OP
Table-Saw Trouble: Let's Be Safe In 2016
So here's the sequence, at least as I remember it.
1) I know what I'm doing is stupid. But I figure I'll be lucky, like I have been my whole life.
2) I hear the 'chunk' sound of the blade grabbing the wood -- kickback.
3) It feels like somebody's just clamped a pair of pliers on my fingers. Then the saw is still making it's no-load sound, and my brain jumps through a few quick steps, finally landing at: 'How many fingers did I lose?'
In my case, the answer is zero. But I won't confirm that for a few moments. I pull the glove off and wrap the fingers in paper towels without taking the time to look very closely. My quick look suggests the finger isn't severed. So...
4) I pull the plug on the saw and turn off the radio -- Why? I guess so the music won't bother the neighbors while I'm gone.
5) I find my wife (she's in the shower) and tell her she might need to take me to the hospital. The whole hand is numb now, more or less, and I take another look, confirming: only one finger affected, some of the 'meat' seems to be gone. A long cut, considering it's just one joint of the finger. But not severed.
5) Realizing we'd have to pack the kids into the car before we can go, I tell her I'll just walk down to the ER. Nice to have a hospital two blocks from my door.
6) I make it down there and get the thing stitched up. Two stitches inside, holding stuff together, 10 more across the pad of my right index finger.
It could have been much worse.
The table saw I grew up with came with a story: it had been given to my father after the original owner had lost his pinky, ring and middle finger with it. Understandably, the guy didn't want a table saw in his shop after that. It might just have been a smart story my father made up, but I've always been careful with the thing in the intervening 40 years. But last night, it bit me.
Completely my own fault. And again, it could have been much, much worse.
Here's the project it was the last piece of. A 'crooked' playhouse for the kids. They've been having a lot of fun in it, pretending it's different businesses and (yesterday) taping up signs my 7-year-old had written. I decided to make a little frame they could slide a piece of paper into. It's got a groove cut halfway through each piece of 1x2, but I needed to complete the cut all the way through the piece they'd slide the sheet through. My solution was not my most-shining moment of problem solving.
Here's the sign-holder, finished today (with 9 fingers working). I decided to use the piece that got kicked back -- with its damage intact as a reminder to myself of how dangerous the saw can be.
Here's the enemy. Still some pieces of my glove on the blade tips.
Here's the glove I was wearing and the piece of wood that got pulled by the blade.
Not good focus, but here's a shot of the stitches while the doctor went to get something to wrap it up with. As far as I can tell, the nerve damage was pretty minimal. It was a messy cut on the inside -- I think the only long-term effect will be a slightly less-meaty finger pad.
I'm typing this with nine good fingers. The other one will be back in service in a week or so. But I hope the post nudges anyone reading it to be just a little bit more careful in 2016.
So here's the sequence, at least as I remember it.
1) I know what I'm doing is stupid. But I figure I'll be lucky, like I have been my whole life.
2) I hear the 'chunk' sound of the blade grabbing the wood -- kickback.
3) It feels like somebody's just clamped a pair of pliers on my fingers. Then the saw is still making it's no-load sound, and my brain jumps through a few quick steps, finally landing at: 'How many fingers did I lose?'
In my case, the answer is zero. But I won't confirm that for a few moments. I pull the glove off and wrap the fingers in paper towels without taking the time to look very closely. My quick look suggests the finger isn't severed. So...
4) I pull the plug on the saw and turn off the radio -- Why? I guess so the music won't bother the neighbors while I'm gone.
5) I find my wife (she's in the shower) and tell her she might need to take me to the hospital. The whole hand is numb now, more or less, and I take another look, confirming: only one finger affected, some of the 'meat' seems to be gone. A long cut, considering it's just one joint of the finger. But not severed.
5) Realizing we'd have to pack the kids into the car before we can go, I tell her I'll just walk down to the ER. Nice to have a hospital two blocks from my door.
6) I make it down there and get the thing stitched up. Two stitches inside, holding stuff together, 10 more across the pad of my right index finger.
It could have been much worse.
The table saw I grew up with came with a story: it had been given to my father after the original owner had lost his pinky, ring and middle finger with it. Understandably, the guy didn't want a table saw in his shop after that. It might just have been a smart story my father made up, but I've always been careful with the thing in the intervening 40 years. But last night, it bit me.
Completely my own fault. And again, it could have been much, much worse.
Here's the project it was the last piece of. A 'crooked' playhouse for the kids. They've been having a lot of fun in it, pretending it's different businesses and (yesterday) taping up signs my 7-year-old had written. I decided to make a little frame they could slide a piece of paper into. It's got a groove cut halfway through each piece of 1x2, but I needed to complete the cut all the way through the piece they'd slide the sheet through. My solution was not my most-shining moment of problem solving.
Here's the sign-holder, finished today (with 9 fingers working). I decided to use the piece that got kicked back -- with its damage intact as a reminder to myself of how dangerous the saw can be.
Here's the enemy. Still some pieces of my glove on the blade tips.
Here's the glove I was wearing and the piece of wood that got pulled by the blade.
Not good focus, but here's a shot of the stitches while the doctor went to get something to wrap it up with. As far as I can tell, the nerve damage was pretty minimal. It was a messy cut on the inside -- I think the only long-term effect will be a slightly less-meaty finger pad.
I'm typing this with nine good fingers. The other one will be back in service in a week or so. But I hope the post nudges anyone reading it to be just a little bit more careful in 2016.
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Ouch Jack. I'm glad it wasn't a router table. Heal up soon.