Woodworking Injuries

Article - May 22, 2012

Every year during Safety Week, I receive lots of stories from woodworkers about close calls as well as major and minor injuries. This year, I actually requested your stories for a little sponsored giveaway. The stories below were selected partly because they teach a significant safety lesson, but also because they have a gross picture associated with them. Yeah, I’m not ashamed to admit it. So if you have a weak stomach, you might not want to scroll any lower. MicroJig is giving each of these folks one of their MJ Splitter Steel Pro units. No doubt some of these accidents could have been avoided with the use of a good splitter. So I hope we can all learn something from stories and images like these. They serve as painful reminders for not only the people in the stories, but us as well!

Lloyd’s Kickback

I was working with a piece of pegboard 96″ long and about 20″ wide, and was cutting about 18″ off one end of the board. My saw is a large 10″ contractor saw mounted on its own portable frame. At the time I was not using the riving knife because the mount had slipped out of adjustment and tended to bind piece of wood between it and the rip fence. My blade was set about 1/4″ above the wood. After pushing this long, flexible piece of wood through the saw, I left the saw running with the 18″x20″ piece between the blade and rip fence. While i stepped back with the 78″ piece (at the time i was more worried about letting that piece flop onto the floor), the piece between the blade and fence shifted enough to bite into the back of the blade, and the thing shot out like a spinning pegboard of death. At this point i was walking back to the saw and about 4 feet from it when the pegboard ninja star was making its way towards me. For whatever reason I had my hands down in front and the piece caught me on the wrist of my right hand, as opposed to more important appendages front and center. I was shocked and couldn’t feel my hand for 2 hours. My wrist swelled probably an inch or so. I could move it, so it wasn’t broken, but it took several months before I regained full motion in it. You can see the pictured taken right after the accident, and a picture from today almost 6 months later. You can still see the scar at the base of my hand.

So why did it happen? Because I’m an IDIOT! Rather than take the 5 minutes to fix the alignment problem with my riving knife, I just took it out and went about my merry way. I probably should have had the blade higher as well.

How did I fix it? I DID NOT go ballistic and buy a saw stop. It wasn’t the saws fault, it was mine for being in a hurry. First I didn’t go back in the shop for a month. Once I got the nerves to go back in, I fixed the riving knife alignment and its now standard policy to never run the saw without it for through cuts, as well as use the anti kickback pawls and saw guard when possible. I’ve also purchased a pair of GRR-IPPERS from Microjig and use them on all of my power tools.

It could have been a lot worse, but this was as close a call as I hope to ever have for the rest of my woodworking career.

Russell’s Kickback and Chisel Slip

Well I think I can definitely contribute to the goal of keeping safety at the forethought of every fellow woodworker out there. I am unfortunate enough to have had not one, but two separate incidents in the shops. My first was in my senior year of high school working on a solid oak firewood storage bin for my parents home. My dad has a nice production shop setup building butcher blocks that I could work in. I had built some 5inch square “feet” for the box that would raise it off the ground by about 2-3 inches. This provided us the ability to move it around easier. Upon final construction, of course, one foot was a little too thick making the box rock back and forth… just annoying is you ask me. So, in the heat of the moment (combined with jamming to some tunes in my headset) I fired up the jointer and made a pass using just my hand pressing the short piece to the table. In hindsight, I cannot believe I was even able to accomplish this one with no real excitement. I tested the foot and of course found that it needed one more pass. Well (you can see where this was going) on this pass the front end of the foot tilted forward right as touched the blades. This shot the piece right out from under my hand and my right index finger dropped into the blades. This incident ended up shattering my finger and I lost about 1/4 – 1/2 inch of bone and all. Luckily they were able to reconstruct the nail bed and after a year or go I regained all motion in it. Obviously most woodworkers should know the two mistakes I made (too small of a piece on that machine and not using some paddles). To those not extreamly familiar with a jointer just know that they recommend a certain length piece for a reason. Just take your time and really think about what you are doing. Oh and the foot was catapulted across the room a good 12-15 feet and put a really good dent in some wood cabinets my father and I had set up.

Now, a few year later, I have finished college and started my career. This has given me the distinct pleasure to setup my own shop in my townhome’s one-car garage. To start with, I did everything by hand (now I have a table saw and miter saw that make things sooo much easier) but still managed to make a crucial second mistake without these big tools. I was making a set of drawers for a cabinet I was constructing for all my tools and was working on paring out some dovetails with a simple handsaw and a set of good, sharp chisels. I made the simplest of split second mistakes by putting my other hand down the workpiece in front of the cutting edge to support the material when I saw it moving a little under my clamps. In hindsight, I should have just tightened the clamps… duh. But no. Once I put more pressure on the paring stroke, the chisel slipped and landed right into the thumb of my left hand. Needless to say it took the entire side of my thumb off in a split second. This one has not healed so nice and I have lost some of my movement in this finger. The main reason I bring this up is that people forget how dangerous even the simplest of hand tools can be when you forget the basic safety rules you are taught as a child. Just be careful, slow down, and take the time to enjoy this wonderful hobby.
I have attached a few pics of the healed injuries just as further enforcement to keeping safety as the number one item on your mind when woodworking.
Thanks for letting me share this. Hope it at least helps someone out.

John’s Saw Blade Kiss

Hey Marc! I hope you and your family are well bro! Since its safety week, I thought I’d share what happened to me on Sunday 4/29. Feel free to post to your site… Just don’t make TOO much fun- lol… Love what you do bro…

I did something foolish, and I knew better, but I had done it several times before, so hey, what’s one more time….. riiiiiiiight… My “luck” finally caught up with me. I was guiding a piece of stock with my left hand and using a push stick between the blade and fence with my right hand. Big deal- that’s how it’s done (SOMEtimes). But, That isn’t the issue here (big eyes- lol)… I was cutting a small piece of 1 1/2″ stock (8-10″ long) on my table saw as a “test piece” for my project, ripping it in half. When the piece went through the blade, at the end of the cut, the blade grabbed the stock, on the FRONT of the blade and pulled my finger in TO the blade!

At first, it didn’t hurt. Kind of felt like a paper cut. I looked at my finger and said, “why is it bleeding so much”? I walked in the house and ran my finger under cold water and said, “oh my! That is NOT a paper cut! That is cut off!!”

Scared my wife a little, and, I was a little in shock too…

I said all of that to say this- don’t be stupid; I was. I knew better. I don’t care how “good you are”, that table saw will win E V E R Y time… makes me wish I had a SawStop, but SawStop can’t fix foolish…

Skip Evans
Never reach into the Soffet.

One Saturday morning I was working on a building I am constructing. The chore for the day was to install the soffits. I was working on a ladder installing one of the panels for the soffit. Being on a ladder I reached inside the soffit to steady myself while nailing the soffit panel. Well, guess what. Not realizing (not thinking) I pressed the trigger on the nail gun and instantly knew I had done something wrong. I must have projected this error with my look because my wife, standing below me asked, Did you just get your finger? There I was, nailed to the building with nowhere to go. I tried to pull my finger off the nail, but the ridged nail shank was not cooperating. Luckily, a neighbor was home. I did not know he could run so fast. My wife had barely hung up the phone and he was there. I was able to pull back the Hardy Plank panel in order to expose the head of the nail. Using lineman pliers we were able to cut the head off the nail and then pry the nail through the OSB. Now that I was free from the building, to the emergency room we went. Luckily the nail missed the bone. after a few needles full of anesthetic, the doc pulled the nail and sent my on my way. I was back to work the next day.

Discussion

Andrew May 22, 2012 8:48 am

All good reminders of why safety is so important.

and now I won’t be eating lunch…

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- thewoodwhisperer May 22, 2012 11:02 am
  
  This is part of my new diet program for woodworkers. :)
  
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Steve W. May 22, 2012 10:27 am

I think the last photo nailed your point!

Ya see he’s pointing and there’s a…oh never mind!

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Travis May 22, 2012 10:45 am

For John’s Sawblade Kiss: I cannot picture what happened exactly could you explain a bit further and how would you prevent this from the next time?

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- hooooooooooooooooorj May 22, 2012 12:40 pm
  
  My guess is that the blade grabbed the work piece and slipped it in through the insert. ZCI might have helped.
  
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Pinto May 22, 2012 11:38 am

Thanks for the safety reinforcement, guys.
You all have definitely earned those MJ Splitters.

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Dozer’s Workshop May 22, 2012 1:05 pm

I even had some fun with tiny chisels back in middle school. I was carving something with a 1/4″ wide shallow gouge. of course, It slipped and jammed the 3/4″ long blade completely into my hand… I could even see it poking into the skin on the far side. This was right in the web of my left hand between the thumb and forefinger. I got super lucky and it just went into the skin and missd the meat and bone… the perfect spear. I still, even at 30, have a nice little scar in my skin that I can even feel…
Sometimes you have to learn the hard way.

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Jasper May 22, 2012 3:49 pm

In anticipation of purchasing a SawStop machine I sold my 3hp cabinet saw and was breaking it down to make it lighter to load. One of the cast iron wings slipped and crushed the index finger on my dominant hand. It required surgery and is healing nicely.

With the finger bandaged I was off the the SawStop vendor, who noticed the large obvious bandage and inquired what happened. I told him, and after a thoughtful pause he stated that a SawStop would be no more effective at preventing this kind of injury!

I thought it was ironic to sustain an injury due to a shop safety upgrade!

PS the vendor tells me he sells an average of one SawStop per day and SawStop has been inquiring how he achieves this kind of volume. Seems to me the argument over SawStop is being settled in the store aisle, as these are replacements for perfectly good saws. If so Craigslist will have plenty of reasonably priced saws for those who choose not to buy SawStop. Certainly I was glad to have a buyer who chose a non SawStop machine. Better than selling the old saw by the pound.

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Ben May 22, 2012 4:34 pm

that last picture sure gives me the willies…

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Curtis May 22, 2012 6:28 pm

I just read an article two days ago on hand tool safety, especially with chisels, and wouldn’t you know that yesterday I was cleaning up an inside rabbet on a walnut mission style lamp shade (without a vise or workbench) when I accidentally thrust my freshly sharpened 1/2″ chisel into the web of my hand between my thumb and index finger. It went in about an inch and took four stitches. Next project: a proper workbench!

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Heather May 23, 2012 1:19 pm

The last picture is my good ole’ dad. The day, as bad as it may have looked, was a lot funnier (when we made sure all was ok) than he made it sound. When my mom heard the sound of the nail gun she looked up and as calm as my dad was trying to look, he had that what in the hell did I do look on his face. There was no denying what he had done before she even asked. My mom called me, trying not to laugh, she said “dad’s done it this time. He’s nailed to the new shed”. After a few OMGs, there was a lot of laughter. As you can guess this was not his first accident, although there are very few. And the neighbor he’s talking about was more scared than dad. When he went into my dad’s shop, where all the tools are, he didn’t know which way to go. He kind of just went in circles for a few minutes trying to decided what he needed to do to get his old friend off the bottom of the roof, meanwhile, Dad is patiently nailed to the roof. After a few deep breaths he came up with a plan. And that poor doctor in the emergency room….when he went to pulling on that nail my dad came up off the gerny. I’m pretty sure the ole’ doc had a few laughs at my poor dad’s expense. I think everyone did that day, including hisself. Also, not only was he back at work the next day, he was back to work on the shed as soon as he made it home from the ER. He’s a hopeless craftsman. Drives him crazy to sit still and not to be able to do anything, so I’m sure as the doctor was saying “Skip, you need to go home and take it easy today” all my dad heard was “nagnagnagnagnag”! Although, this picture gives everyone the willies, it may be a good idea to look at it and learn what not to do.

Love ya Dad!!!

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- thewoodwhisperer May 23, 2012 1:54 pm
  
  Thanks for giving us the whole story Heather. As painful as some of these accidents can be, there’s nothing wrong with seeing a little humor in it. After all, being nailed to a roof definitely is funny….well unless it’s me. :)
  
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Grady May 23, 2012 4:34 pm

What is more simple than a piece of steel that is sharp on one end, aka Chisel? After sharpening a chisel I was polishing the back when I looked away, when I looked back I noticed the red slurie. My thumb was out of commission for a couple of weeks. Never felt a thing, untill I washed the blood off. OUCH! I also had another even more embarrassing encounter. I picked up my tool bag to get a chisel, pulled one out and it was the wrong size. I put it back and pulled the second one, wrong size. Puzzle solved, I now know which is the one I need. Excited about my discovery, (and now in too much in a hurry because I had wasted soo much time) I dropped the second one and quickly grabbed the third one. I noticed that the second one had “missed” my bag and was heading for my wrist, (direct hit). Blood began squirting about four feet with every heart beat.
After my wife called 911 I had to explain to the paramedics, ambulance people, ER admit, ER nurses, and ER doctors what had happened, and my wife showing each of them the actual chisel, I then had to explain to each of them it was an accident, and I was not trying to hurt myself, and did not need
Psychiatric help. And yes, everyone of them asked the question multble times. Now my hospital
Record states that I cut my wrist. No explainition given.

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Robert cassidy May 25, 2012 6:09 am

After 25 years of a pretty perfect safety record it happened. Last week I was ripping a thin piece of trim when somehow the piece shot back at me and stuck im my stomach. ( suddenly its cool to have a bit of fat around the mid section) it happened so fast and the blade was nice enough to make a nice sharp point on It before it shot its lethal blow…my wife is a nurse and fixed me up….tetnise shot anyone? Keep safe

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Mike Mathias May 25, 2012 11:43 am

John’s Saw Blade Kiss – Wish I had seen this a little sooner, my left index finger looks almost as bad for an identical reason (I had to look back and make sure I hadn’t written the story, lol). I was lucky enough to miss the bone and the nail is growing back. My only diference was that the saw had a sliding front area that I neglected to lock and was resting my hand on. When the piece slipped past the blade my wieght shifted the thing forward and my finger (feather board replacement) got about a 1/16″ into the blade. As stated by John, it really didn’t hurt except the initial smack but the doctor at the base hospital sent me to the ER stating he might get sick looking at that. Lessons learned 1. fingers are not featherboards 2. lock the front apron if I’m not using it and 3. inattention, rushing, shortcuts, and distractions all hurt.

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Mr. Anderson May 25, 2012 11:54 am

Normally I don’t cough up a good story but many of you have made me laugh and I thought I would share something that I can laugh at now.

About a month ago I was doing a safety demonstration for my High School woods class. Included in the class was the assistant principal who was observing my teaching style for a formal review. Can you see where I’m going here?

While demonstrating the horizontal edge sander, the table gave way a bit on the pivot. Now I normally would have taken a look at what was wrong BEFORE I grabbed the table and forced it back into position, but I needed this to look good as if I’d seen this happen before (which I hadn’t). Well, it went south pretty quick from there. I happened to grab the edge of the table that sat above a recessed mounting bracket. When I returned it down, I had a firm grip with my fingers wrapped around the whole piece. The bracket and the table didn’t allow much room as space for fingers and I took a pretty good hunk out of the side of my index tip.

Pulling back with a regretted profanity, I watched my finger as it immediately dispersed a steady leak of blood. I’m thankful the woozy student was seen and braced by another before additional injuries took place.

In the end, I am kind of thankful it happened. I know my students look up to me yet they now realize that no on is above the misfortune of getting injured. No matter your skill level, stupid sometimes wins.

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Frank May 28, 2012 10:12 am

My favorites are people nailing themselves to stuff. I have yet (knock on wood) to do any serious damage except to wood, but one time my dad was hammering in some nails doing some framing work in a friend’s house he was helping to build and really squashed his thumb something fierce. He essentially blew the end of his thumb out, it was gross. But he wrapped it up with some paper towels and duct tape and kept working until the pain forced him to quit and go to the hospital. They stitched it back up and now you can’t even tell. And he also had a lawnmower incident when he was kid. It was one of those horizontal spiral blade old fashioned kind, but this one was powered. For some reason he reached into the blade to try and remove something, I don’t know. The end result is on his right hand his index, middle, and ring fingers are all the same length. I don’t remember anything in the history books about the government outlawing those types of lawnmowers or imposing a blade brake technology on them. I believe the free market took care of that all by itself. I think the free market should be allowed to do its thing in the case of table saws as well. The consumers will speak, and table saw manufacturers will answer, and the government can stay of our business and worry about how to balance its books.

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Marc May 29, 2012 5:11 am

I have also been on the receiving end of a nasty table saw bite. I was trying to bevel the edge of a piece of trim (definitely should have been done on a different tool! ) when I reached behind the saw to finish pulling the piece through (I know…not the best woodworking practice) when the two pieces pinched the blade and pulled my hand through the blade backwards! With no blade guard and no riving knife on a tablesaw from the ’60s, its not surprising that my kids ask me to give them a high 4 1/2! I shortened my middle and ring finger to be even with my pointer finger. The nurse took a polaroid picture of my splayed fingers, which looked like hotdogs cooked too long in the microwave, and I laid the pics on the snack box at work
You should have seen people’s faces as they ate a beef stick and asked “what’s that?”. Lessons learner…late nights, no safety guards, and shortcuts make for a fast mistake! At least now I can practice my knuckle ball (or at least write about it in short hand. Be safe!

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S.Wellington May 30, 2012 11:09 pm

After reading the saw kiss, It makes me wonder if my riving knife should be adjusted. I’m not sure I can adjust it as much as bend it. IT leans a little to the right and gives quite a bit of pressure to the piece between the blade and fence. I can feel the resistance when I push wood through the saw. I always thought it was helping me keep my wood tight against the fence for the whole cut, but maybe I should take another look at this? Is this a problem? it keeps the wood away from the blade right? I have a rigid portable saw and I keep the riving knife down on the lower setting because a rarely use the kickback mech. and top blade guard. Any suggestions? Maybe I should just bag the stock riving knife and use the MJ Splitters in my ZCI. ? Still have any laying around there Marc? Thanks for the work you do! Great site!

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pete June 3, 2012 2:10 pm

i do feel the need to comment on lloyds accident. while a riving knife -may- have prevent the piece from coming back, the real violation was not pushing the piece completely past the blade. you -never- leave a piece floating between the fence and blade. ever.

that said, i have indeed been hit in the twig ‘n berrys when i first started learning ‘woodworking’ on the jobsite. i had to crosscut a 4×8 sheet of lauan at 4′, and being new to large stock, enlisted help supporting the fall off. well, between the two of us unexperienced workers, at the last 1/8″ of the cut, i slowed down, he sped up, binding the blade in a split second…the very lightweight 4’x4′ piece stuck between the fence immediately caught, rotated, rode the blade accelerating quickly -point first- at my balls (btw, being 6’4″, table saws are definitely not tall enough…lol)

that was my first, and only tablesaw accident for the past 6 years, scary enough to always pop in my head when i step up to the saw : )

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Matthew June 12, 2012 4:50 am

I just about repeated Skips accident. The middle of a long day building a shed. I was on a ladder and kept loosing my balance so I had my hand holding onto the beam that I was nailing the soffit onto. I felt the nail hit my finger. I immediately thought the oh #$%^ thoughts. As I pulled my finger back around I could see where the nail glanced off the side of the tip of my finger. Luckier than hell.

And, it reinforces my number one rule and safety tip. Tired? Time to stop. Period. Work gets sloppy, and accidents happen.

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Kevin Fermenick August 13, 2012 12:29 pm

When I was in high school, my Dad bought a Craftsman table saw. That was back in the early 70’s when they were cast iron and solid. This particular model had a wider table that included a jointer. I experienced why they don’t sell that style any more.

The motor had two pulley and two belts. One for the saw blade arbor and one for the jointer. This set up would allow both pulley to be engaged simultaneously. Not bothering to learn the equipment and how it differed from that of my school wood shop, I merrily set off to cut some wood. As I did so, I ignored my reaching across the jointer area. After all, it is not sticking up as the saw blade. Then I felt a tug on my right ring finger. I stopped and looked at two flaps of skin loosely affixed to my first knuckle. I just stared at it wondering, “how did that happen?” Then a few seconds later a Niagra falls of blood appeared and it began to hurt like the dickens. Fortunately, wrapping it tight in a paper towel and compressing it was all I needed to reattach the flesh.

I am now 55. To this day, I approach my free standing, not attached to any other equipment, jointer with a caution which I approach no other piece of machinery. I understand the dangers of the other pieces of equipment, but the jointer is “extra spooky.” It looks so tame, yet can bite as an alligator. I still love jointing wood. What an awesome machine, when safely used.

Why did this happen? Not familiarizing myself with the equipment I was operating. If I had, I would have disconnected the jointer pulley belt before using the saw. Lesson learned.

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Joe Surprenant September 9, 2012 10:01 am

I won’t share the details of my own lapse af attention. Suffice to say I am hoping for a good outcome and eventual recovery of my index finger. I’ve prided my self for safe practices and caution; but fell prey to a misplaced self confidence. Let ‘s all. Continue to remind those who share our avocation to continuously revisit our tools and methods.
I will be investing in some time reading safety sites like this regularly, and $ in additional safety equipment in the near future (saw stop among them).

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Morgan Campbell October 15, 2012 12:01 am

It necessarily takes a lot of attention and concentration while working on these tools. Especially when you are working on very accurate and precise works . Recently when I was trying to pierce a hole , I happened to hurt my fore finger and it really took me almost four days to get back to work.

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M Chadwick October 18, 2012 3:58 am

Been there done that- removed tip of middle finger making a bird house for my mother-in-law (knew I disliked her), had a “kiss” as well right pointer.. now the nail- have not done that but did bash my thumb with a 26oz framing hammer.. Aint woodworking fun…

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Mike July 11, 2013 5:06 pm

Just had my first jointer planer incident and I pray my last.
I thank god I still have my finger but that’s no guarantee
Yet. 6 cuts in 2/100 of a second from a kickback with no blocks.
Reconstructive surgery, possibly infected about to go to er again.
Use your blocks, no joke. Don’t assume your hand has to be over
The blade for it to cut you. My left hand was 6 inches on the trailing
Edge. The kick back happend so fast it pulled my hand into the blade
And cut me 6 times before I even knew what happened

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Adam Reed February 5, 2014 9:35 am

No injuries here. Just a bucket full of close calls. One of my major mishaps could have turned into one of my worst accidents. This bone head act was conducted with my router table. I was rounding off an edge on a piece of stock. Even though I wasn’t using the fence I never actually moved it away from the router bit. The gap between the fence and the bit was just a hair smaller than the width of the stock. So without even thinking I moved the piece between the bit and the fence. Needless to say that within a fraction of a fraction of a second the piece rubbed against the fence and was launched by the bit across the shop with lightning speed. The only victim to this lapse of common sense was the shop door. Poor guy never saw it coming and he ended up with a good size hole in him. If the stock [wood] have brought my fingers with it on this fascinating trip of universal shop physics I know I [wood] be down a few digits. Thanks for listening.

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Karol March 4, 2014 11:24 am

Hi there,
i am new to woodworking and am getting a nice collection of tools. I am really glad to read this collection of articles.
I am learning how to NOT do things, by wanting an outcome and not knowing how to get it. I use my imagination and sometimes the things come out well and sometimes i create missiles on the table saw, router and chop saw. i have even sent boards flying on the sander.
I have been lucky so far and have not really hurt myself. And after reading this I hope that I never do.
thanks for sharing this information.
I think we all think we are being safe but sometimes I find out that in hindsight that i am just lucky that i did not hurt myself.

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Steve Irby January 15, 2015 8:04 am

Oh, I wish I had been around to add to this. But just in case here we go. I have shot 1.5″ crown staples through both thumbs. I dropped a .5″ sheet of ply on my big toe. Not bad? I was carrying it from the rack to the saw and holding it with one hand over my head. The wind got it and it landed on my big toe. Right on the nail. I wasnt right for months. but the biggest is a “almost”. We had a real old shaper set up with a power feeder and was running some .5 X .75 stock with a real small profile. So we had all these 16″ sticks that we were running end to end and letting the feeder do all the work. I was feeding and Lil’ Larry (the resident drunk) was catching. All was going good till I fed a piece under the stock which was being cut rather than end to end. I tried to yank it out but the feeder had it. I had just enough time to let go and move back when the inserted tool hit the interloper. Off she took like a oak spear and straight into the metal wall of the shop. No I will never forget that.

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Curtis Knight January 22, 2019 5:47 pm

I was building cabinets for a small outfit back in the mid-80’s. one day I was dadoing some face frame parts near the end of a 30-hour shift (yep that’s not a typo, I said thirty). I let myself get distracted for a fraction of a second (also, not using a push block/stick – hey, I was like 25ish and bullet proof!). I ran the end of my thumb into the stack, immediately let go, and the part shot back right into my hip. I had a bloody thumb and a bruised hip. lucky, no stitches were required and nothing broken. That was when I figured out that I really was not bullet proof :(

As for the 30-hour shifts, it was a start up and I was on a salary, with promises of pie in the sky. When they fell 5 weeks behind on payroll I finally left.

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Rick Matthews Winnipeg, Manitoba June 1, 2020 5:54 am

Years later but I can add a good one. 2 weeks ago I was bulding garden box frames for a few of my elderly neighbours-I’m a caring neighbour of almost 33 years to my great neighbours. 10″ table saw, splitting 2X4’s to make strips, just about done about 1/2 hour before dark, decided to do a little freehand work and rather than slide wood along guides etc. was shoving ends into blade and whack, 1.5″ of left thumb a goner. I’m righthanded so lucky enough there though. Shut off saw, went next door to where my wife was (was working in yard of our 2nd home), called her outside, told her to remain calm since it ain’t like in the movies where the blood is shooting out 10 feet etc. We locked up everything, drove to hospital and into ER right away. Now it gets good. So, I thought the thumb shot off into nowhere and since I have 3/4″ limestone everywhere, that thumb would have blended right in somewhere, anywhere. ER quicklt threw a few of these odd plastic feel sponges on the nub, they somehow shrunk from the blood and stopped it from bleeding fast. I had also cut under the forefinger (fatty area where it joins to hand) a number of lacerations on the top of my middle finger, slight nicks on top of ring finger. The needles going into my hand were worse than the cuts in my fingers. For the thumb, no feeling to begin with since it was a clean cut. So, wife drives me home (temporarily) to look for thumb. She had raked up sawdust pile, no thumb. So we look around, I remove table saw unit from cart, nothing in the collection of sawdust below. We put away everything, lock up buildings again and decide to check in the backlane. On the other side of the fence (6.5 feet high) and 1 foot on the other side of it, 1.5″ of thumb. This is now midnight and either way I was heading back to the hospital anyway. If any of you have ever been admitted I’m sure you know that for somethings accidents can be quite comical. The ER staff wanted to see said thumb. Mine was in a I Can’t Believe It’s Not Butter 1-pound container. Of course wrapped in gauze, then plastic wrap, then ice water). X-Rays so they could position it in the general vicinity of where it SHOULD be attached. Around 4 am the team has been assembled and like for a fall from a tree 6 years ago and almost to the day, about 14 people in the operating room. So, nighty-night for what I believe was 6 hours, replanted, stole some pipework from left wrist, 2 K-Wires sticking out of my thumb, rest of injuries don’t look so bad. Blood thinners for 5 days, that cather was a joy since one doesn’t even need to worry about the pee-ing on their own, antibiotics and so on. A splint is made from thermoplast, change my dressings daily, antibiotics at home for 1 week, Tuesday June 2nd and doctor visits and physio start. I’m an upbeat and positive person and for past stays (only a few in my 50-plus years) I know that IF positive, live with some of the pain, refuse some of the drugs and don’t bring down those who see this stuff every single day of their career, one gets better care and better results for recovery. First thing ask is if you smoke-I don’t. I hate Tylenol and morphine, same for alcohol. I shatered both heels and fractured my right wrist June 10, 2014. Operation Friday the 13th, rest and some physio for a year. I was walking with the big moon boots in late September, using a cane only by October 22nd. What p*ssed me off when I hit ER in 2014 was when the ER Doc advised “oh, you really did a number on your feet, you may never walk again.” B.S., shattered heals are mended often, steel screws, major sticking etc., just a future of joint pain but there’s future fusion for that too if so desired. Surgeons love success stories rather than whiny, dumb patients who blame them when the customer doesn’t cooperate with physio, abuses their boy with drugs, alcohol etc. My thumb will be a bit of an inconvenience for life but so what, crap happens. Most who use power tools….only a matter of time. I’ve since heard of or read of many types of accidents and mine appears to be a common one, lucky I didn’t sever more of the digits. A friend from my highschool days watched as a press slammed his 4 fingers and thumb to mush about 20 years ago, missing fingers won’t work with a prosthesis but a severed hand will so he has a fingerless hand. Currently at 11 days nearly no pain, no drugs etc. either. The removal of stitches WILL be painful, the K-wires will apparently be “annoying.” Physio will be “milked” by our healthcare professionals since we have FREE Canadian medical, My theory or opinion is that for these past 2 accidents in 6 years, without health insurance like those in other countries require, I’d have lost at least one of my 2 homes for sure. I’ve heard there ARE often two teams of surgeons and since micro nerve, artery surgery etc. is required, pretty amazing people. Just a slight worry about infection, return to hospital where they remove the unsuccessful replant and there’s my lifelong “nub.” My laugh out loud is the “what if a dog or cat had come along or it landed on pavement and a car drove over it OR someone happened along and spotted it and had to look a 2nd time with “WTH, a thumb????” The blood spray patterns on the garage wall nearby WAS something out of a horror movie. Gray paint, bright red blood, pretty odd looking. I tell EVERYONE, “sooner or later, those who have experienced a variety of accidents, never advertise it UNTIL you volunteer yours and then the floodgates open up.” Lawnmower accidents, snowblowers, power tools, taking your dog for a run while on your bike and getting tangled-up and so on. My mistake for the saw and I HAVE been using power tools for just shy of 40 years or so? Blade raised HIGHER THAN required, NEVER remove the item being cut from the table surface, do the same procedure every single time and use a pushing tool instead of your fingers. 6 years later and almost to the day it seems, so, 6 years from now and for May and June in 2026, no tree cutting from a high height, no power tool work etc. JUST plant a garden, swim in the pool, lounge around the yard until those months are over with. I hope this helps those of you in the future so you remember your own accident as (hopefully) not being as bad as the next guy’s. My beef is with people who are negative. Sure I’ll have some issues, eventually it’ll be annoying with an issue for a cold winter’s day, maybe a little pain when grabbing somethimg heavy but again, crap happens. Meds only temporarily help to ease the pain, they don’t cure it. I’ve occasionally used CBD oil and on that Thursday during the afternoon and prior to this accident, I was mellowed out, enjoying the project at hand and made a mistake that could have been worse. I do wish there was an option to post a few pics here because for “just a thumb etc.”, a pretty great result thus far. The chance of an infection is the biggest concern but antibiotics today are amazing. Thanks for letting me tell my story and I hope someone can benefit fom my positive outlook if ever needed. Admit your ow mistake or carelessness so that others may never make the same mistake themselves. One nurse told me of when her 80-year old father went to remove a stuck piece of 2X4 from the augers of a snowblower that had sucked it in, didn’t bust the shear pins, engine running and upon removal of said piece of wood, proceeded to tear into his hand and arm. What did he do wrong? Old-timer by-passed the auger control by tying it down AND NOT shutting off the heavy duty “blender.” Body parts are no match for machines that can chew up chunks of ice, suck in chunks of concrete etc.

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will August 28, 2020 6:13 am

Russel you should have been wearing gloves when chiseling because they are extremely sharp.

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Alyssa Foster August 30, 2020 7:03 pm

Oh my goodness! the one with the nail is just insane. I’m sorry. The only advice I would give is to not rush yourself into something.Even if you have been doing it for a long time because something could still go wrong.

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Woodworking Injuries

Lloyd’s Kickback

Russell’s Kickback and Chisel Slip

John’s Saw Blade Kiss

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