Times to avoid the workshop

[Rod Gilbert]

I have been building a router table of late and when it came to making the doors which are raised panel cedar I set up the router in preparation to do styles and rails with a new set of bits. To set the scene I have a new router which is mounted in the cabinet which quietens it down a reasonable amount the dust extractor was running which as you will know is reasonably noisy was wearing ear muffs. I had finished the edge run of styles and rails but before I changed the set for the end of the rails I checked to make sure I had enough components for all the frames, I walked away from the router table to check then returned to the router table noticed some fluff on the fence and waved my left hand across the fence and removed a large portion of my thumb in the process. I hadn't turned of the router when I walked away and did not notice. I am normally very careful with all machines and tools but I should not have been in the work shop on this day my wife had just left to go to our daughter's home she is suffering her 2nd bout of cancer and was in a bad way mentally and needed support my wife left and I foolishly went into the workshop to take my mind of things.
Guess what it didn't and I should not have gone into the workshop let alone used machinery. I have been in the trade 40+ years and know only to well that these mishap's happen in the blink of a eye. No matter how much experience you have you can not be to careful in the workshop and never use any machinery unless you have total concentration on the job at hand.
Regards Rod.

[chambezio]

Is it complacency? I know I have done similar things in the past. When it happens you just can't believe you were so foolish to injure yourself. You hear stories of blokes that have many years in the trade that do similar things. When I was 15 and a first year apprentice, I was working with a good old tradesman who told me that "you are not a true tradesman until you have lost a finger". I remember looking at my fingers and thinking that I wanted to show them to my grand kids.

Now that I have retired, and time is in abundance,(?) its probably a good thing that we should really take into account of our mental state before we get into doing something that we shouldn't have.

I hope your convalescents is short and that the situation with the cancer patient will have a good out come

[rustynail]

Rod, All the best to both of you. The old thumb is probably our most important digit. You are so right about being focused when working with machinery. It is so easy to think a little distraction could be a good thing, but that is so often not the case. I hope you have a speedy recovery.

[old1955]

Hope you get well soon Rod.

Ross

[Rod Gilbert]

Thank you all for you're good wishes. I only posted this with the hope that no matter how experienced you are you think and think again before entering the work shop.
Regards to all Rod.

[Lyle]

Hope you recover fully without any long term loss of function.
Another time to abandon the shed is at "beer o'clock"!! How many of us have a drink in hand and thengo back to the shed for a quick of a job etc.

[Glenn.Visca]

Get well soon Rod.

I wish I had stayed out of the shed the day I took the last joint off my middle finger left hand.

I can sympathise ... The pain is huge ... The feeling of ... disappointment (?) ... anger at ones self (?) ...

It's funny ... I don't like wearing ear muffs ... Coz I can't hear stuff ... Will probably go deaf ... But I like to be able to hear ...

One wonders ... Does the introduction of safety gear in one area actually create areas less safe elsewhere.

Speedy recovery !

[BobL]

Sorry to hear about this - I hope you recover soon

That reminds me of the time I had ear muffs on and was using a new 25 mm MT drill bit. The bit fell out of the spindle and I picked it up off the floor, got distracted and had to attend to something else. Then I returned to the drill and thinking I had turned it off rammed it home and of course the running spindle grabbed the bit and in doing so the flute just nicked the skin on a finger but it could have been a lot worse.

[Simplicity]

Hope you heal soon Rod
A speedy recovery

[Evanism]

Sorry to hear about this - I hope you recover soon

That reminds me of the time I had ear muffs on and was using a new 25 mm MT drill bit. The bit fell out of the spindle and I picked it up off the floor, got distracted and had to attend to something else. Then I returned to the drill and thinking I had turned it off rammed it home and of course the running spindle grabbed the bit and in doing so the flute just nicked the skin on a finger but it could have been a lot worse.

Bloody oath this is true. My drill press does not have a zero volt switch. If I plug it in and it's switched to on, away it goes. It's very bloody dangerous and something I've wanted to fix for some time.

[Evanism]

You hear stories of blokes that have many years in the trade that do similar things. When I was 15 and a first year apprentice, I was working with a good old tradesman who told me that "you are not a true tradesman until you have lost a finger".

My grandfather was a shipwright, he once said "fair weather makes poor sailors".

We are tested not by safety, but mistakes...even those by others.

[Rod Gilbert]

.. When I was 15 and a first year apprentice, I was working with a good old tradesman who told me that "you are not a true tradesman until you have lost a finger". I remember looking at my fingers and thinking that I wanted to show them to my grand kids.

Early after I finished my time I was put with another tradesman in the solid shop of a very large joinery using a very old and ill maintained table saw cutting 3mm edge strips to edge a veneer board job with me feeding the saw and him tailing out,the board would get to his side of the saw table and he would grab it and run leaving me to keep it against the fence he didn't have a finger on either hand that was complete I used to hate working with him if he cared so little about his fingers how much did he care about mine. I believe a good tradesman is one who has done a lifetime in the shop wit as little damage to himself and others as possible.
Regards Rod.