The loss of a finger

[RufflyRustic]

Hi Swiftden,

Sorry to hear of your mishap, but as others have said, thanks for sharing with us and the timely warning, especially as winter starts, it gets colder and hands get stiffer and slower in the cold, well, mine do.

Best wishes for a speedy and painless recovery.

cheers
Wendy

[Wongo]

Swiftden, I am so sorry to hear about your incident. This is the first serious accident on this forum. I hope you recover quickly and it won’t affect your life too much.

[CameronPotter]

That sounds awful. Best wishes on for speedy healing.

Cam

[Caliban]

Den
I offer my condolences from my sickbed.Greenie on the way
Lucky for me I'm bedridden or the way I've been going lately-kickback, broken leg; I'd be joining (sorry about the pun) you.
Oi Scott
I think my injury is serious (5 1/2 hours surgery.)

[Wongo]

What did you lose Jim?

[swiftden]

It all happened pretty fast. So to speak and i guess it is just something to pay more attention to. Yes the pachine is like the junoir jointer but it is the bigger brother. The machine bit into the timber threw it accross the room and dragged my finger in on the way past.

Yeas it is a warning to be very careful trust me i now know more than ever. Not that i wasnt before. I wont take it out on the machine but it might be awhile before i am game to use it again. I can't weight to get back on the horse so to speak(was making a rocking horse at the time).

I am building a new home at the moment and have alot of retaining walls and pergolas etc to put up so im sure this may slow me down a little. it coul dhave been a lot worse and i could have lost all my fingers or even the hand. Im just glad it was only a half and on my left hand. Id be lost without my right one.

Regards
Allan

P.s. Stay safe every one , never fear your machines just show them alot of respect.

[Caliban]

What did you lose Jim?

Where do I start?
Self respect
Uniqueness (now I'm just like Silent C)
Confidence
Mobility
lack of pain
chance to snap up cheap Lie neilson #62:mad: :mad: :mad:
sex appeal
charm
shed time:eek: :eek: :eek:
freedom
money
independence
opportunity to go to work
and last but not least
my sense of humour.
oh and Zed's respect.


but
point taken.

[echnidna]

Sad to hear about your accident.
I've seen this happen a couple of times.
One minor slip of attention etc on a jointer and its gone.
Luckily it was your little finger.
At least on a saw the damage is usually less severe.

To joint safely
Take the blades out of the jointer head so you can still use the saw.
Use a thicknesser on faces.
Square and straighten with the saw
Clean up with the thicknesser (or a jack plane, its actually quite easy to do from a straight sawn edge)

[jmk89]

Allan

I am really sorry to hear about this.

My FIL used to manage a workshop and he says that the machines that caused most injuries were those like planers and jointers, where you can't see the cutting edge. So you have added your name to our collection of stories on how easy it is to damage yourself on these.
Get well soon

Jeremy

[JDarvall]

.....like planers and jointers, where you can't see the cutting edge.
Jeremy

I'm glad you said that Jeremy. Thats where I got unstuck too I feel.

As soon as I put the safety guard back on, I had my jointer accident. Years without the guard and no problem. Not that its an excuse, but like you said, not being able to see the blade brings with it a degree of complacency.

[CameronPotter]

That's why most knife makers say that the buffing wheel is the most dangerous tool you can own (until you start playing with high temperature salt pots).

The buffing wheel has no sharp edges, but it can catch a knife and throw it right at you. I have seen some nasty pictures of such injuries...

[TassieKiwi]

Sorry to hear of your injury swiftden. No bloody good. Just for future's sake, if you did it again, how would you do it differently? That is, so it didn't happen? Would a push pad have helped? I use my Grrippers a lot but in the back of my mind questions niggle as the thing passes over the blades :eek: :eek: :eek: .

Was it a big piece of timber? Was the depth of cut too much?

Anyway, all speed on your recovery. Chin up. Bloody big single malt will cheer you up.

Den

[Wild Dingo]

Buggar Swifty... hope all goes well

The old jointers one of those tools you sorta forget its lethal cause its such an insipid looking thing... but whirling blades of steel reside so all care must be taken

Ive a rule I took to heart a couple of years back when I slipped and cut my thumb on the table saw cause I was a tad weary and should have stopped but wanted to finish what Id begun... that is if Im tired weary niggly phissed of or otherwise not right in the head or with the world I dont turn any of the machines on... yep it means delays it means stuffing around trying to sort other niggling little jobs but it means you dont make stuff ups like this or the one I had ... or that Caliban experienced... bloody hurts!

Take it easy all right

[dazzler]

Hey

Okay hes bin hurt.....but now is the good stuff.....

Ohhhhhhhh.........I'm in pain.......need cold beer

Mmmmmmmm Panadeine Forte.....



Mmmmmmmm Beeeeeeeeeeer

Sleeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeep time

[Stuart]

........The machine bit into the timber threw it accross the room and dragged my finger in on the way past....

Sounds like you might be in the market for a Grr-Ripper. Not sure if it would have helped, but it sounds like it might have, and hopefully prevents a next time.

Thanks for the timely reminder- will take it to heart cause I'm rather attached to my fingers.....