Be careful! (A warning picture)

[T.J. Mahaffey]

For the record, I pride myself on wearing my safety glasses religiously.
But I'll be upgrading to a full face shield after today's little 'mishap'.
I'm posting this to reiterate to anyone who isn't as careful or even those of you who are. No matter how careful you are, accidents can still happen. If you're already careful, go the extra mile anyway.

http://workshop.tjmahaffey.com/workshop/img/tmp/lip.jpg

I fixed up a motor and pulley arbor this weekend so I could start experimenting with an MDF honing wheel. (Per some rave reviews from folks on the Old Tools list.) The arbor and wheel are mounted so that the wheel spins AWAY from me. For SAFETY.

Well, long story short, it seems my 6" wheel wasn't on center (aka "true"). This in itself wasn't such a problem. This could have been trued up with a tool while spinning. But that coupled with a poor tool rest (I think), I had a roughing gouge fly out of my hands and *bounce* off my bench and up to my face.

The picture above was taken a few minutes ago. We just got back from the local MediQuick where I had to have 4 stitches.

(I'm quite embarrassed about this, but it could have been ALOT worse. So, I'm counting myself lucky.)

[Ken Fitzgerald]

T.J........Working in hospitals daily, I've seen the results of all kinds of accidents. You can never be too rich or too safe! Thanks for posting so others might learn without the experience. Glad you weren't hurt any more seriously!

[Brian Hale]

Boy, is that gonna hurt in the morning!

I'm real sorry this happened to you but, as you said, it could have been a LOT worse. Get well soonest.

Brian

Let's Be Careful Out There!

[Don Baer]

TJ,
That looks very painful. Thank goodness it wasn't worse. Thank goodness it didn't get you in the eye.

I cut my circles out on my bandsaw and they come out perfectly round and the guide I use is a small hole in the center that I spin the stock on is the pilot for the center should I need to drill a whole in the center.

I also wear a face shield a lot more then I used to. Thanks for the reminder.

[Richard Wolf]

Fast recovery.

Richard

[Jim Becker]

Ouch. I hope you heal fast.

BTW, a roughing gouge is ONLY for spindle work where the material you are turning has the grain parallel to the axis of the rotation. Never use it on anything in "face plate" orientation. (grain perpendicular to the axis of turning)

[Dave Fifield]

Ouch! Glad you weren't hurt more seriously TJ. Looks like you'll have a small scar though.

I posted my tablesaw kickback accident a short while back - I think we can all learn from each other here - safety is priority #1 in my shop now.

I watched 3 Sawstop demos yesterday. I'm convinced. My next new saw will have that technology in it for sure.

[Reg Mitchell]

WOW T.J sorry about the accident. That is the reason I don't have a lathe. I imagin just that very thing happening and I am sure they're lots of ppl that use them and never have any problems.....but it's not for me

[Vaughn McMillan]

Dang, that's nasty, TJ. I hope it heals quickly. These painful reminders are helpful to the rest of us.

- Vaughn

[Howard Barlow]

Nothing to be embarassed about, TJ. Glad it wasn't worse. I hope for a speedy recovery.

[Dennis Peacock]

TJ.....

If you're needing to sharpen some tools? Bring them up here to me and I'll sharpen them for you. Now....go and may you quickly heal.

[Jim Davenport]

I sure hope it heals quickly.
It only takes a moment of inattention to have disasterous effects. Three weeks ago I was at my frends house helping him install a new regulator on his compressor. He was replacing a HF el cheapo with a little better unit. We planned on using the same bracket. I was late to go home and go out to dinner, so of course I was rushing. I would add that I'm left handed, and my friend of course is right handed. Well I was going to grind a couple of notches out of the bracket with a 4 1/2" angle grinder. Being in a rush, I didn't change the handle to the other side. The Grinder caught and sliced into the heal of my right hand. We spent four hours and twelve stitches at the "ER". Missed Dinner. and got a severe reprimand from "SWMBO". That was probably worse than the stiches.:(

[tod evans]

ouch! hope you get better soon!.02 tod

[Bernie Weishapl]

TJ glad you weren't hurt worse. Going to hurt in the morning. Heal fast.

[Marcus Ward]

Just tell yourself, "Chicks dig scars."

[T.J. Mahaffey]

Thanks for your thoughts, guys.
For the record, though, this didn't happen with a lathe.

It was a lathe tool, yes, but I was working with a 6" MDF wheel on a spinning arbor.

[T.J. Mahaffey]

Well, chicks may dig scars, but its my chick I'm concerned about. :o

I'm honestly more concerned about the relentless ribbing I'm going to get at work.

Seriously, I consider myself very, very lucky to:

1. Still have all my teeth.

2. Not had the tool fly 6" lower near my throat.

Thing is, the doctor said, judging from the laceration, that my lip was torn open, not cut directly. <shrug></shrug>

[Jim Hager]

Are you sure that you weren't being a smart alec to your wife and she smacked you in the kisser??:p :p

Stuff being thrown by tools is one of my worst fears working with the kids at school. One of my friends came by the shop the other day and was needing to cut a couple of pieces of plywood. He got a bad kickback on the table saw and smacked his left hand pretty bad with the panel he was cutting.

Like your incident his was really sore. Heal fast and next time duck!!

[Ron Jones near Indy]

Another lesson learned by all of us from the misfortune of one of us. Hope they gave you some pain meds. I think that is going to be really sore for a while. Thanks for reminding us. Glad it wasn't worse.

[john tomljenovic]

incidents like TJ's is what scares me away from wood lathes. shoving a sharp steel into a spinning hunk of wood with mostly your hands keeping it in place sounds like a bad time in the making. understanding TJ was not on a lathe per-say, but it was a lathe tool that hit him anyway.

get well TJ and thanks for the lesson. never let your guard down.....

[Bob Noles]

TJ......OUCH X 10

Thanks for the reminder. My Trend face shield is on order and the sooner it gets here the better after seeing this thread :eek:

[Jay Knoll]

TJ

Take care and heal quickly! I don't quite understand what the MDF thing was you were trying to use as a sharpening tool, but I don't think I want to try it

Jay

[Matt Meiser]

That looks VERY painful. Hope you have good drugs for in the morning.

[Mark Singer]

Hope you are doing well! That kind of accident can happen to any of us...things just happen...

[T.J. Mahaffey]

TJ

Take care and heal quickly! I don't quite understand what the MDF thing was you were trying to use as a sharpening tool, but I don't think I want to try it

Jay
Jay, this incident is not a criticism of the concept.
The idea is to use a wheel made of MDF, charged with compound, to hone an edge tool.

The problem isn't in the idea. It is a common alternative to a hard felt wheel.
The problem was in my execution.

[Shelley Bolster]

That IS going to be so sore for a few days! You are real lucky that it landed there .........I cringed when you wrote about the possibility that it could have hit your throat. Don't let this deter you from continuing in the shop, TJ. Things happen - doesn't mean it will ever happen again although I am sure you will find yourself extra cautious. Good luck with the healing!

[T.J. Mahaffey]

I appreciate you sentiments very much, Shelley.
And you know, you're right. After we got back from the clinic, I really wanted to get back in there and prove to myself that it was just a freak accident and that I wasn't a complete dope.

So, I turned a carving mallet out of black walnut for a friend of mine who is also into woodworking.

Thanks for really hitting home with your comments. :)

Re: Pain and medicine.
Surprisingly, it doesn't hurt as much as it appears to. Sure, I've had a bit of a headache tonight and, yes, its pretty sore. I'm more uncomfortable with the way I look than with how it feels.:o Tylenol is taking care of whatever pain I might have right now. The doctor prescribed some antibiotics for infection and I did get a tetanus shot. I go back next Tuesday to get my stitches out.

My 8-yr-old daughter made me a get well soon card tonight. Most everything else is pretty minor.

[Corey Hallagan]

Yikes... I am going to puke! Dang, that looks like it hurts. Hope you heal fast!
Corey

[Barry O'Mahony]

FYI, even with the face shield, you're still supposed to wear safety glasses. The concern is that things'll bounce wierd and sneek in from the sides or bottom. Also, while the face shield is good enough to protect skin, it isn't tough enough to protect the more-fragile eyes.

[David Eisan]

Hows your teeth?

Heal quickly,

David.

[Dan Forman]

Ouch! hope it heals quickly. A little vitamin E oil (from a capsule) or E cream applied topically should help eliminate or reduce any scarring.

Dan

[T.J. Mahaffey]

FYI, even with the face shield, you're still supposed to wear safety glasses. The concern is that things'll bounce wierd and sneek in from the sides or bottom. Also, while the face shield is good enough to protect skin, it isn't tough enough to protect the more-fragile eyes.

Ah, yes, you're right. What I should have said is, "I'll ADD the protection of a face shield in the future." Not "replace" my glasses with a shield.

[Keith Christopher]

Here's wishing you a speedy recovery. So glad it wasn't worse.

[Bill Grumbine]

I'm honestly more concerned about the relentless ribbing I'm going to get at work.


TJ, I can feel for you there. It has been a very long time, but way back in 1975 I was treated to 25 stitches in my lower lip from a car accident. Split right through, 20 on the outside, five on the inside. I was still in high school at the time, and my first day back to school, we saw a WC Fields movie in English class. Talk about it only hurting when I laughed! I had to hold my face with my hands so I could watch the movie without breaking a stitch.

If anyone busts your chops at work (ouch!) tell them they should see the other guy!

I hope you heal up soon and get back to the shop.

Bill

[Tyler Howell]

Keep icing it TJ. 20 on 20 off for the first 48 hours. I know its a pain but your SO wants your lips back in kissing shape and the ice will spead the process:D .`No direct contact with the ice a piece of cloth in between is good insulation

[Brad Tallis]

T.J.-

Consider yourself lucky! I had a similar accident and didn't fair so well. I was turning an alabaster bowl (a type of stone) on my lathe. I wear a full-face mask (the AirMate, which I recommend) whenever I'm turning on the lathe.

Anyways, my wife came out to the shop to ask me a question. Usually, it's just a yes/no type of question, but this time, it involved some conversation. The AirMate was on, so I had a hard time hearing. So, I took off the mask, but I did not turn off the lathe. A few seconds later, I heard a loud bang and I remember feeling istanly nauseous.

A large chuck of the bowl had hit me in the side of the face. I was knocked "loopy" for awhile and when my wife asked if I was ok, I tried to talk. All I felt was my teeth moving "across" each other.

Anyways, a trip to the hospital and an xray showed that the stone had broken my jaw clean in half (that's why my teeth were moving across each other). I ended up having to go into surgery and having a titanium plate and a few screws inserted into my chin to hold my jaw together.

The good news was that I lost a lot of weight since I could only eat through a straw. The bad news is that I still have no feeling on the right side of my face due to nerve damage.

The worst part of it was that my wife witnessed the whole thing. I don't ever want that to happen again. If I had only taken the 1 second to turn off the lathe.... :mad:

Like you said, it could have been a lot worse...

Brad

[Ken Shoemaker]

I've had accidents a number of times in the few months I've been woodworking ( read destroying some fine timber). It's a character builder to be sure.
I wish you fast healing ...

Ken S.

[T.J. Mahaffey]

T.J.-
Anyways, a trip to the hospital and an xray showed that the stone had broken my jaw clean in half (that's why my teeth were moving across each other). I ended up having to go into surgery and having a titanium plate and a few screws inserted into my chin to hold my jaw together.

Brad

Cripes! That's horrible. Glad you're ok. Man...