Circular Saws Cut Skin Too!
Mattias recently experienced a terribly painful injury. One moment of lapsed judgment landed his butt in the ER with 9 stitches. Let’s hear his story:
I’m hoping all is well over there. I have a good story for you for safety week. Well, maybe not good, but it’s current and it involves blood and gore. Last night at about 10 PM, I was finishing up a last minute house project and needed to make one particular crosscut that didn’t work well on the table saw. So I laid up the workpiece with a crosscut guide for the circular saw, and balanced the whole contraption in a less than ideal way over the table saw (I’m a bit cramped for space).
Since this is about safety week, you can imagine what happens next. Basically I had my hand behind the saw, supporting the workpiece, and the saw kicked back, climbed up on the workpiece, and shot right over my hand. I’m kicking myself because this would totally have been preventable if I had just taken the time to move things around to support the workpiece properly, and I know exactly how to do that. I even got the warning signs from the saw before the kickback but I didn’t pay attention. It’s that “just one cut, it will be fine” problem.
Anyway, after leaving the ER at 3 AM and nine stitches later, I no longer have a 2″ by 1/4″ wide by 1/2″ deep hole in my hand. But I will let this be a warning to myself and anyone you want to share this with that this sort of thing happens so easily and in an instant, and it could change your life forever. I’m incredibly lucky to still have all my digits attached and working. And I’ve got some gory photos too. Thanks for doing “safety week” – it’s clearly needed.
You might also like:
|
|
|
|
Comments
3 Responses to “Circular Saws Cut Skin Too!”Speak Your Mind and Maybe Win a Prize!
Leave a comment and you could be a winner in our Wood Whisperer Giveaway!And if you want a pic to show with your comment, go get a gravatar!
What’s New?
Donation Tally: $2670 Premium Membership
Keep up with TWW
Shop Our Affiliates
-
Proud to be Sponsored By:
Support Our Advertisers
Oh Man that really looks like it hurts… cringes at the thought…. I think I’ll make some more pushsticks this weekend.
Wow!! That is gory!! Ouch, that photo alone is enough to make me think about safety in my shop for a long time to come… Sorry about your hand dude, but thank you for posting it. It keeps it real for us woodworkers.
Hubert Kunnemeyer
hubertkwoodworks.com
Hi Treefrog & Hubert, That’s kind of the reaction I was hoping for… as embarrassing as it is to share this, if it’s an eye-opener for anyone then it’s worth it. Even though this was pretty bad, I can only imagine all the “what if” scenarios of that cut going a little deeper or maybe across my wrist, or… yikes. It’s just so easy to forget that we’re made of soft stuff.
In terms of getting things done quickly in the shop, and the idea that thinking safety will slow things down, I think this experience proves that wrong. It’s extremely well invested time to slow down a bit and use tools safely. One slip and I lost weeks if not months of woodworking.
In retrospect, the worst part wasn’t the actual cut, it’s the slow recovery. The scar will look pretty great though, very impressive. It wouldn’t be so bad if I had my range of motion and sense back, and less chronic pain. And one of those memory resets like they do in Men In Black to erase the DVR in my head.
Oh, and about the tetanus shot. If you’re ever in the ER with an injury like this, remember when the nurse asks which arm, have her to put it in your injured arm. It’s going to be a bit numb and sensitive for a few days after the shot but since you have other things going on there you won’t really notice it (I hate getting shots…).
Finally, the two new rules in my shop:
1. Never work when no-one can drive me to the ER
2. No blood on my tools