Today I gave new meaning to carving turkey....

[Michael Costa]

I always joke about safety coming in 2nd place to having a wicked pissah time. Today that caught up with me.

This morning I was milling down 2x stoch to 1" thickness on my table top jointer. I got lazy and started to pull the pieces thru instead of push them thru.

When I went to pull a board my hand slipped off the piece of wood and my jointer decided to take the top of my left middle finger off.

I'm home alone as my wife is visiting her mother. After pacing around a bit, I sat down, lit a cigarette and bled while dreading the ER. I didn't even look at my finger until after my cigarette. I didn't want to know how bad it was.

I got myself together (my house looks like a murder scene), light wrapped the hanging chunk of beef in paper towels and spent 3 hours there while they sowed my finger back together. It was the entire pad, didn't catch bone (I don't think).

Moral of this story. Don't smoke! It's bad for you.
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And these aren't the good pictures.

[Zac wingert]

As uncomfortable as it is, it’s always educational and a reminder to hear of these type of accidents as a reminder and wake up call to always be careful. I hope your finger is ok.

Whats interesting is is I had a table saw accident (didn’t get stitches but took a month to heal and refused to go to the Er) with what sounds like similar damage to my thumb a few months ago and my reaction was the same: wrapped it up in paper towels, paced around, refused to look at the damage for a good amount of time. I didn’t like a cigarette, but opened a beer as a way of trying to avoid addressing my situation. Hope it works out for you

[Philipp Jaindl]

Aye good reminder that Routine jobs, rushing and generally getting lazy and not paying full attention can go south rather fast. I had some close calls on the Jointer aswell, its easier to slip on roughsawn wood than you'd like sometimes.

speedy recovery to you Michael.

[Frederick Skelly]

My God Mike! I'm so sorry to hear you were injured. I hope it heals quickly and that the pain is manageable.
Fred

[Jim Morgan]

Yee-ouch! Sorry to hear about your accident. While you are healing, you may find these (https://www.amazon.com/dp/B004G8MY60?ref=yo_pop_ma_swf) useful. DAMHIKT.

[Brian Holcombe]

Sorry to see this, Michael. I wish you a speedy recovery.

[Matt Day]

I’m sorry to hear about your injury too! Heal up fast!

Hope you learned your lesson. I’ve never even heard of anyone pulling material through a jointer. Probabaly does a poor job too. Maybe this is an excuse to buy a bigger heavier, safer, jointer that’s not in a bench. Seems a bench top unit would be too high to properly apply downward force.

[Ken Fitzgerald]

Michael, so sorry to hear of your injury! Here's wishing you a speedy and complete healing!

Distractions and inattention can be dangerous when working wood! I know, a few years ago I was routing lap joints in 2x4s for my lumber rack. I had a welcomed phone call indicating a family member had successfully come through a complicated surgery. I shut off my plunge router, unlocked it, flipped it over and as I looked across the room at the phone thinking of the call, I pushed down on the router base plate. The pattern bit hadn't stopped spinning yet. The floor in my shop looked like your photo. A couple hours later, and 14 stitches in my wrist, I was home. Luckily for me, there was little nerve damage and even the small numb spot in the palm of my hand eventually went away.

[Brian Holcombe]

Slightly off-topic but it's worth putting a sign on your door also when you're in. I've had a rash of people walking up behind me and startling me lately, so I may be forced to take my own advice.

I remember my father making it incredibly clear to everyone in the house that when he was working he was not to be startled. Not that you could not walk into the shop, but just stand on the side until he notices you and he would stop what he was doing.

On-topic: I've been using a gripper push block and that has been very good, really happy with it as I sometimes joint a lot of small pieces when doing box work (thin, not short) and important to adhere to the minimum length recommendations of the manufacturer. I use the same block on my bandsaw.

[Matt Day]

I’ve tried some of the Grr Ripper push blocks as well and they are great.

I think it was Van who came up with this, but I attached a mending plate to my stock jointer push blocks and it makes a world of difference.

[Mark Hennebury]

Michael, i hope that you heal quickly.

Could you take a photo of your jointer and the placement of your stock and hand at the time of this accident.

I often dress lumber from either end of my jointer. it is a 20" wadkin, so a little different situation to yours. But i am interested to see how your accident happened.

The closest I came to getting injured was when i was working in another shop and one of the other employees decided to "help" as he was walking past; I was minding my own business happily zipping 2 x 8 x 10' from the "correct " end concentrating on what i was doing, when the guy grabbed the end coming off of the outfeed and pulled it, startling me and almost causing an accident.

[Michael Costa]

The gripper push block I have doesn't grip. I'm going to either buy or make push blocks that will hook onto the end of the wood.

I've also decided to buy a Dewalt planer. I'm doing that later today. I've been wanting one and this is motivation to do so. If I wasn't making a million passes on the jointer this wouldn't have happened. That and stupidity.

And, at the top center of the fence (just above where it says "warning blade between these two points") I affixed my hospital wrist band and have no choice but to see it. A reminder every time I use it now.

[Jim Becker]

Sad that you had this accident. 'Hope you heal fast!

It's so easy to "have a moment" that goes wrong, so it's important to develop "a paced routine" that will help reduce the change of a repeat "moment".

[Dan Friedrichs]

Wouldn't have taken much for this have been the start of you spending the rest of your life unable to type, shake hands, write, press buttons, etc.

[Bill McNiel]

I cannot believe you stopped to take a picture.

[Mel Fulks]

Amazing what the Docs and nature do with that type of mess. Squish it together ,slap on some gauze and tape ,and you
head home and finger assumes former shape. I think they call it "granulating". But a grinding like that sure hurts when you are trying to sleep. Glad it was
not worse!

[Nick Decker]

"I'm going to either buy or make push blocks that will hook onto the end of the wood."

This is what I usually use on my jointer. Gravity-activated hooks that stay out of the way when you don't need them.

https://www.amazon.com/GRR-RIP-BLOCK-Pushblock-Router-Jointer/dp/B00DNX3N7S/ref=sr_1_7?s=hi&ie=UTF8&qid=1543019982&sr=1-7&keywords=gripper+push+block

[Matt Day]

I've also decided to buy a Dewalt planer. [....] If I wasn't making a million passes on the jointer this wouldn't have happened.

Something is wrong here. Are you jointing every side of your stock?

And why are you “pulling” material over the jointer?

[Mel Fulks]

I consider a wooden block with nail points for grab the safest push block. Hand is not on cliff edge, and material is held down, and not rocking freely according to the boards current geometry.

[David Utterback]

Sorry to hear about your injury. I had one very similar self-inflicted injury years ago with a pair of pruning shears. It was attached with a few stitches and now I can hardly tell that it cut. When I looked around the ER at other people needing more intensive treatment, I could not help but feel a bit sheepish with a cut finger. Hope you heal right away.

+1 on the gripper.

[Richard Coers]

Are you going to make a sled to handle twist and cup in the planer? Because a planer will not make a flat board by itself.

[Zac wingert]

About the planer, I agree. I have only a benchtop jointer as well. If the project doesn’t use traditional joinery, and is largely uses screws as fastener’s, I only joint one edge of each board to rip down the other side with the tablesaw, and just plane it down to size flipping it over. You don’t get perfect boards but close enough for some projects. It’s life with a tiny jointer until you can get a bigger one.

[Michael Costa]

Some comments and answers to questions....

Believe it or not, it doesn't hurt.

Richard, no clue about the sled yet. I just bought the planer last night.

Bill, I took several pictures. I didn't post the good ones. I paced around my garage bleeding everywhere for about 10 minutes. Never once looking at it. Then I sat down to have a cigarette while dreading the ER and not wanting to know the damage. I didn't even elevate my arm because I didn't want blood running down it. I just let my arm hang at my side. It was about 20 minutes before I decided to even look at it.

Matt, I had a stack of 24" 2x4s that I was milling down to 1" thickness. They were on the left side of my jointer. I got lazy and stupid so I started pulling them because it was quicker.

I was making a million passes making 1" stock. My dust collection kept clogging so I was taking shallow cuts. All the "huh?" questions come down to one answer: stupidity.

[Jim Becker]

Michael, on that last item, keep in mind that you cannot effectively use a jointer to mill stock to even thickness...a jointer is for flattening the face and straightening the edge relative to that flat face. Thicknessing really has to be done with the planer you intend to purchase. :)

[Matt Day]

Michael, on that last item, keep in mind that you cannot effectively use a jointer to mill stock to even thickness...a jointer is for flattening the face and straightening the edge relative to that flat face. Thicknessing really has to be done with the planer you intend to purchase. :)

That point seems to be being overlooked. Does the OP have a planer?

[Jim Becker]

That point seems to be being overlooked. Does the OP have a planer?

He stated he wants to buy one in post number 12 of this thread.

[sean meltvedt]

My favorite push block is actually a gum rubber epoxy grout float. They are relatively inexpensive, stick well, and very rigid.
Ymmv
cheers
Sean

[Michael Costa]

I bought the Dewalt 735 the next day. I've been wanting it for many months and this was certainly motivation to get it. Im certain my medical bills will surpass the cost. This has now put my table saw purchase on hold as I'm more keen on the Saw Stop idea. Finger seems to be healing nicely although I'm baffled by the complete lack of pain.