"Warning" The 5 stitches in my thumb

[DJ’s Timber]

Well here it is, my bandsaw savaged thumb from when I was cutting up my Sheoak

[HappyHammer]

Tell us what you did wrong...nice shade of blue BTW

HH.

[Kaiser Soze]

Bang goes any more hitch hiking !!

[silentC]

I know exactly what he did wrong because I've thought about it many times. Pushing a bit of timber through with your thumb and wondering what would happen if it suddenly slipped. Now we know. Will it stop us from doing it though?

Where's that pushstick!

[goodwoody]

I like the blue!!!!!! I suppose we can learn from this. If you have a sharp b/saw blade see what can happen!!!!!!

[Wood Borer]

Push sticks are OK but there is always that small quick little job and for millions of reasons you choose not to find the push stick or haven't got time to make a suitable one.

When I find myself in these situations I rest my hand on the table of the bandsaw in such a way so that if the timber splits or slips sideways my thumb cannot reach the blade. It works for me - touch wood so far anyway.

Thanks for drawing our attention to such an important safety issue. Bandsaws being such safe machines can easily lull us into a false sense of security.

[BobL]

30 years ago I did an advanced driver training course to become a driving instructor. The instructors teaching us also taught ambulance and police drivers. They showed us a technique called something like "talking it through", which was talking aloud about what you were thinking while driving. The idea behind this was to clearly demonstrate to the instructor that you had your mind on the job and that you were making a continual risk assessment of hazards as they arose. EG "Truck at 100m approaching and signaling to turn across my path, . . .. truck at 50m still signalling, off accelerator cover break, watching truck driver, eye contact established, risk reduced, proceed"

I've often wondered how that would work with operating WW machines. eg "extra force seems to be required to mainting cut, this saw must be getting blunt, proceeding with additional caution. . . . . . crikey I'm having to push hard, likelihood of slippage high, hands way too close . . . . ABORT ABORT".

I supposed it's easy to say after the fact. Wouldn't mind hearing about what teachers and trainers do in this space these days.

[Waldo]

G'day Djstimber,



I bet there was a bit of being heard around the shed when that happened, you race around the shed looking for that greasy rag sitting on the other side of the shed (and it's the cleanest you can find at the time) then you showed SWMBO as the blood drips on the kitchen floor, she asks what do you want her to do about it?

That's got to hurt! My pointer finger l/h still hurts from the scary sharp chisel incident.

A 3tpi blade does a bit of damage. Nasty things.

[Barry_White]

Bad move. It looks like the doc dropped a couple of stitchs one end in the second pic. Hope it gets better quick.

[AlexS]

Ouch!

[Skew ChiDAMN!!]

Yowsers!

Hasn't anyone told you to turn the BS off before testing the blade for sharpness?

[Bleedin Thumb]

Jeez DJ ,didn't you touch wood after boasting about your SO score.

[black1]

Ouch!

wot he said

[rrich]

I know exactly what he did wrong because I've thought about it many times. Pushing a bit of timber through with your thumb and wondering what would happen if it suddenly slipped. Now we know. Will it stop us from doing it though?

Where's that pushstick!

I've always wondered why there seems to be so many woodworkers getting cut on the band saw. Your analysis is so logical.

I've always practiced the 'Shaka' rule. (The Hawaiian hand signal for excellent or great.) If one hand is on the saw and the other using the Shaka can touch the hand and the blade (or is in the path of the blade), the hand is too close.

[HappyHammer]

(The Hawaiian hand signal for excellent or great.)

Need picture please...

HH.