Safety reminder, with pictures.

[Aaron Berk]

Ok so here goes...
I'm sanding circles on my belt/disk sander. I've got a simple little jig that pivots on a screw through the table on the sander, and a block clamped to the table with an adjustment screw to limit how much I sand off my circles. The circle gets mounted to the jig by just dropping over a finish nail that protrudes up through the jig. You can see it all in the pic, just thought I'd elaborate.
Well I'm on my very first circle (I've got about 16 to do) and realized I needed to change out the PSA and put some fresh 80 grit on. After about 3 rotations of the circle a thought flashes through my head about a finger getting caught between the work piece and the sanding disk. I reflect on that for a second and think nah, I'll be fine sand paper doesn't hurt:rolleyes:....much. Just jerk my hand back real fast and all I'll get is a slight nail buffing like from a nail salon. So I mentally pat myself on the back for doing that little mental risk assesment and continue my circle sanding.
Well what do you think happened next?

wait for it

wait for it

ok

WHAM:eek:

There goes my finger nail, fresh 80 grit takes half a milli second to shed through finger nail and into flesh. ouch!
Lessen learned, keep hands further away, and rotate circles clock wise next time.
Heres the pics, enjoy:D
Oh and this all happend about 15 miniuts ago, Thought you guys should be the first to know.

[keith ouellette]

Did it feel like it burned for a few seconds? They don't make emery boards out of 80 grit for that very reason.

[Aaron Berk]

The burn came a little later, I think the blood flow out my finger tip had a cooling effect:D
I used to joke with my daughter about using my powered sander for her nails, shes always primping her fingers. Guess the jokes on me now!

[Mark Norman]

I bet that smarted for a minute:eek:

[Chris Tsutsui]

It was unfortunate that I had to click on the pic of your finger and have it blown up in size.

Now I'm going to respect my sanding station a bit more...

I've got like 120 grit on a 9" disc, and a 6" wide belt... I've seen what it does to wood and I sort of imagined in my head what it would do to flesh.

I'm very glad that your injury didn't show that it ground your finger to the bone... Then you'd probably would have skipped the posting and went to the doctor. heh

[Kyle Kraft]

Way back when I was an apprentice I pulled a similar stunt while deburring the edges of a piece of 16ga. sheet metal on the 6 x 48 belt sander. My workpiece got sucked down between the table and the belt giving my right thumb a nice manicure.

I got a kick out of "attached thumbnails" wording above the pics in your post...kind of ironic;)

Get well soon!!

[Aaron Berk]

I got a kick out of "attached thumbnails" wording above the pics in your post...kind of ironic;)

Get well soon!!


LOL! I hadn't even thought of that one. But yeah I sure am glad my "attached thumbnails" didn't come detached!

[John Shuk]

Yup I've done that. It hurts too. Luckily it wasn't a saw blade though.

[Narayan Nayar]

I commend your 9-finger typing skills. :)

Hope you heal up soon.

[Karl Brogger]

LOL, I have had that exact injury before. Ahh, good times...

[Ryan Griffey]

You could put some thin leather gloves on for that chore. If I'm doing anything touchy with my 8" bench grinder or belt sander I throw some gloves on for added protection.

[Rick Fisher]

I massaged my knuckle on a 9" disc one time. Turns out the bone is really white.

I found it remarkably fast and equally as painful. Took a long time to heal..

Good reminder ..

[Judy Kingery]

Aaron,

Rapid healing to you, yep, did that once. Just quick as a blink of the eye sanded off my fingertip, just a touch. That's all it takes so yep, I now have perhaps a better respect for the belt sander. Always have had for saws, drills, etc. Thanks for the reminder!

Heal soonest!

Jude

[Todd Hoppe]

I did that on an old shopsmith once in my teens. It was really painful.

[Brian Kerley]

I remember my first day of shop glass when the teacher showed us the disc/belt sander combo machine. He turned it on, and was explaining things and put his hand on the belt sander portion and said "this part won't hurt ya if your hands hit it" and then he pointed at the disc sander and said "i'm not going to do the same thing with the disc, because that will tear your hand up". Remember it like it was yesterday. I've been fortunate to not have any real injuries. Hope you heal up quick

[Kevin Godshall]

There is an excellent point/reminder in your retelling that none of us should miss:

When the thought came into your head of the potential risk/injury of what you were doing, you did exactly what the majority of us would do: "Not to me it won't happen".

I'm slowly (repeat, slowly) getting into the discipline of turning off a machine and stepping back EVERY time a thought like that pops into my head and asking myself some very serious questions:

Is it possible that this risk or injury exists?

Is it really worth it to do it this way, or is there a better way?

Sometimes I go ahead and proceed as planned. Sometimes I have to change my course of action. No injury is a good injury, and we lose time and quality when we have to work around a bandaged finger or worse.

Glad your injury wasn't more serious. Hope you heal quickly and well. Thanks for sharing.