My first bone head move - router table accident

You were lucky.

Take good care of the wound and heal up nicely.

And NEVER disrespect a machine that goes several THOUSAND revolutions per minute.

Hey Rob, you sound like you'd make a good drinking buddy. Once you were loaded if we talked you into trying something stupid and it didn't work, we might be able to talk you into trying it a second time. :)

Glad you've still got all your fingers. In the great scheme of things, a lost piece of finger flesh might well be the catalyst to saving you more than that in the future.

"Rob V" snip

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A very good lesson well learned and all it cost you was and ugly finger that will heal. The tip of one of my fingers had a difficult time stopping a table saw blade! The lesson learned, don't try to flick a short piece away from the spinning blade!

Dave

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jesus, thats rough. router and mitre saw both terrify me.

if that had happened to me i would taken a pic of the router bit with chunks of my finger on it and laminated it to the table or something as a reminder for each time it gets used!

Wow, I got that sick feeling while reading your post. I hope that you are truly OK.

Frank

As did I. And I'm still a little queasy... I hate cutting through-slots on the router table, because they can easily decide to take off on you if you don't keep the part firmly against the fence or get your bearings (front/rear cut vs rotation) messed up. I've considered drawing little directional arrows on everything as a memory jogger. But then the wimp lazes out.

The fact that you actually went back to face the beast, still bandaged, demonstrates great valor... or something...

Hope everything heals well, and that the remainder of the year is incident free. Remember, you can't type without fingers...

Greg G.

Or posted it in Alt.Pictures.Binaries.Woodworking...

You say that is your first bonehead move. You still must be an infant.

Stay well and safe

I posted some pics for those that requested them.

Also - odd thing is talking w/ the ER doc - he said today was the day that power tools fought back.

Anyways - enjoy the pics.

Glad you are here to tell us about it. Live and learn. And I hope you are having a Xmas Bazaar, otherwise, please invite me.

Steve

Lord - that sounds very familiar. Your pic looks very much like my finger did after a bone-head move I made with a table saw a few years ago. I was cutting off trim pieces with the miter gage, turned the machine off and walked away with a hand full of pieces. I looked over my shoulder and realized I left one piece on the saw. Absent mindedly I didn't realize the blade had not spun down and it got the pointer on my right hand. Knocked a chunk out similar to yours. Expensive and painful safety reminder.

BTW - . Mine did get to the bone - barely nicked the end. They gave me a round of pretty strong antibiotics. Apparently bone infection is pretty serious stuff.

RonB

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Congrats on learning a lesson the easiest of the hard ways. Your little scars will often remind you of that, too.

WTF for? Clean it up and, if you think it's bad enough for stitches, go see _your_ doctor, not the freakin' ER! That was bonehead maneuver #2 AFAIC. The ER doctor should have said something to that order, too. Now the insurance company is stuck with a $1,500 bill for a bandaid. (One of my hotter buttons. SO, everyone, call your doctor and ask what they can and can't handle in the way of emergency surgery. Chances are high that they'll be able to handle you for about $1,000 less than the ER would. Limit the ER visits to appendage amputations and severed muscles/tendons, eh? Y'know, things your doctor would faint over.)

Ayup. Anyway, for next time, try one of these (or build one): (Crap, can't find a make/model number on my yellow-blocked, dual handled parts holder with angle gauge.) Anyway, it holds blocks of wood from the top so you can route or saw them on the TS with your hands safely on top.

It's good that you went right back to work with it. An unhealthy fear can come up if you wait too long, and you can be overly cautious to the point of danger once again because of fears like that. Ya done good gettin' back on the horse, boy.

Ah, you betcha!

Bueno, bwana.

-- "Menja bé, caga fort!"

Good rant. A friend just did something similar to his finger with a utility knife, and asked an ER nurse neighbor who told him pretty much the same thing. She cleaned it up and bandaged it for him. Absent such a neighbor that does pro bono work, a doc-in-the-box is a good solution, at least around here. Better hours and easier to get to see than your own doc.

Don't know about your doctor, but I need to make an appointment a few weeks ahead before I can get in to see mine. Anything else that needs to be done right away, I'd get the standard line to go to the hospital.

Of course, I'm talking about the Canadian medical system. Guess it's a little different down in the good old USA.

Here in the UK you'd not only be welcome in hospital A&E with an injury like that, but it would likely also be a queue-jumping grade of injury as they treat it as a potential open fracture (happened to a friend of mine who stuck a sewing machine through his finger). If I took such a finger into my GP I strongly suspect I'd be packed off to hospital for an X-ray at least.

On Thu, 1 Dec 2005 18:11:52 -0500, with neither quill nor qualm, "Upscale" quickly quoth:

Here, too, but if you have an emergency, walk-ins are accepted.

How long is -that- line?

If called, they send an ambulance (only $1,200USD) and put you right in the ER. Walk-ins are sent through the triage system (if the ER is busy) and minor problems might wait an hour or 3 before getting seen. Bleeding stumps, particularly those nurturing baggies with fingers on ice, are usually taken in right away.

-- "Menja bé, caga fort!"

On Thu, 01 Dec 2005 23:56:57 +0000, with neither quill nor qualm, Andy Dingley quickly quoth:

"Why in HELL does anyone need an X-ray taken on a -flesh- cut?" I gasped.

-- "Menja bé, caga fort!"

I was wondering that myself, but I'm the kind of guy who won't go to a hospital unless a major artery is severed. To many gaping flesh wounds as a child, I guess, combined with no money made us quite frugal about throwing large sums to the winds. And the way hospitals are these days, you're just as likely to come out missing a totally non-involved body part.

Are you from Spain? It IS the Christmas season - and those little crapping statues sure are cute - the kids love 'em.

FWIW,

Greg G.