Farmall Cub

Well heres what BY was talking about. I was working on cutting some plywood for an instructor that is coming into Indy next month for fire class'es. I work in Logistic's for FDIC. I was almost done I moved the board because it was moving the saw horse's I had it lying on. Well I got 2 fingers with the saw underneath side of the plywood. I really thought I had enough room to put my hand to move board. It was a 20V DeWalt circuler saw.
Had to have 6 stitches in the middle finger just behind the nail & first joint on the bottom side, ring finger had to have 2 stitches on the tip end.
Bottom line if you are going to move lumber you are cutting let saw stop remove from area & move everything with both hands. This all happen on Sunday the 24 of March. Nice BD present to my self.
I know I do preach Safety but this one bit me good this time.
I'm still upset with myself.
SAFETY
Thanks
Jeff

Glad you got to keep the fingers. When you and I talked yesterday morning I thought the worst at first. It goes to show that no matter who you are or what you do, you can become so secure in your work that you can loose track of safety at times.

Thanks for sharing Jeff. We can never let our guard down around a saw.

Jeff,

I'm happy that it was no worse and it could have been a lot worse. Heal fast.

Bill

Jeff:

Glad that you are going to heal and not lose the fingers. It doesn't take long for an accident to happen. And when they do, sometimes they can be catastrophic. I am very glad that you didn't lose em. Prayers will be with you as your recover and I hope the recovery is quick and as pain free as possible.

Most carpenters and cabinetmakers I know for some reason are missing digits or parts thereof. I know that my trade is extremely dangerous as we work with high speed machinery constantly and after a while we can sometimes become complacent. It is scary when one thinks about it. Your story brings back memories for me, unpleasant ones to be sure but these memories are what helps keep me safe when I am working in my shop or on any project where I am using machines.

I had a similar experience, not once but twice. After almost 50 years I am lucky, I still have all of my digits. The first accident I found my middle and ring finger of the left hand getting shortened by a jointer. Yup, smarts like the dickens and was simply an accident caused by my own inattention to what I was doing and getting distracted for a second. Both fingers grew back miraculously. The next time I was ripping some solid maple with a 7 tpi rip blade, phone range, lost my concentration for a sec, the maple bucked, the very aggressive rip blade tried to whip the piece back at me but got the ring finger on the left hand again. Cut, then broken in 7 places between the 1st knuckle and the tip. Again, stung like crazy, but it healed. I am reminded of this particular accident daily as the finger is kinda gnarly now

Em's cousin is a carpenter and has been for well over 50 years, he is in his early 70's now. About 10 years ago he was working at a doctor's house doing what he does. All of a sudden he felt a lot of pain and blood all over the place. He had held the off-cut side too close to the blade and his Makita took off two fingers. He went to the ER but since they couldn't find the fingers they amputated what was left, stitched him up and sent him on his way. The next day IIRC there was a story in the local paper about how they found body parts in the park (behind the doctor's house). Speculation on what could have happened went on for a few days. Finally somebody figured out that since they just found two fingers and they searched the hospital ER records (both hospitals) and found out that they actually were accounted for. Some folks had egg on their face and Bernie had to learn how to continue minus 2 digits.

Glad you kept all of your digits. I hate to see you change your screen name to Stubby. Thanks for sharing. It's good to be reminded of what can happen quickly even when you think you've got things "under control".

I too am glad it wasn't more serious! It could have been very easily, heal quickly, Jeff! It's always good to have a healthy fear of power tools!

Jeff, glad your OK (or as OK as possible). I cut a 1/4" kerf in my thumb once on a table saw, so all I can add is OUCH!! John