Share your tool accidents or near misses

[DavidF]

Drilling a 3mm hole in a round bar with a cordless drill that was running too slow for the drill size so was making a meal of it. Grabbed the bar to support it and when the drill finally broke through with my full weight behind it it went straight into my finger that was directly behind the hole. Almost drilled right through my finger! blood everywhere. Still very conscious of where my other hand is when I am doing anything that requires two hands, that includes table saws and bandsaws.

 

[Mike Wilkins]

You know the scenario. Late at night, last thing to do before turning off the lights and going to the house, long tiring day. Trying my hand at using hand tools to cut tenons on the end of a rail. Workpiece in the vice, pushing with a chisel with the right hand; left hand was close by watching the action, when Mr. Chisel decided to exit the wood and introduce himself to my middle finger on the left hand. You know the finger. The one you use to give people the finger. Half the night in the emergency(a real adventure in itself), 7 stitches, and some real fine medical staff persons in the Pitt Country Memorial Hospital, and all is well. This happened in mid-August and I still have some soreness, but healing nicely.
Please folks; watch those fingers. I still have 10(barely). :thumbs_up

 

[Travis Porter]

" The funny thing is how these things have occurred, because it's always at the end of the day when I need just...one....more...cut. There's always a moment where time freezes and you realize that you are in the process of screwing up and there's no way out and then BAM!...it's over. I have had the same thing happen when I've fallen off a ladder, it's only one second or so long but it plays out in slow motion. "
__________________
Jimmy:mrgreen:

I've got to amen this one. Seems like its always on the last cut, or at the end of the day.

+ 1, especially time freezing.....

 

[Mark Stewart]

CNC boring machine at furniture plant 3/16 lead bit through little finger still has a hole in it tip of finger wiggles a bit. My faule boring between fingers (stupid ME)
Thanks MArk

 

[adowden]

The curse of the babyback ribs - as my children refer to it.

About three years ago I was ripping plywood 4" to make clamp racks - no not fine woodworking - just clamp racks. The plywood started out longer than wide, but as I ripped it, it became wider than long. I should have used the miter gauge, but it was the end of the day, one more cut ... blah, blah, blah. I had the ribs cooking on the stove for dinner. The board started coming off the rip fence so I though my hand could straighten it and I rotated my index finger into the blade. Thank goodness the blade was only 1/8" above the wood. It still looked like a CSI scene in the workshop. Five stitches and a $700 ER visit later, they fixed me up good. All I could think about is the tools that I could have bought with that money. I remember for the next two months, I got a sick feeling in my stomach and wobbling knees when I started up the tablesaw.

The next scariest accident (which didn't hurt me) was when I was ripping 1/4" strips on my new Minimax bandsaw with a brand new carbide blade that I had used for one week. A piece got stuck in the plastic insert and threw off the blade. The blade cut straight through the top two guides and left some teeth in the fence. The blade was toast, the guides were gone, and it scared the mess out of me. I still haven't made enough money to replace the carbide blade yet. The first thing I did do was make a good zero clearance insert for it.

Amy

 

[CarvedTones]

My first experience with turning several years ago, I bought a lathe for about $100 on eBay and a set of tools for about $10. I can't understand why anyone would pay more - they were of the finest quality:

:swoon:

I was not injured, but I did give up turning for a few years. My only trip to the ER was from a hand tool accident. I cut almost to the bone between the thumb and forefinger of my left hand cutting a cardboard tube (concrete form) with a Japanese saw. It was a Zeta blade, a super sharp disposable. Great little saw, but if you swing it instead of pull it, it's a ragged razor blade. I had a nasty bruise from an offcut TS projectile and I have had several small cuts from carving.

 

[G_ville_worker]

In the beginning of August I sliced about a dime size chunk out of my left thumb. I had been making some raised panels for some exposed sides of a bottom cabinet for a corner bar in my man room. I had been at it hard for a couple of hours. It was time for me to stop and I was getting tired. I looked around and decided I would rip down some boards so they would be ready to run through the jointer and planner the next time I got in the shop. On the last board I got bit by my Freud glue line rip blade. Using push sticks and everything. Got careless with where my left hand was and boy did I get a huge surprise. I stood there for a second in shock. Then I got angry at my self. My thumb was at an angle so it sliced off a piece like you were cutting meat on the bias. I was pretty lucky. It didn't hurt much and didn't bleed a lot. There was nothing to stitch so they cauterized it and wrapped it up. I was playing a gig on saxophone in Raleigh 4 hours later. Had to lay off of the guitar for about a month though. The missing chunk grew back much better than I thought it would. It is still tender though. You don't realize how much you use your thumb until you can't use it for 2 months. Try tying your shoes with out a thumb.

Moral of the story: be careful, and when you are at the end of a session and know you should quit for the day, do. Don't make that last cut, it will be the one that gets you.

 

[skeeter]

"You don't realize how much you use your thumb until you can't use it for 2 months. Try tying your shoes with out a thumb.:bcool:"

Man, is that ever true! Even with all these accidents and close calls, we still have been very lucky. Safety first!!

 

[Warren]

I, too, have had my share of kickbacks on the tablesaw. Quite good bruises from all of them. However, my best was the "kickback or jerk thorugh" on the router table. I was using a panel raising bit to bevel some drawer fronts freehand. All went well until I tried to rout a 1 1 /2 x 15 inch piece. Should not do this free hand!! The bit jerked the board and my finger through the spinning bit. It only took 5 stitches to close the cut, but the fingermail was customized to never return to normal. Needless to say, I now have a number of sleds to hold small parts and keep my hands far away from the bits. Other than that, my other mistakes have not been body part modifying, just painful.

As the comedian Brother Dave Gardner once said: "I don't believe in accidents. It's simply premediated carelessness". :gar-La;
Warren

 

[bigcat4t9r]

WARNING - ADULT CONTENT :wink_smil

Not exactly woodworking related, but I'm far enough removed to still laugh about it.

In college, worked at Thomas Bus installing A/C condensers under the side of the bus. Pre-undercoat, so I had to spray epon before I could do the install. I sprayed with a cup-style gun (of course, in retrospect, they only supplied me with a paper mask i.e. no respirator) and the stuff was very nasty and carcinogenic for that matter. Only things that could get the drips and overspray off was naptha or thinner - always used naptha b/c it didn't burn as bad.

Had a few problems with the cup on the gun coming off and making a mess, so I had to rig it by using duct-tape.

Soooooo, one day I'm under the bus and spraying and I'm almost done and the cup plops off and lands right in my lap. I immediately roll out and pull my pants down, wearing boxers, and of course the fly had opened up - let's just say I dipped my quill in the company ink that day. :tinysmile_cry_t: Put on some coveralls and headed over to my granny's house which was nearby the plant with some naptha. Got in the tub and worked on getting everything off but was putting off taking the "top" off....suddenly started feeling a burning sensation and it wasn't 'roids, so went ahead and polished the epon off. FYI, I couldn't even pee straight.

I started burning and the pain was unbearable - burning me up. :kamahlitu My poor granny didn't know what to do, she was giving me lotion....then broke off an aloe plant....nothing worked. It was intolerable. After ~15 minutes, my mom came from work and was getting ready to take me to the ER when she gave me Lanacane, which has a topical analgesic...AAAHHHH!!!!!!! :cry_smile That fixed it. I was pretty sore and after a few weeks, to put it diplomatically, my snake shed its skin. :embarrassed: No problems after that.

Got back to the plant, and my boss said I should thank him for saving my job because the plant manager was going to fire me for leaving without punching out/asking to leave. Needless to say, I went on an expletive laced tirade. :argue: Still ****ed off that I didn't consider some sort of recourse, but my 2 boys are turning out OK.:evil:

I can joke about it now, but I affectionately refer to that as my "industrial accident". Nothing like that to motivate you to hit the books when I got back to college.

 

[flatheadfisher]

My friend's dad built houses back in the day. He had a man working for him who cut off three fingers using a radial arm saw. They sewed them back on. Later that year, he was demonstrating how he managed to cut his three fingers off and managed to cut two of the three off (again) during the demonstration... :BangHead:

 

[wildbill1943]

I have used staple guns on communication installations for more than forty years. I was given an EZ stapler for Christmas with the exit in the reverse of where my staplers had for years. While holding two small pieces together with one hand, I reached behind me and grabbed the new stapler to put a 5/8 inch brad to hold the pieces together. As I pressed the handle, I felt an extreme pain in my left finger next to the pinkie finger. I had grabbed that stapler backwards and shot a 5/8 inch brad through the finger, thankfully missing the bone. Imagine trying to find a pair of pliers (finally used a pair of diagonal cutters) to remove the brad and get the first aid kit open to stop the bleeding with one hand.:BangHead:

 

[reprosser]

I started turning about a year ago. One of my first projects was a set of cookie cutters to deliver to my new daughter-in-law with our first visit. (Yeah, you know where this is going)

One of the things they tell you when turning is never move the tool rest with the lathe running - and, turns out there is a good reason for that...

I had pretty much finished up the second cutter, it was a little after midnight, and I just needed to clean up one little edge before sanding and bedtime. I had moved the tool rest out of the way to start sanding, but thought I could just slide it back over for a touch up. I left the cookie cutter with the sharp edge spinning and tried to slide the rest back over with my right hand. It got bound up on the ways so I used my left hand to give it a tug. Of course, it immediately came free and slide all the way over and into the spinning wood - with my left hand between the wood and tool rest.:eusa_doh:

I felt a bump, and then rebounded away from the wood. No pain, so I adjusted the tool rest and went to make my cut when I decided to check the fingers on my left hand. Yep, a nice gash across the 2nd knuckle of my index finger that looked like I could see bone when I flexed it. Finger still worked (now bleeding profusely), and I thought maybe a tight band aid would let me finish up the project...but it did not work out. Had to wake up the wife, spend 3-4 hours at emergency for 3 stitches, and miss a nights sleep. No permanent damage, but now I turn off the lathe before moving the tool rest...well, usually anyway. (I at least think about it.:mrgreen: )

I was lucky to only need 3 stiches. It COULD have been much worse. It SHOULD have been a non-issue if I had followed the safety rules, not made the last cut, or gone to bed sooner.:eusa_naug

She liked the cutters - uses this one for baking biscuits. (I got most of the blood stains off)

I bought my first table saw a couple of days ago - A SawStop cabinet saw. Safety has become a top priority in my older age.

Be Safe!:icon_cheers