Hi All,
Well, I am nursing a cut that is going to be very slow to heal. I've been mulling over whether or when to write this up, and the "yeas" have it.
A few days after Christmas I was cutting up a piece of what amounts to firewood, to make into billets to use to make jaws for hand screw clamps. I have had the kits of the metal and handle parts for the clamps for a long time but hadn't done anything with them until now. I had split the white oak log segment in half lengthwise with a circular saw and then wedges and big hammers, and then smoothed the flats out to some extent with a carpenters hatchet. I then used the circular saw to cut half way through the split segment, cutting as deeply as the depth of cut on the circular saw would allow, to rip the length of the half logs to start the billets. The idea was to then to finish cutting the rest of the way through using my trusty vintage 28" 4&1/2 point Keen Kutter rip saw to complete the ripping to make the billets.
I had made a pair of pretty rough "V" shaped holders to cradle the half sections in to hold them for the saw work. I had used them a few times for this exact purpose in the past, and they needed some re-engineering, as there were problems with them that could EASILY have been improved, but I hadn't done it because the holders sort of worked "as was." Big mistake.
I clamped the holders to a pair of saw horses and went at it. I only have a very small number of my clamps out where I can use them, as the rest are still boxed up from our move. They are waiting for unboxing until I have a shop and a place to store them. I really needed to clamp down the ends of the half log segments, but didn't think I could find some quick grip clamps to use so was holding the end down with my left hand while working the saw with my right. I could get two billets out of each half log segment, so had to make 4 lengthwise cuts. The way I was doing that was to cut 1/2 the length and then turn the segment around and cut back toward the first cut to complete the billet, then clean off the bark with the hatchet. I had already doped the ends with Anchorseal and had allowed it to dry thoroughly.
I got distracted and had not finished the second 1/2 way cut when I decided I needed to finish that cut from the previously cut end. Well what happened then was the saw got hung up in the kerf, and I pushed extra hard. The saw broke free and my left hand was holding down the segment, only unfortunately it was directly over the previously cut portion, and my momentum carried it through and I cut 1/2 way through the end of my left ring finger at the finger nail location. Because I was following the kerf cut with the circular saw I didn't realize that I had already cut through much of the needed length, so my hand was right over the previously cut portion, and once the saw broke free there wasn't any uncut wood to stop it. Oh rats!
I had been in a hurry to finish up the billets as Donna had supper just about ready, and it was just about dark. There was just a little left to cut, and I was thus in a real hurry to finish the cutting.
Well I cut all the way through the width of the finger nail and all the way though the bone, leaving about 1/8" of my finger tip thickness uncut. It was after 5:30 and just about dark, I rinsed off the wound, and wrapped it with paper towel, and we went to the emergency room, getting there a little before 6:00. X-ray time after a significant wait, and I had been holding the tip in place by basically folding it back in place, using the uncut portion as a hinge. The folks there had not realized how bad the cut was until they saw the X-ray, and I was in the waiting room a long time before they looked at the X-ray. Prior to that they wanted to put me in a chair and stitch it up, but one look at the X-ray and the Doctor immediately had then put me on a bed in a room that previously was "unavailable."
By the way, the nurse told me that the emergency room was fairly busy....seems that they were seeing a pretty good number of primarily boys and men (not girls and women) who were trying out new Christmas gifts...tools, bicycles, motorcycles, etc., and had bad luck with them. Not me, that was only the second saw I had ever bought and restored...some 45 years ago, so it was hardly a "new toy" to me.
Well he gave me some VERY painful pain killer shots, cleaned up the finger, and stitched me back together. We got home about midnight....and ate a very delayed supper.
Since we moved here, the church we attend has lost it's bass player in the band, and since I am a bass player, I had started practicing at home to get back in playing shape. I was very concerned about whether the cut would ruin my bass playing. The emergency room Doctor, and the bone specialist they had me go to a couple of days later, both said that my finger should heal up well enough to play again, but the finger nail may not grow back quite like you would hope, but that remains to be seen. In fact the Doctors and the PA that looked at it said that I might be able to start practicing again well before the finger nail has grown back, and I should be able to try practicing again the first or second week of February to see if it is healed enough to practice with. We will see. The PA told me that it will probably be at least a few months before the finger nail portion on the tip comes off and the rest grows back.
What hard lesson did I learn....well several as you probably have already figured out, which include: 1. when I knew that my set up did not securely hold the piece I was cutting I should have stopped and rebuilt it until it did a good job, 2. NEVER keep going in a big hurry due to the time using a set up that really needs to be improved, and being in a hurry was part of the problem, 3. Don't put my hand in the line of the saw direction, even though I thought that there was a lot of uncut wood between my hand and the saw....that was not the case as the saw was caught in the kerf, which I could not see because I was sawing down the line of the circular saw cut to finish the cut, 4. finally I realized that I should have gotten out the clamps that were needed rather than to just "get by." For me, the principals of these lessons apply to a lot of other types of things in woodworking.
The really bad thing is that later I realized that I had gotten out the exact clamps I needed, and they were out of the way in the garage where I had put them when I last used them a year and a half ago or so. I had forgotten that they were there.
How about any of you, have you had a similar hard lesson learned?
It looks like I will be fine, with probably only minor overcome able, or perhaps no, permanent effects, but it will be a couple of months at the minimum until the finger nail grows back. . (I am going to try to practice my bass in a couple of weeks to see if I have healed up enough by then.) Again, however, hopefully the lessons have been permanently learned.
Regards,
Stew
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