Busted Finger

[Chris Parks]

I was cutting some hardwood on a mitre saw the other day and doing everything right. The timber was hard against the fence, my hands clear of the blade, I had the timber held tightly etc. I had done numerous pieces like this when all of a sudden and faster than a speeding bullet the saw grabbed the timber and rotated it and threw it back against the fence again trapping one of my fingers between the fence and the timber. S&*t happens and I had micro surgery today to repair the damage. The irony of this was I was doing someone a favour! So even though we are cautious and seemingly doing all the right things and nowhere near the blade you can stll get bitten. I would not do the job any differently and certainly couldn'y do it safer IMHO and will just chalk it up to experience. I have never been injured before in woodworking so I guess my time just came up and I got off lightly.

[Big Shed]

Ouch! That must have hurt, hope everything will heal quickly for you.

[martrix]

ouch, sorry to hear. What do you think you did wrong?

[Chris Parks]

ouch, sorry to hear. What do you think you did wrong?

As I said in the post, nothing. I think it was a bad piece of wood and the saw grabbed it. It didn't hurt excessivly after I stuck it into ice water for a bit, took a couple of Panadol and went back to work. I only went to the doctor because it didn't stop bleeding and it kept bleeding, well weeping really until the op today and the accident happened Sunday arvo. The best thing about it is they didn't charge me a cent for all the medical care, another win for medicare or whatever it's name is this week. If I had been insured it would have cost a heap of money.

[RufflyRustic]

Mini, I just had a flashback to when this happened to me ages ago with that monster ELU I had If you don't mind me asking, what was causing your finger to continue weeping?

Thanks
Wendy

[chrisp]

Mini,

I still a but confused as to what happened.

From what I read the timber was held flat with its face on the horizontal bed and edge abutted to the fence, and during the cut the timber pinched the blade and the face ended up against the vertical fence - with your finger in between?

I'm curious to understand how it happened. Was the timber straight or was it bowed? I can only guess that it was bowed with the bow up and the kerf closed on the blade as the blade cut through grabbing the timber?

I'd appreciate any insights in to what happened - hopefully to prevent any reoccurrence.

[munruben]

Sorry to hear of your accident Mini hope it heals real quick. You were doing everything right so its just one of those things, you can't do anything to avoid. One consolation, it could have been a lot worse.
I agree, the medicare thing here is great. all medical expenses with the fixing of my broken arm and wrist hasn't cost me a cent.

[wheelinround]

Sorry to hear that Chris we all are at the will of machines daily glad you didn't loose it all together hope it heals ASAP.

Now down to the real man stuff like all of us you did what we would all have done OUCH and back to work.
1So was the LOYL giving you the treatment can't imagine that she's so nice.

2 Most importantly has it impeeded you ability to work in the shed.

Ray & LOML

[Wild Dingo]

Clamps... clamp the timber to the damned machine bed... sorry but you said you were holding it with your hand... both the mitre saw an sliding compound saw I have both have clamps at the infeed end and at the exit end... and while they seem small and rather useless the stop just this thing happening!!!

I think Im becoming a real safety pain in the bum... I mean I even clamp what Im drilling with the poxy little battery drill or even the hand drill if the machine has a clamp by god I find it and use it!!... this has only started happening since I was a total dipstick and drilled my finger after that I started taking notice of what I was doing and how stupid dumb or unsafe it was... began scrounging through all the boxes and stuff in the shed to find the small clamps and things that come with the machines and started madly installing them AND using them

Mini mate hope all goes well for you and your digit... if your missus is like mine you will get 2 days of sympathy then it goes out the window so enjoy it while it lasts

All the best... but dont hold the wood with your hand when cutting it!!

[Chris Parks]

Wendy, the weeping seems to be charecteristic of the injury. I spoke to another patient who had the same experience. The nail bed gets torn and it must be this that causes the injury and nothing can be done as it is inaccessable, short of surgery. the timber was picked up at the saw entry side of the timber, the saw partiallt stalled, rotated the timber under the blade and the entry point finished up as the top surface against the fence with my finger trapped between the fence and the timber. In other words the bottom surface of the timber went from laying on the bed of the saw to standing vertically or near enough. I had to put my foot on the machine and with all my strength drag the bit of timber off the blade afterwards.

As for clamps, this is an Hitachi and certainly on this I don't see how it could be done. Besides these saws are meant for quick production and it is not possible to design a clamping system that would work for every bit pf timber that is cut. That afternoon I must have cut about 200 pieces and to clamp everyone would have been impossible, literally. Some risk is alaways accepted and one injury in all the years I have been using saws is part of that risk. Stupidity is another thing of course and that generally gets the user into trouble fairly early on, witness the show on TV last night. I guess it is like boats, you take all the precautions, but a monster gale undoes all that and people get into strife to a greater or lesser degree.

The only thing I will look at is my hand hold, but when you are holding a piece of timber up to a mitre saw fence the hold is compromised if the timber is lower than the fence. I generally push down from the top with my hand and fingers grasping the timber and therein lies the problem.

[RufflyRustic]

Thanks Mini

Yes, that, I think, would be pretty close what happened to me, except my finger got squashed just enough to bruise it and do something to the nervers in the fingertip. At least the second time around, same finger, same machine I didn't lose the finger just part of the tip of the nail and bed. I was SO lucky to have a second chance at learning that lesson


Mini, I hope your finger is not throbbing too much now and that it heals quickly for you.

Dingo, you are right, clamp, clamp and check first before cutting or whatever. However, I can also see Mini's point especially when cutting a stack of timber, same cut, same size etc.

cheers
Wendy

[Chris Parks]

The only way to clamp on my saw is if the timber is tall against the fence then it would be debatable if it is necessary as this type of accident would be nearly impossible. I was cutting a piece that was at the maximun width the saw will cut and not very high. This means that the saw has plenty of leverage out from the fence to flip the timber. If you were cutting the same dimension stock repeatably then a block above the timber clamped to the fence and just above the timber would be a really good measure, this would stop the timber flipping up. I wonder how common this type of injury is, now Wendy has told her story? This saw is the biggest one Hitachi make and extremly powerful so that doesn't help either.

[BobL]

This resawing jig was originally made to mill small logs but I'm finding it useful even for quite small bits and pieces. It's a bit of a PITA when switching from large to small pieces but one can keep ones hands/fingers right out of the way of the blade when using it.

[cx500]

When cutting fire wood using the drop saw put a piece of 3x2 agains't the left hand fence.This keeps the bent timber clear of the fence on the other side of the saw blade.NEVER CUT BENT TIMBER USING BOTH FENCES ON ANY SAW.
cheers don

[cx500]

Also make sure the timber is bowed down so that it is only supported on the left hand side of the the drop saw table in front of your 3x2 or other timber spacer.this eliminates the saw blade pinching.don