I was building a door frame this weekend and while I was cutting the rabbets in the jambs I had a hell of a wreck. I was pushing the wood against the fence with a push block, above and slightly behind the blade, and the jamb must have tipped away from the fence because suddenly it kicked back slightly, sending the push block into the blade. I guess I was caught off balance because I let go of the block as it was thrown back towards me, sending my left hand into the side of the blade.
At that point I decided that the best course of action was to run circles around my yard, top speed, screaming my head off.
After a few minutes I finally gathered my wits, wrapped up my hand, and phoned my folks. Then I commenced the circle running until they showed up and took me to the ER. After almost fainting and damn near puking I was laying in the trauma room, nurses and doctors running around saying incredibly reassuring things like 'yow, what a mess' and 'I don't know if we can even stitch that'. At one point, while the doctor was giving me one of eight 'blocking' needles in my hand (which hurt every bit as as bad as running my hand into the blade) a nurse ACTUALLY asked me 'on a scale of one to ten, how bad is the pain?'. And then I called her bad things...
Anyways, after the smoke had cleared it wasn't really that bad - considering how bad it COULD have been. It took 65 stitches to close it all up, and I lost a tiny piece off the top of my pinkie and at least two of my nails are long gone, but I didn't sever any tendons and I didn't lose any digits. Phew!
After I got back home I went into the shop, turned off my still-running saw, and surveyed the aftermath. The thing that I was left with was this: I wasn't doing anything precarious or unusual, I wasn't using the machine in a way it wasn't intended for, and I thought I was taking the necessary safety precautions. It all happened instantly, there was no time to counteract the inevitable. The last couple weeks have been rough, I've had a couple crappy things happen and have had a lot on my mind. I was working on the door frame at a dogged pace and my heart wasn't in it - I should've just walked away. Inattentiveness caused the accident. It would have been just as easy to lose a finger, or a whole hand, I got away lucky with 65 stitches.
The pictures below are pretty gruesome, pan down at your own risk.
12 comments:
holy moly dude. i assume you had a dado set in there? you are very lucky indeed to get away how you did. i mean 65 stitches, but you still have a hand! i hope you recover quickly dude! and ouch!
Holy man, no - just a rip blade. I can't imagine the damage a dado set would cause! It's healing very well, I'm happy to say. I'm definitely going to splurge on a sawstop though!!
i'll take this time to mention how much i hate tablesaws. the only thing i do on them is cut up ply, crosscut and cut tenons. i try to do everything else on the bandsaw.
yeah a sawstop is a great idea, they even came out with a "professional" model thats half the price of what i paid.
Cody,
That is one horrid event - but you are very lucky to have your digits still attached. Your closing paragraph really hits home for me. There have been a few times when I have been working and distracted by other things. On many of those occasions I have stopped working - but an equal number of times I have pushed on. This will hopefully remind me to stop more often. Makes me think sawstop too.
Cody, I was shocked and saddened when Ian told me the other day. Take it easy and hope you recover quickly.
Nick - I hear yah, tablesaws are unfortunately a necessary evil. I'm shopping around for a sawstop right now!
Konrad - It's a tough way to learn a lesson, but a good way to not forget it! As horrid as it was it definitely could've been worse.
Jason - Don't be sad Mr Klager! It's actually healing well and feels bettwr every day. I'll be back to hastily building sub-par furnishings in no time!
ok, ok... so you almost cut your hand (all of our worst nightmare, and a thought that probably crosses all of our minds), but if your shopping for a saw stop, can i have your poitras?
only half kidding, hope your hand get better then before, and in all seriousness, can i have your poitras?
what's all this about going back to school? where?
i'm in alberta right now, for another week or so, where the hell are you recovering?
Jacques
I hope you didn't come all the way to Alberta just to pick up my Poitras saw. You can have my old Dewalt though. You're welcome.
I'm at home, sitting on my ass, in Wetaskiwin, which is just south of edmonton. Where the heck are you?? You should buy me a sympathy beer!
i was in the rockies for the past month or so, and now i'm visiting my sister around peace river... i fly out of edmonton next sunday, maybe i'll head down there a day early or so, and take you up on the sympathy beer. oh, you mean, me buy you a beer... i get it.
I'll buy you two sympathy beers, maybe even three. Man, that is one gruesome sight. Did you sever any tendons?
I hope you heal well and fast.
Thanks T&G, once I'm done the anti-biotics next week I'll have a big pisser with all the cumulative sympathy beers!
Thankfully no, I didn't sever any tendons.
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