Tablesaw-1, Kev Y.-0

[Kev Y.]

Well, it finally happened! Due to a lapse in concentration I ended up in theatre in the Epworth hospital in Melbourne last night.

I was out in the shed cutting some panels for a book shelf/cupboard I am building when for some reason I experienced a brain fart.

Dont ask me why by I reached out to clear an off-cut from the out side of the blade and somehow managed to push my thumb into the blade. All I felt at the time was a "nudge" on my hand and a slight nick. I knew straight away I had been a "silly boy"

My wife took me into the local hospital where they cleaned, poked and x-rayed my thumb. I had managed to cut from just under my thumbnail back to the first joint. In doing so most of the bone in the top of my thumb was shattered. I am lucky to still have the top part of the thumb.

After 3 hours in the ED and several doses off Morphine it was decided that I would be better off in Melbourne where the Plastic Surgeons were. So after 2 hour drive I was admitted to Epworth and hustled into theatre at 12:30am.

Now I am sitting here with my arm in a sling, my thumb throbbing and my ego severely dented. I am not sure when I will be allowed back into the shed, or when I can expect to return to work.

Luckily there are no photos of the injury for me to post here, but the memory will be with me for some time.

Kev

[floody_85]

That sux! By boss has done that twice on a giant beam saw

[DJ’s Timber]

Ow hope it heals quickly and you're back in the shed before you know.

[Chesand]

OUCH!!
Hope it heals well for you

[Scott]

I can think of better ways to get mince for the hamburgers. Hope it heals quickly Kev.

[Sturdee]

Hope you get better soon Kev.


Peter.

[Kev Y.]

Penny ( my soon to be EX wife #2 ) says I am in no danger of carking it as it is a long way from my heart !

[rustynail]

Brain fart? Lapse in concentration? I dont think so. These things happen because we are careless. The problem is the blade edge is invisible when spinning and because it is spinning so fast our brain thinks it is stationary. We have to actually tell ourselves its moving and dangerous.
For a right handed person the nearest thing to the saw blade is their thumb. The most valuable digit to a right handed person is that thumb. Try picking up stuff without it. I wouldnt mind betting there wasnt a push stick within cooee of the machine. Why would you bother when you have that thumb to do your dirty work for you?

[Kev Y.]

Rusty, I am right handed but it is my left thumb and there was a push stick on the bench behind me

[artme]

I know exactly what you are going through and went through Kev!!

I sliced through my right thumb before Christmas. I have since built
the sled I had been promising myself for years.

[Kev Y.]

Yep just a flesh wound

[Wongo]

That is terrible. Get well soon.

[rustynail]

Rusty, I am right handed but it is my left thumb and there was a push stick on the bench behind me

Dexterity of non dominant hand would be less. All the more reason to go the stick.
Im not trying to be smart here. I have been in the trade for 40 years, trained many apprentices and still have all digits. The one thing that I worry about is folk becoming ho hum about accidents. An old sawyer once told me, "An accident is something beyond your control. Anything else is preventable." I never forgot it.
Short push stick in hip pocket - handiest tool in the shed.
I wish you a speedy recovery.

[danny.s]

Wishing you a speedy recovery Kev. Look after it well, infection can be a bitch!

[SAISAY]

Four weeks after the same injury I was back in the shop and now, two weeks later my thumb is back to normal, just a scar to show where it happened, even my nail is growing again.
I never used a sling, too much in the way
Your new skin will be very tender for a while and some part of your thumb will have no feeling, so put a cover on to protect it.
I used the white mesh band aid patches