Lessons learned hard, lessons learned well

pescadoman

pescadoman

Randy
Silver Member
I have been working with power tools and in dangerous jobs all of my life. I have always had safety in mind and taken precautions to avoid injury, but today I wasn't so fortunate.

After setting up my laminate trimmer and cutter on my lathe for the first time, it occurred to me that I should see just how much better the cut was.

I reached up I felt the freshly cut wood with my right hand and then, for reasons I will never understand, moved my thumb into a brand new 4 winged 1/8 wide kerf cutter moving God knows how fast....

It really didn't hurt at first, but I knew it was pretty bad. By the time I got into the house I was in a fairly advanced state of shock and, because I thought I was going to collapse, called a friend to take me to the doctor. My mother was over at the time and I asked her to keep an eye on me as I lay on the floor with my hand elevated.

Upon arriving at the doctors the receptionist said "I take it you're not here because you have a cold?", which I thought was pretty funny really.
The doc cleaned it up and said because of the width of the cut, he wouldn't be stitching it up and arranged for me to see an orthopod tomorrow morning. I still have feeling in the pad of my thumb, so I don't believe I caused any nerve damage.

Anyway... This just goes to show you that it only takes a split second of stupidity to cause yourself some harm.

I am hoping that sharing this story might give someone a second of pause and prevent them from doing the same thing.

I would post a pic, but I only took one with my phone before the docs, and I don't want to unwrap the bandage right now(I am actually pretty afraid to look at it).
 
I feel for you I did something similar in HIgh school I got real lucky I got a bunch of nasty scares from a 15" disc sander with 36 grit or 50 grit paper my hands were on it for a second or two but a couple of fingers look like they were on it for a full minute. Now a few fingers click like i'm cocking a gun. I had rings on too when I wasn't supposed to.

Most people wont even notice any scars trust me my friends dont notisce till i tell them.

Wish you luck on a great recovery...

Craig
 
I am very sorry to hear about your accident.

This hits home for me. I have too often admired or checked the quality of a certain cut and had my fingers way too close to a spinning cutter or blade before I realized how serious one moment of carelessness could have been.

I hope you mend well and damage was minimal compared to what it could have been.

Kelly
 
Hope you heal up pretty quick man. Look on the bright side,... you can still type and share this thread with us. Get well soon
 
I wish you a speedy recovery bud.
No need for pictures, we get the picture.
We all have battle wounds I think.
Most we could have prevented.
 
That really sucks. I remember when I got my self with a skill saw I did't want to look at it. It din't really hurt but I knew the blade hit my thumb. I turned my head and held my hand away. All I could think of at that moment was crap do I still have a thumb? There must have been 15 different thoughts I had in the 10 seconds before I said lets have a look. Once I saw it I was as happy as ive ever been. There was very minimal damage and it only really started to hurt once they shot the pain killers in and started to stich me up. I cringe more on the stiches than on the saw when I relive it lol. Im so carfull and foucsed now when I use the tools that in a way im happy. It serves as a reminder on what can happen once you loose foucus even for just a second.

Get well soon and just be happy you still have your finger :D
 
Wish you well!!

Hope you have a very speedy recovery and no lasting serious damage!!
 
Slow Motion

While ripping a plank on the table saw, I was thinking of other things and not paying attention to how close I was to the blade. Well, I ended up with a 1/8 x 1/8 inch notch in the end of my thumb. But what's really weird is that when my thumb first contacted the blade everything went into slow motion. I could feel every tooth as it sliced into my thumb. Since I was moving the plank over the saw at a pretty good speed, I think it's the slow motion thing that allowed me to stop as quickly as I did. An 1/8" notch is after all, better than half a thumb.

From then on, concentration is at the top of my priority list, as I'm sure it will be for you too.

Wish you a speedy recovery with no permanent damage.
 
Just please keep in mind it was a accident ....and keep cutting wood don't let it slow you down ...I hope all is well and that you heel quickley....:thumbup:
 
I cringe just thinking about it because I',m sure we can all easily picture the schocking scene and what leads to it. Thank you for sharing and reminding all of us how easily it can happen. Speedy recovery.

Mario
 
Safety

Thanks for sharing. IT helps to read these posts about unfortunate accidents as it reinforces the need to be very careful around any kind of machinery.

I wish you a speedy recovery.
 
Ouch!

Sorry to hear about the accident. I've been working in the glass trade (installing) for the past 20 years so we're fairly familiar with nasty accidents. Wish you a speedy recovery, and hope your doctor's meeting went well today. I'm sure they will have you back up and hitchhiking in no time! :thumbup:
 
I hope you heal up real fast. In my early days of cue building I touched a 1/4" end mill I had spinning in the router. It chewed the end of my finger up a little, but nothing like what you had happen. To this day I do not know what I was thinking either.
 
och!!!

I feel for ya man. I think we've all had some sort of close call...some closer than others.

I once ran a sharp cross-cut saw across my index finger when it slipped out of the cut...still can't feel the end of my finger. Had my loosely fitting shirt sleeve get ripped right off my arm when it got caught up in a lathe...good thing I was operating the lathe with a momentary foot control and good thing the shirts material was flimsy.

Not to take away from your situation but I always remember this certain cartoon I saw in an old Hustler magazine a long time ago...it was a man walking with his son in one hand, a circular saw in the other, the boy had a portion of his leg in his hand and a bloody stub where the leg was, of course, the kid was crying. The caption said "If I've told you once, I've told you a hundred times not to play with my power tools...now I'm going to have to punish you."

Sorry if that offended anyone but I've just always remembered that one.

I sincerely hope your thumb makes a complete and speedy recovery and you can once again get 100% use out of it.

L8R...Ken
 
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