Be careful in your shops

[Charles Wilson]

I was in the hospital waiting room the yesterday waiting for my wife to get out of surgery (her foot, she's fine) and was talking to a lady and a man's mother. They were telling me that the lady's boyfriend (mother's son) was in an accident with a table saw.

Apparently, he was cutting shallow dadoes in a piece of of wood that he was working on for a project. The wood got caught against the fence awkwardly and shot back at him. The result was a deep cut going from the tip of his index finger to just past his middle knuckle, his thumb was split in half down to the middle knuckle as a result of the wood striking it, and he got hit in the gut.

Even though the injuries were pretty serious, I told them I thought he was still pretty lucky that that only happened (I recalled that SawStop video and the story about the older gentleman that I read about on here was killed by complications due to kickback).

Just a friendly reminder to be safe.

Regards,
Chuck

[Bill Wyko]

AMEN BROTHER! I have nightmares of having an injury like that.

[Chuck Lenz]

I think there are probably alot more accidents out there then there use to be because of this do it yourself craze, no one takes the time to read the manual and are in to big of a hurry to get the job done. Hard way to learn. I'm not saying it can't happen to the best of us that have alot of experience, but people that have little experience, over confident and in a hurry are doomed.

[John Myers]

In my last year in college I took a wood-shop class for the fun of it. One day I was at the table saw cutting a panel for a cabinet I was building. Several inches into the cut I noticed the blade was just barely showing on top. I did a dumb thing and reached down and tried to raise the blade while the saw was on, and in the middle of the cut.

The blade took hold of my panel and threw it across the shop. The panel crashed against a workbench.

Fortunately this was during lunch-time and there was only one other person in the shop with me. He walked over and picked up my panel, which now had a big gash on one side from the saw blade, and handed it back to me and said 'Nice glue job!'

No one was hurt, but it sure scared the #@8% out of me!

John

[Dan Lyman]

Always a good reminder. I have made my share of stupid mistakes with the TS. Let's just call it the learning curve. A couple of things I try to keep in mind. If it feels unsafe, it probably is, so stop and rethink. Keep good firm control of the stock, don't allow any wobbling, shifting twisting.

As for professionals, I'm not convinced. I had some braz cherry floors installed and the guy was free hand cutting boards and he was pretty darn close to the blade. Made me queasy. I questioned him about it but he just shrugged it off.

[Chuck Lenz]

As for professionals, I'm not convinced. I had some braz cherry floors installed and the guy was free hand cutting boards and he was pretty darn close to the blade. Made me queasy. I questioned him about it but he just shrugged it off.

Dan, I was on a jobsite one day where a guy was laying hardwood flooring and the air nailer bounced and nailed the guys finger to the floor, head of the nail right down to the bone. The home contractor had to cut him lose then take him to the hospital to yank it out. As with your story, in too big of a hurry.

[Ken Fitzgerald]

In 1968 while waiting to get drafted I held a multitude of jobs. While working in a chair factory where they manufactured upholstered chairs I worked first in the engineering department. Left there went to work elsewhere. Came back to the same factory and worked on the assembly line assembling hardwood frames. TWICE I had a pneumatic stapler with 2 1/4" staples bounce and fire a 2nd time ...once it stapled the forefinger and the one next it on my left hand to the hardwood frame I was working on....the 2nd time it did the exact same thing to my right hand....It didn't discriminate! Tools are dangerous even when outfitted with safety devices which this staple gun was......wasn't supposed to go off it the nose wasn't in contact with the wood....Tools are dangerous!

[Nathan Conner]

Well, since I have a knack for stupidity, I'll explain about my first job at a cabinet shop. I tend to hurt myself, then...get mad...and hurt myself worse.

I didn't disappoint.

I was nailing face edging onto the fronts of about 80 plywood shelves, and was getting careless. Little 1.5" pin brads. I saw one shine through on the top - had hit a knot in the solid wood. I knew it would be work for me to fill, but kept going, tipping the nailer a bit so that if it hit again, it wouldn't shine through. Nope, it didn't! Instead, I held up my finger and admired the nail stuck through my knuckle joint on my index finger. With a "F$@%!!!" I threw the pin nailer, aiming for a wall.

Of course, we had all our triggers taped for speed.

The hose caught the edge of the work table, wrapped around the vice, and swung back at me..."Bam!" Right into my thigh. Well, of course!

So, I limp into the office with TWO nails in me. The boss, laughing, took out 2 $100 bills - one for each nail. He said I could keep the cash, and he'd take them out with vice grips, or I could drive myself (a manual VW, of all things) 20 miles to the ER and have them do it. I opted for the ER.

This reminds me of my "worst" accident, a few years later. I was working as a carpet layer, (yeah, couldn't cut it long in the cabinet business) and on a slow day was assigned with another guy to move some carpet shelving from one warehouse to another. Showed up, and started climbing around the shelving like a couple of monkeys with framing hammers. Carpet shelving is REALLY heavy big metal beams that have to be knocked out of their seats from below with a hefty sledge or a lotta muscle and a framing hammer.

You can see where this is going, can't ya?

So, I was working along side this guy, we were chatting, enjoying the work, and right then about 12' off the ground. I went to really whomp on one (I'm swinging up, remember, from my knees to about waist high to knock these guys loose) when I discover, to my joy, that he'd already knocked that particular joint loose! So, the hammer bounces off the bottom, and before I know what's happening, I've hit myself in the face with the hammer.

It's right above my right eye, right on the edge of the eye socket, and I immediately can't see because of the blood in my eye. I scream out some cuss word and launch the hammer as hard as I physically can to the far side of the warehouse.

So, the hammer throw causes me to lose my balance and fall the 12' to the concrete floor, knocking myself unconscious. Of course.

I wake up to my co-worker, laughing still, about 3 or 4 minutes later. He can't breathe because he's laughing so hard, but he finally gets out: "That was by far the funniest thing I've EVER seen!"

12 stitches in the face - it was fine. The concussion got me a few days in bed.

So the moral is, when (because it's going to happen) you hurt yourself, react calmly, and fix the problem. There's always time to cuss and moan later, after you're out of harm's way.

[Jon Lanier]

I tried to find some of those old shop safty movies.. but the best I could find was here... not the same as I remember:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wYmDY...elated&search=

[Roy Hatch]

Did you ever get nailed? There's more than one way.
http://www.thisoldhouse.com/toh/phot...nailed?cnn=yes

Roy

[Steven Triggs]

As for professionals, I'm not convinced. I had some braz cherry floors installed and the guy was free hand cutting boards and he was pretty darn close to the blade. Made me queasy. I questioned him about it but he just shrugged it off.

The building next to our office building is being remodeled, and the other day I noticed the trim carpenter was using a miter saw with the blade guard removed. As though a completely exposed 12" blade isn't scary enough, when he used it he held the board on the right side of the blade using his left hand, so that each time he pulled the blade down his arm was diaganolly in front of it.

It looked like he was making a "how not to use a miter saw" video...

[Isaac Barnes]

Well, since I have a knack for stupidity, I'll explain about my first job at a cabinet shop. I tend to hurt myself, then...get mad...and hurt myself worse.

I didn't disappoint.

I was nailing face edging onto the fronts of about 80 plywood shelves, and was getting careless. Little 1.5" pin brads. I saw one shine through on the top - had hit a knot in the solid wood. I knew it would be work for me to fill, but kept going, tipping the nailer a bit so that if it hit again, it wouldn't shine through. Nope, it didn't! Instead, I held up my finger and admired the nail stuck through my knuckle joint on my index finger. With a "F$@%!!!" I threw the pin nailer, aiming for a wall.

Of course, we had all our triggers taped for speed.

The hose caught the edge of the work table, wrapped around the vice, and swung back at me..."Bam!" Right into my thigh. Well, of course!

So, I limp into the office with TWO nails in me. The boss, laughing, took out 2 $100 bills - one for each nail. He said I could keep the cash, and he'd take them out with vice grips, or I could drive myself (a manual VW, of all things) 20 miles to the ER and have them do it. I opted for the ER.

This reminds me of my "worst" accident, a few years later. I was working as a carpet layer, (yeah, couldn't cut it long in the cabinet business) and on a slow day was assigned with another guy to move some carpet shelving from one warehouse to another. Showed up, and started climbing around the shelving like a couple of monkeys with framing hammers. Carpet shelving is REALLY heavy big metal beams that have to be knocked out of their seats from below with a hefty sledge or a lotta muscle and a framing hammer.

You can see where this is going, can't ya?

So, I was working along side this guy, we were chatting, enjoying the work, and right then about 12' off the ground. I went to really whomp on one (I'm swinging up, remember, from my knees to about waist high to knock these guys loose) when I discover, to my joy, that he'd already knocked that particular joint loose! So, the hammer bounces off the bottom, and before I know what's happening, I've hit myself in the face with the hammer.

It's right above my right eye, right on the edge of the eye socket, and I immediately can't see because of the blood in my eye. I scream out some cuss word and launch the hammer as hard as I physically can to the far side of the warehouse.

So, the hammer throw causes me to lose my balance and fall the 12' to the concrete floor, knocking myself unconscious. Of course.

I wake up to my co-worker, laughing still, about 3 or 4 minutes later. He can't breathe because he's laughing so hard, but he finally gets out: "That was by far the funniest thing I've EVER seen!"

12 stitches in the face - it was fine. The concussion got me a few days in bed.

So the moral is, when (because it's going to happen) you hurt yourself, react calmly, and fix the problem. There's always time to cuss and moan later, after you're out of harm's way.

I know this is a serious thread, and I appreciate it...... but on the other hand that is one of the funniest things I have ever read on the internet.

[Nathan Conner]

Uhhh. Thanks, I think.

A quick temper does nothing other than make all those iffy situations in life go from bad to worse immediately. I've always wished I was the sort of person to just smile and back off, shaking my head and learning a lesson. Unfortunately, wishing that and being like that are two entirely different things. I could fill a book with stories of my unabashed idiocy, but who'd want to read it?

What I suspect is that I'm not the single person in the world to which all these things happen. Instead, it happens to everyone, a lot, and everyone else has the common sense God gave a goose and won't ADMIT to it.

I'll never learn.

The good news is, I don't think this Internet thing is really going to take off. It's just a fad, so no one will know of this stuff here in a few weeks.

[Chuck Lenz]

Nathan, when I was younger I had a pretty quick temper but as I have aged I've learned that it usually just makes a incident worse as you have said. It's better to just walk away and cool off before someone else gets hurt. Stuff happens, it's how you deal with it that matters.

[David Weaver]

I got stapled in the finger by a 1 1/2 inch stapler stapling particle board to pallets in a capbinet factory, but fortunately didn't end up with a picture like that.

I also got a nasty kickback about 3 inches above the groin as a beginner - off of a powermatic 66. I was lucky to be wearing jeans and a shirt over them so I didn't get cut, but I had a lump that lasted about 6 months. It was painful, but after I read some articles that explained the physical process of kickback, and saw some picture of people who got stuck in the head, or stuck with projectiles, I felt pretty lucky. I take it slow, use a splitter and grip tites now. It was a good lesson to learn early, and I was lucky out of laziness or maybe poor technique that I didn't try to hold onto the piece as it was making its initial u-turn across the blade, as the blade went entirely through the workpiece for about 5 inches. Still never did see any of it, just heard a "chunk" and remember it taking a few seconds to start feeling the pain.