O/T- What do our hands mean to us.

David Norton · Post by **David Norton** » Sat, Aug 11 2007, 7:21PM

About a week ago one of the cabinet makers in a shop I work with lost a
thumb to a table saw. Yes, I realize that this happens all to frequently.

However, At about 7:00 pm last nite I was attacked by a neighbors dog. I was bitten badly on my right hand. He narrowly missed severing the tendons. Had this happened I would have lost the use of this hand permanently. As I am right handed this would have ended my sojourn as a woodworker.

I was lucky, and grateful that today I still have full mobility of this hand.

Let this be a lesson to us all, that rely on our hands to make a living.

You just never know!

Joe Dusel · Post by **Joe Dusel** » Sat, Aug 11 2007, 8:53PM

This is why we all need to dump the table saws and buy CNCs. It's a safety issue.

On the serious side I'm glad you are okay after the dog attack. As for table saw accidents, most of them are caused by being foolish with the machine. If you use the splitters, guards, long push sticks and auxiliary rip fences (to prevent wood from binding) you probably won't have any problems unless you are on drugs or drunk. For people who can not discipline themselves to operate their machines responsibly there is always the SawStop machine.

Joe

Al Navas · Post by **Al Navas** » Sat, Aug 11 2007, 9:16PM

I am so sorry to hear about this injury, David! Wishing you a speedy and full recovery,

Al

Nick M Singer · Post by **Nick M Singer** » Sun, Aug 12 2007, 4:16AM

\"The hand is the cutting edge of the eye\"

DanEpps · Post by **DanEpps** » Sun, Aug 12 2007, 7:07AM

I hope you shot the neighbor

On the serious side, glad to hear there was no major damage and hope everything heals quickly.

Michael Yeargain · Post by **Michael Yeargain** » Sun, Aug 12 2007, 9:12AM

Nick M Singer wrote:"The hand is the cutting edge of the eye"

What a great saying Nick...

Michael Rice · Post by **Michael Rice** » Sun, Aug 12 2007, 9:16AM

That is a great quote, Nick. My grandfather, who was a carpenter all his life, taught me that a carpenters 2 best tools were his hand and his eye. David, I'm glad the injury was no worse than it is. I took off my left pinkie in 96 with a skil saw, of all things. Fortunately, a good surgeon reattached it. It has no joints, and only bends from the palm, but it's still there and I'm so thankful. I wasn't drunk or on drugs.......but I was in a hurry and got careless.
This thread reminds me of a man from our town who is no longer living. He was a cabinet maker, and furniture maker. He lost his whole arm to cancer. Rather than giving up and using his disability as an excuse for failure, he taught himself how to build with one arm, and continued to make custom furniture pieces. He called his company \"Single Handedly\". He finally lost his life to the cancer thatr took his arm, but he was an inspiration tto those who knew him.

Mike

Will Williamson · Post by **Will Williamson** » Sun, Aug 12 2007, 9:30AM

There is technology available today that will stop a saw blade in a micro second of contact with a body part . If you keep current with the industry you will see this product advertized it's called SAW STOP There should not be a saw manufactuered and sold in this country without this installed . We as woodworkers should demand this . If there is anyone on this forum that has not been nicked or cut with a saw it only means one thing , you will someday in the future. The issue seams to be wheather or not the goverment should mandate this on all saws .We as comsumer have to demand this at every opportunity
View sawstop.com

Kerry Fullington · Post by **Kerry Fullington** » Sun, Aug 12 2007, 10:08AM

Will,
I disagree. The answer is in common sense and training. Most accidents will happen because you or an employee are trying to work too fast to get a job out or because you are working tired or distracted. Use proper guards and power feeders where possible. Teach and practice safety.
If you get a saw stop then someone is going to get their hand into a shaper or cutoff saw. Everything in a woodworking shop will hurt or kill you down to the dust all of these machines create.
Teach and practice safety. Keep all of your tools sharp and well maintained. Quite working when you are tired or distracted. Turn off the radio and telephone. Lock the shop door so someone can't sneak up on you. Concentrate on what you are doing at all times.
Shop safety can't be legislated.
One last thing. Each time saw stop misfires you get to replace the aluminum brake, the firing load and most likely the blade you were using and the noise this thing makes is just enough distraction to get someone else hurt.

Kerry

David Norton · Post by **David Norton** » Sun, Aug 12 2007, 2:17PM

Gotta say I agree 100% Kerry. Guess what scared me the most was what the doc told. Just a fraction of an inch could have cost me the use of my primary hand.

Guess my point is this. We have to be ever diligent as to what we are doing. Not just in the shop, or field. But everywhere, the slightest mishap could cost us dearly.

On a sad note, the dog; Little Bit is going to be destroyed. The owner, who happens to be my good friend and co-worker fears that this could happen again. I will say that I am glad it was me that got bite , and not one of the neighborhood kid's.

I have been Little Bit's buddy for 2 1/2 yrs. But I was in the wrong place at the wrong time. I still say, thank God it was me. I will recover, but I will miss my friend.

Kerry Fullington · Post by **Kerry Fullington** » Sun, Aug 12 2007, 4:24PM

If anyone wants to use the Saw Stop saw I think that is great. Just don't get the government involved in regulating the workshop environment more than it already does.
Insurance companies could leverage this type of saw use better than the government by offering lower rates to shops that use \"safe saws\".
Kerry

Michael Yeargain · Post by **Michael Yeargain** » Sun, Aug 12 2007, 5:49PM

Insurance companies could leverage this type of saw use better than the government by offering lower rates to shops that use \"safe saws\".
Kerry

Well said.

Al Navas · Post by **Al Navas** » Sun, Aug 12 2007, 8:33PM

I want to add to what has already been said:

NEVER cut corners for any reason. It has been suggested that being tired or distracted contributes to accidents - TRUE!

But our senses can fool us too - I share this with you to illustrate:

1. I thought a work piece was good enough to run through the table saw without jointing, based on visual determination. Was I ever wrong!!! The board was warped just enough to trap the board between the blade and the fence, and BAM! instant kickback. Moral? ====>>> Always joint at least one edge.

2. Stock anti-kickback pawls on the Unisaw sloppy enough to NOT catch narrow offcuts when the blade was set at 45°. Result: A 4-foot long, 1/2-inch offcut flew 20+ feet and went through the sheetrock at the wall where my wife had been standing seconds before. Moral? =====>>> Know your equipment well, and if it does not \"feel\" right, change whatever you feel might have to be improved. I immediately ordered after-market splitter with much improved pawls.

The bottom line is this: Get to know your equipment, and NEVER cut corners; replace defective equipment even if \"new\". We sometimes fool ourselves into believing that \"new\" means OK. And never trust your eyes in lieu of jointing board edges.

I am sure many of you already knew these things - but I must be reminded sometimes of some of the basic stuff. THIS stuff could NEVER be regulated, although some believe they can...

Al

Joe Dusel · Post by **Joe Dusel** » Mon, Aug 13 2007, 12:00AM

I totally agree about not having this technology mandated by the government. I think that the SawStop saw looks like a nice machine. Even without the blade stopping/dropping feature the saw has some of the European features that make it safer like a decent riving knife and I believe a decent guard. I think that it should be against the law to sell a saw without an integrated slider.

Joe

Mike Seisser · Post by **Mike Seisser** » Mon, Aug 13 2007, 12:16PM

David,

Sorry to hear about your hand, and I'm glad you'll regain full use of it. Sorry to hear about your lil buddy too.

I, too, have many stories to relate about jobsite/shop safety (usually a lack thereof) including 'dead spots' on both thumbs and 1 finger (all separate incidents) and just last year drove a subcontractor's employee to the E.R. with a thumb split open like an overcooked hotdog due to carelessness with a jobsite router. That one really got me. The poor kid was almost in shock (KID 22 years old) by the time we got there. He regained almost full use of his thumb, thankfully.

But the accident that has affected me the most was one in which no one was hurt. Below is a picture of a piece of 3/4 alder that was leaning against my shop wall as most cutoffs do until I'm done with a job. The piece sticking out of it was being ripped on my tablesaw (with blade guard and riving knife in place!) when it broke free just in front of the hold downs and shot just inches away from my abdomen and sailed 12 feet and embedded itself into the cutoff leaning against the wall. While the operation I was performing in and of itself was not inherently dangerous, and all safeguards were in place, I narrowly avoided injury to what would have been my right side, where my 1 remaining kidney is. (The other was surgically removed almost 20 years ago due to complications from a 'birth anomaly'.) The piece that flew across the shop is stuck in so far that I can't pull it out by hand. That's a LOT of force.

As I said, this 'accident' has affected me greatly, and that piece hangs in my shop just to the right of the tablesaw as a reminder. It's also a convenient location for the tablesaw push stick. (Removed for the picture.)

OSHA will tell you, there is NO SUCH THING AS AN ACCIDENT. Every injury I've sustained while working in this field has been avoidable, and every one of them has been my fault.

Mike

Thermwood / eCabinet Systems

O/T- What do our hands mean to us.

O/T- What do our hands mean to us.

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Saw Stop