Safety

[Mad Max]

We neve can be reminded enough about SAFETY with machines and Mask.
I saw a bloody finger on Fbook from a band saw, just a surface cut but could have been worse.
Tell what you did wrong so we can all learn?

Holding a thin piece of wood up to the edge sander and almost ripping my finger nail off.
Or removing some skin on my knuckle.

[Buggs]

Using an angle grinder one handed, big no-no. Too much torque, no matter how strong your death grip.
I had one kick back on me and chewed thru about 60% of my right quadricep tendon. Five months of PT to walk normal again.

[Appalachian Hillbilly]

Lacquer in my eye, no safety glasses. Working for my ex father in law finishing cabinets in his shop. Set a full 5 gallon can of it down to hard and it burped straight up through the spout.

No rings in the wood shop,  they had to cut off my wedding ring when the daddoo blade caught and edge and freakishly slammed the piece on my finger, mashing my ring...

Wear ear plugs while welding over head, slag in my ear....now that hurts!

Wear respirator,  got overdosed on 2 stage urethane once and found out I was highly  allergic to Leopard Wood, all from not using a respirator properly.

[wood carver 2]

Last December, I was making a piece of transition molding on the bandsaw with the table tilted at about 30 degrees. I was somewhat distracted and I forgot that a bit of the blade was exposed between the wood and the table and I reached over to stabilize the wood. My fingernail has mostly grown back, but the nerves on my middle finger are still damaged.
Loose clothing is another one. I was flattening some bamboo on the jointer last spring and I felt something beginning to tug on my jacket sleeve. The snap had come undone and the loose cuff was just touching the knives. Luckily, it didn’t get caught.
On a positive note, I own and use a powered respirator now, since I discovered that I am becoming allergic to some woods.
Dave.

[Shredd]

I been a carpenter / artisan most of my life... I still have all my fingers...  I had some brushes with the sander and smashed my fingers and had some nicks from blades...  But I am here to remind you that what ever happens outside the shop stays outside the shop... A distracted mind is the worst thing... So if you are arguing with the wife and can't get it out of your head you might want to choose not to use power tools that day or try to stay super focused...

[Mad Max]

Buffalo or sheep horn when It’s not flat on the bandsaw will catch the blade and scare the heck out of you

[wood carver 2]

Shredd, I carry a scar on my knuckle from 25 years ago when I had a beautiful woman on my mind… 😁
X 2 on keeping a clear mind.
Dave.

[wood carver 2]

Thinking about bandsaws reminded me of another thing. I have been slabbing small logs on my bandsaw that are too small to go on the mill. It only takes a couple of minutes to cut one into slabs, so it might be tempting to not make or use a jig to hold the log. Take the time. If the blade grabs, it will spin the log until the blade breaks or jams and it can do a job on your hands.
Dave.

[garyschuler]

Hillbilly. Ditto on the earplugs while welding overhead. I just love that sizzling, popping sound as it burns all the hair outta your ears !!!. If you cut veneers/ lams on a table saw, make sure your table inserts are in good shape. If they are getting wide space and ratty, replace them ( Trust me on this one ) !!!

[Kirkll]

i think i've seen the most accidents on power tools due to distractions and using dull blades or cutters. You should never approach someone in a shop when they are running a machine, and never use a tool with dull blades or cutters. I'm not even going to go into any grizzly details, but i've seen a lot of fingers lost and hauled guys to the hospital more than a few times. I saw a lot of worm drive skill saw accidents while framing. A couple of those looked like a horror movie....

i still got all 10 fingers after over 50 years of running shop tools and man eating skill saws, but there have been a few close calls even being careful. I work solo in my shop 99% of the time and i like it like that. My family knows better than to just walk into my shop without calling me on the phone first, or they stand at the door until i see them before entering. (As it should be)

The guys that seem to get tangled up with a machines the most  are the rookies and the old farts just being careless. I treat every one of my power tools like coiled rattle snake..... Always will.  Chit happens.   Kirk

[wood carver 2]

I had a friend who used to think it was funny to sneak up and startle me when I was in my shop. One day I was ready for him and I gave him the surprise. When he jumped out from behind the door, I threw a framing hammer so that it hit the doorframe about a foot from his head. I told him that if I hurt myself because of him, the hammer would be dead centre next time.
I have little tolerance for stupidity, and it gets less as I get older.
Dave.

[Kirkll]

I had a friend who used to think it was funny to sneak up and startle me when I was in my shop. One day I was ready for him and I gave him the surprise. When he jumped out from behind the door, I threw a framing hammer so that it hit the doorframe about a foot from his head. I told him that if I hurt myself because of him, the hammer would be dead centre next time.
I have little tolerance for stupidity, and it gets less as I get older.
Dave.

The one and only time i ever got tangled up with a chop saw was from a kid sneaking into the apt unit i was setting finish on. I caught him in there before and ran him out.... This time he was hiding..... The motion caught my eye and i lifted my hand into the blade just enough to cut the skin almost to the bone. i instantly grabbed the kid by the shirt and stuck my bleeding finger in his face. I Got blood all down the front of him too and scared the B-Jesus out of him..... He ran out of that building like a scared rabbit. Probably traumatized the poor kid for life.... never saw him again after that. 

Fortunately it was nothing a band aid and a little duct tape wouldn't cure. i could have just as easily lost a finger or two.

Kirk

[Mad Max]

I did Ornamental Iron work for 10 years where I live now and people come into the shop and scare the $$$$ out of me, so one day I made a wind chime with some 3" round tubing left over in the steel rack. This thing was about 5' tall and I hung it up high in the building.
I tied fishing line to the wind sail and over to the door, it was loud.

I scared them more than me

[Tim Finley]

My son cut his middle finger off last winter what a mess  . He did it on a table saw. My brother in law cut his finger off ,his dog happened to be standing there and ate it before he could get it to reattach it he just heard the crunch .

[Mad Max]

  No dogs allowed

Be sure and vacuum your shirt, pants, shoes off with the dust collector before you go back into the house or you might get hit in the head.

[Shredd]

OMG..!!!  Both funny and horrific at the same time...    

[Kirkll]

That would make a good conversation piece.  "Hey bro... What happened to your finger there?"   "My doge ate it...." 
   
They actually do a pretty decent job of reattaching fingers these days. But they never function the same again.

Years ago back in my wood framing days, i was working on a roof with an old timer that was always joking around and being careless. He was up on the ridge trimming plywood sheathing, and i was down below working on the overhang, when Clyde yells, "Damn it! I just cut my fingers of!!!"  I looked up just in time to see 3 of his fingers rolling down the roof at me. So first thing i do was scramble to pick up the fingers. Not really knowing what to do with them, I took the cellophane off the pack of cigarettes i had in my pocket and wrapped the severed fingers in it, and stuck them in my pocket. Amazingly, there was not a lot blood at this time, and he was holding his wrist tightly to slow it down.

I told Clyde "i got your fingers, lets get you to the hospital."  About that time he plops down on his butt and says "Sorry bro, I don't think i can make it down the ladder."  Of course... we were up two stories... Go figure.... So i tell him, " just Dont you go passing out on me and bleeding out, i'll get ya off the roof."  Lucky for both of us he wasn't a big man, but even still .....hauling a 165 pound man down a ladder in a fireman's carriage is a lot more difficult than it looks on TV... Trust me on that one....   There were no cell phones in those days, and i had no one to help  me. So i threw him over my shoulder and got him to my truck, and applied some gause and duct tape to the stumps.

The nearest hospital wasn't far, and i got immediate attention carrying Clyde over my shoulder into the emergency room. He had passed out just about the time we got there and there just wasn't time to mess around.

 When the doctor asked where the missing fingers were, i pulled them out of my pocked wrapped in cigarette cellophane. He got a big grin on his face and told me that i just saved this guys fingers doing that....but ice would have been better. I told him i was fresh out at the moment, and he laughed. Then he asked if i was ok? I was pretty much covered in blood at this point, but none of it being mine. 

They did save Clyde's fingers, but that was the end of his framing days......    Kirk

[Mad Max]

Cool story

[Kirkll]

I could tell a bunch more rather gruesome stories of worm drive skill saw mangling on framing projects. But it’s a bit much to put into words.   I ran some huge multi family dwelling projects over the years and guys were always getting hurt. ……I had 200 man crews at one time in the late 80’s, and Those worm drive skill saws are man eaters…Kirk

[onetone]

Some call those worm drives “sidewinders” for good reason.