OMG I almost lost a finger!

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Ncdawgs1882

New User
Jonathan
Wow what a crazy day! I almost got in two car wrecks & then I injured my pointer finger on the Miter saw! I'm usually very careful & aware of my surroundings! But today was just an off day, but a refreshing wake up call! I was cutting a piece of wood with my miter saw & I went to grab it two seconds too early the blade was still spinning, not too fast but guess it doesn't take much! its a deep cut but I still have my finger! thank god! None the less a few valuble lessons learned today!
 

RandyJ

Randy
Corporate Member
Jonathan, I'm glad you didn't lose any fingers and managed to avoid the collisions. Be thankful things turned out well and hopefully learn from your mistakes.
Take care,
 

Gotcha6

Dennis
Staff member
Corporate Member
Don't feel like the Lone Ranger. Cut my left pinkie last Mon. Had to get 1 tendon sewed back together this AM. Got a splint halfway to my elbow & a Rx for Vicadin. Typing's a drag. Knives & saws ain't vegetarians.......:thumbs_do
 

waltv

New User
Walt
Jonathan,

I hope you are doing OK now.

I've been at this game for over 40 years, but about 6 months ago I tried to move a bit of waste from the table saw with a push stick before the blade stopped spinning. Sure enough, it moved into the spinning blade and threw the piece at me. I had a black and blue bruise on my belly for two weeks. Could have been worse. I could have put my hand on the piece!

Lesson: Don't touch anything near the blade when it's moving....ever!
 

TracyP

Administrator , Forum Moderator
Tracy
Hope it heals well. I lost two finger tips to a hydraulic wood splitter in 1993. I feel your pain literally.
Tracy
 

Bas

Recovering tool addict
Bas
Corporate Member
Good to hear the damage was limited. Probably the most common mistake, turning the tool off but not waiting for it to come to a complete stop.

I was cutting a dado in a piece of plywood recently. I turned the saw off, but pulled the piece back before the blade had stopped. No injuries, but the piece jumped out of control and the blade sheared a shallow semi-circle on the plywood. Since it was for a shop cabinet, I filled the groove with epoxy rather than cutting a new piece. It will be a constant reminder to be careful.

That's the key part. Never losing concentration. Hard to do all the time.
 

LeftyTom

Tom
Corporate Member
Jonathan, I am very leery of spinning machinery: my late father lost his right hand in an accident at Hooker Furniture. The machine has almost stopped, when he reached to push the last piece of wood, and his hand was pulled into the moulder.
 

JOAT

New User
Theo
I'm a bit puzzled. Personally, I consider my miter saw probably the scariest machine in my shop. I always make sure were my fingers are before I grab the handle, turn it down, and pull it down to cut. But it has a blade guard that doesn't move up until the handle is pulled down, and moves back over the blade when the handle goes back up. So once the blade is up again it'd be pretty hard for me to get cut by the blade. So, unless you reached over with the non-handle plan, while the handle was still being held down, I don't understand just how you got hurt.
 

Ncdawgs1882

New User
Jonathan
I'm a bit puzzled. Personally, I consider my miter saw probably the scariest machine in my shop. I always make sure were my fingers are before I grab the handle, turn it down, and pull it down to cut. But it has a blade guard that doesn't move up until the handle is pulled down, and moves back over the blade when the handle goes back up. So once the blade is up again it'd be pretty hard for me to get cut by the blade. So, unless you reached over with the non-handle plan, while the handle was still being held down, I don't understand just how you got hurt.

Yeah my left hand was on the handle/trigger & as I was lifting it up the guard haddent completely covered the blade & I was grabbing the wood with my right hand middle finger & thumb (for some odd reason!) my pointer finger was pointing up & just caught the blade before it stopped spinning and the guard had a chance to cover up the blade! It was a very amature mistake But from what everyone said in the post these type of things can happen to the most experienced woodworker. My goal now is everytime I walk into my shop is to practice safety 100% of the time! It always has been but now I have a new found respect for my power tools!
 
J

jeff...

Glad your OK that's the important thing...

A few years ago I cut the tip of my thumb clean off with my table saw. Thank GOD my thumb tip grew back. I didn't go to the doctor until 4 days later. I just wrapped it up real good and went back out to the shop to search for the tip of my thumb. I couldn't find it but a few days later one of my sons did, it was nasty. I never really felt any pain, till I went to the doctor. My doctor was amazed that there was no infection and everything grew back like normal. I still have no feeling in that thumb tip, but I'm not complaining one bit. I consider myself healed by GOD and blessed big time. My doctor was simply amazed, said it's very unusual to have a nub grow back like that.

Hope your heals well...
 

Gofor

Mark
Corporate Member
Jonathan: I hope the finger heals quickly, but also, thank you for the post and the others for their responses. If this thread makes just a few of us think twice before running on auto, you will have saved someone else pain.

Go
 

Gotcha6

Dennis
Staff member
Corporate Member
Jeff, apparently your doc didn't know his job. He's just supposed to keep us entertained while God heals us up. Can I git a 'amen' anybody?
 

JOAT

New User
Theo
Ah. I normally hold the wood with my left hand, and oerate the switch/handle with my right. Then release the handle when it's all the way up, and reach for the wood with my right hand.

Also, I raised the bed/base on my saw a couple of inches. Get a wider cut that way. The left side is flat, and the right angled, so when the cut is complete, the cut piece slides down. When I'm making cuplicate size cutoffs I used stopblocks, can make a cut, the cut slides out of the way, slide the piece I'm cutting to the right with my left hand, cut, repeat. I only cut up to about 6" wide pieces with it, no more than 1" or so thick, so I'm thinking of adding a tall bridge over it on the left side of the blade, so to get my hand in the blade, I'd have to really work at it. I'm a firm believer in keeping my body parts out of the whirly thingies. I don't know if other people would consider it safe, but if I'm not sure how close my fingers will be to the blade, I pull the handle down, NOT turned on, and look. If it looks like my fingers will be too close to the blade for my commfort, I move my hand, or toss the piece of wood as too small to safely cut.

I've never had a kickback on a tablesaw, but still always stand out of line with the blade until the blade has totally stopped spinning. And do not reach for the blade even then, unless the saw is unplugged. I use a sawsled when ever possible. Or, often opt for a circular saw and a straight edge.
 
M

McRabbet

Jonathan, you are very fortunate that you didn't sustain a much more serious and maiming injury. I use a hold-down clamp on my CMS whenever possible and avoid cutting and pieces that will put my hands closer than 4" from the blade. I also keep the saw head down with the guard covering the cut until the blade stops (my Porter-Cable has a pretty good blade brake), and then lift it. I never cut cross handed as you can lose control too easily. Use stops for repeat cuts and a hold-down.

JOAT -- While I understand that raising the bed will allow a wider board to be cut, the platform should extend both sides of the blade to provide support and never (as I've seen some idiots do) raise the front edge of a piece of stock with yous hands to get that wider cut -- too easy for serious kickback.

I also avoid any miter cuts where a short piece against a stop is on the side of the acute angle as it can get trapped, caught and shot out like a bullet. I cut shorter pieces like that on the complementary side (e.g., at 135 degrees versus a "trap cut" at 45 degrees).

Dual laser beams help the accuracy, too. And finally, a good sharp crosscut blade is essential. I have a 96 tooth Freud Ultimate Crosscut in my CMS and it cuts like glass.
 

JOAT

New User
Theo
Rob. I used a strip of 1/4" plywood, slightly taller than the metal fence, and drilled 4 holes thru the metal, and used T-nuts, and bolts, to hold it. Then a slightly lower strip of 1/2" plywood glued, to make a ledge about 1' to the right of the blade, and 2'+ on the left. The glued 4 chunks of 2X4 2 high, to make the left side. On the right I used 3, made a planer sled to hold it, and planed it at an angle, for the right. Glued them to the 1/2" plywood, joining at the blade. Stop blocks are clamped at 1' to the left, the pieces I cut are from 6" wide plywood, and 3/4" to 5". So the maximum cut as is, about 6 3/4", works out nicely. The piece is supported by the lip, until the cut is complete, then it tips down, and slides off - usually on the floor, gotta rig a catcher of some type. All of my cutting is straight up and down, at a 90 degree angle, no angle cuts of any type. I got the saw for exactly what I'm using it for, and it does it's job well. Did take a bit of minor tuning to get an accorate cut, but is doing fine now. The best part, it's one of those 10" non-sliders from Harbor Freight. I've had it several months now, use it about every day, and like it. I think it cost $69, plus tax. Might not be for everyone, but works for me. If I were to make another, the only thing I would change is to use 1/2" plywood instead of 1/4", and possibly use 1-3 thicknesses of 1/2" plywood for the lip rather than just one.
 

cskipper

Moderator
Cathy
Glad you didn't have a more serious injury. It is easy to forget things like waiting until the blade has stopped... Thanks for the reminder about shop safety.
 

LeeNC

New User
Lee
Thanks for the reminder. My wife was not so gently nudging me this morning to hurry up and finish a bed for my youngest son. When I get in the shop again I will spend some more time making sure I am safe as I “hurry up”. Kind of like speeding on the road, the time it takes the officer to write the traffic ticket really cuts down on the time you save going fast. Last time I had to go to an ER it was several hours before we were home again. Never mind a few weeks off letting a serious injury heal.
Lee
 
M

McRabbet

There is a very good article on Miter Saws by Marc Adams in the April 2008 issue of Popular Woodworking that covers many of the safe operation issues discussed in this thread. Good reading.
 
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