first woodworking accident

Darn it. Well, I was cutting some pine with my new miter trimmer and reached in w/left hand to remove the small chunk and put it back onto a little Christmas tree thing I was trying to make and my left middle finger knuckle (the top) just touched the blade. I kept cutting and after maybe a minute I looked down and saw a thick line of bright red blood nicely oozing on top of my knuckle! I could not believe the blade was that sharp. I didn't feel a thing when my knuckle grazed it. I guess that's one way to tell how sharp a blade is.

Tim

Reply to
Tim Simmons
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But not a very good one! (G) Well, I'm glad you got a lesson out of it without doing any serious damage. Thanks for sharing, I always appreciate these stories to help keep the danger real.

david

Reply to
D K Woods

Yep - good to share these things.

I did something daft a couple of weeks back too. I had a small timber board vertical in the vice and was cutting some slots with the biscuit cutter. Stupidly I was holding the timber behind where I was cutting the slots - you guessed it I was cutting slots that were too deep for the timber - the cutter blade went all the way through and into the middle finger tip of my left hand! I felt daft because there I was with my safety glasses on thinking I was a careful chap.

Lesson 1 : Ensure that you are cutting a slot that is appropriate for the timber thickness.

Lesson 2 : Never, never, hold the timber where the cutter is working!

(Red faced but all healed up now)

Steve Maldon, Essex, UK

Reply to
Steve H

Sorry to hear about any accident, no matter how small. I can one up you. About 30+ years ago I was cutting some plywood with a portable circular saw when I felt a small tug on my finger. When I looked at my finger, it was gone. 30 years later, and it's still missing!

Remove the 'remove' in my address to e:mail me.

Reply to
SteveC1280

Ok - you win! (Not that I wanted to!)

Reply to
Steve H

Let me tell you form experience, it would have required no more effort on your part to have cut your finger off also. Had you moved your finger 1/2" closer to that blade, you would have told us about this after a trip to the hospital. It would have hurt a lot more but there would have been no resistance at all. Imagine cutting cheese with your saw. That is about how much resistance your flesh and bone provides to the spinning saw blade. You were VERY lucky this time. Let that be a lesson and BE CAREFUL...

Reply to
Leon

Ok, I'll share . . .

I don't chop me up with power tools. They scare the bejezus outta me and I try to be _real_ careful around those things.

I chop me up with _hand_ tools. No major bits missing, mind you, but plenty of scars.

The current 'fresh set' came from a brand-new saw, of the Manuel Variety. Got a new handsaw a while back, and finally needed to use it.

While starting the cut, which had to be fairly precise, I managed to pull the saw back a bit too far and it popped out of the kerf (?) in the wood.

Bounced off my thumb, right at the cuticle. Didn't do anything but bounce off and land on the wood.

Four deep lacerations from the joint down across the nail.

Hurt like hell, leaked a lot, invented several new words.

If I can do that much damage with a relatively minor 'bump', I don't even want to _know_ how much damage the TS can do.

Cheers, Fred McClellan the dash plumber at mindspring dot com

Reply to
Fred McClellan

Heck, I've done that running my fingers along the edge of a freshly jointed board. Didn't realize I was cut until I had blood all over the board.

Gary

Reply to
GeeDubb

The miter trimmer is not a spinning saw. It is like a guillotine. I pull a lever and the blades move. I couldn't, therefore, cut off my finger by brushing against it while the blade is stationary. If, while trimming, my hand slips and goes under the blade, then it could easily remove my whole hand. I was amazed at the sharpness because this blade is something like

12" long and 1/4" thick. I thought it'd be duller.

Tim

Reply to
Tim Simmons

Tim S.:

That'd be the ultimate paper cut!

Tim

Reply to
Tim Simmons

Tis indeed a very sharp item, plus with the mass of the blade, it has a fair bit of inertia.

I was putting in some trim for my brother's neighbors and was doing the cutting and trimming in the garage. My three year old nephew came running up the driveway unexpectedly as I was just positioning a piece of moulding to trim.

Going into instant "remove all sharp tools from the kid's grasp range" mode, I turned to give a quick look around to see what had to be picked up real quick. The fingernail from one finger just grazed the blade at a very acute angle, just above the cuticle. The blade proceeded to go to within 1/8" of the tip of the finger. Made a nice divot, plus a healthy amount of red stuff. Sharp blade makes for a clean and painless cut. Pain comes later as the body goes into heal mode.

Ouchie.

Took several weeks to fully heal, but all is well...fingernail still grows.

Reply to
Mo' Sawdust

Tim S.:

I've since started using a stick to hold small pieces in place!

Tim

Reply to
Tim Simmons

Yep, one of those nipped me a couple of years ago, didn't notice anything until I saw I was leaking!

The manufacturers say there have been a number of cuts over the years by folk not thinking, and picking them up by the winged edge. You can get very close to the cutter doing that. Aarrgghh.

Barry Lennox

Reply to
Barry Lennox

Did that whilst handling some 8x4 sheets of 18mm mdf. Put it down by letting it slide gently through my hands - only a few inches. I should have gone straight to a palm reader to see what they made of the new life-lines...

Wear handling gloves when moving the stuff now.

cheers Richard

-- Richard Sampson

email me at richard at olifant d-ot co do-t uk

Reply to
RichardS

Nearly did a similar thing abou 15 years ago when helping an old joiner that was changing some architraving at my parent's house.

Was moving the trimmer (with the handle still in) when noticed the blade moving slowly towards fingers.... if I hadn't been quick I think that there would have been a quick visit to the local A&E. This still gives me shivers down my spine when I think about it!

-- Richard Sampson

email me at richard at olifant d-ot co do-t uk

Reply to
RichardS

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