Bandsaw injury update - warning - somewhat graphic pics embedded

[Jason Clark2]

I had my first follow-up with the surgeon today. Everything looks good but he was a bit concerned that I may have a fair amount of nerve damage. One side of my pinky is tingly and I wasn't able to tell whether I was being touched with one or both points on a pair of tweezers on that side, the other side was fine though.

The stitches will be removed in about a week, the 2 pins will stay in place for 5 or 6 more weeks.

Jason

Somewhat graphic photos below

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Are you sure?

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Really really sure?

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OK

http://www.fourcornerswoodturning.com/jason_finger_1.jpg

http://www.fourcornerswoodturning.com/jason_finger_2.jpg

http://www.fourcornerswoodturning.com/jason_finger_3.jpg

[Dennis Puskar]

Sorry to hear about your accident hope everything works out for you.I Had a accident with the table saw and lost the feeling in the tips of two fingers in my left hand and you would not beleive how much of a handicap it is.

Dennis

[Steve Schlumpf]

Jason - glad to see you are healing! I imagine it's going to take some time for the feeling to come back - that's quite the injury! Amazed you didn't lose the finger! Hope everything continues to progress!

[Alan Tolchinsky]

Jason, So sorry for your accident. But you are doing us all a service by posting this for reasons we all know. Heal fast. Alan

[Eric Sayre]

Jason, there will be improvement in the feeling, but it will take a few years. I've had two serious injuries; one where I cut the tendons in the back of my hand and one where I tore up a finger on a tablesaw.

The cut on the back of my hand was with a stationary knife that was razor sharp, so it was a clean cut. For about 2 inches below it and at the tops of my fingers, there was no feeling. 15 years later all the feeling is back.

The finger that I put in a tablesaw looked similar to yours exept there was more "kerf" taken out. The cut started at the edge of the fingernail and went into the middle of the 2nd knuckle. A little more than two inches long and took away most of the bone, so there wasn't much left on one side. That happened about 4 and a half years ago and there is a lot more feeling in it than there was 2 years ago. Probably more than half.

We tend to be extremely cautious after accidents like that, but unfortunately we forget as time goes by. Thank you for reminding us.

[Nathan Hawkes]

I'm glad you're recouperating! Like someone else has mentioned, I also had an accident with a tablesaw (december, actually) and am slowly getting the feeling back in the top joint of my thumb. I had no feeling at all in either the pad of my thumb, or the very tip where I ripped off my fingerprint...its coming back a little at a time but is still sore. Thumbs (and pinky fingers!!!) are often taken for granted, and are used for gripping EVERYTHING! I missed the bone by about 1/8", but still have a lot of cheloided scar tissue over where the stitches were, and in the very tip of the thumb. Don't plan on picking up anything using that finger to grip with for a long time!! I'm happy that others can learn safety, but mostly that you're keeping the finger!

[Jason Clark2]

Thanks again everyone for the kind words. It's amazing how 30 seconds of distraction, apathy, or inattentiveness can have such a long lasting (and expensive) effect on our lives.

I plan to post one of these pictures right on the front of my bandsaw as a constant reminder to pay attention.

Jason

[Tony Kent]

Hello
I am glad you are healing and will be thinking postive thoughts for you. I too injured my little finger and not sure how well it will heal yet in regard to feeling at the tip.
i am glad you shared this with us and because you did i wrote a post about mine in the hopes it will help someone else.
Take care,
Tony

[Ron Ainge]

I could have taken those same pictures about three years ago because my left hand looked about the same as yours does now. All I can say is do as the doctors tell you and I pray that you get the sensation back in you hand and finger that you had before the accident. I am now an unofficial weather man, my finger kind of aches when the weather is about to change. My doctor told me that would happen after the surgery was over. You will have to do guite a bit of rehab work but you can do them any where and at any time. I will not tell you that they will be pain free but I am now very happy to tell you that I have fully rocovered and have full use of my finger now.

[Joe Chritz]

What are the pins for?

I will ditto everyone else on the feeling part. I had some nerve damage to my index finger from some bad luck one day and it still isn't all back. Worst part now is that once and a while it will "lock" for a second.

Thanks for posting the updates. It is important to keep safety at the top of everyones mind.

Hope the healing goes fast.

Joe

[Bernie Weishapl]

Wow what a reminder. I pray that you heal fast Jason.

[Mike Vickery]

That looks nasty Jason. Maybe you should do a public service announcement at the next club meeting.

[Jason Clark2]

Joe, The pins are to hold the first bone in the pinky stable while it heals. I cut about half way through the bone and the rest simply fractured.

Jason

[Jim Underwood]

Daaaayummm! That's gotta hurt. Sorry about the injury and hope SawStop puts one of their majik bullets into a bandsaw one day...

Here's hoping we all are a lot more careful, and you heal up soon.

[Chris Padilla]

Jason,

I hope you don't mind but I moved this thread to the GWW&PT forum so MORE EYES can see it. I think it is quite important to remember our digits!!

[Cliff Rohrabacher]

Holy mother of god~!! I hope you recover all your function.

[Ben Rafael]

Daaaayummm! That's gotta hurt. Sorry about the injury and hope SawStop puts one of their majik bullets into a bandsaw one day...

Here's hoping we all are a lot more careful, and you heal up soon.

Much easier to stop a BS blade than a TS blade.

[David Peters]

Put me squarely in the camp of offering best wishes for a speedy recovery.

I know this isn't a terribly pleasant question, but with all of the "I've had a similar injury" type replies, I'm trying to get a sense of what % of woodworkers end up with a serious injury? Does anyone have an idea? Is it 1%? 10%? 50%? More? Honest answers please.

[John Revilla]

I'll pray for your speedy recovery. Hopefully the sensation will return. Godspeed.

[J. Z. Guest]

Jason, If you posted on this originally, would you mind inserting a link to that post? If not would you tell us how it happened?

Thanks for posting. Those gory pix are the third best way to prevent that kind of accident.

(1st best - Don't have a bandsaw and it can't happen; 2nd best, injure yourself.)

[Bill Wyko]

The bandsaw is the tool that i fear the most. I was cutting the other day|(not paying attention) and I felt the air coming off the blade, when i looked, my hand was about 1/4 of an inch from becomming a filet. Scared the begillies out of me. You have now officially convinced me to pay that tool all the respect it deserves and more. I wish you a speedy and full recovery.

[Chris Padilla]

Actually, I find bandsaws a lot safer than a table saw if only because bandsaws do not kick back material at you nor draw your hand into the blade. It is my tool of choice for ripping thick planks of wood.

[Brent Ring]

Jason, I hope your recovery goes well. I shot a staple in my finger and have never recovered all the feeling. I also agree with Bill and Chris - The bandsaw scares me because it is so easy to not worry about, and the table saw does toss things around if you are not careful.

Heal quickly my friend!

[larry fredric]

Jason, If you posted on this originally, would you mind inserting a link to that post? If not would you tell us how it happened?

Thanks for posting. Those gory pix are the third best way to prevent that kind of accident.

(1st best - Don't have a bandsaw and it can't happen; 2nd best, injure yourself.)
What Jeremy Zorn said. We can't know how it happened,we may not know how to prevent it. And, thanks for posting, best way to raise awareness.
Larry

[Peter Quinn]

Ouch. Get well. How did that happen?

[Ralph Okonieski]

Jason, best wishes for a speedy and FULL recovery !

[Ted Torres]

Thanks for sharing your "accident", Jason...the info you presented could go along way in preventing others!!!

In my 32 years of WW, it was a Bandsaw that gave me my only accident. Cutting out 1 X 12 for Reindeer Christmas presents, was on my last cutout piece of 100 sections...started thinking of my next process steps and WHAM, Got Too Close and split my right thumb down the middle. :eek:
Never hurt, but boy was I P-OED!!! :mad: As you stated, momentary loss of focus on my work at hand (no pun intended) and I paid the price...but luckily not as severe as yours!

Hope your recovery is 100%!!!:)

Ted

[Roger Warford]

Jason, If you posted on this originally, would you mind inserting a link to that post?

You can find other posts by a person by clicking on their name. His story appears here (http://www.sawmillcreek.org/showthread.php?t=82781).

Jason, thank for having the courage to share your story. I believe there are many like me here at the Creek who are relatively new to woodworking and haven't had the opportunity to work with, and learn from, others. Posts like yours are sobering and help point out hazards we should watch for. I wish you a speedy and full recovery.

[Steve Mawson]

Do what everyone is recommending, does take time. I took the tip off third finger in a jointer several years ago. The missing parts did grow back some, can't hardly tell it now and the feeling did come back after a year or so. Thanks for sharing, really always need to be careful.

[John Dorough]

Jason,

I, too, will be in prayer for you tonight. I will also pray for your family and the probable impact this accident will have on emotions, earning capacity and confidence in the future.

With kindest regards,

John

[andy Needles]

Thank you for the reminder to be careful!!

[Joe Jensen]

Best wishes for full function recovery. I worry about my own inattention at the bandsaw and your misforture is a good reminder for us all...joe

[Bob Slater]

Best of luck with the healing. It looks good to me. I almost tore off my pinky in a door, and it seems pretty good to me now, 40 years later. I didn't want to look at the shots, but I am glad I did and I will remind myself to think safety when using my tools.

[Chris Barnett]

I'm getting all tingly waiting to see the mechanical design for a Sawstop bandsaw. Can you imagine.....:D.
Looks somewhat like my dentist's finger injury, and he healed very well.

[Greg Hines, MD]

Best wishes on a speedy recovery.

Point of order: nerve damage regrows at a rate of 1mm per month. You should get most of the feeling back in that finger eventually, but it will take years to do.

Doc

[Bill Huber]

Really sorry to hear of the accident and I hope it works out ok.

Now if you wind up with a stiff finger I would really think about having it taken off, a stiff finger is really bad. You can do just fine with 3 fingers on your hand, I know, got one cut off in a lawn mower.

The only problem it will give you is when you buy gloves, you have to have a finger take off and typing is not that big of a deal.

Good luck and I hope you comes out ok.

[Jeff Mohr]

Thanks for posting and hope you have a speedy and full recovery. These kind of threads always re-open my eyes to the danger. After all...we are cutting WOOD with these machines and that is a lot harder than our fingers.

[Mark Singer]

Hope it heals well! A good reminder for all of us!