Kickback Hurts! (WARNING! GORY PICTURES!!)

[Don Morris]

Peter,

Thanks for posting and willing to take the hits. Most of us have had kick backs, yours was just a bad one and that just serves to remind us to think of the TS as a real dangerous weapon. Every now and then I find myself just about to start a procedure on mine that I shouldn't. Thankfully, I stop, rethink how I should be doing it. I have a Biesemeyer splitter with anti kick back pawls among other devices. That should have stopped that. Also use Grippers, so it depends on what I'm doing...what to use.

Glad you're OK, and just be thankful it hit your head, not your eye. These posts always cause us to think and review procedures. How can that not be a most helpful post?

[Jack Parks]

Peter,

Thanks for the sobering reminder of what can happen when a 3hp motor throws a baseball size block of wood at you. I am glad you are OK and it did not cause a more serious head injury. From what you described you were doing, I would recommend using a bandsaw next time. I pray you will heal soon and not need any plastic surgery.

Jack

[Peter Quinn]

I'm glad your ok. I pray for your speedy recovery. Now let me be the first to introduce you to my little friend, THE BANDSAW! Draw the cove, cut the shape even on small pieces with no danger of kick back, skip the hospital part. There is no safe way to make that cut on a TS, guard, no guard, just no good on a piece that small. When I need to do something similar I use a longer piece I can control and make 10 sanding blocks if necessary, or just use the BANDSAW. Did I mention BS yet? Even if you have to glue up some scrap to get to the size block you need, take the time and do it, or you will get to know the EMT's on a fist name basis.

Thanks for posting the reminder and the pics to prove it, this may save another from having a similar lapse in judgement. I know a long time professional wood worker that did something similar making fence post caps. He dropped a piece of slippery cedar onto the spinning blade while retrieving it and knocked himself out cold while working alone in his shop. A guy in the next shop down noticed that the saw had been running for some time but he had not heard a single cut for at least 1/2 hour, went to check on him, found him sleeping on the floor. So your actually luckily that you got up on your own!

Be well. Work safe.

[Joe Adams]

Thanks for reminding everyone that a workshop can be a dangerous place. It's all to easy to take a chance, do something we know better than, lose concentration, become nonchalant, not think things through, work without safety apparatus, etc.

I work with my brother and we tend to look out for each other more than we would for ourselves. A sternly delivered, "Don't even think about trying that!" has saved me from possible harm more than once. For those who work alone, listen for that still small voice in your gut and don't ignore it.

You can buy more wood. Fingers and thumbs are pretty much irreplaceable.

[Peter Aeschliman]

Thanks guys for the kind words! I'm glad you all find this reminder useful. To answer a few questions:

No, I wasn't using the blade guard, but I was using my riving knife. My blade guard does have two sets of pawls on each side (small ones and large ones)... but as a few others have said, the blade tilting toward the fence plus the very small work piece was a recipe for disaster. When the piece kicked back, it hadn't even reached the riving knife yet. The splitter and riving knife couldn't do anything to prevent this particular accident.

Yes, I was wearing eye protection (protective glasses). After this accident though, I'm going to invest in a set that can withstand an impact like this. I can't imagine my glasses would've survived this. I do have a full-face guard I could've worn but those things are pretty cumbersome.

[Bill Huber]

So they did a CAT scan and didn't fine anything

Glad you are going to be ok and I am sure you learned a lot on this one.

[Myk Rian]

You're right. That was stupid.
At least you have a nice NIKE symbol on your head. Do you wear their shoes?

Sorry. I had to say that.

[Harvey Pascoe]

Yeah, thanks for the reminder because I normally work with small pieces and the splitter is zero help. What happened to him is that the piece cocked slightly and away she went. The squarish size of the block almost guaranteed the result.

BANDSAW, INDEED!

My biggest kick back problem is cutting small pieces of 1/8" plywood where the upward wind created by the back side of the blade can lift the workpiece or cut off so that the teeth catch it and throw it at me. I should be using a plywood blade for this.

[Jim Neeley]

Peter,

Thanks for the wake-up call.. I know there's been a couple of times when, just a split-second before something bad happened, I thought "this is REALLY stupid". I'm sure I'm not alone in this.

I'd like to add one more safety point that I'm working really hard to enforce on myself: looking down the blade as the cut is being made, placing yourself in the line of flight. I don't have a SS but I have the new Uni with the kerfing knife and anti-kickback pawls and I've seen both "exercised" due to internal wood stress. Each time I was glad I had the off-switch mounted at hip level.

Thanks again for posting your experience today and I hope you get healed up quickly and it doesn't scar too badly.

[Randy Dutkiewicz]

Peter,

As the others have said, thank you for the sobering reminder of just how danger stares each of us in the face with each cut made on the TS. I'm happy to hear you are OK. It's these types of posts that (unfortunately) we as woodworkers with very powerful machinery need to see every once in a while to keep us vigilant and SAFE! Take care and hope your recovery works out well.

Randy

[Peter Aeschliman]

So they did a CAT scan and didn't fine anything

Ha ha I just read back through and saw this. Good one!

[Jacob Mac]

Thanks for the reminder. Glad you did not suffer any long term problems. If that hit you in the glasses, you could have been in much worse shape if your glasses broke.

[Bob Turkovich]

take the time and do it, or you will get to know the EMT's on a fist name basis.

Ok, Peter Q. I've gotta know....was that an intended pun or a typo?


Peter A.

Glad you survived. I had a similar small block projectile incident. Caught me in the lower jaw. An inch higher and I would have lost some teeth. A couple of inches lower and it would have hit the middle of the throat. The cut I had couldn't be stitched or glued so I had to wear a bandage pad that looked like the strap to a football helmet (without the helmet.)

The yellow "dymo" tape came out soon afterward - with large font - placed right next to the power switch - to remind me if it feels a little awkward, don't make the cut.

[Joe Adams]

yellow "dymo" tape???

[Richard Wagner]

Thanks for posting this. We all need a reminder now and then. I hope you have a rapid recovery.

BTW, short pieces are inclined to get you like that. It has something to do with getting out of alignment with the blade and using a push stick can be more trouble yet (with a small piece). Control of the work piece is the under lying issue. I've been thumped like that a couple times. I am slowly learning - table saws can hurt.

Thankfully, though you were hurt bad it does not seem like it will be serious. Again, speedy recovery!!