Share your tool accidents or near misses

[skeeter]

Reading post people made when I told about my thumb accident, and now JimM having one makes me curious about how many people have had an accident or close call and how it happened.

I talked to Chris (Kalai) yesterday and he told me he was cutting some Koi wood up for pen blanks when the wood kicked back and into his upper lip. He has a hole in the upper lip which required 8 stitches and had some of the Koi embedded in his upper gum. OUCH!!!

The intent of this thread is to give us all a safety jolt.

[flatheadfisher]

My friend's dad built houses back in the day. He had a man working for him who cut off three fingers using a radial arm saw. They sewed them back on. Later that year, he was demonstrating how he managed to cut his three fingers off and managed to cut two of the three off (again) during the demonstration...

[wildbill1943]

I have used staple guns on communication installations for more than forty years. I was given an EZ stapler for Christmas with the exit in the reverse of where my staplers had for years. While holding two small pieces together with one hand, I reached behind me and grabbed the new stapler to put a 5/8 inch brad to hold the pieces together. As I pressed the handle, I felt an extreme pain in my left finger next to the pinkie finger. I had grabbed that stapler backwards and shot a 5/8 inch brad through the finger, thankfully missing the bone. Imagine trying to find a pair of pliers (finally used a pair of diagonal cutters) to remove the brad and get the first aid kit open to stop the bleeding with one hand.

[reprosser]

I started turning about a year ago. One of my first projects was a set of cookie cutters to deliver to my new daughter-in-law with our first visit. (Yeah, you know where this is going)

One of the things they tell you when turning is never move the tool rest with the lathe running - and, turns out there is a good reason for that...

I had pretty much finished up the second cutter, it was a little after midnight, and I just needed to clean up one little edge before sanding and bedtime. I had moved the tool rest out of the way to start sanding, but thought I could just slide it back over for a touch up. I left the cookie cutter with the sharp edge spinning and tried to slide the rest back over with my right hand. It got bound up on the ways so I used my left hand to give it a tug. Of course, it immediately came free and slide all the way over and into the spinning wood - with my left hand between the wood and tool rest.

I felt a bump, and then rebounded away from the wood. No pain, so I adjusted the tool rest and went to make my cut when I decided to check the fingers on my left hand. Yep, a nice gash across the 2nd knuckle of my index finger that looked like I could see bone when I flexed it. Finger still worked (now bleeding profusely), and I thought maybe a tight band aid would let me finish up the project...but it did not work out. Had to wake up the wife, spend 3-4 hours at emergency for 3 stitches, and miss a nights sleep. No permanent damage, but now I turn off the lathe before moving the tool rest...well, usually anyway. (I at least think about it. )



I was lucky to only need 3 stiches. It COULD have been much worse. It SHOULD have been a non-issue if I had followed the safety rules, not made the last cut, or gone to bed sooner.

She liked the cutters - uses this one for baking biscuits. (I got most of the blood stains off)

I bought my first table saw a couple of days ago - A SawStop cabinet saw. Safety has become a top priority in my older age.

Be Safe!