# What's the most stupid thing you've done in woodworking?



## billw (11 Nov 2020)

When I bought my planer I couldn't tell whether the blades were fitted, so I poked it with my finger. It turned out the blades were indeed fitted.

I bet there's some classic stories waiting to be told.


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## LBCarpentry (11 Nov 2020)

Are you saying you poked it whilst it was on?? That’s insane!


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## Spectric (11 Nov 2020)

Hi

Many moons ago when I was a teenager I worked in a place that overhauled commercial & PSV vehicles, there was an engine dyno testbed and one day with an engine running but low on power the guy taking a look thought the turbo was at fault and put his finger into the intake, it was like the pencil sharpeners we had at school.


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## billw (11 Nov 2020)

LBCarpentry said:


> Are you saying you poked it whilst it was on?? That’s insane!


NO!


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## TheTiddles (11 Nov 2020)

I swept a pile of shavings off the thicknesses bed with my hand, stood back and realised it was running, I remember the cold feeling of thinking what could have happened.

Aidan


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## SkinnyB (11 Nov 2020)

Today I ran End Grain through my thickness planer as I do often cutting a very small amount off at a time. However one piece that was really to wide but still just fitted decided to ride up those little bars that is supposed to keep the material from sliding off the edge of the table....
Absolutely obliterated the end grain board, planer stopped in a second. Chunks of oak flew out the back. Anti kick back teeth all jammed up as well.

That was a total shock! Another time I had not zeroed my callipers and they were out by a few mm. End Grain through the planer and same thing... Now I double check the thickness and make sure the width is undersized by a good amount.


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## billw (11 Nov 2020)

TheTiddles said:


> I swept a pile of shavings off the thicknesses bed with my hand, stood back and realised it was running, I remember the cold feeling of thinking what could have happened.
> 
> Aidan



I'm cringing just reading that.


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## artie (11 Nov 2020)

Once I cut my nails on a table saw.


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## Trevanion (11 Nov 2020)

I used just a single push stick once, never again!


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## Cabinetman (11 Nov 2020)

I was investigating a strange noise on my table saw and took the insert plate off, turned the saw on and the sight of the whole blade spinning was gut churningly frightful. I don’t know why as I knew what it looked like it I was just shocked, there was a feeling of revulsion. But I suppose that’s healthy! Ian


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## billw (11 Nov 2020)

Cabinetman said:


> I was investigating a strange noise on my table saw and took the insert plate off, turned the saw on and the sight of the whole blade spinning was gut churningly frightful. I don’t know why as I knew what it looked like it I was just shocked, there was a feeling of revulsion. But I suppose that’s healthy! Ian



At least you didn't poke it.


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## Cabinetman (11 Nov 2020)

Absolutely not! That beast is not one you would want poke with a stick. 
"A pointed stick? , fruit not good enough for you is it " sorry to younger members- Monty Python.


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## sometimewoodworker (12 Nov 2020)

Not using a push block on my first planer was the stupid thing, many many years ago.

The good thing was that the first ambulance arrived within about 3 minutes but were going off shift so once they found the injury wasn’t life threatening did first aid, and a second ambulance came about 5 minutes later who took over.
Then My local A&E was closed so I got taken to the main neurosurgical centre for the southeast U.K. that happened to be the next nearest A&E. The end result being that instead of having a finger shortened I had an in-place flesh graft (by a consultant ) that gives me a strange finger print and eventually I now have virtually full sensitivity.


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## novocaine (12 Nov 2020)

I tried woodworking once. 
never again.


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## AJB Temple (12 Nov 2020)

I can't think of anything stupid that I've done but I've witnessed one or two. For example, 6 years ago we lived in a rented house briefly whilst waiting to complete on where we live now. The oven needed replacing so the landlord arranged for fitters to deal with that. Two young men in a van turned up. The oven space needed altering and fitter in charge claimed his tools were elsewhere. It just needed a bit planing off an infill strut. But as it was not my house I thought I better let the fitter do it. Like a fool I lent him a hand held electric planer. A couple of minutes later numpty number one was planing a bit off the softwood, with it braced across numpty number two's legs. Brought a whole new meaning to "workmate". 

I took the planer off them.


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## space.dandy (12 Nov 2020)

More recently than I care to admit I was using a brad nail gun to secure some reinforcing corner triangles in a plywood box. I paused for a good few seconds to consider if the nail I was about to fire was a bit close to the thin end of the triangle and if my fingers might possibly be in the way. Then, for reasons I still can’t explain, I just thought ‘screw it, she’ll be fine!’ and proceeded to fire the nail into the triangle, out the other side and into my finger.

it’s surprising how much longer a wound from a relatively blunt object takes to heal.


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## Sandyn (12 Nov 2020)

I can't read the posts above, just as I can't watch any of those emergency programs where people get injured. It really frightens me and I prefer not to see or think about what could happen, but I do take great care when using machinery. 

My most frightening experience was whilst building my extension. I was nailing the joists with a 4" nailer. I was working at arms length and nailing two joists together, I hit a nail plate and instead of the nail going into the wood it bounced back and hit me on the forehead! I pretty much knew that it wouldn't have the energy on rebound to penetrated my head, but I wouldn't dare feel to see. I had heard of head injuries where people felt no pain despite having things stuck in their skull. I scurried around the floor trying to find the rogue nail and sure enough I did, It had been formed into an almost perfect circle. On examination, I just had a small graze. I still have it somewhere as a reminder.
A week later, I was at A&E after breaking a finger cycling and started a conversation with a guy beside me. "What happened to you" I asked? he held up his hand and there was a 2 inch nail right through his finger. lol!! faint!


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## Nicey1 (12 Nov 2020)

Not dangerous just stupid, I bought a gallon of black spirit stain to make my own picture frame lengths. This stain settled so before opening shook, off course a gallon is heavy so wrapped arms around and shook. Top wasn’t on tight, squeezing plastic bottle in arms....... yes I looked like a singer off the black and white minstrels eyes shut tight we’re the only thing white on my face , took a long time to were off as meths only removed top layer. Husband cried with laughter.


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## mowog (12 Nov 2020)

About a year ago I was using an electric planer on something (can't remember what - might have been a door). In a moment of temporary dementia I gently moved my left hand to grip around the sole for a bit more control, planting my fingers directly onto the spinning blade. Nice. Remarkably I escaped entirely unscathed - the blade seemed to push my fingers away. I'm sure if I'd been pressing any harder it would have ended very badly, but a lucky escape. And a useful reminder ever since!


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## Sheffield Tony (12 Nov 2020)

Cabinetman said:


> I was investigating a strange noise on my table saw and took the insert plate off, turned the saw on and the sight of the whole blade spinning was gut churningly frightful.



My father - a genuine Sheffield steelworker - had a tablesaw he made himself from angle iron and plate. It had no guarding whasoever - no riving knife or crown guard, and all that was under the table was exposed, just an open frame of angle iron. Watched him use it many a time, and amazingly he still has all his bodyparts. He still has the saw, but is too old to have the energy to use it. I hope.

I think my worst woodworking scar is an axe cut to my wrist. Knocked it off the block picking something up from the floor. Some of my friends have done much better. One fronted up at Addenbrooks A&E with his leg held together with gaffa tape having missed the workpiece with a hewing axe.


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## marcros (12 Nov 2020)

Sheffield Tony said:


> My father - a genuine Sheffield steelworker - had a tablesaw he made himself from angle iron and plate. It had no guarding whasoever - no riving knife or crown guard, and all that was under the table was exposed, just an open frame of angle iron. Watched him use it many a time, and amazingly he still has all his bodyparts. He still has the saw, but is too old to have the energy to use it. I hope.
> 
> I think my worst woodworking scar is an axe cut to my wrist. Knocked it off the block picking something up from the floor. Some of my friends have done much better. One fronted up at Addenbrooks A&E with his leg held together with gaffa tape having missed the workpiece with a hewing axe.



Green woodworking seems more dangerous than I ever imagined!


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## Spectric (12 Nov 2020)

There is an amazing number of nasty accidents that have occured over the years but most were not accidents in the true sense, they are what is classed as preventable incidents. Examples are fitting oversize grinding wheels into handheld grinders and the bloke ends up dead with it embeded in his head, failure to secure full isolation and release all stored energy, the guy is crushed in the machinery or the guy working on overhead power lines and did not use the right PPE because it was in the van below and got fried, the list is endless but all due to human error. One accident I do recall is the bloke on a building site that was pined to the ground by a scaffold pole through his shoulder and out just above his hip that had fallen from many floors above, to him it was an accident as he had no played no part but it was still preventable. 

As for me the worst thing I have done was end up with hinge thumb, cutting wood with small axe and got distracted! I quickly wrapped it up and went indoors where the missus looked and said I was lucky because I had only partially chopped through it just below the nail and the top bit was now hinged over and next to the rest, it is now back to normal.


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## SammyQ (12 Nov 2020)

I ended up with an angle grinder cup wheel bristle (singular) embedded in my forehead. Thing just fell apart and linear shrapnel went everywhere.
I was SO grateful - as I had no face shield on - that it had not been 2" lower and blinded me.
Mission Control laughed like a drain, then said "you look like an anorexic unicorn"...


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## Ttrees (12 Nov 2020)

Biggest accident, really an error rather than a mistake, I had.. was cutting old shuttering ply, mainly unsupported on a wheelbarrow whilst using an old handsaw with a plastic handle.
The sheet pinched the saw plate and the handle shattered, which sliced the tendon on my ring finger.
I would get a glove now and stick it over the knuckles if I had to do the same again,
perhaps maybe I'd have a bit more insight and less enthusiasm.

Maybe the stupid thing yes, but still som how seems less embarrassing than cutting into a tenon rather than the waste.
Maybe time is the cure for that.
Large graphite stick or carpenters pencil on the waste for me anymore! 

Tom


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## Dr Al (12 Nov 2020)

I've been relatively lucky so far, although I did rather stupidly pick up a piece of steel I'd just been welding to have a better look at it. It was surprisingly hot!

When I was renting a flat many years ago, we had some contractors come in to replace the boiler. They had to drill a new hole in the wall for a flue. We were sitting at the other end of the house and the lights suddenly went off. The contractor had drilled through a mains cable and given himself a nasty shock. I can see how that could happen (the cable was going up the wall at about 70° rather than straight up). What struck me as stupid was that having just got a nasty electric shock that had apparently made him jump back a foot, he went to the consumer unit, turned the power back on and then had another go.


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## Doug B (12 Nov 2020)

Most Stupid thing I’ve done is buying Axminster brand machines, an expensive mistake.


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## Sru (12 Nov 2020)

When I was very young, we lived in Kenya. My Father had a rigging company that employed carpenters etc. One day, during the hols, I was pestering him in the office too much so he took me out the back and told one of the carpenters to look after me and make something to keep me amused. He decided on a small boat and got me to hold the end while he chiselled out the inside. Yup, you can see it coming ... the chisel slipped all the way down and dug 3/4 way into the top of my finger. Luckily they stitched it back together and all was fine but felt so bad for the poor bloke.

New to table routing, I have been every so careful but one morning, tired due to darn cats waking me up, I pushed a bit of wood left to right across a straight bit. Gosh wood flies fast and furiously when that happens 

I also suffer from buying cheap and regretting ... constantly. Wife always p*ssed but did get me permission for a Festool router when the 2nd cheap bit of rubbish from Amazon failed 30 mins after arriving.


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## artie (12 Nov 2020)

Sru said:


> I also suffer from buying cheap and regretting


I had that problem all my life but I seem to have got over it, now that there's no mortgage, no HP and no kids at uni.


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## Keith 66 (12 Nov 2020)

I had just acquired a boat hull & I decided to split some old hosepipe to clip over the hull edge to protect the cover. Thought to myself "Better cut away from yourself" I was using an old lino knife, very sharp with a pronounced hook on the end. Anyway it slipped out & i was driving it with both hands. It swung up & i drove the point of the lino knife into my forehead just above my eyebrows. I let go & the knife was left stuck there.
Took quite a bit of force to pull it out & had a massive bump on my forehead! It wasnt the first time that boat drew blood nor the last!


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## kinverkid (12 Nov 2020)

My upholsterer friend gave us a large amount of upholstery quality leather off-cuts. My wife thought she would have a go at re-covering the dining chair seats with it. My air guns are brad nailers and staplers so my friend lent us his spare upholsterers stapler which I connected to the airline for her then told her it won't fire unless it's pressed against the piece to be stapled. I then demonstrated this by pulling the trigger while pointing it in her general direction. A staple came flying out lightly piercing her forearm. The limp is almost unnoticeable and I can pass urine with almost no pain at all these days.


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## DBT85 (12 Nov 2020)

Sheffield Tony said:


> My father - a genuine Sheffield steelworker - had a tablesaw he made himself from angle iron and plate. It had no guarding whatsoever - no riving knife or crown guard, and all that was under the table was exposed, just an open frame of angle iron. Watched him use it many a time, and amazingly he still has all his bodyparts. He still has the saw, but is too old to have the energy to use it. I hope.



There are millions of people that used a table saw with no riving knife and no guard and have all of their body parts. Sadly that is the part of the problem as they show others and say "It never happened to me before","I know what I'm doing", "I'll be extra careful", "guard removed for filming purposes".


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## AESamuel (12 Nov 2020)

Cutting dovetails and cut out the tails instead of the waste.


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## LBCarpentry (12 Nov 2020)

Oh I’ve just thought of mine.

When making window frames used to run a mortar groove round the outside of the frame like ye olde days. This required dropping timber into the cutter block one end, and stopping before the end and dropping back out.
One time dropping in, the block just snatched the timber & spat it straight out whilst my hand went with it, brushing past cutter block by millimetres! 

Jesus Christ a pooed a brick, turned it off and just sat down for a bit to calm down. I said I’d be dammed if I lost my hand for the sake of a mortar groove. So have never bothered doing them since


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## Jameshow (12 Nov 2020)

Just been cutting some mortices for a little bedside table I'm making. 
Selecting the knot free sides as face sides... 
Only I've landed knots right where the mortices need to go. 

Rookie error! 

Cheers James


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## Doug71 (12 Nov 2020)

Am I allowed 2?

First one I don't really count as my fault as it was about 30 years ago before I knew any better. We were hanging a BIG pair of doors on a barn, all going well and nearly finished just the bolts to drill through for the band type hinges. We were putting a hole through for one of the top hinges, my mate was inside up a ladder with the drill (corded in those days so more powerful/faster), I was up a ladder outside holding a short piece of 6x1 against the outside of the door to stop the drill bit (flat high speed bit) bursting through and splintering the face of the door. One of us had got our measurements wrong and instead of the drill going in to the middle of the sacrificial piece of 6x1 it burst straight through the face of the door about an 1" below the 6x1 and straight in to the fleshy part of my hand just below the thumb! I have a lovely circle shaped scar to remember it by.

My second one I still do on a regular basis, it's normally when I'm hanging doors. Does anyone else hold screws between their lips when hanging doors and their hands are full? It's not a problem until you pop a screw in your mouth that you have just unscrewed out of a hardwood door with your cordless drill on speed 2, it's surprising how hot those screws are , can't be just me that does it.


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## LBCarpentry (12 Nov 2020)

Once whilst trying to remove big black T hinge from an old door, I laid the door on trestles, removed the screws until I was left with just the bolt that goes through the entire door. Took a drill and ratchet drive, full power reverse and yes you guessed it.....

The entire hinge spun round and cracked me straight in the side of the head. Blood everywhere. Staggered into the clients studio who was doing a photo shoot at the time 

“what the £uc& happened to you”??


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## Trevanion (12 Nov 2020)

If we're talking about injuries, I (kind of) remember changing out the blade in a Wadkin BRA Radial Arm Saw when I was an apprentice and the blades were kept in the cabinet underneath the saw so I squatted down and pulled out a fresh blade and shot up fairly quickly, forgetting that there was a very solid cast iron arm right above my head.

Damn near knocked myself out and probably caused a bit of drain bamage.


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## owen (12 Nov 2020)

Doug71 said:


> Am I allowed 2?
> 
> First one I don't really count as my fault as it was about 30 years ago before I knew any better. We were hanging a BIG pair of doors on a barn, all going well and nearly finished just the bolts to drill through for the band type hinges. We were putting a hole through for one of the top hinges, my mate was inside up a ladder with the drill (corded in those days so more powerful/faster), I was up a ladder outside holding a short piece of 6x1 against the outside of the door to stop the drill bit (flat high speed bit) bursting through and splintering the face of the door. One of us had got our measurements wrong and instead of the drill going in to the middle of the sacrificial piece of 6x1 it burst straight through the face of the door about an 1" below the 6x1 and straight in to the fleshy part of my hand just below the thumb! I have a lovely circle shaped scar to remember it by.
> 
> My second one I still do on a regular basis, it's normally when I'm hanging doors. Does anyone else hold screws between their lips when hanging doors and their hands are full? It's not a problem until you pop a screw in your mouth that you have just unscrewed out of a hardwood door with your cordless drill on speed 2, it's surprising how hot those screws are , can't be just me that does it.



I've done the hot screw trick a few times, doesn't half make you jump


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## glenfield2 (13 Nov 2020)

I was putting down some chipboard flooring in a bedroom of a house we were renovating. The end of one sheet was temporarily hanging over the open stairwell. ‘Careful you don’t step on that’ I warned wife and kids. Ten minutes later....
Result of my short cut downstairs was all the bones across my foot broken. I waited patiently in a cubicle at the hospital for the specialist to come while everyone else was dealt with. He arrived with two nurses, one quickly stepped either side of me and held me down while he yanked my foot - hard! My bellow of profanities was obviously why they left me until the place was empty.
‘Sorry about that but it was quicker than a trip to the operating theatre’ he smiled. Two months in plaster and all was well.
I hate chipboard floors!!


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## greenfingers2 (13 Nov 2020)

Not stupid - just funny!! Some years ago a fitted glass/ ceramic? hob in the kitchen was broken by something falling from a cupboard above. This was covered by household insurance but the nearest size I was able to acquire was slightly bigger. I told the insurance company that I would fit it, but was informed that as I was not a qualified electrician they would need to send 2 "men" to do the job. The 2 men, about 17 and 19 arrived. The unit beneath the hob held about 100 tins of food. Yes, the wife likes to keep a good stock and this was long before Covid-19. Reluctant to remove them I gave the younger fella a hoover with it's pipe and attachment and told him that when the other fella starts the jigsaw he was to turn the hoover on and follow him. He looked at me a little puzzled but I left them to it. On hearing the hoover start I was pleased to know it was to be a nice clean job. Not to be! I went into the kitchen and saw that while the elder guy was jigsawing the worktop opening slightly bigger, the other was standing behind him with the pipe held upright. I then had a mad rush to remove most of the tins after all and clean the cupboard up before the wife got home.


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## Distinterior (13 Nov 2020)

An early woodworking accident happened to me when I was 14 in 1974......Back then, I used to build balsa wood models. I was trying to cut a small notch in a bit of quite tough 40mm square balsa with a Stanley knife with a brand new blade in it.....I was resting the balsa on my leg and as I tried to make the cut, the knife slipped off the end of the wood as I pulled it towards myself....Blade went through my Jeans and cut a DEEP slice into my leg.....No blood initially, and you could see right into my leg.
I went and told my Mum, who had little sympathy if I'm honest....She then bandaged me up as the blood was flowing big time by now, and then she made me walk with her the 1/2 mile to the Doctors surgery...by the time I got there, the bandage was absolutely soaked......6 stitches later, the only ones I've ever had, I still have the scar as a reminder to use tools in the manner they were designed for.


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## Phil Russell (13 Nov 2020)

About 40 years ago I made our son a (very solid) modular cabin bed ... 6'6" bed on top of cupboards, bookcase at one end and ladder to get into bed. Yes, it was modular but when the time came I could not get the cupboard part upstairs as it would not go round a bend. Oh how my wife and daughter laughed. 
Cupboard dismantled and rebuilt to a new design was the result. 
I remember that when our son graduated to a 'proper bed' when we moved house, we sold the cabin bed for a very good price. 
Cheers, Phil


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## jcassidy (13 Nov 2020)

Using a powered polisher, turned the wrong way, and got the cord wrapped around the spindle. 110v plug whiplashed into my groin. Thankfully after half and hour laying on the workshop floor crying softly to myself, I felt much better.


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## JAW911 (13 Nov 2020)

Years ago I worked for a salmon smokery. The process started at the ‘wet end’ where the fish were filleted by hand using extremely sharp straight-bladed filleting knives. For fun the young ‘Samurai warriors’ would stab the stacked-up empty polystyrene fish boxes. Unfortunately one of the boxes still had its narrow steel packing band around it which stopped the blade......sadly the guy’s hand didn’t stop and slid all the way to the box. Luckily no fingers lost but cuts to the bine in all four. All knives were instantly replaced for versions with bolsters fitted which would have saved his fingers. 
Personally my most worrying involved the mezzanine floor in my garage. I set up a step ladder to get up there but had to clamber across sideways to climb onto the floor. One time, dressed in slippers, on the phone with it held in the crook of my neck, I tried this and almost made it. Slippers did what it says on the tin and I fell, landing on my back on my lawn mower. I lay there thinking that’s going to hurt shortly......but no pain came at all and I thought the worst. But no damage to me except a small hole in my jeans. Close call which reminded me I was still on the phone to a customer who was talking all way through and none the wiser!


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## Doris (13 Nov 2020)

Making a garden seat out of Ash


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## Jonzjob (13 Nov 2020)

I was almost the victim of a right muppet when I was on a disk course. I was a mainframe hardware engineer for IBM and on this course we were sorting out a power problem on this cabinet. A 3ø power supply and the muppet wanted to check that all 3 phases were there so he checked 2 of them by strapping a mains tester screwdriver across 2 of them. There was a blinding flash and everything went quiet in the not so small room! It had blown the main breaker off of the wall.

Anyway, a couple of hours later we were back in the class room and I still had spots in front of my eyes and I took my glasses off to clean them. I found that one of those spots was a neat little round ball of metal burnt in to the lens. It had been blown off of the terminal during the BANG! Those glasses had saved my eye as it was right in the middle of the lens but as my bad luck would have it they weren't safety glasses. If they had been safety jobbies i would have had a £1000 award from IBM and another £1000 from the Golden Eye Award for an accident being saved with safety glasses.

IBM paid for my safety glasses and suddenly realised that they would be paying for a lot of other pairs too as we engineers rarely had them. I have worn them ever since and they are my main glasses.

Edit : -
I have just had a look back at the title of the thread and I realise my story is nowt to do with wood working, but the safety glasses most definately are so please forgive the off thread post.


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## alex_heney (13 Nov 2020)

Spectric said:


> There is an amazing number of nasty accidents that have occured over the years but most were not accidents in the true sense, they are what is classed as preventable incidents.



Accident does not mean what you seem to think it does.

It does not mean unpreventable, it just means unintended.









accident


1. something bad that happens that is not expected or intended and that often…




dictionary.cambridge.org












Definition of accident | Dictionary.com


The definition of Accident is an undesirable or unfortunate happening that occurs unintentionally and usually results in harm, injury, damage, or loss; casualty; mishap. See additional meanings and similar words.




www.dictionary.com


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## Jetset (13 Nov 2020)

sometimewoodworker said:


> Not using a push block on my first planer was the stupid thing, many many years ago.
> 
> The good thing was that the first ambulance arrived within about 3 minutes but were going off shift so once they found the injury wasn’t life threatening did first aid, and a second ambulance came about 5 minutes later who took over.
> Then My local A&E was closed so I got taken to the main neurosurgical centre for the southeast U.K. that happened to be the next nearest A&E. The end result being that instead of having a finger shortened I had an in-place flesh graft (by a consultant ) that gives me a strange finger print and eventually I now have virtually full sensitivity.


Ouch! Where’s the main neurosurgical centre for SE England?


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## Spectric (13 Nov 2020)

Hi

The reason accidents are classed as preventable incidents is that then there is somewhere to lay blame, someone was responsible and actions can be taken to reduce the risk of that hazzard reocurring.


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## sploo (13 Nov 2020)

Using a router table whilst tired, and trying to trim the inside of an MDF ring by running the outside of the ring against the fence (i.e. material between the bit and the fence - a major "no no").

The hospital story is a whole comedy in its own right, but safe to say I have one slightly shorter thumb, and a lesson that's stayed with me for life.


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## Austin Branson (13 Nov 2020)

A few years ago I ran a woodwork course for a few friends, no charge, and I introduced them to a number of tools. One evening, one of the guys walked over to the sliding compound mitre saw, placed his wood on the table, started the saw with his right hand, then held down the right hand end of the wood with his left hand............I shouted so loud he nearly jumped out of his skin, but it stopped him cutting his arm off.


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## sometimewoodworker (14 Nov 2020)

Jetset said:


> Ouch! Where’s the main neurosurgical centre for SE England?


Well it has probably changed by now as this was about 45 years ago I no longer remember the name or exact location of the hospital but it was probably Harefield hospital, they don’t have A&E now but still does neurosurgery. They claim “The hospital is one of the largest and most experienced centres in the world for heart and lung transplants.”

this is the non gory strange fingerprint result of the option I chose, almost all other hospitals would have just shortened the finger, sometimes you can be in the correct place a the correct time.


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## Linus (14 Nov 2020)

I do the most stupid thing every day.... I use a lathe, chopsaw, bandsaw and numerous other sharp things....and I'm on anticoagulants


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## Doug71 (14 Nov 2020)

I think I could add to this everyday at the moment, this one doesn't involve any blood or gore it's just an "I should know better"

I went to do a bit of a fix on a friends gates a couple of days ago, pair of drive gates, BFL construction, curved top rail. I made them probably 20 years ago, they are looking a bit sorry although it doesn't look like they have had any more stain then the original coat of Sikkens I put on them.

The only fix I was doing was putting a new capping piece on the top as the original had rotted away, I soon found the top of the gates were quite rotten and there wasn't much to fix down to especially at the ends. The tops of the tenons had rotted away so I cut out a kind of slot so I could fix in a piece of 2x1 about 10" long a bit like a loose tenon, would strengthen the joint and give me something to fix down to. The 2x1 was a nice friction fit so I covered everything in PU glue and tapped in the 2x1, said I would come back next day to fit the capping when the glue had set.

I turned up yesterday morning to find a nice little mountain of foam about 3" high on top of the gate with the 2x1 sat on top of that, as the glue expanded it had pushed the lose tenon up and out, I did feel a bit stupid, I re did it but this time put a screw in to hold it in place while the glue set


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## britinfrance (14 Nov 2020)

Back in the 70s, with very little spare cash, I bought some CK cutters which were for putting in a drill mounted in a drill press to achieve router type cuts, milling of edges and tongue and grooving etc. With drill mounted I pushed some stubborn wood [probably more the inefficient cutter] through the cutter, when the wood skipped forward taking my thumb inbetween the cutter and the wood, bringing the drill to a standstill. Quickly killed the power, then by hand, had to turn the cutter in reverse to extract my thumb. I had cut to the bone, the hand towel was red and dripping by the time I got to A & E. Must have been in shock as I have no recollection of the treatment. Fortunately eventually healed without longlasting effects - never used those cutters again - can still see the scars to this day. (Counted my blessings)


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## peter-harrison (14 Nov 2020)

Here's mine!


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## marcros (14 Nov 2020)

Doug B said:


> Most Stupid thing I’ve done is buying Axminster brand machines, an expensive mistake.



really, I have several older Axminster white machines, aimed at professionals (I am not) and I have found them to be solid machines?


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## stuckinthemud (14 Nov 2020)

Owch, how?


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## alex_heney (14 Nov 2020)

Spectric said:


> Hi
> 
> The reason accidents are classed as preventable incidents is that then there is somewhere to lay blame, someone was responsible and actions can be taken to reduce the risk of that hazzard reocurring.


Absolutely. 

But "preventable incidents" are a (large) subset of "accidents".


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## billw (14 Nov 2020)

alex_heney said:


> Absolutely.
> 
> But "preventable incidents" are a (large) subset of "accidents".



If you take preventable instances out of accidents, what’s left exactly? I mean surely every accident could have been prevented?

I watched one of those programmes about the air ambulance and it went to a car accident where the driver had been impaled through the chest by a pole.

So - stronger windscreens, better fencing, lower speed limits, make all metal things out of jelly....


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## Spectric (14 Nov 2020)

Hi

Safety is a huge subject that has several interpretations depending on whether you are in the regulatory bodies, legal side, engineering or just joe public but from an engineering perspective you cannot say to any official, sorry they lost a limb due to an accident, there will be a reason and someone will be responsible even if it is the limbless person. It is unfortunate that many people believe that accidents are just due to bad luck or an unfortunate chance but the vast majority of injuries that occur at work and elsewhere are completely preventable and is the mindset that people need to adopt. It is a shame that HSE does not cover all machinery whether a place of employment or home workshop. Another issue with the home workshop is that all safety is down to yourself, there is no one else to yell at you if you try and do something stupid. With a clear safety mindset you do not just do something in your workshop, you go through a mental process of is what I am about to do likely to result in injury, ie because the light levels are poor, the work area is cluttered, I had a late night, and am I wearing suitable PPE.

Simple analogy I was taught in safety courses was that if you are walking down the road and you get cremated by a lightening strike then that is an accident but if you are on a golf course playing golf and get cremated then it is not an accident because you cannot do anything about the lightening strike but you did not have to be on that golf course during a storm waving a golf club around, and so is your fault.


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## Max Power (14 Nov 2020)

Carrying a large red hot steel tyre from the fire to the carriage wheel and it slipped landing on my leg.


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## Bm101 (14 Nov 2020)

peter-harrison said:


> View attachment 96410
> 
> Here's mine!


Ok. How?!?


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## Trevanion (14 Nov 2020)

Bm101 said:


> Ok. How?!?



Sometimes, when all you've got is a nail, everything looks like a bit of wood.


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## billw (15 Nov 2020)

Spectric said:


> Simple analogy I was taught in safety courses was that if you are walking down the road and you get cremated by a lightening strike then that is an accident but if you are on a golf course playing golf and get cremated then it is not an accident because you cannot do anything about the lightening strike but you did not have to be on that golf course during a storm waving a golf club around, and so is your fault.



That’s interesting because in neither example should a person have been outside because there’s a chance of getting hit by lightning, which doesn’t come out of nowhere as there needs to be the right meteorological conditions.

so where is the line?


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## sometimewoodworker (15 Nov 2020)

Spectric said:


> It is a shame that HSE does not cover all machinery whether a place of employment or home workshop.


Sorry but I disagree vehemently with the idea that you should extend the remit of HSE outside the workplace. In a workplace the workers do not have a choice or responsibility (in general) for the tools and the role of HSE is needed. 
in the home you have the responsibility and ability to control your environment. HSE can provide education but not control. It’s not the job of the state to stop Darwin


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## sometimewoodworker (15 Nov 2020)

Spectric said:


> Simple analogy I was taught in safety courses was that if you are walking down the road and you get cremated by a lightening strike then that is an accident but if you are on a golf course playing golf and get cremated then it is not an accident because you cannot do anything about the lightening strike but you did not have to be on that golf course during a storm waving a golf club around, and so is your fault.


In both cases the charred body is at fault, more if they were a numpty on a golf course and didn’t use the lightning shelters, but they were both out in a lightning storm. But in neither case are they totally at fault, people can’t be expected to hide every time there is lightning unless the risks are known to be high (in the case of golf as I mentioned high risk courses have lightning shelters).


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## NewbieRaf (15 Nov 2020)

My god I have Many but I’m actually having one right now. I’ll probably post a quick vid as it’s easier to explain but essentially I can’t work this Dewalt
Cordless Vac haha. It’s a DCV584L with a quick connector on the end of the hose. I can seem to work out how to attach a normal crevice tool for example.

I’ll post a vid later today - silly
Old me


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## Doug B (15 Nov 2020)

marcros said:


> really, I have several older Axminster white machines, aimed at professionals (I am not) and I have found them to be solid machines?


My problems were nothing to do with the solidity of the machines infact one was very heavy but the casting was garbage, one machine was so inaccurate it was a joke & one from there industrial range obviously designed for companies & large businesses which took 18 weeks to get a spare part for, not ideal when your income is dependent on it.
I’m not alone in my impressions of Axminster’s own brand & know many professional woodwrokers who now would not touch the brand.


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## HamsterJam (15 Nov 2020)

When I was about eight, I was attempting one of my first woodwork projects which was making a box to house a crystal set I had just built. 
I was cutting a mitre down the left hand end of a piece of wood to make one of the corners. Being young and knowing nothing about woodwork, I was cutting it freehand using my dads tenon saw.
The waste broke and the saw jumped out of the cut and onto the bare knuckles of my left hand which was holding the wood below the cut. 
Think that is my only ever trip to A&E.


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## HamsterJam (15 Nov 2020)

Spectric said:


> With a clear safety mindset you do not just do something in your workshop, you go through a mental process of is what I am about to do likely to result in injury, ie because the light levels are poor, the work area is cluttered, I had a late night, and am I wearing suitable PPE.
> .



I work in engineering and we have a strong safety culture.
This includes conducting ‘dynamic risk assessments’ which is what you are alluding to above.
Before each task we are asked to take a couple of minutes to consider what we are about to do, what could go wrong, the likely consequences and how to reduce the likelihood or severity of that happening.


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## Spectric (15 Nov 2020)

sometimewoodworker said:


> Sorry but I disagree vehemently with the idea that you should extend the remit of HSE outside the workplace. In a workplace the workers do not have a choice or responsibility (in general) for the tools and the role of HSE is needed.


If the HSE had more involvement then the manufacturers would have to up their game and not produce shoddy goods because they know they are being used in a home enviroment. We all know that cheap tools can bit back, think of cheap spanners that suddenly let go and you run around cursing holding your sore knuckles!

In the workplace anybody has the right to refuse to use a machine or perform a task if they deem it as unsafe, one of the key components of safety is that it is the responsibility of both the employer and employee. I will also add that in some cases our safety culture has closed UK business and sent it overseas where they are more relaxed, probably more like we were during the industrial revolution.


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## sometimewoodworker (16 Nov 2020)

Spectric said:


> I will also add that in some cases our safety culture has closed UK business and sent it overseas where they are more relaxed, probably more like we were during the industrial revolution.


Like this?



NB This is a couple of years ago so the masks have nothing to do with the current situation.


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## sometimewoodworker (16 Nov 2020)

Spectric said:


> If the HSE had more involvement then the manufacturers would have to up their game and not produce shoddy goods because they know they are being used in a home enviroment.


Wrong agency, wrong reasons, wrong to try to expand the responsibility.

Yes RETAILERS should be held responsible for the products they sell. 
No manufacturing companies unless they sell direct should not. The manufacturing companies are building to a price/specification. The retailer is specifying that cheap c**p quality.

The manufacturing companies are almost all in China and are perfectly capable of building top quality products but the cheap a*r*s*e*d consumer wants everything and to pay nothing, so the same factory builds down to the price. So all the quality and precision that can be done is out the window to build something “carp”

So take responsibility for buying “carp” and stop trying to make your choices somebody else’s job.


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## Andy Kev. (16 Nov 2020)

AESamuel said:


> Cutting dovetails and cut out the tails instead of the waste.


So it's not just me then!

Having done that, I preceded to mark and make the corresponding cut on what was supposed to have been the the tail board. Then I glued the two pieces up and cut the boards down to about 4". The resulting right-angled bit of joinery has served as a reminder and a doorstop for my workshop door ever since.


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## TRITON (16 Nov 2020)

Not woodworking, metal machinery, A metal shaper. Has an arm moves rapidly back and forward, and i was 15 at the time.
Due to the college lecturers having a card school, we were unsupervised and there was no brush(nor guards) and instead of going and getting a brush, I swept away the the metal shavings with my hand.
Worked a couple of times, but metal passing metal doesnt leave room for fingers and my index finger on my right hand(im left handed) filled the gap so off came the end. Boy I must have screamed the place down  I 'pinched off the fleshy bit below the finger nail from the tip to the first joint.
26 stitches and its a pretty funny shape now.
The lecturers must have spun a convincing story about how it could have happened, no doubt blaming me, aged 15 with 10 minutes instruction on using industrial metal working machinery as there was no inquiry or anything, certainly no compensation.
But it did provide a very valuable lesson about the dangers of machinery, in that I approach every machine till now with extreme respect. Not frightened of them, just make sure across all circumstances that I'm doing everything HSE would prefer you did. Where to best stand, how to best feed, blade selection, no 'quick' methods or shortcuts.
All in all i was lucky, it could have been all my fingers or half my hand.


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## porker (16 Nov 2020)

Scariest thing I did was grabbing hold of a moving drill chuck on my Bridgeport mill. The chuck was keyless and when spinning it is very difficult to tell that it is spinning. No excuse however as the power was on so obviously the machine was running. I grabbed it with my hand as if to put a bit in the chuck. Luckily my reflex to let go was quick with no damage but it really shook me. 
A simple lapse of concentration is all it takes.


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## stuartpaul (16 Nov 2020)

peter-harrison said:


> View attachment 96410
> 
> Here's mine!


Kudos for taking a photo at the appropriate time! Would probably be the last thing on my mind in similar situation.


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## Peri (21 Nov 2020)

Forgot to set the Z height on the CNC mill.
Who knew you could punch a 10mm drill bit straight through 13mm ali plate? 






I know it's not woodworking - but it's in the spirit of the thread !


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## pe2dave (21 Nov 2020)

Take a tube (plastic my case) 3" diameter. Try to cut a slice off it with the bandsaw...
and watch the tube shoot across the workshop as the saw blade bites!


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## Chunky (26 Nov 2020)

Was using a small hobby bandsaw and was cutting some wood. I remember thinking " if I keep pushing the wood will break and I'll get cut!" Well! It turns out I was right! Scar to prove it  Note to self.... Listen to your inner self. Ouch


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## Awac (26 Nov 2020)

pe2dave said:


> Take a tube (plastic my case) 3" diameter. Try to cut a slice off it with the bandsaw...
> and watch the tube shoot across the workshop as the saw blade bites!



LOL. Similar but with chopsaw....made me jump...


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## bp122 (26 Nov 2020)

Well, BillW, I have written my laundry list of mistakes on my other thread  

But otherwise, I was sharpening plane irons and chisels one day (the one day I forgot to put safety shoes in my workshop) and a half inch chisel feel on my foot, missing my toe by half a bee's d**k.


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## XH558 (26 Nov 2020)

Jeez, I have only scrolled through the first page and have gone white, felt sick, gone green, had that horrid sphincter tightening moment too.

Has anyone lost any digits or limbs on this forum??


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## Benchwayze (26 Nov 2020)

Maybe twenty-years ago, I was using my mitre-trimming guillotine and somehow I managed to touch the back of the blade with my left hand, second finger. The back of the blade is just cold, but instinctively I pulled my hand away quite sharply; and my finger went straight into the cutting edge!

Casualty visit of course. There was a deep cut, halfway through my finger nail. The lady-surgeon said it was the fingernail which saved the tip of my finger; probably slowed down the cut! She managed to make a neat job, and sensation returned after a couple of months. To this day though the scar tingles in cold weather. I still use the trimmer, but I now hold the work well back from the blade. As I am right-handed, I can't afford to damage my left fingers again like that; I need those for the guitar!

John


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## Benchwayze (26 Nov 2020)

Who has sawhorses with a sawing V cut in one end? 

A friend of mine witnessed a horrendous incident with one such sawhorse. Somehow a wood chisel had got jammed in the hole bored at the V point. Blade uppermost. Say no more. 

John


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## Doodahdebs (27 Nov 2020)

I’ve been making furniture professionally for twenty five years with no accidents, until this spring. I had made a cut on the bench saw, turned it off and for some unknown reason went to clear the waste away before the blade had stopped running. I caught the tip of my thumb in the blade and now have a shorter left thumb. Big ooopps and months of pain and inconvenience. So be careful everyone. No matter how experienced you are it only takes a moments lapse in concentration to become a fully certified muppet (with a bit of a digit missing!)


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## Jameshow (27 Nov 2020)

I've been using used scaffold boards to make a table. Colleague wanted a rustic effect! 

Big mistake should have used new ones or 4x2, built it and driven the van over it several tike they are horrible to work with belt sander looks like the only option! 

Cheers James


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## screwpainting (27 Nov 2020)

Couple of years back, picked up my(loved from new) Elu flip saw when it was in rip mode. Grabbed it in both arms, hands either side and lifted it! Blade was at about 60mm high, hugged it as you do, as it's quite heavy and my hand hit the green button on the side. I'd left it plugged in and nearly eviscerated myself. I had not a scratch but no idea how I got away with it, it really shook me up that I had actually done that, I'd been using the thing for donkeys years.

The one that always makes my blood run cold was when a carpet fitter hit the streacher with his knee and hit the pointed end of a bradawl between the pad and his kneeI. It went right up to the hilt straight into the centre of the knee. Bloody horrendous!! 

Mind you, this bloke had clouted a previous customers yapping dog and knocked it out or possibly killed it and locked it in an airing cupboard whilst he finished the job, then left without saying a word to the owner.

Karma I suppose, and definately a true story.


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## fezman (27 Nov 2020)

well i reckon the most stupid thing I've done was this week. 

I made the box from hell. 

I've been wanting to try inlaying for a while, so built a box, where the lid was veneered MDF, with the intention of inlaying between the mdf and the (used some old scrap) pine box. Well I cut the groove using my new veritas router plane inlaying tool and made a pigs ear of it, ragging a load of the veneer out. Any hoo, I spent an age fixing that FUBAR. 

Onto the hinges. I cut the hinge mortices in the bottom of the box as normal, then proceeded to cut the mortices in the top, only I cut them at the front of the lid, not the back. Schoolboy error or what!! 

So my veritas router plane now has a very flash dovetailed pine, inlayed top storage box!!! Strangely the grain on the front and back doesn't match!


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## Trainee neophyte (27 Nov 2020)

Doodahdebs said:


> I’ve been making furniture professionally for twenty five years with no accidents, until this spring. I had made a cut on the bench saw, turned it off and for some unknown reason went to clear the waste away before the blade had stopped running. I caught the tip of my thumb in the blade and now have a shorter left thumb. Big ooopps and months of pain and inconvenience. So be careful everyone. No matter how experienced you are it only takes a moments lapse in concentration to become a fully certified muppet (with a bit of a digit missing!)


I heard a rumour of someone doing exactly the same with a router in a table; brush the chips out of the way, through the spinning cutter. I always assume my brain is not in gear when using the router table, just because. Especially worrying when not using a fence, because the bit is just _there_, looking at me. Too easy to touch.


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## Stan (8 Mar 2021)

billw said:


> If you take preventable instances out of accidents, what’s left exactly? I mean surely every accident could have been prevented?
> 
> I watched one of those programmes about the air ambulance and it went to a car accident where the driver had been impaled through the chest by a pole.
> 
> So - stronger windscreens, better fencing, lower speed limits, make all metal things out of jelly....



I attended hundreds of car accidents during my working life. About 98% were due to a mixture of one or more of: ignorance, arrogance, stupidity.


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## southendwoodworker (8 Mar 2021)

My face was too close and my goatie get caught when I was drilling a hole, pulled my face in. Luckily just a handheld drill so was able to stop quick before any real harm done.


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## TRITON (8 Mar 2021)

Came into contact with a router blade that was slowing down.
Made the cut, then placed the router on the bench with the cutter facing to the side. Without looking went to reach for it again and tried to lift it from the wrong end.

Cutter was slowing, but i got about 15 closely spaced cuts along the side on my index finger, though none were bad it did bleed a fair bit.


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## Terrytpot (8 Mar 2021)

First job as a youngster involved building wrapping machines...had to rivet together a galvanized cabinet that we drilled with air drills...1/8" inch hole drilled through one side and straight through my thumb nail on the other side...had to turn the drill on in reverse to get it out...took 4 months for the hole to grow off the the end of my thumb nail


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## williams1185 (8 Mar 2021)

all these stories make me cringe but a family friend was laying vinyl floor tiles and while kneeling down decided to cut a tile pulling the knife towards him it slipped and sliced quite deeply into his old boy couldnt find a dressing so put an elastic band round it to stop the bleeding doctor at the hospital said it was a delicate operation to repair it akin to brain surgery !


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## Stan (8 Mar 2021)

@williams1185 

Brings tears to my eyes and makes me wince just reading about it!


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## Robbo60 (9 Mar 2021)

Stan said:


> I attended hundreds of car accidents during my working life. About 98% were due to a mixture of one or more of: ignorance, arrogance, stupidity.


hundreds?? how do you get insurance? Or have you finally realised you are not a good driver and given up?


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## MarkDennehy (9 Mar 2021)

I did mention my worst-so-far on another thread, but since we're allowed post photos...







(Should have made a jig for the bandsaw instead of trying to _just do one quick cut while holding the workpiece_).


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## Fidget (9 Mar 2021)

MarkDennehy said:


> I did mention my worst-so-far on another thread, but since we're allowed post photos...



Ouch! 

Nothing like yours Mark, but today I cut some mortices on the wrong face of two table legs 

Hope that heals soon


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## TRITON (9 Mar 2021)

How about the double ended miters. pic frames and the like. Check its going to cut the right direction, lay on saw, look to check again its going the right way and make the cut. OOPS, cut the miter the wrong way 
Find new piece of wood.


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## NickM (9 Mar 2021)

TRITON said:


> How about the double ended miters. pic frames and the like. Check its going to cut the right direction, lay on saw, look to check again its going the right way and make the cut. OOPS, cut the miter the wrong way
> Find new piece of wood.



I did that so many times when I was making corner braces for a fruit cage I built in the garden. Madness...


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## Cabinetman (9 Mar 2021)

Learnt the hard way to always just scribble a line that shows the direction. Funnily enough I was doing exactly those this afternoon.


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## francovendee (9 Mar 2021)

Not exactly woodwork but at one time when I worked for a living I was asked to cut some 3" thick slabs of UMWPE ( those that don't know this material it's a form of plastic widely used in the medical industry and very heavy) using a circular saw.
The whole set up looked lethal to me. 
A metre square of this plastic. G clamped down to an iron stand. The sole of the saw had a piece of angle iron screwed on to act as a cutting guide. If you managed to keep the saw upright as you reached the end it did work okay but after cutting these up for 2 hours your arms get tired and you tilt the saw. Resulting in the piece that's being cut off getting caught in the spinning blade.
I spoke to the boss and he told me it was fine and we only had to do it one day a week.
I carried on until one time the saw must have caught the plastic really well as the saw broke through. The plastic took off like a missile and went clean through the partition wall into the bosses office! He came out very shaken as it had put a huge dent in a metal waste bin under his desk. 
I managed to persuade him to buy a radial arm saw the following week.


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## mikej460 (9 Mar 2021)

billw said:


> When I bought my planer I couldn't tell whether the blades were fitted, so I poked it with my finger. It turned out the blades were indeed fitted.
> 
> I bet there's some classic stories waiting to be told.


I bet you can count the number of times you've done that on one hand...


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## TRITON (10 Mar 2021)

Not woodworking but in industrial butchery.

Given the job of cleaning a sausage press, which is a vessel you put sausage meat into and a hydraulic ram forces it up and out a nozzle, on which you place the gut. Its a 415v bit of kit, about 5' high about 18" in circumference and made of thick stainless steel, with a thick(about 5 inches) lid. Basically a big pressure vessel.

To stop the water coming out the hole the nozzle screws into I hammer in a round nylon wedge.
I fill with boiling water, slide over the big lid which hydraulically seals itself, then operate the knee switch(which allows both hands free to tension the gut to fill the sausage casing)

It starts to make a whirring sound. Unfamiliar as i am with such a machine of this size i bump the knee switch a few more time, still get a whirring sound  very odd, so i press the knee switch fully on and BANG, the fking nylon wedge flys out the hole like a fking missile and goes right through a chiller wall which was about 20' away, missing my head by inches.
Lesson, dont fill a pressure vessel full of water, seal it than ramp up the pressure. Lesson truly learned 

Finish cleaning it and wander off, not saying a word about the 8" hold in the wall. Nowt to do with me guv


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## Keith 66 (10 Mar 2021)

I popped round a mates house years ago & him and another bloke were building some rustic exercise equipment, basically a tree trunk with wooden bars stuck out of it, idea was for it to be stood upright in the ground with sandbags hung off them.
They had managed to drill & mangle some large mortices into it but were now at the stage of cutting the tenons on some round logs about 4" in diameter & 3ft long. One was holding the log upright with both hands & the other was cutting the tenon sides vertically downwards towards his wrists with a chainsaw. I voiced my thoughts & left. Down the pub later the bloke still had both hands attached!


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## joshvegas (10 Mar 2021)

Has anyone ever noticed how alike water bottles and white spirit bottles are? Thats where the similarity ends.


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## KingAether (10 Mar 2021)

I have a small propane forge in the shop to make my own hardware and occasional tools; Recently a turned it on without checked the hose connections and one of them had come loose due to the pressure change.. The fire spread down the hose and onto the tank. Luckily i got it all turned off before anything more happened but burned my hand nicely


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## thetyreman (10 Mar 2021)

joshvegas said:


> Has anyone ever noticed how alike water bottles and white spirit bottles are? Thats where the similarity ends.



have you ever noticed how similar cups of tea and cups of dirty water are? water that's had steel dipped into it after grinding, fun times.


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## Terrytpot (10 Mar 2021)

thetyreman said:


> have you ever noticed how similar cups of tea and cups of dirty water are? water that's had steel dipped into it after grinding, fun times.


As a whipper snapper at a barbeque in Holland in the summer many moons ago , having acquired a raging thirst, I discovered how dissimilar cooking oil and a refreshing drink are even though they do have a remarkable similarity when left on tables in a glass..


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## francovendee (10 Mar 2021)

A little knowledge is a dangerous thing!
This wasn't me but a colleague in a light engineering company we worked at. We had a large piston type compressor that had a starting mechanism (star delta?) that meant it started slowly and built up speed. I think it started on one phase at a time.
This day it wouldn't get past the slow speed due to a fault in the electrical switch mechanism. 
We were on a bonus system so everyone was keen to see it run. My colleague said he knew all about them so took the cover off and started poking around with a screwdriver. There was blinding flash and a bang. He was left hold just part of the screwdriver. 
The morale is don't mess with 415 volts if you don't know what you're doing.


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## TRITON (10 Mar 2021)

I used to use a coke bottle to put all the slops from fixing bike brakes and forks. Hydraulic fluid, oil etc.
Took a swig one day, though it was a bottle of coke. 

_Won't _be doing that again. I was lucky though and only got a mouthful which I spat back out instantly, then the run to the kitchen tap and spend 5 minuted filling/spitting out


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## joshvegas (10 Mar 2021)

TRITON said:


> _Won't _be doing that again. I was lucky though and only got a mouthful which I spat back out instantly, then the run to the kitchen tap and spend 5 minuted filling/spitting out



Same i took a huge mouthful and instantly thought "this isn't right" and sprayed it everywhere. It was such a hot day though i could easily have swallowed a significant amount!

I went for vodka for the initial swill out.


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## Sachakins (11 Mar 2021)

The most stupid thing, well there's many I guess, BUT
The DUMBEST thing has to be taking up wood turning, as that looked like a cheap hobby, you know the idea, a wood spinny tool, and a couple of chisels, Ha Effing Ha, does the costs ever end. And are the decent gouge makers just taking the pizz,


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## jcassidy (11 Mar 2021)

TRITON said:


> OOPS, cut the miter the wrong way
> Find new piece of wood.



I just ruined two lovely lengths of oak doing just this.

Measured up dovetails, checked, double checked, cut ever so carefully with my newly refurbed dovetail saw, mightily pleased with myself, until I tried to fit... Wrong way around. Find, plane and square a new piece of wood... Carefully measure, carefullt cut...

And did it again!

Called it a night at that stage... Next day cut them down and changed the dimensions of my project to suit!


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## Jonzjob (11 Mar 2021)

When we lived in France we wanted a couple of pines by the swimming pool taking down. So we got a couple of pro arborists in to do the job. One was quite careful, the other







He's about 10' up a ladder holding on to a stub of a branch and using a top handle chainsaw about a foot away from his throat! I took the photo and went round the back of our house and into my workshop. I didn't want to watch! 

I just hoped that he didn't get a lot of blood in our pool


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## TRITON (11 Mar 2021)

> I didn't want to watch!



The picture alone is pretty horrifying. Personally I'd have said something, and held my arm at throat level while doing so exclaiming 'Are you mad ???'


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## Jonzjob (11 Mar 2021)

What you really mean is "Vous êtes fou???"

He didn't speak any English and nor did our neighbours. Plus, he wouldn't have thought anything wrong. 

That along with no ear defenders, goggles or even glasses, what else would you expect. He earns his living trying to kill himself!


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## Cabinetman (11 Mar 2021)

I don’t know anything about using a chainsaw nor do I want to but isn’t the weight of that tree going to trap his blade any second?
The French do seem to have a different attitude sometimes, I remember seeing the gas bottle delivery man quite happily smoking as he Unloaded his large lorry full of the stuff.


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## smackie (11 Mar 2021)

Cabinetman said:


> I don’t know anything about using a chainsaw nor do I want to but isn’t the weight of that tree going to trap his blade any second?



Pretty much. But even if it doesn’t, I’ve seen more than a few chainsaws kick straight back just catching the edge of a knot so chainsawing at throat height is just a _terrific_ idea. I’m also loving his left hand placement too...


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## XH558 (11 Mar 2021)

Stan said:


> I attended hundreds of car accidents during my working life. About 98% were due to a mixture of one or more of: ignorance, arrogance, stupidity.


Ah, that's 'Driver/rider error' then.


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## Jonzjob (11 Mar 2021)

No it wouldn't catch Cabinetman. Not this time







If it had kicked back then his fingers would have been the least of his worries


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## Ozi (11 Mar 2021)

As a student engineer on placement at British Gas where changing a light bulb could have brought the union out I decided I was sick of waiting for an electrician to turn up and did some rewiring on a test rig for myself. It was quite a complicated rig and I somehow managed to run two power cables to one pump, plugged in the first, then a few steps later into my modification climbed the side of the rig (who uses the stairs) holding the second plug which unknown to me was at 240V about to plug it in touched a live pin. A young fit hart will cope with left hand on metal frame right hand to mains shock then six foot fall to concrete floor followed by hasty removal of all modifications before the electrician turns up.


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## sometimewoodworker (12 Mar 2021)

Cabinetman said:


> I don’t know anything about using a chainsaw nor do I want to but isn’t the weight of that tree going to trap his blade any second?


No


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## Chippysu (12 Mar 2021)

jcassidy said:


> I just ruined two lovely lengths of oak doing just this.
> 
> Measured up dovetails, checked, double checked, cut ever so carefully with my newly refurbed dovetail saw, mightily pleased with myself, until I tried to fit... Wrong way around. Find, plane and square a new piece of wood... Carefully measure, carefullt cut...
> 
> ...


Well from your negative comes a positive, you have highlighted something to be mindful of for the rest of us. So I thankyou. I concluded some time ago that when I work a piece, at each stage I set it up then walk off, have a cuppa or do something else for 10 mins, when I return I check the set-up again, I have saved myself much heartache, time & money doing this. I hope this idea helps someone else on here.


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## francovendee (12 Mar 2021)

Seeing the post about the tree cutting reminded me of one stupid thing I'd done with a tree.
A friend had a Pin Maritime that had grow very large and some lower branches needed removing.
I was younger then so foolishly offered to do it for him.
I put the ladder against one of the branches making sure that the ladder was firm and not wobbly.
The top rested against the branch being shortened and I had a hand saw to do the cut.
What I hadn't allowed for was the tree springing up when the weight of the branch was removed.
The top of the ladder was suddenly in mid air and I was too. I fell about 10' onto my back.
I lay there thinking, have I broken my back as it felt like I was having an electric shock.
I cautiously move one limb at a time and managed to get to my feet.
I was very lucky as there was a thick layer of pine needles on the ground.
I learnt trees can be dangerous if messed with!


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## Cliver (23 Mar 2021)

Not sure I should admit this. But, years ago, on my first ever DIY kitchen refit. I layed the worktop on my workmate, measured and marked the sink cutout and started to cut it out. I only realised that the only supported piece was the cutout when the whole thing broke and crashed around my feet.
An expensive mistake and one which I'll never repeat.


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## TRITON (23 Mar 2021)

Chippysu said:


> Well from your negative comes a positive, you have highlighted something to be mindful of for the rest of us. So I thank you. I concluded some time ago that when I work a piece, at each stage I set it up then walk off, have a cuppa or do something else for 10 mins, when I return I check the set-up again, I have saved myself much heartache, time & money doing this. I hope this idea helps someone else on here. ☺


I find these threads nice to know we all occasionally make simple errors, seems we're not alone in our stupidity, and theres some crazy comfort in that


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## Jameshow (23 Mar 2021)

I did simalar on my first kitchen build. Yep we need 8 units straight run lardy da

Got the built up only to find they don't fit.

The old kitchen was only a wartime special on 36" unit widths!!!

Cheers James


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## Chippysu (24 Mar 2021)

Jameshow said:


> I did simalar on my first kitchen build. Yep we need 8 units straight run lardy da
> 
> Got the built up only to find they don't fit.
> 
> ...


Doh! But you'll check every measurement in the future, so that's more power to you from now on!


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## TRITON (24 Mar 2021)

Jameshow said:


> I did simalar on my first kitchen build. Yep we need 8 units straight run lardy da
> 
> Got the built up only to find they don't fit.
> 
> ...


Option B# -Extra thick lipping ? or was it a case of remake.


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## Jameshow (25 Mar 2021)

If I remember correctly we left a unit out! 

Cheers James


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## Ozi (25 Mar 2021)

thetyreman said:


> have you ever noticed how similar cups of tea and cups of dirty water are? water that's had steel dipped into it after grinding, fun times.


An X girl friend had the nasty habit of leaving half inch of beer in a can to use as an ashtray - now I turn the ring pull sideways on any can I drink from.


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## Sideways (26 Mar 2021)

Fixing a latch onto a newly hung garden gate, I was drilling from one side with a hand on the opposite to push back against the pressure of the drill.
Of course my support hand was off to the side and not in the line of fire...
Or not ! Nice pilot hole but before I could stop the brad point drill bit made a perfectly round 3mm hole into my finger 
I can still just see it 30 years on.


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## scooby (28 Mar 2021)

I recently received a small round HSS bar from Phil Pascoe to make a small skew. In the process of making the skew today, I didn't recall the piece being that long but I carried on regardless.

Nice ash handle, sharpened the blade and had a go with it..nice. I then tidied my workshop and found the bar Phil had sent me

Didn't take long to realise, I'd used one of the Tommy bars from my pro edge


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## baldkev (29 Mar 2021)

Many years ago i was doing a kitchen inbetween rentals, i was doing the last worktop on a friday night at about 10 ( the new people were moving in saturday lunchtime ) i had done quite a few kitchens over the last few months and all had sinks with small radius corners..... yep you guessed it. I didnt unpack it, just measured the flanges to check cutout size and buzzed it out. When i sat the sink in the hole, there were 4 crescent shapes because this sink had large radius corners!! 
I was outside howdens at 7.30 the next morning  

I can laugh about it now but at the time it was a bit rubbish.


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## BHwoodworking (30 Mar 2021)

ply'd a wall from the wrong side. e.g. the edges didn't land on the studs.

failing that, i shook hands with a mitre saw blade. when it was spinning.

it hurt. thats all i will say.


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## maznaz (30 Mar 2021)

I was trying to attach a replacement baseboard below a kitchen unit. I had a piece of melamine but there was a protruding bit of tile adhesive around the cabinet leg. I used a brad point bit to drill the shape out in the side. The last bit didn't bind properly and the drill skidded off into my leg, twisted my jeans into a tight knot around a hole in my leg that's still nice and visible a year later!


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