Close calls or worse

[mgmine]

After reading about Ducky's accident it got me to thinking of a few close calls that I have had and wonder what others have suffered through. My most memorable but not the worst was when I was sanding a thin piece of wood on a stationary belt sander. The wood got so thin that it slid under the stop taking my fingers with it. My finger got jammed and the 60 grit paper proceeded to sand my fingers down. When they were sanded to a thickness less than the opening under the stop I was able to pull them out. A trip to the emergency room ensued.

 

[thatknobtony]

Had a kick back from the table saw smack dab on my special place. The boys were pretty tender but for sure we're an impressive sight for awhile. I do believe I cried like a baby.

[Travis]

I had my fingers brush up against the side of a spinning table saw blade.  After the surge of adrenaline came down, I locked up the shop and called it a day.  I'm much more focused and aware of potential problems when dealing with any shop tools.

 

I've also had a piece of wood in my eye.  It scratched my retina.  It hurt to close my eyes.  It hurt to open my eyes.  It hurt to look.  It took about a week to heal.  I wear eye protection whenever possible.

[amazingkevin]

Those story's make me bite my teeth.
I can feel the pain and the goose

bumps rise.

[courdorygirl]

I wasn't wearing eye protection or a mask like I should and the Dremel sent a projectile 1/4" long straight at my eye. Bounced off my glasses thank goodness.

[oneleggimp]

In the year I've been back woodworking, as a GIMP, I've been remarkably safe UNTIL yesteday. I was drillng 5/8" holes in 3/4" MDF with a spade bit. Don't have a vise. Was holding it on the table with one hand and operating the 3/8" Drill motor with the other. Somehow the bit came through on an angle and bit into my hand below the thumb I'm on blood thinner (Warfarin) and Boy Howdy - Bled like the proverbail stuck pig. After a half hour with it still bleeding we called the local gendarmerie to haul my corpus to the ER. By the time they got there, it had finally stopped, after about fifty minutes bleeding pretty good. Not a good day.

[LarryEA]

Splinters, kickbacks and close calls but nothing major in the workshop.

I did do a stupid with my lawn mower years ago. Mowing the lawn, the chute got clogged.

Sitting on the mower, still running and mower on, I bent down and stuck my hand in to pull the grass out.

It felt like I could count the times the blades hit the tip of my middle finger. Lost the tip, bled a lot but no

handicap.

Stupid is as stupid does.

[kywoodmaster]

Stupid act with a Jointer.  Had a very thin narrow piece of red oak and no push block. Wood got to chattering and I lost the very tip of my middle left finger.  I now keep push blocks on all tools,

Edited June 11, 2015 by kywoodmaster

[Gordster]

I'm like Larry.splinters and close calls in shop..However I did fall off step

ladder while building a shed..Dislocated elbow and broke my wrist.That

was a big wake up call as it done me in for three months with therapy etc.

After reading some of the accidents here,I plan to be more safety minded in shop.

[DWSUDEKUM]

My close call involved a lathe.  I was applying a good sanding and a first coat of polish to a plate I was making when it started to become delaminated and started to decouple from the lathe.  The plate 11" in diameter went sailing past my left ear over my shoulder and into the shop just missing several of the other guys working on near by benches.  If it had struck me the safety equipment I was wearing - goggles and hearing protection would not have done much.  All we can do is be reasonably safe when working around power tools.  Personally I was thrilled to see the invention of the Saw Stop.  I actually attended a demonstration of it.  The sales rep took a saw stop equipped table saw and turned it on then got a hot dog and pushed it onto the spinning blade other then a very small nick in the hot dog there was no damage done to the hot dog, the saw however needed to have it's saw stop mechanism replaced.  I would rather do that then try to regrow fingers.  The President of the Saw Stop company believes in this so much he has actually used his one hand in demonstrations, talk about faith in your product!

 

DW 

[TripleJScroller]

Nothing in the workshop, but I used to work as a framing carpenter and had a skill saw jump while ripping a sheet of plywood.  Thank god I was wearing steel toe boots or I probably wouldn't have toes right now. 

[Kevx]

Yup. I recently inherited a table saw and refurbished it, and it saves me a lot of time, but it does scare me. It's the dragon that lives out on my back patio!

[WayneMahler]

The worst thing I ever went through was making a Queen Anne Table for our living room. Had to cut a 3"x3"x5" blanks down to 1 3/4" square. Had to remove the riving knife and guard on the table saw to do this. First 2 went perfect as did the first cut on the 3rd piece. Second cut, blade grabbed it, threw it and my left hand went in to the blade. Funny how you can remeber the teeth as they pass through your fingers. You can almost count them. Saved the three middle fingers on my left hand although now they are shorter by 1/8 of an inch. Will never be right, and years later still have issues. Greatful I have them and can still work but a huge lesson learned in the process. No matter how careful you are things happen. That was 4 years ago, the table is still not finsihed. But being kept as a reminder of a second of not paying attention.

[Ken O]

Was using a cut off wheelin my roto zip. Apparently it wasn't balanced or loose or something (I'm not sure) but when I turned it on, the shaft bent, it spun around a couple times then hit the accessory attachment stud and kicked itself right out of the chuck. Of course it hit me square in the face! Felt like I got punched in the mouth. Luckily I had my dust mask on and it put teeth marks in that instead of my face.

[Scrappile]

I've had a few in the past 40 years.  Took the tip of a finger off on the table saw.  Don't mean to gross anyone out with a picture of my roll of fat but this was a kickback on the table saw. 

 

 

 

The scare just above the bruse is from another time....  I'm a slow learner.

 

 

[OCtoolguy]

We all need a wake up call once in a while. After reading all of your experiences, and getting over the heebie jeebies, I will be much more aware, observant and vigilant in the future. Thanks to all of you and I'm sorry for your pain.

 

Ray

[RangerJay]

Never had anything dramatic like those listed here - but find it really interesting  how my  own "safety ethic" took a long time to develop  .....

 

In my first decades of woodworking I never wore hearing protection, rarely wore eye protection, and would wear dust masks only when I couldn't breath.  

 

Now I'm 65 and don't feel so invincible anymore.

 

Today I wear eye protection whenever I'm in the shop for the whole time I'm in the shop - I have a portable dust collector that serves the scrollsaw, the sanders and the dremel tool very well - I wear a dust mask for all the other tools whenever they are on - and now I wear hearing protection for the planer, jointer and table saw and noisy portable/hand tools (and yes - I have hearing aids now ...... oh ...... and volunteer with the Canadian Hearing Society .......).

 

I guess age really does bring wisdom ......

 

 

Jay

Edited June 16, 2015 by RangerJay

[bobscroll]

Nothing in the shop to talk of....But I went 246 yards off my motorbike in the seventy's, It seemed to take

forever to end, I went down the grass verge and the bike cartwheeled down the road next to me, The

bike was completely mashed up....Me dislocated right elbow, A Policeman said he checked the distant

I travelled from the mark the tyre left on the kerb to where the bike came to a stop! It took three months

for my elbow to straighten out, I rebuilt my bike and rode another day! 

Bob 

[Ken O]

I'll have to put one in for my Dad. He had just sharpened the lawn mower blade and had done a very nice job. Was tightening the bolt on the blade and the wrench slipped. He sliced the tendons in 2 fingers. They had to operate on his hand to go get the tendons and reattach them. Good reason to wear gloves!

Edited June 17, 2015 by Ken O

[Bpardue]

Slipt my left thumb on a tablesaw over 20years ago in my shop with the guard on it.  learned my lesson every quickly and now I work without the guard and use feather boards & a push stick. No other issues sense.