Not very long ago I was at the table saw trimming the last of four legs of a table I was building. I had turned the saw off for a second to clean some debris off then got ready to do the last one, when I made the mistake of using a push stick instead of my gripper or push block. After I got about half way through the leg I moved a little to the left and stepped on an extension cord I had laid down on the floor ( another mistake) causing me to lose my balance which in turn caused me to lose control of push stick, and you guessed it, left hand into the blade. That night I had two hour surgery, resulting in 210 stitches, majority internal. I lost the left corner of little finger, somehow missed ring finger, cut down into the knuckle on the dirty finger, and lost the tip of the pointer finger also severing the tendon. Pictures below show prior and post surgery. It happened on August 16th and I am still having therapy.
With all the down time I had I started watching guys on you tube and sort of keeping track of all the mistakes I would see and I saw plenty. I was sort of stunned to see how many would put their hands so close to the blade, doing cross cuts with a miter gauge with board against fence, on and on. It just amazed me how many guys was so careless around the table saw.
They say drinking and driving don't mix, neither does careless mistakes and table saws.
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