Let This Be A Caution To Everyone!

[Christopher K. Hartley]

Saturday started out just like any other day; I was working on a commissioned project. I realized I was going to have to make some new wheel arms for my steady rest and so started cutting them on the table saw. Long story short even with all the care, I somehow amputated the end of my left hand index finger.:eek: Bright side...a very sharp blade resulting in a very clean cut of the bone. Guys and Ladies, Please be careful out there. Other than this I am all right and very blessed that it wasn't much worse.:o

[Glenn Hodges]

Chris, I am so sorry to hear about your loss. Hope it will mend fast, and the pain will leave you soon. When I have accidents, I just shrug, and chaulk it up to education, hoping to learn a valuable lesson from something I did. Sometimes I must admit I am glad a preacher does not live next door to me on my farm.

[Jeff Bower]

Chris very sorry this happened to you and hope you mend quickly. I've had some close calls lately because I was rushing and not paying attention.......Now you surely realize that TS's are only to be used for storing blanks and chisels:p

[Tyler Howell]

Ouch!!
Hurts just thinking about it.
Speedy recovery.

[Steve Schlumpf]

Chris - I am so sorry to hear that that happened to you! I hope you heal quickly!

[Dale Gregory]

Damn, hate to hear that! Hope you are on the road to recovery quickly and not in too much pain. Take care, Dale

[Bill Stevener]

:eek: Hope your on the mend soon Chris.
My Dad lost one with a Skill saw.

[Dave Sinkus]

Sorry to hear of your accident and I hope you heal quickly.

[Prashun Patel]

At least you can still type ;)

I am fearful every time I turn mine on. It's like riding a motorcycle, I guess: It's not a question of IF you'll have an accident on a tsaw, it's a question of WHEN.

Best of luck; I feel for you.

[Brian McInturff]

Chris, that sucks. Glad you have a positive attitude about it. That would be devasting to me as I'm left handed.Hope they gave you some good pain killers and I hope the wife is comforting you. Have a speedy recovery!!

[Greg Cuetara]

Chris, I hope the best for your recovery. I almost cut off my thumb last January with a chisel...took me a while to get back into the shop with confidence.

Guess the only good thing about it is that you will have more time to read and post onto here in the next few weeks or months...

[michael gallagher]

I'm sorry to hear about this...I hope for a speedy recovery!

[Tony De Masi]

Wishes for a speedy healing Chris.

Tony

[Bonnie Campbell]

Best wishes for a fast recovery! I sure am glad I didn't read this before using my ts yesterday. I wouldn't have touched it.

[Pete Jordan]

Wow Chris,

I hope you have a quick recovery!

[Jim Becker]

OUCH!!!!!!!!! I'm glad you're ok outside of the unfortunate loss of the end of your finger. Did I happen to say OUCH???

Chris, in order to help folks avoid a similar situation, can you describe how you were cutting said wheels? Was the round blank clamped to a sled or other holder? (Same issue at the TS as the BS when crosscutting round objects...they must be clamped securely so they can't spin and catch the blade...potentially pulling your hands in to the cutter)

[Rich Stewart]

Oh man! I am really sorry to hear about that. I hope you heal quickly. Just as a side note, a Dr once told me there are more nerves in the ends of your fingers than there are in your testicles. I hope you aren't hurting too bad.

[Robert McGowen]

I have to admit to having the exact same injury in the exact same place using the exact same tool! Therefore, you have my deepest sympathies as I KNOW it hurts. Heal fast.......

[Ben Gastfriend]

Oh dear! Hope you're feeling better soon. My grandfather has done this before, he's always getting into shop trouble. If it's not cutting extremities off with ROS, TS, or CS, he's burning himself my trying to mend hot water pipes.

Hope you have a speedy and full (minus a fingertip) recovery.

[Tom Sherman]

Chris I feel for you my friend, I have not had the misfortune of a TS accident but I was present when my dad cut his hand from the heal of the palm to the tip of his thumb. Not pretty and very scary but he did not lose his thumb. Glad to hear it was not any worse hope you heal soon.

[Art Mulder]

My condolences, thanks for the reminder, we always could use another.

Best wishes,
...art

[Benjamin Dahl]

Chris, sorry about that and I hope you are alright. Thanks for reminding us to be extra careful out there.

[Bernie Weishapl]

Chris glad you are ok and hope you heal fast. Yep a reminder every now and then doesn't hurt. I found myself yesterday getting lax on my tablesaw.

[Gary Herrmann]

Oh man. For whatever reason, I really wasn't expecting that. Sorry to hear about your injury, Chris. Speedy recovery.

[David Wilhelm]

Prayers for a speedy recovery. Sounds as if your spirits are healing fast and thats great.

[Rick Huelsbeck]

I'm saddened to hear about your accident, and do wish you a speedy recovery. More importantly, learning from your accident in hopes of avoiding the same. Let us know how it's healing, Rick.

[Christopher K. Hartley]

Oh man! I am really sorry to hear about that. I hope you heal quickly. Just as a side note, a Dr once told me there are more nerves in the ends of your fingers than there are in your testicles. I hope you aren't hurting too bad.Well after hearing this I'm glad I cut what I did.:D

Thanks everyone, all will be well.:)

[Hilel Salomon]

Chris,
Hope everything works out for you. I'm not sure I understood.... Did you lose part of your finger? I am truly sorry for what happened to you.
Luck, Hilel

[Bill Bolen]

Chris: My entire arm hurts just thinking about it. Hope you heal fast and never have another accident!...bill...

[Dan Forman]

Chris---Sorry to learn of your accident, best wishes for a speedy recovery.

Dan

[Bill Wyko]

Chris, I'm so sorry to hear of your incident. If you recall last X-mas I was in the e-room for cutting the tip of a finger off. It took about 3 months before it grew back. It's still numb on the tip but it works just fine. I hope yours does the the same. Use saleen solution on it and antibiotic ointment. Hydrogen peroxide is not recomended in full strength. LOML is top of her nursing class so I pay close attention. I wish you the best my friend.:)

[Tom Hamilton]

Hi Chris: Wow, that had to be scary and painful. So sorry to learn about your accident. Here's to a speedy and complete recovery.

Best regards, Tom

[Mike A. Smith]

Let me add another OUCH! Get well soon Chris and thanks for thinking about the rest of us!

[robert hainstock]

There is no way we can take away the pain Cris, but what happened to you is the reason I got rid of my table saw two years ago. You have our deepest sympathy. Sometime I'll have to tell you about this three fingered one eyed chief carpenter shipmate I had In the Navy. :eek::eek::eek:
Bob
Thanks for sharing.

[Andy Hoyt]

Ouch.

Big ouch.

And I feel for ya.

But look at the bright side - your chances of ever being labeled a Nasal Mining Engineer have just been halved.

[Glenn Clabo]

You are a sick man Mr. Hoyt...a VERY SICK man.

[Steven Russell]

Hello Chris,

I'm so sorry to hear of your accident. Please accept my very best wishes for a speedy recovery.

[Steve Campbell]

So sorry to here of your loss Chris. I am fortunate that I have never cut anything important "yet". I would guess we all try to be as careful as we can but sometimes we just don't concentrate as much as we could.
Thanks for the reminder.

Steve

[Ken Fitzgerald]

Chris....Sorry to hear about your accident! Here's hoping for a quick recovery.

[Steve LaFara]

Hang in there! I've been there and done that and can tell you that it's not as bad as you think it is right now. My left index finger is shorter by 3/8" thanks to a 1/2" mortising router bit and my right pinky is at half mast. Worse part of it after a couple of years are the freinds that still think it's cute to say "give me 9 1/2" instead of a high five.:rolleyes:

Not trying to make light of your situation, just letting you know that time heels a lot and the main thing right now is to keep as positive an attitude as you can. You're right in that it could have been a lot worse and all of us that have been there thank God that it was'nt. I keep the two pieces of wood that caused my accidents marked with the date prominently displayed as a reminder to be more carefull in the future.

Good luck and I hope it heels quickly!

[Donald Price]

Sorry to hear about the lost point. Has is slowed down your turning though?

It sure would be cool if these digits would grow back. I guess that's why we come equipped with ten.

[Nathan Hawkes]

Boy, I feel for you, literally. accidents seem to be going around lately. I opened up my thumb on my tablesaw when my (very) loose glove (yeah, I know, you're not supposed to use gloves when operating equipment....) caught the blade & pulled my hand into it. I ended up lucky with about ten stitches and no skin on the top half my left thumb. I hope you're on your way to a speedy recovery, and I hope they gave you something for the pain, lord knows you'll need it for a while.

[Tony Kent]

Chris,
Oh wow...my thoughts are with ya. Hope you hve a speedy recovery. Thanks for posting we all need reminders to be safe.
Take care,
Tony

[Christopher K. Hartley]

Thanks again all.:) Hey, look at the bright side, my finger won't go as far up my nose now so less chance of further brain injury.:D Easy there, it only hurts when I type.:(