ouch!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

[oldslowchevy]

dang nabit i did it good well bad this time.i am in the shop making one of those stands that go behind the toilet used miter saw table saw drill and routerdid any of these tools get me ...........NOOOOOOO! it was the lossy chisle ugh how dumb could i be i know it is sharp after all it is brand new ugh i feel so dumb! i just made two doors and i was seting in the hinges and had my thumb over the edge and the dang thing sliped and got my thumb right behing the nail though to the knuckle(did i mention ouch) so now that i have bleed over my shop my tools my house my truck the hospital the poor nurse and doctor i now have 28 stiches and a very big mess to clean up and another door to make as the one i was making is stained red and i really wanted the clear pine look oh well it is always the things that you dont think will get you .................gets you could have be worse but just goes to show you that i am just human

[wwsmith]

OSC,

Sorry to hear of your misfortune! I hope that you will heal quickly to get back up on that "door". Ironically I was just feeling sorry for my self for having bashed a few fingers and rubbed a knuckle off while trying to remove an old faucet during a bathroom remodel. Now I certainly do not feel bad at all and will get back to work! :o

No offense, but thanks for making me feel better! :D :D :D

WWS

[cjh20]

Yesterday I milled 8 mortises in the legs for my new end table. Easy enough, but needed some clean up. I got up early this morning, sharpened my chisels and started the fine tuning. My wife and dog were sleeping in a bit and I would occasionally go inside to make sure the dog wasn't at the back door with her legs crossed waiting to go outside. Back in the shop I continued my clean-up with the chisels. I love using chisels and block planes - it really gives me the sense that the project is handmade.
It was so simple. Just a little push on the chisel to take that bit of wood off and... it was like a slow motion scene in the movies. I saw the blade of the 1/4" chisel slide right through the top of the base my left thumb.

The wife takes me to the ER.

I can't move my thumb up. I can press it into my palm, but it just stays there. I cut through the tendons. I only have three loose stitches so it won't heal. On Monday the orthopedic surgeon will cut those off and schedule a time to operate on my hand next week.

Lack of coffee? Lack of concentration? Lack of common sense. Yes. Mostly a lack of awareness that comes with repetitiveness. A lack of respect of a simple, but dangerous, tool.

I know better. I knew better. Why did this happen to me. Please don't think it can't happen to you. If any part of your anatomy is in the line of force of a sharp edge, it is in danger.

OSC.. I hope you heal soon and well. I understand your pain.

Chris

[woodslayer]

Chris and Chevy

Sorry to hear about your misfortunes and hope you both heal soon. It is very coincidental that you were both injured by the same non-powered tool, I wonder if we too easily let our guard down when we grab a tool that is not spinning a blade or bit. The only positive that may come of your pain is the reinforcement to the rest of us that we need to keep alert no matter how trivial the task may seem in the shop.

Heal soon

Woodslayer

[Polar Sparky 1224]

I'm lucky to not have stitches for any of my cuts but if have learned you don't have a conduit bender on a shopping/parts cart. I hit a bump my conduit bender bounced off the cart and swung down over my fingers. I'm now waiting for my finger nail to grow back. The old one is still attached and after a month hasn't fallen of.

woodslayer is right i have never cut myself on a spinning blade or power tool, but a metal pipe with a GB bender head still hurts.

[PLUMBER RICK]

osc, i know how it feels to hurt yourself in your own trade. i burned the skin off 2 of my fingers about 6 months ago. this on a soldering job i could normally do without direct eye contact. well it's all healed and looks good as new.:D

i guess the torch was getting jealous that the propress was being used more than it:eek:

how is this going to affect your new plumbing job?

rick.

[oldslowchevy]

rick i am not sure if it will or not.i will go in and this is not something that i can hide but since i am just a grunt playing with a shovel it more than likely wont affect me very much at all.oh and rick thanks for remembering that i just recently joined the plumbing force

[Bob D.]

You're gonna look real good on Monday when the OSHA Inspector shows up. :eek: :D

[oldslowchevy]

hummm good point there bob?oh well i guess i will just have to tell them the truth as if i do lie about it how it happen and they find out i wont be very creitable to them would i?also it does sound much worse then it looks the doctor did a great job of sewwing me back up,as i look back on it now i guess i was having a tim the tool man taylor moment lol

[oldslowchevy]

the stiches came out today .............................. but i am still avoiding the chisel as i think it is out to get me!!!

[BigThom]

It seems this forum is full of walking accidents. You guys do me a favor and stay off my jobsites.

[papadan]

the stiches came out today .............................. but i am still avoiding the chisel as i think it is out to get me!!! Just buy a new one that don't know ya, and make sure ya don't store it with the other one or it will learn to bite you the next time you use it. LMAO Glad your healing up.

[oldslowchevy]

It seems this forum is full of walking accidents. You guys do me a favor and stay off my jobsites.
yeah big thom do me a favor and bite me! i have been a carpenter and a bissness owner for the last 14 year with a ZERO!accident report in all those years and because i make mistake one time and deside to let everyone here know about it and the the fact that it isn't always a power tool that gets you i am an accident waiting to happen? i am so sorry that your holyer then thou self is so much better than the rest of the world but becase of this post of yours i think you are just a son of a BIT@H! I ALSO HOPE WHEN YOU DO MESS UP IT IS IN FRONT OF EVERY ONE THAT YOU WORK WITH AS YOU ARE TELLING THEM HOW CAREFULL YOU ARE!!!! and in closeing i don't really mean any harm but that really did rub me the wrong way

[Polar Sparky 1224]

Maybe if you hadn't been coveting someone else's new Shiny joiner! then your chisel wouldn't be out to get ya!

I've never had injures like that but my 7 month record with no shocks was just broken twice last week. The first was when i had to work on something live and the other was when in a old house all the breakers were "OFF" yet something was still hot!

Big thorn Accident's sometimes happen and just warning you you're next.

[jimmy the woodchuck]

OSC, Hey I agree with you. There is always someone who has never been hurt on a job site. Or atleast one that doesn't report it. Everyone I work with has either smashed a finger with a hammer or shot them selves with a nail gun. Or if you are privilaged like get shot by some one else.(leg, arm, neck, and the head) The one person who brags about never beening injured is usualy the one that will lose a limb.

[oldslowchevy]

Yesterday I milled 8 mortises in the legs for my new end table. Easy enough, but needed some clean up. I got up early this morning, sharpened my chisels and started the fine tuning. My wife and dog were sleeping in a bit and I would occasionally go inside to make sure the dog wasn't at the back door with her legs crossed waiting to go outside. Back in the shop I continued my clean-up with the chisels. I love using chisels and block planes - it really gives me the sense that the project is handmade.
It was so simple. Just a little push on the chisel to take that bit of wood off and... it was like a slow motion scene in the movies. I saw the blade of the 1/4" chisel slide right through the top of the base my left thumb.

The wife takes me to the ER.

I can't move my thumb up. I can press it into my palm, but it just stays there. I cut through the tendons. I only have three loose stitches so it won't heal. On Monday the orthopedic surgeon will cut those off and schedule a time to operate on my hand next week.

Lack of coffee? Lack of concentration? Lack of common sense. Yes. Mostly a lack of awareness that comes with repetitiveness. A lack of respect of a simple, but dangerous, tool.

I know better. I knew better. Why did this happen to me. Please don't think it can't happen to you. If any part of your anatomy is in the line of force of a sharp edge, it is in danger.

OSC.. I hope you heal soon and well. I understand your pain.

Chris
haven't heard any thing latly just hoping your hand is doing better.

[cjh20]

OSC,

Thanks for the concern. The orthopedic surgeon referred me to a hand specialist. I had surgery 3 days after the accident. I was in a cast for 2 weeks then had the stitches removed and was fitted for a removable splint. The splint goes from the top of my thumb around my palm and down my forearm. I had 2 more weeks with only taking the splint off to wash the arm and massage the scar. I started physical therapy last week to begin stretching the thumb and wrist. After 5 days of stretching, I can occasionally touch my thumb to my ring finger.

I don’t write this looking for sympathy; I simply want to reinforce the possible outcome from a lack of concentration and respect when using a woodworking tool.

BigThom –

I’m having a hard time understanding, and therefore responding, to your arrogant attitude. I see absolutely no reason for your post. I posted about my accident to try to help others avoid a similar mishap. I have no doubt that if I had read about OSC accident before going into my shop, I wouldn’t have had mine. I also believe that the some members of this forum will remember our accidents whenever they use a wood chisel.

I use to work with a man who had removed the first joint of his thumb using his jointer. I think of him every time I use my jointer. I remember a post on this forum from a member who cut himself changing knives on his planer. I remember his post every time I change knives on my tools. I actually feel a responsibility to try to help other woodworkers from making a mistake that I have made.

Your request to stay off your job sites is granted. I would have no interest in working with someone who is interested in criticizing others who are trying to help. You could have kept your opinion to yourself. You could have taken our accidents to your employees to try to increase their awareness of safety. Instead you decide to post a demeaning statement. No, you don’t have to worry about me on your job site, I won’t work for someone I have no respect for.


Chris

[Josh]

I think BigThom merely forgot to put a ;) at the end of his post. Maybe I am taking it the wrong way and he was being a jerk but at first read it seemed to me it was a Tongue-In-Cheek statement. I guess I always read everything in a postive light like everyone gets along in the forum.

Josh


Example of how one character can change the tone of a post ->
It seems this forum is full of walking accidents. You guys do me a favor and stay off my jobsites. ;)

[BigThom]

You're right Josh, but I couldn't find a face that looked like a tongue in cheek.

[oldslowchevy]

a simple "lol"would have done the trick also as i to don't have the faces.big thom i will take it with the grain of salt that i might have misunderstood your post but future posts will tell wather you you are just having fun or just being an a$$hole.i for one hope that it is that you are hag fun.

[BigThom]

Hey, oldslo, maybe I was having fun and am an *******. You just never know do ya? (still no tongue in cheek smilley)

[Polar Sparky 1224]

i thought it would be so great to make my own router table. Bad idea. I was using it without feather boards or anything else that would keep the wood from jumping out. Well that's what happened and my thumb hit the straight bit and it chewed up the skin right under min thumbnail really good. Right now i have a pressure bandage on it. so lesson learned her

Making my own router table without getting feather boards for it BAD!!!!:mad: :mad: :( :(

Marrying a Nursing student who is now waiting for her RN license, and has the skills to handle any injurer (due to previous experience on ambulances and in hospitals). GOOD IDEA!!!!!!:D :D

It could have been worse if i didn't add the foot switch... when my thumb got hit my first reaction was to jump back and my foot moved of the switch and the router stopped. so my work table wasn't a bad idea either. You need to have both switch's on to use any tool plugged into the switched outlet.

[oldslowchevy]

hope you heal up soon polar.and see it does take just less than a second to get hurt but you are right is could have been much wrost than it was and glad it wasn't

[Josh]

Polar, I am married to a nurse too! I havent been hurt bad enough to need her assistance yet but with twins on the way I am sure we will run into some injuries that could use a quick professional assesment.

Plus RNs make some pretty good mula :D

Josh

[Polar Sparky 1224]

i got teased a bit at work today since i only did a four hour day. The doctor redid the bandage my wife had on my thumb. he said that the laceration doesn't need souchers but if i wanted it stitched up he'd have to cut a little off to get enough tissue to actually use. But I chose to let it heal naturally as he told me it was not that bad. When the bandage was changed it was kinda funny how the open air was causing some discomfort when the skin on my thumb had be removed. You could see some of the muscle and that is why it bleed all night. At least it had stopped bleeding by morning, since if it was still bleeding i would have needed stitch's.

[Roadrunner]

I got a kickback from a thin piece of ply that climbed the blade one day. Thank God for large brass belt buckles, I still had a bruise for a few weeks. Man I was beginning to feel like Tim Taylor from the show Home Improvement.

[hilligan]

I got married!
Four times! Twice to the same woman!
Ya think I ain't a glutton for punishment?
'Skuze me, I gotta go poke needles in my eyes.

[Polar Sparky 1224]

Well the thumb no longer needs a bandage but I'm still waiting for the time when i will feel texture instead of just pressure. i should ask my wife how long it takes for your nerves to grow back (i know that left a door open for lorax and philg). No sooner does this heal am i on a roof installing a can in the "eyebrow" of a house. Or in the little decorative part "luxury" homes have in the corners of the roof. I'm tying to stay on the roof by keeping half my body in the window and i have hornets buzzing around my head, and with these distractions i somehow slice open the side of my finger. Well that healed too.
So any queses as to my next injury?

[RiR]

Hej Old Slow Chevy! That chisel doesn't like you, and as you said, it's out to get you. As with any tool that reacts badly to your "karma", give it away, & buy another of equal or better quality, preferably with a handle or something of a different colour. This sounds stupid, but I tried it, and it works. I burn,cut,jam, and generally hurt myself a lot less now, or is that because I'm older & wiser? (Well, older anyway):rolleyes: