It's not just machines that bite !

[Ken Milhinch]

I discovered the hard way just how sharp my chisels are. Last Monday afternoon, I managed to push a 10mm (about 3/8") wide chisel all the way through my left thumb. I was trying to pare away a small square of plywood on the edge of a sheet when the chisel slipped off the edge and literally dived into my thumb. As I staggered away from the bench I knew I had cut myself badly, but I was absolutely shocked when I looked at my thumb and saw the chisel was sticking about 1/2" out the other side.

Six sutures and four injections later I was feeling pretty sorry for myself and rather stupid. As a heart patient, I take medication to keep my blood thin, so I am very cautious about cuts, knowing how well I bleed. At the moment, my workshop looks like a slaughter house !

Sorry no photos. They would make you sick, and I can't remove the dressings yet.

[Greg Sznajdruk]

Ken:

Sorry to hear about your accident, hope there is no perminate damage. We have all been there a momentary lapse of concentration can cause an injury. Get well soon.

Greg

[John Buzzurro]

Ken,

That sounds like a nasty accident. I hope you heal soon. You raise an interesting issue though - a tool doesn't have to have a motor attached to be dangerous.

[Doug Shepard]

Ouch:eek: I've given myself a few good cuts with chisels but never skewered myself. That's gotta hurt. One of the worst cuts I ever got was from a Japanese style saw and I wasn't even using it. Left it laying on the bench in between cuts then accidently back handed it while doing something else.

[Greg Cuetara]

Ken,
I hope that all is good with your hand. About a year and half ago I did just about the same thing and almost took my thumb off with a brand new set of chisels. Took me out of the workshop for quite a while and gave me a handful of stitches and a scar to last a lifetime.
Greg

[John Keeton]

If there is a good side, at least it was a clean cut! I shoved a screwdriver thru my hand several years ago - not comfortable, and did a lot of collateral damage going thru in the way of bruising, etc. The hard part is pulling that sucker out!!

Hope you do well, and watch for infection!

[Jim Becker]

Ouch!!! Been there...done that...

New Years Day a few years ago I spent some "quality time" in the local ER after a sharpening session with my then-new Ashley Isles chisels. I did determine that the tool was sharp since I didn't even know I did what I did until I noticed the blood dripping onto the bench. Several stitches later it was fixed...:o

[Douglas Brummett]

No photos, never happened :rolleyes:

Seriously though, that is not a fun schenario. I have skewered myself a couple of times with xacto blades and done the same thing. Like a train wreck, you don't want to look but you need to asses the damage.

I am very mindful of where my hands are when working my chisels, but it only takes one slip or lapse to get caught. These things are very sharp. I have a small imprint on my palm from my 3/8" and I have no idea when it even got me :eek:

Careful in the shop guys, I will try to do the same

[Brian Kent]

Ken, sorry to hear about that and I'm glad you are all stiched up.

From your awful experience - what kind of first-aid stuff would have been helpful? I'm guessing a nice long, clean bandage that could be opened with one hand… and a cell phone to get help?

I don't have a first aid kit in the shop but I should.

[Michael Faurot]

A couple months ago, I did something very similar. I was making a lathe tool where I needed to mortise the end of the handle for the tang of the metal tool. The mortise needed to be about 1" long, 1/8" wide and about 2" deep. I was using a 1/8" wide chisel to do the work and as the mortise got deeper it got more difficult to remove material. As the chisel is only 1/8" wide I was being careful not to put too much leverage on it, as I didn't want it to break.

So somewhere in there I get the idea to start chopping at things like you might with an ice pick, jabbing up and down. I've got the tool handle held in a vise, but for some stupid reason I've got my other hand wrapped around the handle too. So on one of those up/down jabs, the chisel comes out of the mortise and misses going back down into it. It goes entirely through my left index finger, slices my middle finger and then gouges my ring finger before I even know I've done it. I don't even realize what's happened until I'm on the up stroke again starting to pull the chisel back. When I look down I see the chisel sticking out of my index finger. It's only later on, after I've got myself cleaned up that I realize it hit my other fingers too.

No ER trip, just band-aids and Neosporin for several days. But I'll never make the mistake of jabbing like that again and holding on at the same time. :)

[Ed Blough]

Ah the pain!!!!!
Remindes me of time when my buddy his young son and I were walking our dogs. We happened upon an old timer that was struggling to hold a chisel and hit it was his slag hammer.

About that time my buddy said, "Here let me help you." and reached out and took the chisel for the old guy.

The old guy said, "gee thanks!" and wound up for a swing with the slag hammer at the chisel which my buddy was now holding.

Before my buddy could react and tell the old timer he meant we would hold the both the hammer and chisel the old timer came down with the slag. Of course he completely missed the chisel and totally flatten my buddies hand on the stone.

My buddies little boy seeing the grimace on the face of my buddy said, "Daddy does it hurt?"
To which my buddy nodded the affirmitive.
Then his little boy asked. "Daddy are you going to cry?"
My buddy through a pain streaked face replied, "I'm thinking about it!"

Me being filled with compassion and concern was by this time rolling on the ground trying not to die laughing. After my budy's hand returned to some what of a normal shape I took the hammer and chisel and finished splitting the old timer's stone.
He was beside himself apologizing to my buddy for his damaged hand.

So I will ask you when you drove the chisel through your finger, "did it hurt enough to cry or were you just thinking about it?"

Ed

[Gary Herrmann]

I just got back from the ER myself. I'm 6'7" and my basement is kinda shallow - the joists are a few inches above my head. Some of the duct work is even lower.

I ducked under one section while heading to the lathe - thinking about what I was going to do, rather than what I was currently doing. I should have ducked about 1 inch lower. I have an old house with the old style rigid rectangular ductwork and strapping. I caught a nice sharp corner edge.

I am now the proud owner of a nice 2" long laceration in my scalp - now accessorized with staples. I knew it wasn't good when I put my hand to the cut and my fingers slipped under a flap. Ewww...

The vicodin they gave me is kicking in, so its time for a nap.

I'm supposed to avoid dirty or dusty environments for a week. So much for shop time.

[Greg Hines, MD]

Hand injuries are always problematic. You are lucky you didn't do any tendon or nerve damage.

Doc

[Ken Milhinch]

Doc,

My other concern was bone damage, but the xrays showed I had just "scratched" the bone. No chips, thankfully, and I guess that was because the bevel was facing toward the bone and would have helped to deflect the chisel.

[Ken Milhinch]

Ah the pain!!!!!

So I will ask you when you drove the chisel through your finger, "did it hurt enough to cry or were you just thinking about it?"

Ed
I haven't cried in fifty years Ed.:)

[Ken Milhinch]

Ken, sorry to hear about that and I'm glad you are all stiched up.

From your awful experience - what kind of first-aid stuff would have been helpful? I'm guessing a nice long, clean bandage that could be opened with one hand… and a cell phone to get help?

I don't have a first aid kit in the shop but I should.

Brian,

I have a fully equipped first aid kit in my shop, so I flushed the wound with saline, and then applied a sterile dressing and bandage, before calling my wife home from work so she could drive me to the local hospital.
I keep a flashlight, fire extinguisher and first aid kit right next to the electrical breakers in my shop so I always go to the same point in an emergency.

[Michael Faurot]

So I will ask you when you drove the chisel through your finger, "did it hurt enough to cry or were you just thinking about it?"


For me, there wasn't that much pain. I guess I've got that sharpening thing down now. :) Mostly it was just a few dumb struck moments of shock at seeing a chisel stricking through my finger, then realizing I hadn't done any serious damage, apply pressure, clean and dress the wound, take some pain pills and leave the shop alone for the rest of the day.

I was lucky. And I'm a lot more careful now.

[Ron Petley]

I slit the whole length of my ring finger and middle finger with a chisel. I had moved my hand out of the way, thinking ahead. I was pushing the chisel by hand to clean out a dado. I moved my other hand to what I thought was a safe distance, the chisel sliped and went between my fingers and cut them the full length and acroos the pads on the tips. No pain, lots of blood. My first thought was, this does not happen to ME, this happens to other guys!:eek::eek:
My wife drove me to the ER, where I work, so everybody had to add a little teasing (thats health care ). When they moved another guy out of the suture room I got a little worried. You don't want to be served first in ER sitting around a little you know it is less serious. Before it was done I had lost enough blood my BP droped and I needed a IV for some voluem.
Since then I have become a little chisel shy, but other than that no permenant damage, fingers get colder in the winter but I can live with that. Play Safe Ron.

[Ben Rafael]

I read your post after I put a bandaid on a cut I just got with a chisel. Minor cut. Every chisel cut I ever got if before or after using the chisel, I am very careful while using them and have never hurt myself then. I always make sure not part of me is in the direction the chisel is going, so far that has worked.
Fortunately my chisels are very sharp so the cuts never hurt.

[Karl Brogger]

Dude, did the same thing except with my ring finger on my left hand. I glued one side shut, sat down for a bit because I'm a total wuss about blood, and couldn't figure out what the warm fluid dripping down my hand was. "Oh, look at that, it came out the other side. Great!?" I got really lucky, it just went through the flesh and didn't hit anything important like a tendon or nerves.

[J. Z. Guest]

I read a post on another forum a while back, and we decided that it is usually the tool we take for granted that bites us.

One guy went on to bet that more people have been seriously hurt by utility knives than table saws. I'm sure thats right, but probably not as many missing digits from utility knives & chisels.

Chisels seem so innocent...

Sorry to hear of your injury, but I was also glad that you seem to be getting through it OK, and that you have provided us with a nice reminder to know where the chisel is going if you slip.

Best wishes for a fast recovery.

[Dave Anderson NH]

Been there and done that Ken except that I managed to impalee 2 fingers together with a 3/8" Maples chisel after slightly slicing another one. While the ER scene was quick and easy, the ride there with a panicky wife at the wheel absolutely terrified me. The resultant scene at home half an hour after returning from our little sojurn when SWMBO caught me back in the shop glueing the broken off piece of wood back on the workpiece was "memorable". About the nicest and kindest words she used were idiot, and fool. Most of the others can't be used here since this is a family forum.

[Anthony Anderson]

I haven't cried in fifty years Ed.:)

Ken, I hate to hear of your accident. Go ahead and let it out. Real men can, and do, cry:D. I think I had a tear just hearing your story. Not really, but I did cringe really bad though. Oh man, that sucks. I sliced the pad of my index finger off pretty bad earlier this year, of all things, I was installing my air cleaner. That thing just would not stop bleeding. The PA at the ER had to put some clotting fabric on it to stop the bleeding, took 3-4 hours before the bleeding stopped. I am also happy to hear of no nerve or bone damage. Heal fast. Stories like yours serve as safety reminders to us all. Thanks for sharing your story. Regards, Bill

[Bill White]

All that coumadin will insure that the wound is fully "washed out".
Wait 'til ya get a head wound. You'll think that you've been decapitated.
Get better soon. Oh, and don't do that again. Thanks for no pics.
Bill