Admitting our dangerous (and dumb) mistakes might help others.

You just never know, do you? I was working on my tablesaw one day, fully protected, dust extractor howling pointlessly outside my ear defenders, chips falling harmlessly against the face shield and respirator I wore. All good.
I finished the cut and wondered slightly, even abstractly, why there was so much dust hitting the face shield. Since the saw had stopped I removed the armour and looked around.
There up in a corner in the clear plastic tubes that carry the dust was a small party of shavings mixing it up at an elbow. I took the board I was cutting and knocked it gently.
The elbow came apart and I was covered in shavings, dust and probably spiders. One of the shavings found it’s way into my right eye and I had to wear a patch (just like a pirate, much to Rabbit’s dismay) for a few days.
Yarr, Billy, these be dangerous beasts, don’t cha know, even when they seem ta be sleepin’!

I thought I was the only one with superior intelligence…

Now you’ve spoiled it.

I learned that one should not hold the band saw blade guard while the saw is running to reach for a piece that fell on the floor. I got out of this with a little scratch :)

After that scare, I have been extremely careful.

great topic! Basically every project I’ve done has my blood on it; usually just small stuff like cutting myself on a chisel or pinching a finger between boards or sanding a bit of a finger off on the belt sander. Only trip to the ER so far was for drilling a hole above my head for electrical wires and sawdust got in my eye… thanksfully so far I’ve avoided serious injuries and stitches…

Wanting to save some wood and use scrape i used a too short of a plywood to make a jig to cut 45 degrees chevron. the last unsupported broke and hit me in the tammy. could have been worst. Got lucky again.

I discovered that you should never get in a hurry in the shop. I was finishing up a project and had some 2" circles cut from 1/2" stock that I wanted to round over. With the router mounted in a table, thought it would be easy to do. Managed a couple before disaster struck. Was holding the piece down with a forefinger and turning the piece with the other hand. Of course, the wood flew out from under my finger and it went into the bit. I jerked back thinking geez that was close until I noticed the spray of blood on the wall. So an expensive trip the the ER and a finger with the nerves cut and a bit of bone missing. Didn’t make it back to the shop for a couple of days and then didn’t want to approach the router but still had a job to finish. Seeing dried blood and even a piece of my hide on the table sure didn’t make it easy to go back to work. Took a 1" dowel and put in 2 finish nails that I then ground to a point and used that to hold the circles and my hand was 12" away and worked great. Just goes to prove that you should think before you act.
They did tell me that in about 20 yrs I might get some feeling back in the tip of my finger.

I think, if I can carry on the pirate thingy, that “here there be dragons”.

Think first, imagine the cuts…is there something you can do to avoid them?

Well then do that…

I was using my bandsaw (you know, the safest saw in the shop!!) and as I was getting to the end of the cut, I said to myself… “you’re gonna cut your thumb”… just as it happened. Now I use a push stick that’s made especially for short, thin cuts (made it myself with a bandaged thumb!). The rest of the story, as they say, is that I had a nice gash on my thumb but didn’t want to stop want I was doing for a trip to the hospital. Now by trade I am a nurse practitioner so I know that I have approximately 8 hours to get it sutured in the ER. I went into the house, cleaned it up and did my usual bang up job of bandaging it… and finished my project. Not a bit of blood on the wood ;-)
When I got to the ER, they were none too happy with me… to say the least! But it was within the prescribed time limit!
Moral of the Story: the safest saw is the one that is unplugged.

I have hurt myself on only one machine in my shop in the last 18 years. Yep, you guessed it, the bandsaw. And not only once, but three times (I’m a slow learner). Twice to the ER and the last time just some skin rubbed off, all finger damage, but luckily nothing permanent. The first two accidents occurred not long after I started woodworking mostly due to ignorance, but the last one was about 1 month ago and mostly caused by stupidity, but to be nice I’ll just call it carelessness. To be more specific, I was resawing some lumber and when I got to the last cut the blade was pretty close to the outside where I was holding the workpiece against the fence. I didn’t feel the need for a push stick (although I normally use one anyway) as my bandsaw usually cuts very straight, but I didn’t know that one of the guides was loose from vibration allowing the blade to wander and come out the side of the workpiece onto my fingers. The result was finishing up 5 Christmas baskets with a lot of pain from my thumb and forefinger for a couple of weeks on my right hand, which is the one I mostly use.

I have to admit that I find this pretty embarrassing as I pride myself on working safe even though I’m not a safety nut and I believe that safety is in the brain and not the equipment, but I hope it will prevent others from making the same dumb mistake. Otherwise, I do nick myself often while working with edge tools, but a lot less after I got a decent workbench.

Are all mistakes stupid? Seems like it. Mine was, real – real stupid. I was cutting a small piece for a project for my wife. The problem was – I was thinking about what I was going to do next, not about what I was doing. I now have a new shape to my thumb. It’s been three years and I’m able to feel with it again, for the most part. Still some area with no feeling. It’s on my left hand so, when I am holding a piece of wood on the saw, that thumb is a reminder in full view.

We’re not encouraging the new folks, are we? Remember…one day, you took a hunk of wood and turned it into a beautiful, elegant and much loved table. Remember that and keep your fingers far from the whirling knives.

A couple of years ago I was drilling a half hole on the edge of a board with a forstner bit and did not use another board as a back up or clamp the board down. As I started the hole the board shifted and pulled my thumb into the bit. I was very fortunate as it just cut the nail right down the middle, only scratched the skin underneath. I remember thinking as I was starting the hole that this probably was not safe and I should do it another way but… I also remember as it happened I said this is going to hurt tomorrow. I went to an emergicare clinic and they glued it back together and there was no pain at all.

I recall my Dad hitting his thumb nail with a hammer, then going over to the Drill press and drilling a hole in the nail to relieve the pressure….sure he lost his nail, he said it really took the pain away quickly. So a number of years later, I smacked my thumb and went to the DP and drilled a 1/16 hole in the nail….it turnes out that hurts too…especially when you go too deep cause you are in a hurry…..
Mama always said that I was not the brightest bulb in the box!
Mike

Easiest way to relieve pressure on a nail bed (like on the hand, not the kind that holds wood together) that is swollen is to open a paper clip, heat the end to red hot and touch the nail. For that procedure, I charged $80 (+ paper clip) (just kidding about the cost ;-)
Only do this if there is blood under the nail… that will be 5 cents please.

sooo many new woodworkers are going to run off to the Crochet Community :)
Watch Craigslist for bargains!

My expert advise…… ready? …… Quit using hammers. Dang

That is exactly the problem Gary….after so many years of nailers, Kreg joints and biscuit cutters…I am terrible with a hammer!!!

Ok, I’ll toss mine in. I had just got my new zero clearance insert for the table saw. I was excited to try it out. I had a cut to make on a small piece of trim. Our was a good boy and set up a feather board to guide the piece into the blade, and used a push stick and everything (thank goodness. ) all safe and secure, right? Well, I did neglect one little thing. I failed to level the new insert flush with the table. When the stock began to exit the back of the blade it caught on the curved seam between the insert and the table. It turned the piece, bound the blade, and fired my workpiece off the saw and out the door of the shop. I had to make a new push stick after that. Whoops. At least it wasn’t a finger

Early in using power tools I was running the company table saw. No safety devises at all on it and I didn’t even know what they were. The saw had a cast iron top, a blade, and a fence. I was pushing a small piece of oak thru with just my hands, I moved to the left side of the table to catch the wood as it passed the blade. Of course the blade caught it and it went flying backwards. The result was a bruised thumb and ego. It could have been way worse. The wood propelled through the shop wall and went into the next room landing on top of an office workers desk. Luckily no one was in the room at the time. It could have easily gone right through me as the wall was cinder block construction with Gyprock on both sides. I unplugged the saw and cut the wires on it so no one could use it ever again and went directly to the hardware store to buy a saw that had all the safety devises on it and learned what a push stick was. I spent 3 hours there while they went over safety procedures and when I got the instructions I read them a couple dozen times before I used a table saw again. I had been using that old saw for about 6 months with no idea what I was doing, just damm lucky.

At least you were smart enough to get a new safe saw and learned how to use it safely.

Always read the manufacturer’s instructions and make sure you use all the appropriate safety equipment. And above all else, be sure to wear these, “safety glasses” ….taps regular prescription glasses knowingly