40 Replies

You just never know, do you? I was working on my tablesaw one day, fully protected, dust extractor howling pointlessly outside my ear defenders, chips falling harmlessly against the face shield and respirator I wore. All good.
I finished the cut and wondered slightly, even abstractly, why there was so much dust hitting the face shield. Since the saw had stopped I removed the armour and looked around.
There up in a corner in the clear plastic tubes that carry the dust was a small party of shavings mixing it up at an elbow. I took the board I was cutting and knocked it gently.
The elbow came apart and I was covered in shavings, dust and probably spiders. One of the shavings found it’s way into my right eye and I had to wear a patch (just like a pirate, much to Rabbit’s dismay) for a few days.
Yarr, Billy, these be dangerous beasts, don’t cha know, even when they seem ta be sleepin’!

I thought I was the only one with superior intelligence…

Now you’ve spoiled it.

I learned that one should not hold the band saw blade guard while the saw is running to reach for a piece that fell on the floor. I got out of this with a little scratch :)

After that scare, I have been extremely careful.

great topic! Basically every project I’ve done has my blood on it; usually just small stuff like cutting myself on a chisel or pinching a finger between boards or sanding a bit of a finger off on the belt sander. Only trip to the ER so far was for drilling a hole above my head for electrical wires and sawdust got in my eye… thanksfully so far I’ve avoided serious injuries and stitches…

Wanting to save some wood and use scrape i used a too short of a plywood to make a jig to cut 45 degrees chevron. the last unsupported broke and hit me in the tammy. could have been worst. Got lucky again.

I discovered that you should never get in a hurry in the shop. I was finishing up a project and had some 2" circles cut from 1/2" stock that I wanted to round over. With the router mounted in a table, thought it would be easy to do. Managed a couple before disaster struck. Was holding the piece down with a forefinger and turning the piece with the other hand. Of course, the wood flew out from under my finger and it went into the bit. I jerked back thinking geez that was close until I noticed the spray of blood on the wall. So an expensive trip the the ER and a finger with the nerves cut and a bit of bone missing. Didn’t make it back to the shop for a couple of days and then didn’t want to approach the router but still had a job to finish. Seeing dried blood and even a piece of my hide on the table sure didn’t make it easy to go back to work. Took a 1" dowel and put in 2 finish nails that I then ground to a point and used that to hold the circles and my hand was 12" away and worked great. Just goes to prove that you should think before you act.
They did tell me that in about 20 yrs I might get some feeling back in the tip of my finger.

I think, if I can carry on the pirate thingy, that “here there be dragons”.

Think first, imagine the cuts…is there something you can do to avoid them?

Well then do that…

I was using my bandsaw (you know, the safest saw in the shop!!) and as I was getting to the end of the cut, I said to myself… “you’re gonna cut your thumb”… just as it happened. Now I use a push stick that’s made especially for short, thin cuts (made it myself with a bandaged thumb!). The rest of the story, as they say, is that I had a nice gash on my thumb but didn’t want to stop want I was doing for a trip to the hospital. Now by trade I am a nurse practitioner so I know that I have approximately 8 hours to get it sutured in the ER. I went into the house, cleaned it up and did my usual bang up job of bandaging it… and finished my project. Not a bit of blood on the wood ;-)
When I got to the ER, they were none too happy with me… to say the least! But it was within the prescribed time limit!
Moral of the Story: the safest saw is the one that is unplugged.

I have hurt myself on only one machine in my shop in the last 18 years. Yep, you guessed it, the bandsaw. And not only once, but three times (I’m a slow learner). Twice to the ER and the last time just some skin rubbed off, all finger damage, but luckily nothing permanent. The first two accidents occurred not long after I started woodworking mostly due to ignorance, but the last one was about 1 month ago and mostly caused by stupidity, but to be nice I’ll just call it carelessness. To be more specific, I was resawing some lumber and when I got to the last cut the blade was pretty close to the outside where I was holding the workpiece against the fence. I didn’t feel the need for a push stick (although I normally use one anyway) as my bandsaw usually cuts very straight, but I didn’t know that one of the guides was loose from vibration allowing the blade to wander and come out the side of the workpiece onto my fingers. The result was finishing up 5 Christmas baskets with a lot of pain from my thumb and forefinger for a couple of weeks on my right hand, which is the one I mostly use.

I have to admit that I find this pretty embarrassing as I pride myself on working safe even though I’m not a safety nut and I believe that safety is in the brain and not the equipment, but I hope it will prevent others from making the same dumb mistake. Otherwise, I do nick myself often while working with edge tools, but a lot less after I got a decent workbench.

Are all mistakes stupid? Seems like it. Mine was, real – real stupid. I was cutting a small piece for a project for my wife. The problem was – I was thinking about what I was going to do next, not about what I was doing. I now have a new shape to my thumb. It’s been three years and I’m able to feel with it again, for the most part. Still some area with no feeling. It’s on my left hand so, when I am holding a piece of wood on the saw, that thumb is a reminder in full view.

We’re not encouraging the new folks, are we? Remember…one day, you took a hunk of wood and turned it into a beautiful, elegant and much loved table. Remember that and keep your fingers far from the whirling knives.

A couple of years ago I was drilling a half hole on the edge of a board with a forstner bit and did not use another board as a back up or clamp the board down. As I started the hole the board shifted and pulled my thumb into the bit. I was very fortunate as it just cut the nail right down the middle, only scratched the skin underneath. I remember thinking as I was starting the hole that this probably was not safe and I should do it another way but… I also remember as it happened I said this is going to hurt tomorrow. I went to an emergicare clinic and they glued it back together and there was no pain at all.

I recall my Dad hitting his thumb nail with a hammer, then going over to the Drill press and drilling a hole in the nail to relieve the pressure….sure he lost his nail, he said it really took the pain away quickly. So a number of years later, I smacked my thumb and went to the DP and drilled a 1/16 hole in the nail….it turnes out that hurts too…especially when you go too deep cause you are in a hurry…..
Mama always said that I was not the brightest bulb in the box!
Mike

Easiest way to relieve pressure on a nail bed (like on the hand, not the kind that holds wood together) that is swollen is to open a paper clip, heat the end to red hot and touch the nail. For that procedure, I charged $80 (+ paper clip) (just kidding about the cost ;-)
Only do this if there is blood under the nail… that will be 5 cents please.

sooo many new woodworkers are going to run off to the Crochet Community :)
Watch Craigslist for bargains!

My expert advise…… ready? …… Quit using hammers. Dang

That is exactly the problem Gary….after so many years of nailers, Kreg joints and biscuit cutters…I am terrible with a hammer!!!

Ok, I’ll toss mine in. I had just got my new zero clearance insert for the table saw. I was excited to try it out. I had a cut to make on a small piece of trim. Our was a good boy and set up a feather board to guide the piece into the blade, and used a push stick and everything (thank goodness. ) all safe and secure, right? Well, I did neglect one little thing. I failed to level the new insert flush with the table. When the stock began to exit the back of the blade it caught on the curved seam between the insert and the table. It turned the piece, bound the blade, and fired my workpiece off the saw and out the door of the shop. I had to make a new push stick after that. Whoops. At least it wasn’t a finger

Early in using power tools I was running the company table saw. No safety devises at all on it and I didn’t even know what they were. The saw had a cast iron top, a blade, and a fence. I was pushing a small piece of oak thru with just my hands, I moved to the left side of the table to catch the wood as it passed the blade. Of course the blade caught it and it went flying backwards. The result was a bruised thumb and ego. It could have been way worse. The wood propelled through the shop wall and went into the next room landing on top of an office workers desk. Luckily no one was in the room at the time. It could have easily gone right through me as the wall was cinder block construction with Gyprock on both sides. I unplugged the saw and cut the wires on it so no one could use it ever again and went directly to the hardware store to buy a saw that had all the safety devises on it and learned what a push stick was. I spent 3 hours there while they went over safety procedures and when I got the instructions I read them a couple dozen times before I used a table saw again. I had been using that old saw for about 6 months with no idea what I was doing, just damm lucky.

At least you were smart enough to get a new safe saw and learned how to use it safely.

Always read the manufacturer’s instructions and make sure you use all the appropriate safety equipment. And above all else, be sure to wear these, “safety glasses” ….taps regular prescription glasses knowingly

Another one that I’d bet most of the cohorts ignore is keeping the shop clean. I don’t usually mention it but, I’m a slob in the shop. I have tripped more times than I could ever count because of junk on the floor. Since this surgery and having to renew my skills at ambulation, I’m paying much more attention now.

I was doing hours of multiples on the chop saw and felt the blade graze my knuckles as I was reaching to remove the piece of wood… luckily it was just a graze and the blade was slowing down.

Oh, and here’s a good tip… when using the tablesaw, don’t let go of the wood until it has cleared the blade. My buddy was cutting ply and did that. It kicked back and left a huge bruise on his waist (3hp Unisaw)

Glad to see that I’m in good company. :-) I hadn’t even seen this post, when I wrote my piece on the band saw.

https://woodworkingweb.com/entries/355-the-band-saw-and-a-busted-lip

Jack sorry I had to laugh when you wrote the flesh, bone and nail hit your wife’s cheek and she screamed. I’m sure at the time it wasn’t but what’s the coincedence of it getting her in the cheek. I swear most of us jinx ourselves. Half the time we no better but we still do it. Then sometimes it’s just that if we move our thumb or hand the piece of wood your working on will get wrecked or it will be a lot of work fixing it after so we still go ahead with it..lol..
The most stupid thing I did wasn’t with a tool. I was unloading a 5/8 thick 8′×4′ melamine board off my lifted truck and it landed on my big toe the whole board landed on my ONE big toe (I was stupid in not get someone to help me unload the boards) Instantly I dropped the board and went to the step which was three feet away and took off my shoe it felt like my big toe burst but it didn’t, it was already turning black and blue and swelling. I went to the dr. He had to remove the whole big toe nail. It was going to fall off anyways. It’s been three years and it’s almost all grown back.

It was funny Sheri and it was one of those horror movie blood curdling screams too. Now you must fess up. I know you thought of some bad words when that hit your toe, but did you say them out loud?? Being the nice lady you are I am sure you only thought about saying them.

Oh no I might be a lady but I swore like a daughter of a b__ch!!!..lol

My wife came out to the “wood shop,” earlier today, checking out my progress on the shadow boxes, and I told her about WoodworkingWeb, and Jack’s story about the the bits of thumb that hit his wife in the cheek, my wife busted out laughing.

Don’t think she would, if it happened to her. :-D

I had switched the shaper to reverse to keep with the long grain direction to do half of some clock faces, then fed the wood into the cutter the wrong way, it sent the wood flying across the shop a barely nipped my pinky finger just enough to bleed scared the crap out of me big time. Now when I reverse the shaper I put a big arrow to show the feed direction.

I was working late one night drilling for tight joint fasteners in a series of countertops.You know, the type that go through the edge of the top and pull them together.Well I got tired and the spur of the 7/8" auger bit caught the edge
of my blue jean shorts and quickly wound them up and the bit was heading straight towards my leg.I panicked and pulled
back on the drill but the handle and the trigger are as one on this hole shooter!So I ended up tearing a large amount of
bluejean away while the drill was running with my bare hands so as to not impale
myself with an auger bit!!!
After that, I was done!

leg.I pulled the drill back away but the entire handle is the trigger on this drill!So I panicked

and ripped a huge amount of jean shorts off my body with the drill and my bare hands before the auger could run me through!!! I was

Last September I was working in a picture frame. I was creating the rabbit inside the frame with my router table. While running a test cut on a scrap piece the router table threw the board and pulled my hand in. All guards were in place and I was only set for 1/4×1/4. This cost me 2 months work and a good portion of my index finger

OUCH You must have feed it in the wrong direction. Been there done that but didn’t get hurt.

Wow. What a dangerous sport we pursue. I’m blessed to have all my fingers after almost 40 years of woodworking. And I say that I’ve never made a mistake. I prefer to call them learning experiences?. And I usually have a few learning experiences every day.
One time I wanted to get a sheet of plywood from the back of a big pile and thought that I could hold the pile back. Thought wrong as the weight of the sheets came down on me and as I’m pinned under the pile, alone, looking across the shop at the phone that is far out of my reach, I had some time to think about my " learning experience "
I did manage to squeeze out of my predicament and sheepishly go into the house to explain what happened to my family. They now check on me more often and I try to pay more attention to my choices. Stay safe, live long and cut wood my friends. Cheers

Didn’t feed the wrong way, hit a knot

I’m most vigilant whilst using my tablesaw over any other power tools. Never have I had so many near misses than on the table saw.
Kickback frightens me most as It all happens too fast to control. I’ve nearly tipped the saw over whilst cutting a thick board where it has snatched the blade so I’ve gripped the board to stop it shooting backwards and as the table wasn’t bolted down the table shot forward then comes falling back all whilst still powered on.
It’s a scrabble trying to hit the E-stop button when holding a heavy thick board and the saw is jumping off the ground. Best to just get out of the way.

Wow. A lot of tough stories here. I’m counting my blessings that mine aren’t nearly as exciting (except for the falling pile of plywood – that’s happened a couple of times).

It turns out the most dangerous tool in my shop is my little sanding block. I suppose that’s because I usually pay extra special attention when using power tools and sharp objects, but rarely think about the extreme dangers of hand sanding. Once I was sanding away furiously, holding the wood with one hand and slipped a little and drove my thumbnail right into my other hand. It almost warranted stitches and there was a lot of blood and cursing. I guess that shows you have to respect ALL your tools, even the more benign ones.

There are several recollections here from woodworkers that bring back memories for me.

Steve66 recalled his clothing getting caught. My husband asked me a couple of days ago about the shirt I was wearing. I told him it was my reminder to not wear loose clothing in the shop.

About 25 years ago (yes, I keep things a long time), I was breaking down 4′ × 8′ plywood and as I reached across it, the shirt caught in the circular saw. I immediately took my finger off the trigger so I was not hurt, but it awoke me to the danger of loose clothing.

By the way, I still wear that shirt in the shop occasionally, but I always tuck it in!

L/W

L/W that is a really frightening picture. That thing was really closing on you fast looks like. The teeth marks above the clean cut are amazing. I won’t forget that image anytime soon.

It’s kinda of like learning to how to drive, were all going to have close calls.
I think my most important lesson I have learned is, when I’m working, I zone into my little world and stay focused.
Stay in the moment, I tell myself.

Sometimes incidents seem funny even though they could have had tragic results.

When attempting to be very precise while drilling, I got my head too close to the small corded drill and when I started to drill, my long hair got caught in the armature. I immediately released the trigger, but the drill was already tight to my head. I unplugged the drill and walked into the house, laughing, and asked my husband if he would cut it out of my hair. After the drill was removed from my head, I decided to see if holding the hair while reversing the direction would allow me to remove the hair without damage to the armature. It came out perfectly. I ended up with a chunk of hair cut to my scalp and had to do a comb-over for a long time to cover my stupidity!

After sharing that incident, another woodworker told of a co-worker who had gotten his beard entangled in the drill press while working alone after hours and had to stand on his feet all night waiting for someone to cut him free in the morning. I’m not certain I could have reacted quickly enough to find and turn off the switch on my drill press to prevent more serious injury.

Not long after my accident, the news carried the story of a young graduate student at a prestigious university, working after hours alone in a lab, who caught her hair in a lathe and was found dead the next morning.

I have been wearing my hair shorter or tied back since that incident several years ago.

L/W