Stupid Shop Injuries

[Ryan Myers]

I've never been hurt from the big equipment, though I have had my fair share of close calls. I do have the utmost respect for any tool with a motor as one should.

I let my guard down on the smaller things. Earlier today I caught my arm on the corner of board sitting on top of the tablesaw and cut my arm about 4" long. It is not life threatening but stings pretty good. Then 2 hours later, I am applying edgebanding with an iron and I swung my other arm into it and got burnt to the point the skin is very close to blistering.

Not a big deal. I just wanted to rant about how it's the stupid things that injur you sometimes.

[Jim Becker]

Beware the evil too-long clamps...they prey on unsuspecting forheads everwhere...

[Jeff Heil]

And groins when a glue up is sitting on the assebly table and you aren't paying attention as you walk by.

[Jody Malinich]

I had just recently gotten a new bandsaw a few years ago when I nicked my thumb. I got it all cleaned up and put a band-aid on. I then went back to work on the same piece and proceeded to cut the band-aid. Didn't get the thumb again but I quit for the day.

[glenn bradley]

I have some small shop towels who's only purpose in life is to hang on the end of clamps like a little flag warning me off from chance encounters. So far, so good.

[Gary Herrmann]

Beware the evil too-long clamps...they prey on unsuspecting forheads everwhere...

Aw man, did you have to mention that one? My wife was helping me clamp up a bookcase once. I was clamping up the bottom and when I stood up I hit a clamp she had just applied to the top so hard, that I almost knocked the bookcase over on top of her.

Left a ridge right down the middle of my skull.

First she freaked because the bookcase was tilting towards her, then she realized I had whacked my head and winced then she tried real hard not to giggle. Meanwhile I'm staggering around the basement bumping into other things - definitely didn't help the whole giggling thing.

We finished the glue up and then I retired to the family room with a large bag of ice.

[Craig D Peltier]

Maybe two weeks was feeding a 16" poplar board into router the wrong direction , got yanked from my hands, plowed into my 06 cherokee and put a 1.5 inch crease in door panel... I was over it at first then it sunk in two hours later.I was mad then.Oh well have to get the other ding removed anyways from car door or just leave it.

Once in High School saw a kid put togetehr a dado set without an arbor insert to fit correctly.It got momentum and wobbled irregulary so hard it caught on kickback guard which snapped the cast iron an proceeded to hit pipe above us and cracked it and carbide teeth were all over the shop.Thats was fun.

[Tim Martin]

turning a bandsaw wheel by hand to check the tracking of a new blade. Not looking where my fingers where and trapping my thumb between the blade and the rubber wheel.......and then ripping out my thumb as the natural reaction. Split the nail down the middle with plenty of claret flowing.

[Gary McKown]

Sometimes things materialize where there is normally a free zone, too. Was setting up the DP to drill into the ends of a 6" long block. Set block on DP table, reach under table as usual to adjust height, paying strict attention to the bit clearance. Result: major altercation between lip and edge of the block.

[Mike Langford]

I have a PC 690 router that does double duty as a hand-held and in a table. I have the "old" style 690 with the toggle on/off switch that means that when it's in the table you turn the toggle to "ON" and then plug the router into the table's on/off switch....No problem,works fine until you remove the motor for hand-held use and you forget that the toggle is still turned ON

I was making my wife a sewing table (4'x4') and had the table top set on some sawhorses and was going to round-over the edges. I placed the 690 motor into the hand-held base and flipped it up-side down on the sewing table and installed the 3/8" round-over bit....THEN....I reached for the extension chord and plugged the router in!
Whirllllllzipppppppp!!!!! the router came to life and like a startled duffas I instinctively reached and grabbed for the router to steady it! (spinning cutter and all!) BUT just as fast as I reached for it I snapped back my hand only to just slightly "feel" the spinning bearing.
What was even more stupid than grabbing at the router was the fact that I threw down the router's plug-in that I had in my hands...I should have simply "unplugged"it!

Later on, after what could have happened sunk in, I was thinking back to when my hand quickly pulled away from that spinning bit, I seem to remember feeling that I had someone special helping to pull my hand back! (It shore wasn't MY QUICK WIT)

[Bill Eshelman]

I just yesterday tried using a 3.5 inch raised panel bit for the first time. I had it up a bit too high on the second pass and it kicked my hand back directly into the metal edge of my table saws iron top. Bruised two fingers to the bone. I went to a friends shop tonight for a saftey lesson on router techniques. I was successful raising a panel tonight when I got home (Thanks Lou!). Still one scary bit though. Kicks like a mule, and bites even harder.

[Dan Gill]

Several stitches from a table-mounted router. I had been using a push block, but for some reason on this piece I put my hand on top of it. And it was a fairly small piece. The bit caught and threw the piece out from under my hand, which of course fell on the spinning bit. Doh!

This was early in my woodworking career, and is the main reason my daughter suggested I paint my shop cabinets red.

[Kevin Scott]

Last night I was cutting some double-stick tape so that I could adhere some small pieces to my workbench. The scissors were gummed up and wouldn't cut all the way through the tape. So I tried to rip the tape while I still had the scissor in my hand and ended up slicing my thumb pretty good.

I am just glad that all of my shop injuries thusfar have been pretty minor!

[Craig D Peltier]

I know what you mean about that, I plugged mine in once but was laying on side and immediately unplugged it.

I have a PC 690 router that does double duty as a hand-held and in a table. I have the "old" style 690 with the toggle on/off switch that means that when it's in the table you turn the toggle to "ON" and then plug the router into the table's on/off switch....No problem,works fine until you remove the motor for hand-held use and you forget that the toggle is still turned ON

I was making my wife a sewing table (4'x4') and had the table top set on some sawhorses and was going to round-over the edges. I placed the 690 motor into the hand-held base and flipped it up-side down on the sewing table and installed the 3/8" round-over bit....THEN....I reached for the extension chord and plugged the router in!
Whirllllllzipppppppp!!!!! the router came to life and like a startled duffas I instinctively reached and grabbed for the router to steady it! (spinning cutter and all!) BUT just as fast as I reached for it I snapped back my hand only to just slightly "feel" the spinning bearing.
What was even more stupid than grabbing at the router was the fact that I threw down the router's plug-in that I had in my hands...I should have simply "unplugged"it!

Later on, after what could have happened sunk in, I was thinking back to when my hand quickly pulled away from that spinning bit, I seem to remember feeling that I had someone special helping to pull my hand back! (It shore wasn't MY QUICK WIT)

[Ted Miller]

Using a slotted screwdriver to change the 220 plug on my TS and the screwdriver slipped and the blade cut into the middle of my left hand.

Cut a piece of 4" hose for some DC. A small pice of wire was showing and in the process of tighting down the hose clamp I scraped my palm just under my left thumb on that wire. Nice deep cut about 1/2" long.

Its incredible been using power tools my whole life and never even a scratch, but get me around some harmless, well harmless looking non power tool then breakout the first aid kit. My wife calls me "the walking wound". I still do not know what a chisel looks like, I am very afraid of those, very afraid, lol...