Tablesaw Accident - I'm an idiot

[Dave Walker]

OK... It's official.... I'm an IDIOT and my left thumb is almost a 1/2" shorter to prove it. This happened last Saturday, March 11.

What was I thinking when I was....
- running a tablesaw when my mind was pre-occupied on another matter. (Biggest Mistake!!!!!)
- running a tablesaw without my blade gaurd in place
- running a tablesaw without using my push sticks.

Answer: I wasn't thinking at all.

Anyway.. not paying attention, I reached for the cut off material and put my thumb right into the blade. Cut the tip off instantly. Calmly shut everything down, walked upstairs squeezing my thumb and told my wife we had to go to the hospital. After her initial shock when I told her not to look at it and just get me a clean wet rag, we headed for the hospital.

I received great treatment by 2 orthapedic surgeons (one was in training). They took x-rays, saw that I cut a through the tip of the bone and also cracked it. After they numbed me up, we were all joking about it as they went to work. Snip some bone here, fold some skin there, put some stitches here... I was all patched up.

The Doc asked my wife how much she was selling my tablesaw for and she told him it was free... and to come get it if he was interested. Obviously, I failed to see the humor in that.

Anyway, the moral of the story is to have your mind on your work and tools and use common sense... which... obviously... I lack.

[Ken Fitzgerald]

Wow Dave! I hope you heal fast. I received the same kind of treatment when I did something stupid and broke my back! It's amazing how a quick poor decision can affect a person's life! Here's hoping you heal fast!

[Ron Robinson]

Dave,

Don't beat yourself up. It was an accident and they happen to the best. I hope your recovery is swift and as painless as possible.

Most of all, thank you for sharing your misfortune so the rest of us get a reminder of just how dangerous our hobby/profession can be.

I have been debating an overarm tablesaw guard and I think you just sealed the deal for me.


Ron Robinson

[Steven Shelby]

Wow, Dave!

Not sure what to say except that I sure hope the healing comes quickly and smoothly.

As awful as your accident is, it can serve as a reminder to all of us to stay focused on our safety when in the shop!

Please get well soon, Dave!

[Frank Pellow]

Dave, thanks for the confession. It serves to remnd the rest of us to be ever-diligent with our tools.

I wish you a speedy recovery.

Now, about that free tablesaw ... :D

[lloyd morris]

Dave,

Thanks for posting about your accident. Awareness and clarity are wonderful things and your unfortunate accident reminds of all of the what happens when we are of not totally focused on safety in the shop.

Hope you heal quickly.

Lloyd

[Dave Walker]

Thanks for the support guys.

In all seriousness.... I am very lucky... VERY LUCKY. It could have been so much worse. I'll tell you this much.... I won't let that tablesaw bite my again.

My wife was pissed when she went to the store Sunday and came home to find me running my bandsaw. I explained that I had to "get back on the horse" for my own piece of mind. Well, she shut me down and after scolding me for 10 minutes, brought me a bowl of ice cream and my anti-biotics.... :D

Anyway... I'm making some Adirondack chairs to put on the porch of my new Pole Barn/woodshop I built last year. I'll post some pics of the finished chairs when I'm no longer grounded...:( :p

[Rich Torino]

Dave,
sorry to here about your accident.... hopefully you will heal quickly.
Take it as a wake up call and don't give up woodworking.
We have all probably violated one or all of the items you mentioned but just haven't got caught....

[Grant Davis]

Dave,
I feel really bad for you because you actually got bit by your saw. We all can probably relate to doing things that we often look back on and think dang that was idiotic.

You could now start a new movie rating system, for an excellent movie you could now give 1 7/8 thumbs up....Just kidding man, here's to quick healing

[Jim Hager]

Wow, Dave. I sure do hate to hear about this. You should heal up pretty quickly and be back down there making sawdust again in no time at all.

I appreciate the reminder to be as safe as possible. I have been really sick with a cold but I still have work to get out. Wednesday I was ripping styles and rails under the influence of cold medicine. It is a wonder that I didn't experience the same thing as you have.

Heal up quickly.

[scott spencer]

Ouch Dave! It's always sobering to read these, but they also send a jolting reminder that it can and does happen. I'm very sorry it happened to you, but I very much appreciate that you shared it....much good can come of your post.

Don't beat yourself up too badly. We've all "gotten away" with similar behaviours...unfortunately you didn't this time. Hope you heal fast and will continue wwing.

Hang in there....

[David Eisenhauer]

Don't sell that saw. It looks like you've gone through the worst learning curve and it'll all be smoother sailing from now on. Best of luck.

[Jim Becker]

Ouch!!! 'Hope the physical pain goes away quickly, Dave...

You make three very good points in your original post about the "why" of the accident, but above all, the first one is the most important: When using tools...tailed OR un-tailed...preoccupation can easily lead to "human based stain" on your project and/or tools. Please, everyone, listen to Dave on that one no matter what!

[Ian Barley]

Dave

Thank you for beating yourself up and doing it publicly. It is easy to get distracted. I make thousands of cuts on my TS and try very hard to make myself concentrate on each one. Stories like yours can only help me and others.

Heal quick. Heal Well.

[Rob Blaustein]

Sorry to hear this and get well soon. I don't know what sort of blade guard you have, but I heartily recommend the overhead type (I have an Excalibur and am very happy with it). REading this sort of story is scary and it was a big motivation to put the guard on my saw. THanks for sharing this.

[Joe Unni]

Dave,

Sorry to hear about your accident. A great reminder at your expense :o .

Please heal fast.

Be well,
-joe

[Julio Navarro]

Cringe!!! both at your misshap and cos I do what you are describing.

Common sense always seems to be what you have after something like this happens.

Good luck and speedy recovery.

[Dave Falkenstein]

I had a remarkably similar experience about 12 years ago. I was ripping small strips without a guard. I was working late in the day, and obviously not totally alert. I ran my thumb straight into the blade, and now that thumb is noticably shorter. I still have the scars and strange sensations in the thumb to constantly remind me how easily an accident can happen. I now use a Biesemeyer splitter and an Excalibur overarm guard on the table saw whenever possible, even when the guard "gets in the way". Better safe than sorry is a hard lesson to learn. Heal quickly and be safe.

[John Miliunas]

Dave, I'm glad I can say that I do not feel your pain! Wow, man...Take it easy and I wish you the best for a quick and thorough recovery. Thanks much for the "wake up" call. I guess the single biggest piece of advice I've been given on TS safety and follow quite religiously is: Even with all safety devices in place, if the proposed cut doesn't feel totally comfortable, don't do it!!! Find an alternative or safer way of doing it! Heal quickly, Dave! :) :cool:

[Bob Swenson]

Dave. It hurts just to hear about your accident. If your wife
won’t let you near the TS tell her your going to get a Sawstop
Bob

[Tyler Howell]

Makes my toes tingle and pucker factor is very hi. Speedy recovery and thanks for the reminder.

[Scott Loven]

I did a double-take when I saw what I thought was the caption at the top of the picture that said "Attached Thumbnails". Glad things didn't turn out worse then they did.
Scott

[Ken Garlock]

Dave, as bad as it was, which was bad, it could have been worse:eek: I am glad to see you survived the damage.:)

Tell the saw to say out of those (finger) joints, and you both will be better off for it.:) :rolleyes:

[Julio Navarro]

I did a double-take when I saw what I thought was the caption at the top of the picture that said "Attached Thumbnails". Glad things didn't turn out worse then they did.
Scott

Ouch!! That hurts just thinking about it!

[Charlie Mastro]

I do feel your pain.. Did this about twenty years ago pushing through a piece with the wrong hand. Never did it before or after, just that one time. Still reminds me to this day how stupid a thing I did. Hope you doc was better than mine. He didn't quite get it stiched up right and there is a slit than still opens up every once and a while like a big paper cut just remind me to never do that again.:mad:

Be safe out there;)

[Don Baer]

Hope you heal fast Dave and thanks for sharing. It a good reminder for all.

[Brian Buckley]

Dave,
I hope you have a speedy recovery. Thanks for the reminder . I should laminate the picture of your hand on my saw.

Brian

[Michael Ballent]

I too hope for you speedy recovery and getting back out there. So when are you getting that SawStop ;) :D

[Kevin Halliburton]

Anyway, the moral of the story is to have your mind on your work and tools and use common sense... which... obviously... I lack.

Not any more you don't! I took a Skil-saw to the inside of my right leg years ago. That 6" scar is the most expensive, but far and away the most effective safety feature I ever installed. Your wife can rest easy. You are now a better, smarter, safer woodworker than you would have ever been without that painful lesson.

You are right on target to push yourself through that mental barrier with a few cuts as soon as you can too. My knees went soft at the sound of a saw blade for several hundred cuts after my accident but I knew I had to either quit for good or keep cutting my way back to mental health as soon as possible. Being overly scared of a blade can get you hurt almost as fast as a lack of respect and discipline.

Heart felt wishes for quick healing and a safe ride from here on out as you get back on that horse.

[Dennis Peacock]

Sorry about your accident Dave. May you have a speedy recovery!!!!!
Must be one reason why I shut the saw off before I reach for the cutoff, well, at least most of the time. ;)

[Dave Walker]

You know... that SawStop appears to be worth every penny. However, it still can't replace using your head in the first place.

But who knows, I may come home to find my wife has wrestled my tablesaw out of the basement and into the back of someone's PickUp truck. In that case, I'll definitely take a harder look at the SawStop... ;)

[Sam Chambers]

Dave:

As bad (and painful) as it was, I'm glad to hear it wasn't worse. Your points about operating machines with sharp spinning things while distracted, and/or without proper safety equipment, are things all of us should take to heart.

(I think I might have waited a couple more days before getting back on that horse, though!)

[Mark Pruitt]

Dave,

Thank you for posting this. I'm sorry to hear of your accident. Yes, things could have turned out worse, but don't even go there. Like you said, getting back on the horse is the right thing to do. I learned the hard way many years ago that the blade on a riding mower is much closer to the discharge port than I had been thinking, and that trying to clean grass out of the clogged port with the blade still running was not a good idea. Duh. No wonder they say patience is a virtue....
Mark

[Jason Tuinstra]

Dave, glad to hear it wasn't worse. I hope you're feeling better and that everything heals well.

[Dev Emch]

Well to tell you the truth, I almost joined you. I have been known to post to many opinions and I thought my big mouth had gotten me into some serious trouble. Keith knows what I mean. This pending affair left me so distrubed that I came within seconds of doing exactly what you did. So I shut down the machine and wrote the day off. Woodworking machines should never never ever be used when you have emotional baggage going through your mind. If your not 110 percent fully focused, shut down and do something else.

I sincerely hope that you recover from this incident. Please dont let your wife near the saw. Just recover and get back into the saddle.

[Paul B. Cresti]

Dave,
I hope you heal well and quickly.

I can not tell you the amount of times I found my thoughts starting to wander while working, that is the time I stop and take a second. I may work a heck of a lot slower than some others but I try to be very organized and rigid in the way I work. That mostly means never working without guards or jigs

[Bryan Somers]

Dave Dont beat yourself up these things happen in a hurry. Heres to a fast recovery and glad to see that it wasnt more serious.

Take care of that hand.

[Keith Foster]

Ouch! Here's to a fast healing!

Wanted to personally thank you for posting this. My guess is that you saved a lot of us from making a similar mistake by reminding us to never forget what we are doing.

[Kurt Aebi]

Dave,

I know exactly how you feel, I butterflied my left thumb chasing a cutoff back in 2003,

here's my post from back then

http://www.sawmillcreek.org/showthread.php?t=4718&highlight=accident

And I went back to it and finished up some projects. Believe me - I KNOW Where the ON/OFF Switch is located and to this Day - I shut OFF the saw after each cut! A new switch is way less expensive than the $7K repair job that was done to my thumb!

Chin up, we all do stupid things and then we learn from them and move on! Unless you are defusing one of Andy's bombs, making a mistake isn't life threatening! :eek:

Oh Yea, I have yet to make the over-head guard I talked about back then (Oh Well, I guess I'm still askin' fer it!)

[Mike Zozakiewicz]

Dave,

Thanks for posting your accident, and here's to a speeding and painless recovery. We all appreciate the reminder of how fast something can go wrong.

Take care,

Mike

[Brent Harral]

Hey Dave! Sorry to hear of your accident, but thanks for posting as a reminder for everyone to be more careful.

Heal up quick!

[lou sansone]

I also offer my sympathy for your injury and it does serve as a good reminder.
best wishes for a fast recovery
Lou

[Dave Walker]

Again, I'd like to Thank everyone for their kind thoughts. It is much appreciated.

Hopefully, My wife well let me get down in the shop this weekend to route out the profiles of the arms and legs of the Adirondack chairs...;)

[Dave Anderson NH]

Well Dave you learned a couple of things out of this accident and only one was related to woodworking. I hope you heal fast. My reference is of course to going back into the shop so soon while the wife was around. I did the same thing when I came back from having my fingers stitched up at the hospital after putting a chisel through them a couple of years ago. Not 10 minutes after I was back Sue went looking for me and found me in the shop glueing up the piece broken off the project when the chisel slipped. To say she was not amused is perhaps a wee bit of an understatement. The tongue lashing I received was sharp, extensive, brutal, and largely unprintable. Among the nicer and kinder things said were fool and idiot.

The moral of the story is that you need to be more discreet. After all, we all know that as guys, were prone to this kind of behavior and the most we can hope for is not to get caught.

[John Shuk]

I hope you recover quickly. Thank you for sharing it. You will probably have helped someone avoid the same thing.

[Cliff Rohrabacher]

Ouch. I hate when that happens.

Jammed two of my fingers under a lawn mower when I was a boy. They still look a bit funny. Got one mashed with a 16 pound sledge while shoring up a porch duing a re-build.
It still looks funny.

I hate when that happens.

[Dan Forman]

Best wishes for a speedy recovery.

Dan

[Dave Fifield]

Ouch! Sorry to hear about you accident Dave....hope it all heals nicely. I've nearly done this myself a couple of times. Just a moment's distraction is all it takes.

I'm now resolved to get an overhead guard immediately, and a Sawstop later this year after I've saved up a few more pennies.

Dave F.

[Michael Pfau]

Dave, I took the end off of 2 fingers a year and half ago, with a biscut jointer. Very stupid, did have the piece clamped down, and it shot out when I went to run the slot. The bit took a swipe out of them both. My middle finger is a quarter of an inch shorter now. WE MUST BE THINKING AT ALL TIMES.

[Vaughn McMillan]

Sorry to hear about the accident, Dave, and hope you have a speedy recovery. Thanks for posting the grisly details...as others have said, it serves as a very real reminder to all of us to stay on our toes.

- Vaughn

[jerry cousins]

put me on the list of wishing you a speedy recovery and on the list of having done the same about 2 years ago. these reminders are very important.

jerry

[George Kretschmann]

You are very lucky despite the 1/2" shorter thumb. You know your wife will never let you live it down:) The only problem now that is when you need to get new power tools the "Thumb" issue will always be looming in the conversation.:D I almost got mine in the table router doing some work one day thinking about my day job. From then on I hesitate to do work in the shop if I have "things" on my mine. I wish you a speedy recovery, maybe if won't take to long. :)

[Don Orr]

Wow, scary thing to have happen. Sorry about the injury, but as others have said, thanks for the reminder about concentration. I'm glad it was not any worse. Now you have an excuse to kick back, relax, take it easy, spend some quality time with the wife, etc. They're just chairs, they can wait. You only get just so many fingers.

Heal well, Don.

[Jim O'Dell]

Dave, sorry to hear about the accident. I'm with the others in hoping you heal quickly. I haven't read all the posts in this thread, and someone may have already mentioned it, but I'd think that the Saw Stop would be an easy sell at this point. :rolleyes: At least try to turn a not so good situation into a new tool!!! Jim.

[Tom Hamilton]

Dave, here's to a quick healing for you and your wife! Your opening points are so timely for all of us.

We've got to keep our eye on the ball, or in this case the blade.

Thanks for the reminder to be safe.

Speedy Recovery, Tom

[Pete Harbin]

OUCH! Sorry to hear about that Dave. Thanks for sharing a reminder with us to turn our heads on in the shop too.

Here's to a speedy recovery!

Pete

[Kent Parker]

Dave,

So sorry to hear about your accident. Yes it wakes us all up that use power tools and your post gives us all a bit of the reality we sometimes need.

Many years ago during my apprenticeship I watched as a buddy of mine (also a beginner) cut off two and a half fingers reaching for the cut off pieces forward of the blade. Yep, the piece grabed and pulled his hand through the blade. I picked up one of the digits, the other ended up about 20 feet away in the plywood rack. I've been scared of getting close to any blade ever since and never get my hands close without using a push stick and never go past the blade.

My friend has since developed a humerous side to his misfortune by holding one of his stubs to one of his nostrils, giving the impression that a large portion of his "finger" is up his nose.

If your wife threatens to sell your table saw, don't forget to "thumb" your nose at her.

All the best on your recovery

Kent

[tod evans]

ouch! heal quickly. tod

[Gail O'Rourke]

You can get back in the shop and you will, I know it. Heal quickly, FOCUS, *breathe* - finish the chairs, and take a snapshot while you are sitting in the back having a cold one.

[Dave Walker]

I go to the Doc's today so he can take a look at his work and remove some stitches. Hopefully I'll be down to just some small bandages instead of lugging this club around with me. Thanks again to all who responded.

Well, I had some good shop time this weekend. Started off by just doing some cleaning and organizing with my wife's help. After that she started looking at all the adirondack chair pieces and started sanding them for me...:D

So..... I ever so slowly crept over to the router table and put in a 1/4" round over bit. She saw me trying to be sly about it and laughed. Anyway, she let me run the tools and then helped me assemble the chair. I'll post pics of it later today. After the chair was assembled she commented that she'll need a table to go between the 2 chairs.;)

[Jim Becker]

So..... I ever so slowly crept over to the router table and put in a 1/4" round over bit. She saw me trying to be sly about it and laughed. Anyway, she let me run the tools and then helped me assemble the chair. I'll post pics of it later today. After the chair was assembled she commented that she'll need a table to go between the 2 chairs.

Now, that's good news, indeed. She seems to understand that WW is important to both of you, despite the "little accident". Take the woman out for a nice dinner after the Dr. Appt!

[Michael Gabbay]

Dave - Speedy recovery. It could have been a lot worse so consider yourself lucky. It will serve as a nice safety reminder.

I know of one other who did the same thing twice on the same thumb. :eek: I won't name names but maybe Larry Norton might know who I'm talking about! :D

On the bright side, now you can easily justify the SawStop.

Mike

[Bob Huddleston]

Honey, better start the car... and don't look :eek:

My father-in-law had two stubs from home improvement projects...one from a router and one a circular saw. He had a third one from working on a car engine and getting a finger caught under a belt....snip!

I hurt my middle finger about ten years ago as a piece of moulding I was cutting fell off of a support and lifted my finger into the blade. I swear, the shot to numb the finger hurt 1000 times more than the cut! Luckily, no real damage, and now I can flip people off as I show them my slightly flattened finger tip. My parish preist even blessed my middle finger...how about that?

Glad you will survive. Get better soon.

[Mark Singer]

I think you are lucky....it could have been worse ....it could happen to anyone and we all need to be alert in the shop...

[Bill Hartman]

Dave
I feel your pain! I took 1/2" off my middle finger on my left hand in Nov. and took a corner off the other middle finger 2 years ago.

[Julio Navarro]

How are you feeling, Dave?

How soon will you get back in to the shop, or have you allready?

[Julio Navarro]

My father-in-law had two stubs from home improvement projects...one from a router and one a circular saw. He had a third one from working on a car engine and getting a finger caught under a belt....snip!Glad you will survive.

I did something very similar only mine was from shear dumbness, I tried to wipe the oil from under a belt while the engine was on, needless to say finger traveled around between the belt and the pully. Not sure how I didnt loose the finger, in that milli-instant when you realize just how dumb what you did really is I prepared my self for looking under tha car for my severed finger and I actually mapped a route to the nearest hospital...all in a split second!

Luckily nothing more than a 3x sized sweelling occured. I am convinced that something other than luck and close to divine intervention kept me from loosing my finger.

[Dave Walker]

How are you feeling, Dave?

How soon will you get back in to the shop, or have you allready?

Thanks for asking Julio. I posted an update on the bottom of page 4 of this thread. I see the Doc today and I had some nice shop time with the Wife's supervision...;)

[Matt Meiser]

Dave, somehow I missed this. Sounds like you are starting to do better. You'll probably be suprised how fast you are able to get back to things. I know I was.

[Howard Rosenberg]

Dave -

It took a "pair of something" to let us know what happened to you.
You ought to be commended for that.

But, it wasn't an ACCIDENT.
It was a moment's inattention.

What it really was -
You didn't do what YOU were supposed to be doing.
You were supposed to focus on all aspects of the task at hand.

The saw did what IT was supposed to be doing - rotating the blade into the path of whatever was put in ints way.

We're all hopeful you will heal quickly, well and properly.

You should be hopeful you pay attention to your personal warning signs.

Howard

[Rye Crane]

Hi Dave,

Sorry to hear about the accident. Reading your posts this morning, I'll have to say you have a great wife, helping you with the chairs, sanding, etc. and then bringing you a bowl of ice cream with your meds. It's worth the heat when we do something that scares them if they can be that nice afterwards. When I was reading about how the accident happened it was like wading into very cold water, you know really chilling and some acute shrinkage...

Rye Crane

[Bruce Shiverdecker]

I am VERY sorry to hear about your accident. Hope it heals quickly. When I look back, I beat you to the punch by one day. I got my thumb hacked, doing the same thing, on the 10th. Mine will heal faster than yours. Not as much damage.

Bruce

[Kevin Herber]

Dave, I read your initial messsage and was so busy thinking about my own near miss that I neglected to send well wishes....

Glad to hear you are getting stitches and bandages off today. Keep healing!!

Also, am glad to hear of your wife's support. Now with her assisting in the shop you have 19 3/4 fingers, rather than the 10 you started out with. Not too bad an outcome!!!! :D

-- Kevin

[Don Baer]

Also, am glad to hear of your wife's support. Now with her assisting in the shop you have 19 3/4 fingers, rather than the 10 you started out with. Not too bad an outcome!!!! :D

-- Kevin

WOW..:eek: ... Thats realy something.

Keep healing Dave.