table saw accident!!!!!

ouch ! sorry to hear of your situation , everyone should also be very aware that Plexiglas is also very dangerous to cut as it can catch and get thrown at extremely fast rates across the room ,if the blade is set high it is very dangerous so please be careful . i have seen it fly 50' like a Frisbee and blast through a hollow core door like it was paper . it happened to me and if it hit my stomach it would have cut inches into my gut no problem . many DIYers should always be careful when doing things that they haven't had experience with especialy different types of materials as they react so much differently .
all in all just be careful when using power tools as they are great but can ruin your day in seconds .
 
Same thing happened to my father years ago, he lost the pinky finger due to it.


Mom made him get rid of the saw :spin3:
 
I may get flamed for this...so be kind. I've been working with table saws, miter saws, jig saws...you name it for many years. I also do tile and hardwood flooring with some custom built-in work and trim for a living. The best thing I ever did was remove the factory "safety guards" on my table saw and miter saw. I've heard of many people getting hurt with these plastic pieces of garbage. With the vibration that occurs on these two pieces of equipment, the screws slightly work themselves loose faster than you'd think. One catch of the blade on the guard and you'll be lucky if plastic shards aren't being removed from your face in the emergency room.

You're better off without these safety guards IMO, and remembering to always respect the tool and use it correctly. Sharp blades are safe blades.
 
good luck with everything. I been close before but I caught myself before anything happened. :beer:
 
Thanks for posting this, I am about to begin moving my 120 to a 180 and plan on doing all the woodwork myself (stand,overhead cabinet and utility cabinet) perhaps you may have prevented me from doing something similar, its been a few years since i had my wood working equipment running and now i will be extra cautious.
 
Alex T i do understand the place for the guard removal as there are times when its actually safer to not have it . also one great point that you added was SHARP BLADES ARE SAFE BLADES as it makes so much of a difference with a sharp blade ,nice point there !
 
feather boards and push sticks do wonders! That sucks big time about the finger though, good luck with it man! About six months ago I had a 2x4 kickback on me and It went through the shop door and landed In the office at the lumberyard I worked at at the time. Boss wasnt to happy about that one.
 
Saftey,Saftey,Saftey first as this type of thing happens so fast you have no time to react, so lesson learned to the ones that have had close calls should learn from this and not shun the devistation that a momentary lapse of reason can have on your tiny fingers . it can certainly ruin your day and change your life . like i said before i hate cutting plastic and have to every week so im always looking for safer ways to cut sometimes . it is almost worse when you think to much because your mind needs to be on the job at hand . hope your finger heals fast and you can look back someday with a gratefull smirk knowing that it could have been worse .
again i wish you the best ~
 
update: just got back from the hospital with a smaller index finger, the guy said he would try and save the whole finger but because the saw completely smashed the joint up he couldn't reatach anything bone wise, he gave me the option of stitching it up and just have a lose bit of finger on the end but i decided it would get in the way so he amputated it at the joint he recommended it too. its throbbing alot.
 
sorry to hear about that. The throbbing will go away, but may take a bit (I have had a few deep wounds). At least it will wind up being only a minor inconvenience and a good story for your grandchildren.
 
Shrimphead,

I'm really sorry to hear about that. I know it's not going to make you feel any better, but these accidents are much more common than you may think.

A few years back a group of us were helping a very unqualified friend finish his house. He was way behind and running out of money. He took the general contracting role in finishing his house and got in way over his head. One late night he stayed to help me finish his hardwood floors. I was starting to pack up around 1:00 in the morning. We were all so tired and this is when mistakes normally happen. He decided to grab my miter saw and bring it to me while I was packing up some stuff. It was not locked down in the "carry away" position. He grabbed it from the cutting handle instead of the carry away and it wasn't unplugged. A 12" sharp finishing blade tore into his right thigh. I was loading some things into my truck when I heard a cry for help that I never want to hear again. When I rushed inside there was blood everywhere. I took off my shirt, ripped it and wrapped it as tightly as I could around his upper thigh and made a mad dash for the hospital. I'm no doctor, but I was very worried for him at the amount of blood he had lost. To this day he bares the most horrific scar on his outer right thigh and doesn't walk quite right. He had massive tissue damage to his quadriceps muscle. If he straddled it when he picked it up it could have torn into his femoral artery and the outcome could have been amputation or death.

I've seen some horrible accidents over the years working in construction. You've learned a very valuable lesson in working with tools, and for the most part come away from it virtually unscathed.

Speedy Recovery my friend...:thumbsup:
 
Sorry to hear about your accident. Wishing you a speedy recovery. Keep your hand out of the tank until it is fully healed. You don't want any nasty infections.
 
i have a pic but not sure if i should post it, 1 because the doctor who let me take it said don't put it on the internet and 2 because its probably not suitable content to post.

to be honest i'm really not that bothered i'm just happy i didn't lose alot more
 
Gosh, just like the Do It Yourself forum seems to be a more hostile place these days, the Reef Discussion seems to be a more exciting place.

My feelings go out to the OP and many others in this thread, but thanks for reminding us to play it safe with the power tools.

Also, watch out for those snow blowers - my grandfather was an architect/contractor for 50 years and never had any major injuries. Then one day he was snowblowing the driveway, reached down to clear the blower without shutting it off first, and it cut his pinkie clean off. How clean you may ask? A few days later he found it in the snow, still in the glove.
 
I did a similar thing about a month ago with my tank. I was trying to free a piece of frozen shrimp from the block that had stuck together with a filet knife. I was cutting this shrimp up for my snowflake eel, and like an idiot I was prying towards my hand. Needless to say I took off the top of knuckle on my index finger in a perfect clean swipe, and cut deeply into my middle finger. It took 10 stitches 7 on my index and 3 on my middle finger to put me back together so to speak. I have no feeling on the top of my index finger. I would post a picture but this is not my thread so I will not. If anyone is interested I will send them one in PM. BTW I don't think it can hurt anything by posting a picture of a your finger. I don't know why your doctor would advise you not too, if you posted it in the lounge it possibly wouldn't be considered non approved content. Either way I hope you heal 100% and can get along fine without the piece they could not save.
 
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