident yesterday



## Jon1094 (May 12, 2012)

How do you all like my new push stick? If you keep sticks away from the table saw you probably won't use them. Everything was going fine until my daughter started crying. I had one cut to go and got in a hurry. I'm extremely lucky-just lost a small piece. I'm now a bit ashamed and wiser. Cheap lesson.


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## RussellAP (Feb 21, 2012)

Been there, done that. Grinder got me yesterday on my ring finger. It's fun to dress a bleeding wound alone.


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## mojapitt (Dec 31, 2011)

Yep. I have been accused of leaving DNA on every piece i make. I have been extremely lucky that I haven't had anything real bad. Glad you're OK. Best of luck to you.


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## HorizontalMike (Jun 3, 2010)

FWIW, I use long push sticks and try not to ever have my hand over the blade, even with the push stick. This stuff scares the heck out of me. I also chose to use a soft cedar for my push sticks since it cuts easier and grabs less if/when I contact the blade with it/them.

Hope you heal well and quickly.


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## JoeinGa (Nov 26, 2012)

Wow, your Woodworking Guardian Angel was with you … nice to see that you only had minor damage, the potential for much greater damage was great.


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## Howie (May 25, 2010)

Jon,that hurts and I wasn't even there. Take good care of it.


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## HillbillyShooter (Feb 15, 2012)

Glad you're okay and it wasn't any worse. A copy of the second picture prominently displayed in each of our shops would be a vivid reminder to think and be careful.

As an aside, my family got to the point they referred to such injuries as "the requisite sacrifice to the god of home improvements". ;-)


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## Wdwerker (Apr 14, 2012)

You might have a slightly different looking fingernail when it heals and grows out. Could take 3 months or so to completely grow out. I shaved a similar amount off one of my fingernails this summer with my miter trimmer. It uses a razor sharp guillotine blade to slice a perfect miter. Got too close trying to line up a part. 36 years ago I cut the tip of my pinky finger on the tablesaw. I guess 2 accidents in 36 years isn't bad for a full time cabinetmaker. I am more cautious now.


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## robdem (Apr 7, 2011)

Glad to see you are going to be ok.


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## pumperdude (Nov 15, 2012)

Hey Jon, I just used that pick as my wallpaper to remind me what can happen with just about any of these tools we use. I'm glad you only lost a little pride. Could have been sooooo much worse. Looks like everything lost will grow back. Was it a kick back or you just got too close?


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## PurpLev (May 30, 2008)

ouch.

a good reminder, to you, and to everyone.


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## Kreegan (Jul 10, 2012)

Ouch! I'm glad that worked out relatively ok. I'm a mega-klutz, so I always approach power tools with extreme paranoia. I still nick and scratch myself way more than I'm comfortable with.

Rich


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## a1Jim (Aug 9, 2008)

Wow that's scary I'm glad it wasn't worse.My wife went by as I was viewing your injury and she said four words
"OOOOO, he needs a Saw Stop"


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## teejk (Jan 19, 2011)

consider yourself lucky but realize it ain't over…wait until the skin starts growing over those pieces of nail (don't ask me how I know that). IMHO complacency is the cause of 90% or more of all workshops (in my case 100%).


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## renners (Apr 9, 2010)

You could be the new poster boy for Band-Aid.

Glad it didn't involve surgery, hope it mends soon.


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## helluvawreck (Jul 21, 2010)

I'm sorry about that and am so glad it wasn't worse. I'm 62 and am sure that my concentration is not what it used to be. Woodworking is inherently dangerous. However, one thing comes to mind. At least my woodworking keeps me off the road. Driving a vehicle is far more dangerous. Now that I'm retired my truck don't hardly leave the house unless I need something. I reckon We should try to look on the bright side of things. I'm so glad it wasn't worse - that sort of thing can happen to anybody and I sure hope that it heals up ok.

helluvawreck aka Charles
http://woodworkingexpo.wordpress.com


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## Tag84 (Feb 16, 2011)

i'm happy for you it's not unfixable, its hard to be 100% focused all the time. But with the big machines we have to be!


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## msmith1199 (Oct 24, 2012)

I didn't take a picture when it was all bloody, but just two days ago I stuck my hand right into the spindle on my CNC while it was in warmup mode and had a two flute straight bit in it. It got me good in the finger, but did not do as much damage as I thought it would have. Didn't take any stitches.

But while we're on this subject this reminds me of discussions on the SawStop. I remember when I first saw the SawStop I was thinking there is no way I'd buy one of those. It's simply cheaper not to put your fingers into the saw blade. I never had that problem before. Then I talked to a guy about it and he said most table saw accidents happen to pros who work around the tools for a living. They just get into a routine and when you're doing it over and over all it takes is letting your guard down one time. Now that I've turned semi-pro (I'm no pro yet, but I have my own commercial shop) I see exactly what this guy meant. I stuck my hand into the machine because I was in a hurry and got complacent and didn't pay attention to what I was doing. Too bad they don't have the SawStop technology for the spindle on the CNC. But I did buy the SawStop table saw and now I'm glad I did. I've had a couple of other close calls with other machines now that I'm doing this stuff full time. Hopefully I learned my lesson two days ago.


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## teejk (Jan 19, 2011)

let's not get into another Sawstop discussion!

hate to say it but accidents like this (digits all intact) help us learn if we remember what we did wrong.

this forum is not used enough. we all get the "close-calls" from time to time and we should share more (including a more informative description in the topic line…like "close-call" or "hurt", what tool was involved, what stupid thing I did). remember that Googler's can find the posts (that's how I got here).


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## 280305 (Sep 28, 2008)

If anyone just can't get enough of the cringe that comes from reading about such accidents, check out this database:
http://www.woodworking.org/AccidentSurvey/search.htm


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## teejk (Jan 19, 2011)

ChuckV…didn't spend much time there but looks to be a site that does exactly what I was describing above. Thanks! I'll poke around and post back.


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## mbs (May 8, 2010)

Ouch!!, I'm glad you're going to heal nicely.


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## gfadvm (Jan 13, 2011)

Ouch! That looks exactly like my finger after I routed it. Your push "shoe" is a much better device than any stick. Now for a bit of medical advice: you need to remove (or have a Dr remove) all those shredded nail fragments ASAP. If you leave them, they will act as foreign bodies and serve as a continuous source of infection. Been there, done that.


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## Bertha (Jan 10, 2011)

Ahhh, sorry my friend. I'm due for one of these. No matter how many I see, I'm still irresponsible. Thanks for sharing this.


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## Straightbowed (Feb 9, 2012)

glad your ok I use long pushsticks made of oak they are about 22" long


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## JonathanG (Jan 18, 2010)

Sorry to see that this happened, but glad to see that it appears you'll heal up with some time. It was almost 2-years ago that I had a table saw accident. Same thing, it was my fault as I was in a hurry and lost focus for a split second. I also made the mistake of not taking off the gloves I was wearing, as I had just been moving a fair amount of rough wood around. Took the tip of my index finger off, which grew back, and the blade ran from the tip, past the first knuckle of both my middle and ring fingers. When I got to the ER, they couldn't believe how lucky I was, as I'd missed all tendons and ligaments, and all 3-fingers were there, although bloody and battered, with a 1/8" section missing out of the middle of the 2-fingers. I needed several dozen stitches, but everything has healed up fairly well, amazingly enough, and all 3-fingers are intact. I hit my right index, middle, and ring finger. I have a bit of scar tissue in my ring finger that is soar from time-to-time, and the nail on my middle finger is a slightly different shape then it used to be, but all things considered, I'm one heck of a lucky guy.

It's amazing what an accident can do to really get you to pay attention at all times and listen to the voice in the back of your head when something just isn't quite right. I naively thought I was careful enough before. You can bet I double check everything now before I do something. I feel so very fortunate that my situation turned out the way it did.


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## hooky (Apr 25, 2009)

i am sorry to see you cut yourself and glad to see that it was mostly superficial

the photo of your push stick and your saw made me cringe even more than your bloody finger (the exposed blade was the problem)

i am glad here in Australia we use European style saws and they have a crown guard over the top of the blade bolted to the splitter (or riving knife) we have far fewer injuries as a result










here is a picture of my saw to explain

hope your thumb feels better soon


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## teejk (Jan 19, 2011)

hooky…for decades most saws sold in the US have the blade guard also. but I've heard them described as the most effective dust collector ever invented. I hate mine since unless perfectly aligned, I think it introduces more risk than it eliminates. newer saws apparently have a riving knife in place of the splitter.


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## getlostinwood (Apr 11, 2011)

I posted a similar picture last year, I can tell you that you will think differently now. Not necessisarily scared but more aware of "ify" situations. I find I dont hurry as much, I a making more jigs for doing smaller pieces, using backer pieces and such. After roughly a year I have labeled this a good experience in my life. Rather take a ding early in my hobby than lose something big later on.


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