How NOT to use a table saw

[SAISAY]

I was cutting a piece of HDPE, at the end of the cut the saw kicked back, the pushstick slipped and my thumb went right into the sawblade
It cut right through the top of the thumb
CutRightThroughThumb.jpg
Split some of the bone, then deflected and cut a large part of skin of, right through to the muscle.
quite a bit of nerve damage there.
SkinGoneRightThrughToMuscle.jpg OUCH.jpg
Freak accident where the pushstick just did not work.

[Mulgabill]

Uk! Ugly!

[_fly_]

Reminds me to let the saw do most of the work.

Don't push too hard, if its getting hard its time to sharpen or change the blade.

Hope it all heals ok.

[Wongo]

Bad day in the office, but consider yourself lucky because you didn't not lose a finger.

What brand is it? You can suit them for not having the flesh-detection technology.

I just read an article on the Boston Globe's website about a guy in Malden, Mass., who was awarded $1.5 million in damages in a suit against One World Technologies, Inc., makers of Ryobi tools.

According to the complaint filed in 2006, Carlos Osorio suffered serious finger injuries using a tablesaw while cutting some oak flooring. The suit alleged that One World was negligent because its saws lack "flesh-detection technology," which the plaintiffs claim would have prevented Osorio's injuries. The device, invented by Steve Gass and manufactured by SawStop, stops a sawblade in an instant when it makes contact with skin. The safety feature was pitched to major saw manufacturers by Gass, but according to SawStop, licensing negotiations broke down and no agreements were reached. In the end, Gass and his colleagues, David Fanning and David Fulmer, launched the SawStop line of tablesaws on their own.

According to the story, this case is one of more than 50 suits pending throughout the U.S. against tablesaw manufacturers for failure to include the flesh-detection technology in their products.

[chambezio]

Most "accidents", I reckon are down to operator error. (But in this case, just bad luck) You could even look at car "accidents" how many of those are driver error?(Texting while on the move etc)
The worst part of any injury in the workshop is having to retell the story to the Medicos and assuring them that all the safety mechanisms were in place and it was...an accident. I am sure they reckon that it was all our fault for doing something silly.
When I was a first year apprentice Carpenter the tradesman I was working with told me that you weren't a "true tradesman" until you cut a finger off. Iwas 15 at the time and still remember I wanted to show ALL my fingers to my grandkids.

That finger looks sore and probably will be for a while. A little brush like that does tend to sharpen our wits a little. I hope it heals fast and you will be able to finish the job you were working on at the time

[Mr Brush]

Ouch, bugger, damn and blast it ! That would have to hurt. Hope it all heals up leaving just a scar (for later storytelling purposes..), and you don't lose any feeling in the affected bits.

This sounds like just one of those things that can happen to anyone (except wealthy SawStop owners?), but I'm always very careful using pushsticks on the tablesaw. I just got one of those Grripper things too, which provides excellent control.

I always make my homemade pushsticks to hold the wood down and keep my hand as far above the blade as possible. Also, the tab at the back holding the timber is angled so that the pushstick is forcing the timber into the fence AND the line of force from my hand is away from the blade if I slip. I've attached a silly little drawing in case anyone else finds this useful.

[Skew ChiDAMN!!]

These are the accidents that scare me.

If I hurt myself by doing something stupid, careless or unsafe, then it's a case of sucking it up and moving on as best I can. (Grumbling & whining all the while.)

But when it's basically just because "s**t happens" ...?

[shudder]

[Wongo]

Can you improve your luck by having a better push stick and a overhead blade guard in place?

[Mr Brush]

Exactly - you do something the way you've done it hundreds of times before with no problems, then one day the machine decides to bite

For me the machine most likely to hurt me is still my lathe. I'm not confident enough, and prodding at the wood rather tentatively with my assorted tools. Most turning sessions end with me retreating to the house badly frightened, with tail between legs . The skew chisel is my sworn enemy !

[A Duke]

Hi SAISAY,
A speedy recovery and thanks for the graphic warning/reminder and not keeping it secret.
Regards

[BobL]

Sorry to hear about this - you were lucky it was not worse.

A couple of questions would be
1) How long was the push stick?

2) What sort of blade were you using? HDPE should be cut with a negative rake tooth blade. A positive rake blade it is liable to cut in fits and spurts and can even grab the workpiece and pull it very quickly into itself. The softer the material the more likely it is to happend and the sort of injury you sustained is a likely outcome.

[SAISAY]

Sorry to hear about this - you were lucky it was not worse.

A couple of questions would be
1) How long was the push stick?

2) What sort of blade were you using? HDPE should be cut with a negative rake tooth blade. A positive rake blade it is liable to cut in fits and spurts and can even grab the workpiece and pull it very quickly into itself. The softer the material the more likely it is to happend and the sort of injury you sustained is a likely outcome.

1) The pushstick was about 400mm, a commercial one
2) Aluminium blade, especially bought for perspex and HDPE.
Over head guard is always in place as is the splitter.
Just a stupid freak accident, I have done this multiple times before.
Everything went so fast that I am not 100% sure how it happened.

[OldGrain]

I think you speak with forked thumb Saisay! Not pretty at all but glad to see that you didn`t lose the top of your thumb & trust you`ll regain all functionality. gordon

[BobL]

. . . . Everything went so fast that I am not 100% sure how it happened.

that's often the case, but if it comes back to you later and you are up for it then it would be helpful to let us know. A similar thing happened to me when I was in a head on car accident I was in. I wrote down what I think happened within the hour but the next day I went back and reread and replayed the whole thing in my head and only then realized the driver had stepped out of the car holding his mobile. This lined up with his body language of his head being down immediately before the accident - he was using his mobile.

Sorry to keep pestering you with questions but do you recall if the push stick was being pushed directly in line with the blade?

[pjt]

I don't like push sticks that much, I prefer to use a block something like Mr Brush is indicating, that way the matl is held down, pushed and my hand is well out of the way.
Hope the injury repairs OK

Pete