Everyone, be safe in the shop...

[Mike Cruz]

OK, I've been mulling this thread over for a couple days now. I was going to post it, then decided not to, then thought I should, then not again. Well here it goes...the short version.

EVERYONE, be safe in the shop! Take your time. Go through all the proper preperations. Don't rush. On that laaaaast piece you need, don't "relax" you mind.

I'm not going to get into details because I don't want to hear all the "See, you should have used guards" posts. But, I had, let's say, a little heart pounding, eye opening, breath stealing moment in my shop this weekend while focusing on one thing while the other thing got, well, "out of hand and into gut" moment. Hurt like the dickens. Nice welt. Some bruising. Lucky it happened where it did. Nothing perminent (execpt for the memory).

I got really lucky...Just be safe.

[Dan Hintz]

Stuff happens. When I was first learning some basic woodworking wiht my father years ago, he was teaching me how to make a dado cut with a radial arm saw... halfway through the cut the blade caught the piece and yanked it right out of my hands and jammed the blade. Not much you can say at that point, and luckily I was standing in the opposite direction of blade turn.

[Ken Fitzgerald]

Mike..... a reminder to always be safe is never out of place and nobody is going to harass you over it.

[paul cottingham]

A very good reminder. About two months ago, I got nailed by a piece of plywood rotating on the blade. I was even using grrripers to hold it. i was positive it broke my thumb where I got hit, even my doctor thought it was broken when he saw it. Its much better now, but I have a mark to remind me to pay attention, and not be stupid.

Oh, yes, I wasn't using a splitter or riving knife, because I can be pretty foolish. Fortunately for me, God watches over fools and small children.

Glad you're ok.

[george wilson]

I read somewhere about a woman who managed to saw her forearm off with a radial arm saw. That must have taken some doing! I think they sewed it back on,but no idea if the nerves were o.k..

[Lee Koepke]

I had a nice 1/4" walnut projectile break the handle on my garage door this weekend

I was ripping a 1/4" strip and right after most of the board left the blade, the tip dipped down and got caught in the cut out for my splitter connection ... BOOM away it went. I was standing 'outside the firing line', else it woulda got me good.

[Damon Stathatos]

Had a piece of cocobolo about 8"x10" get me right above the place you really don't want hit. It was off of my Northfield 4 with an 18" rip blade. It sent me onto my back to a the table saw behind. One moment everything fine but then I started concentrating on the cutoff piece...the next moment, looking up at the ceiling, wind knocked out of me, pawing at my midsection to assess if stuff was still inside or not, screaming one nasty word, over and over (don't really know why, just what I did). Hyperventilated to try to get through 'shock,' keeping one hand on my cell phone with 911 already punched in.

The piece actually split in two, halfway from the back of the blade, the other half when it hit me. Had a rope-like knot across my whole midsection for at least a couple of weeks. Still a little part of it's there and I'm hoping it eventually goes away.

Long story short, back to the mag switch feather boards on every cut. Also, since I work alone, always make sure to have my cell phone with me.

Didn't mean to be so graphic but you're right, it's the lapses that get you.

[Jon van der Linden]

Glad to hear there wasn't any permanent damage.

With almost all of the safety hazards the first part is understanding what the risk is. The second part is making sure that none of those risks involve bodily harm. A destroyed workpiece or $200 blade is okay.

So many hazards can be avoided by clamping - that's one of the reasons I bought a sliding table saw about 10 yrs back. Never had any regrets on that.

[Peter Quinn]

Glad you're ok Mike. Nothing reminds you to work safe like a shot to the gut. Thanks for passing on your reminder to the rest of us. It can never be said too often.

[Tom Hammond]

Ran a narrow piece through my table saw by hanging my hand over the fence... went fine... UNTIL I gripped the piece at the far side of the table to retrieve it.

Hold your right hand out flat, palm down, fingers straight out and thumb pointed down as if you were gripping a board in the fold of the palm at the base of the thumb. See any problem there as you might be gripping a narrow board and drawing it back over the saw blade?

Well, I stuck the end of my thumb right into the blade. Split my thumb in half, like a snake's tongue, all the way to the first knuckle. It took 18 stitches and 6 weeks before I could even go back into the shop. I am 53 years old. This is my FIRST workshop injury. I took some pictures but, honestly, they're pretty gruesome so I didn't post them. It didn't really hurt that bad... and the doctor said I was "lucky" because the cut split the thumb front-to-back through the nail, parallel to blood flow and nerve lines. The bone was... well, it's gone, but I didn't hit any arteries or major nerves.

[David Micalizzi]

Thanks for posting Mike. When I work in the shop I always think about some of the incidents that have been posted by others. Gives me that extra incentive to take my time and do things safely, even if it's just one cut. Your posting is a wake up call/reminder to all of us that things do happen. We need to be 100% focused on the task at hand. Even though it was hard to do, thanks for sharing your experience, we all can benefit from it.

[Mike Cruz]

Well, thanks everyone for "understanding" and not ripping me a new one. Thanks, also, for sharing your stories. It does two things: Makes me realize that I'm not alone (not that I thought I was, but when you do something like this, ya feel a bit, well, stupid); and it also makes you realize that this stuff happens more than you realize. Accidents/injuries are waiting around every corner. Just gotta keep alert and avoid 'em.

Also, since so many have fessed up, I suppose I ought to as well. Yes, it was the TS. I was cutting a 14" piece of plywood that was about 8" wide down to 7 1/2" wide. As I pushed the piece through, I moved to the right my fence (blade to the left of the fence). As I was removing the 1/2" or so sliver away, I must have brought the 7 1/2" piece back over the blade because it not only caught the blade, throwing it backward, but it rotated, launching it upward as well. It caught me just under my ribs on my left side, flew about 12 feet behind me, and landed behind my miter saw on the bench. My focus was on the cutoff piece and not on the work piece.

What I did do right was have eye/face protection on (got one of those Bionic face shields for lathe work recently, and like the idea of how it helps protect more than just my eyes...). What I didn't do was wear my leather apron, set myself in proper position in front of the saw, and take my time.

Boy did I get lucky that it didn't hit me an inch higher...I wouldn't be surprised if I would have had cracked ribs.

Speaking of ribs, I had a rack of them tonight for dinner....mmmmmmmmmmm...them's were tasty!

Be safe everyone!

[Michael MacDonald]

glad you are ok. consider a freebie... a nice reminder, and nothing lasting to pay for it. I know I will consider as such.

[Bill HammerII]

I know what you mean about heart stopping events............

http://www.sawmillcreek.org/blog.php?b=105

[Chip Lindley]

Ouch! These heart-stopping events serve a purpose in keeping us aware of all possible dangers in the shop. Too often we may become lax and lazy in our use of machinery. When a near-miss happens, we are never quite the same...for a long time! If an injury happens, we are never the same, period! I have a very mangled fingernail to remind me of a stupid SkilSaw incident 15 years ago!

Had a piece of cocobolo about 8"x10" get me right above the place you really don't want hit....One moment everything fine but then I started concentrating on the cutoff piece...the next moment, looking up at the ceiling, wind knocked out of me, pawing at my midsection to assess if stuff was still inside or not, screaming one nasty word, over and over (don't really know why, just what I did). Hyperventilated to try to get through 'shock,' keeping one hand on my cell phone with 911 already punched in...

Damon! That gives a new meaning to the term "Crotch Wood!" (duckin' to keep from getting hit!) I know, it's not funny! But, if we don't laugh, we will surely cry!