# Safe dados????? or why you need push sticks



## Anonymous (14 Mar 2006)

Hi all

Well, I gave up the stacked dado head cutters over a year ago, partly for safety reasons although I never got hurt whilst using one.

I have since been cutting dados on the router table or with a jig and router.

Well, on sunday, I ran a 75mm wide piece of ash through a 12mm cutter raised 5mm above the table without problem.

Ran a second pass to take total depth to 8mm (another 3mm) which was going fine UNTIL the wood suddenly shot through the cutter and dragged my left hand INTO said cutter :shock: 

No pain (that took another minute to arrive) and I thought I'd gotten away with it but then I saw lots of 'leakage'



My wife rushed me to A&E and for first time ever, no waiting :shock: Stayed on a ward over night and then plastic surgery on monday. I had a nice 12mm by 8mm dado through one finger (including bone and nail) and deep cut in next finger. A surgeon removed the remains of the nail and re-attached the end of the bone. He reckons movement should be OK but feeling is less likely.

Best I can make out (after inspecting the wood) is that the wood somehow moved across during the second pass by a small amount and then it basically 'climb routed', thus the speed of exit.

I feel somewhat foolish for not using push sticks even though my fingers were at least a couple of inches from the cutter and I have cut literally hundreds of dados this way without incident (no exciuse for not using push sticks though!!). It is my own fault.



This is a picture after the op and with dressings on - linked rather than displayed:

http://www.btinternet.com/~my.webs/hand/hand.jpg



My vote for the best tool for cutting dados:


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## PowerTool (14 Mar 2006)

Oooohhh,nasty :shock: 

Hope
a)you recover soon

and

b)you are right-handed :lol: 

Andrew


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## engineer one (14 Mar 2006)

when i was an apprentice, we were regularly given safety lecture which showed guys who had got caught on pillar drills, and lathes etc.

it was always on a project that they had done many times before.

i have recently met a couple of people who have lost their finger tops
by woodworking, so am sorry for your problems.    

what it does suggest is that a feather board pressing down would also be a really useful tip, as well as the push stick.

it's important to know that even those experienced with their tools,
can still get caught. glad your wife was on hand to help out quickly,
too many of us work alone, and have no one around to check on our safety, useful lesson.

hope what's left heals quickly
all the best

paul :wink:


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## JFC (14 Mar 2006)

:shock: OUCH ! Hope the pain doesn't last to long ! Your lucky your wife was in or it could have worked out far worse !
Hope everything goes ok for you and your fingers !


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## Alf (14 Mar 2006)

Yes, I'm a coward and haven't clicked on the piccy link 8-[ but it sounds suitably ghastly, Tony. Heal well. Gives a whole new meaning to finger jointing... 

Cheers, Alf


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## les chicken (14 Mar 2006)

Ouch   

Get well soon, it takes something like this to remind the rest of us to take care.

Les


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## Colin C (14 Mar 2006)

Tony, I hope get better very soon , I know how you feel as I removed the top of my finger last year (luckly just skin and not as bad as yours :shock: )
A little reminder for all, its the jobs you do the most that can bite back  
Get well soon


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## tim (14 Mar 2006)

Tony

I hope you recover quickly. Sounds and looks nasty - should they be that green :shock: :wink: 

Its so easy to not take all the right precautions esp when its a familiar routine - I do it all the time   but then we forget that its the wood that varies. Thanks for posting this - I hope it makes me (and others) stop and think more.

Get well soon

Cheers

Tim


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## Philly (14 Mar 2006)

OWWWWWWWWWWWWWW! :shock: 
Get well soon, Man! Sorry to hear about this. And thank God there wasn't a dado involved.
Best regards
Philly


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## DaveL (14 Mar 2006)

Tony,

Sorry to hear you are hurt, but glad its been repaired. I hope you heal quick. Take more care. :roll:


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## frank (14 Mar 2006)

Tony i hope every thing heals up ok and you can get back to woodworking very soon .
It makes me think i should get some of them steel butchers gloves .

frank


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## Adam (14 Mar 2006)

Phew! Sounds erm, horrible, but do get well soon. 

Adam


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## Scott (14 Mar 2006)

Nasty! Hope it heals up well (and soon) Tony

A good reminder for the rest of us!

All the best


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## Richard in Smithville (14 Mar 2006)

Not the first time I've seen that happen. Glad to see there was enough of your fingers left that the docs could rebuild them. Hope you feel better soon.


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## Charley (14 Mar 2006)

Ouuucchhh :shock:  That must of hurt

Hope everything heals up quickly. While your are recovering it's a great excuse to plan your next projects :wink:


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## OPJ (14 Mar 2006)

YIKES!! I hope it doesn't affect your woodworking too much! :? 

Just out of interest, do you have some kind of guard on your router table?

I only ask because each time I see a custom made router table, or even one of the top-of-the-range models in a catalogue, I barely see ANY that come fitted with even an attempted guard to save you from such accidents.

And yet, with a saw bench and planer, there's health and safety legislation over here that requires these things - why not for the router table?

You have a highly sharpened cutter potentially spinning at more than 20,000rpm - but where are all the H&S guys???


Seriously, I hope everything works out okay for you - and that the rest of us take this in on a very serious note. For *ALL* woodworking machinery!!


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## Losos (14 Mar 2006)

Tony,
Hope you'll be recovered soon and woodworking as normal. Thanks for putting pictures on a link. I'm very sqeamish so I didn't click. Your description was ample for me to appreciate your plight.  

I had a few minor 'incidents' today with knots in old wood. Nothing happened but a knot (About half inch size) did fly past my hand and face at great speed. :shock:


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## soapy (14 Mar 2006)

Hope you make a full recovery Tony. My first hardwood project was in ash and after using softwoods and mdf I learnt fast to pay more attention to grain direction when profiling edges with the router.


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## neilc (14 Mar 2006)

Tony I feel your pain. The same thing happened to me around 6 months ago except to was a 1/4" spiral cutting bit so it didn't do near the damage you got. It sucked my right index finger onto the top of the bit right at the nail. Its amazing how quickly it happens. It healed up really well except I have a small patch of nail that never reattached back to the finger. I was lucky. 
I hope you heal up real soon and can get back in the workshop again. I was real nervous for a while when I went back. Best wishes.
Neil


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## Scrit (14 Mar 2006)

Hi Tony

Well I have some idea from personal experience how painful parts of the process are, especially the surgery under local anasthetic with a tourniquet (and the bit where it all wears off and you climb the walls :shock: ), so you have my utmost sympathy. With a bit of help you'll be off the drugs and getting physio within weeks, but you may find that you lose some or all of the sensation in parts of the finger tips, which can feel really strange at times. I wouldn't give up on the power tools, just yet, though. 

Get well 

Scrit


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## Shadowfax (14 Mar 2006)

Get better soon, Tony.
That is nasty!!
I must make a careful note to be very aware of what I am doing whenever I cut a piece of wood: whatever the tool involved.
Best wishes.

SF


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## johnjin (14 Mar 2006)

Hi Tony
That sounds pretty rough.
I hope you heal nice and quick. Its not a lot of fun with all that dressing on.
By the way I hope the wood is not too badly stained.

All the best

John


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## Steve Maskery (14 Mar 2006)

All the best, Tony.

My grandad had the end of his finger missing. don't know how, but he was a pattern-maker, so I guess it was some sort of woody prang.

He also had his cap split open by an exploding grinding wheel. He was the shortest man in the workshop, they reckoned if it had happened to anyone else they would have got it right between the eyes.

You'll have to keep in DT practice with your other hand!

Get well soon.
Cheers
Steve


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## Paul Chapman (14 Mar 2006)

Get well soon, Tony.

Paul


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## gwaithcoed (14 Mar 2006)

Hello Tony,

Sorry to hear about your accident, hope everything goes OK.
I know what you mean when you said "no pain", I popped my finger into my table saw just over 12 months ago, :shock: :shock: cut a slot in my right forefinger about half inch deep. No pain, no blood thought I had got away with it.
Then I took a closer look and thought I had better go and consult the wife as it looked quite deep,still no pain, no blood, but after another few minutes I had both pain and blood.

I don't normally use a push stick but on this occasion I didn't feel quite comfortable with what I was going to do so I placed the push stick on the table and started to saw. As my fingers neared the blade I took my eyes off what I was doing to reach for the stick and the next thing I knew was standing looking at the slot I had cut in the end of my finger.

It was ages before I was able to wash up ,hoover and the like, although I was able to do a little woodwork (for therapeutic reasons of course    ) 

Get well soon

Alan


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## Richard S (14 Mar 2006)

Tony

Sorry to hear about your accident hope you get well soon, I think there but for the grace of god go not only I but all of us.

Best wishes.

Richard


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## DomValente (15 Mar 2006)

Get well soon Tony, a cabinetmaker told me that until one lost a piece of finger you didn't qualify as a craftsman,Congratulations.

Dom


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## Newbie_Neil (15 Mar 2006)

Hi Tony

I am so sorry to hear what has happened.

When the loml recently lost the top of her finger in a car door, the plastic surgeons were amazing. The most important part of the healing is when you get to the therapy stage. Sheila now has full function in the finger.

All the very best,
Neil


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## Chris Knight (15 Mar 2006)

Tony,
It hurts just to read your account - my sympathies mate and best wishes for a speedy 100% recovery.

It is pretty sobering to read something like that from an experienced woodworker who is concerned about safety - I shall make darn sure my safety aids are at hand next time I'm using machinery!


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## dedee (15 Mar 2006)

Get well soon Tony and thanks for posting. I was brave enough to follow the link and I am glad there are no pre-operative photos. I guess you will not be touch typing for a while.

Andy


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## filsgreen (15 Mar 2006)

Get well soon Tony, thanks for the warning. Perhaps this post should be a "sticky"

Phil


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## devonwoody (15 Mar 2006)

Having experienced two finger accidents recently I know how you must be feeling. Overnight in hospital makes yours worse than any of mine. 

I recommend the next time you visit the workshop you somehow have got the misses out on a shopping trip, they seem to have bad flashbacks on workshop accidents. 

I must always now use a push stick on the router table.
I must always now use a push stick on the router table.
I must always now use a push stick on the router table.
I must always now use a push stick on the router table.
I must always now use a push stick on the router table.
.


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## Jorden (15 Mar 2006)

So woodworking's starting to make a real impression on you then Tony :twisted: 

Hope you feel better soon mate, and can get back into your shop. In the meantime if there is anything I or my workshop can do to help, just send a pm.

Dennis


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## gidon (15 Mar 2006)

Tony
Very sorry to hear about your accident - sounds nasty. Hope it heals quickly. 
All the best
Gidon


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## stewart (15 Mar 2006)

Best wishes for a speedy recovery, Tony.

Cheers
Stewart


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## Neil (15 Mar 2006)

Sounds (and looks) awful, Tony :shock: - get well soon. Must admit I find making rebates on the router table quite scary and this has reminded me to make the guard I've been planning.

I guess now isn't the time to remind you of this post - if Mrs. T remembers then you might find a load of forum members going through your bin in the morning! :lol: 

Cheers,
Neil


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## Taffy Turner (15 Mar 2006)

That's a nasty one Tony.

Best wishes for a speedy and (realtively) pain free recovery.

Gary


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## martyn2 (15 Mar 2006)

That looks like it hurts  hope you get over it soon 

Martyn


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## Bean (15 Mar 2006)

Hell Tony, take it easy man. If you need any help with the offending cutter I have a sledge hammer at my disposal.

Best wishes for a good and speedy recovery

Bean


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## George_N (15 Mar 2006)

That sounds very painful Tony, I hope you make a quick recovery.
Soon after I built my router table I was trying out various techniques including cutting a dovetail slot in a long narrow strip of softwood. First pass was fine but when I turned the wood end-for-end and started a second pass, to centre the slot, the wood was ripped from my hand and thrown the length of the workshop. Although I tried to get the piece well centred to begin with I guess I was a bit off (and therefore making a climb cut?). I was lucky that the test piece was quite long and my hands were still well away from cutter but it certainly taught me to respect my new tool.

cheers

George


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## Vormulac (15 Mar 2006)

Ye Gods Tony, Thank goodness it wasn't worse! Get well soon.

I was just looking at which table saw to get, but I think maybe I'll just buy a nice Fisher-Price tool kit and go and sit somewhere safe instead...

:shock: 

V.


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## Mike.C (15 Mar 2006)

My god Tony, sorry to hear about your accident, i hope you get full function of your fingers back again.

It just goes to show that no matter how experience and confident that you are, accidents can still happen.

Cheers

Mike.C


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## Nigel (15 Mar 2006)

Sorry to hear of your accident Tony

Best wishes for a speedy recovery

Nigel


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## RogerS (15 Mar 2006)

Blimey, Tony....I can only add my best wishes for a speedy and total recovery....

but there, for the grace of whichever deity you prefer, go I.

Jeepers...


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## Shadowfax (15 Mar 2006)

I've just gone out and knocked up another couple of push pads and dug out some more push sticks.
I reckon I need to ensure they are instantly available so that they get used every time. Therefore, having made some more I can spread them around the workshop a bit instead of hanging them up neatly where they tend to look nice but don't always get used.
Scary how fast things can take on a new dimension!
Look after yourselves.

SF


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## Drew (16 Mar 2006)

Sorry to hear about that Tony. Get well soon - the only good side to it is it could have been a hell of a lot worse and I'm glad it wasn't.

Drew


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## Woodythepecker (16 Mar 2006)

Tony, sorry to hear about your accident. I am sure that it won't be long before, router in hand, you step up to the plate again.

Good luck

Woody


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## StevieB (16 Mar 2006)

EEK, get well soon!

Steve.


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## Evergreen (16 Mar 2006)

Tony

Sorry to hear about your accident. Hope you get better soon. Remember, you've done yourself quite a mischief there and you need to watch out for delayed shock. It can catch up with you some time after the event and knock you sideways.

Regards.


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## Neomorph (16 Mar 2006)

Damn... that really sucks Tony. 

I'm beginning to think that woodworking with power tools is akin to lion taming... lose concentration for a second and prepare to lose something else when the lion/router bit/table saw/pillar drill bites back. :shock: 

Anyone know where I can order a pair of chain mail gloves from?... on second thoughts anyone know where I can get a chain mail suit from? :-s


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## Woodmagnet (16 Mar 2006)

Sorry to see you've been in the war's Tony.
Hope you can still order 10 beer's o.k. :shock:


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## MikeW (16 Mar 2006)

Tony--best wishes for a speedy recovery!

Hate to say it this way, even as bad as it was, you were fortunate this is all that happened.

Again, best wishes.

Mike


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## Pete W (17 Mar 2006)

Just caught up with this thread, having ignored it for days thinking it was another scrum on the stacked dado cutter.

Tony, I can only add my commiserations, as well as relief that it wasn't much worse. Hope you make a full recovery.


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## Anonymous (17 Mar 2006)

WOW!!!!

*Thanks to you all * for the kind words. You have *no idea how much it means* to have a group like you lot who understand and are there.

*I am truly touched *(in many ways  ) *and my spirits are lifted*



Neil
Well spotted. Mrs T did not forget this either :? She saw all on Sunday and now says that all depends on next visit to surgeon when dressings are removed. If I get to keep the end of the finger, I get to keep the tools...........

Not a happy lady!!!


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## Anonymous (17 Mar 2006)

Looked at wood today. It is cut cleanly for 20mm. 
Wood is then sort of mashed up as tool grabbed and started to accelerate it. 
After 150mm, wood was moving at same speed as cutter rotation and left indents every 18ish mm with no cutting between them :shock: 


I did a few calcs and for 12mm cutter at 22000rpm:

2*pi * r = 0.038m (cutter circumference)
(0.038 * 22000)/60 = 13.8m/s (speed of rotation at circumference)
So, wood was moving just under 14m/s (cutter rotation will have slowed a little) after 150mm of travel and acceleration :shock: :shock: 

That is up to 30.8mph!!! It broke the speed limit :lol:


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## Jake (17 Mar 2006)

You really are an engineer at heart...

Good luck on the recovery.


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## Alf (17 Mar 2006)

Tony":2fy68xm2 said:


> If I get to keep the end of the finger, I get to keep the tools...........


Is it really terrible to have a sneaking hope you'll do a Dave Allen - and be looking out for the For Sale list in consequence? Not that I'd do that, obviously... 8-[ :wink: 

Cheers, Alf


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## Anonymous (17 Mar 2006)

Alf":25oyxvth said:


> Tony":25oyxvth said:
> 
> 
> > If I get to keep the end of the finger, I get to keep the tools...........
> ...



:lol: :lol: :lol: :lol: :lol: 

Only the power tools would go - i'm sure I could argue to keep the *hand* tools :wink: 

Get a new plane tomorrow too


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## Bean (17 Mar 2006)

Tony


> Get a new plane tomorrow too



You think so ??

Bean


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## Midnight (18 Mar 2006)

ummmm.... Tony.... if the wife's objecting to you workin with wood-munchers... how's she gonna react to a new floozie in the workshop...??

best keep that one quiet yea..??


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## Bean (18 Mar 2006)

Tony


> how's she gonna react to a new floozie in the workshop...??



No wonder you got your fingers rapped !!

Bean


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## RogerS (24 Mar 2006)

Tony

What's the latest on your injuries?

On the mend, I hope?

Roger


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## Anonymous (24 Mar 2006)

Roger Sinden":10g0zr6z said:


> Tony
> 
> What's the latest on your injuries?
> 
> ...



Hi roger, thanks for asking.

Well, I had the dressing changed yesterday which was the first time it was open to the air since the operation (10 days ago) and the damage to my index finger is worse than I thought  With all the blood, I did not realise that I had actually done a fair bit of damage to this one and thought it was only the middle finger. 

Now I come to think of it, I remember being somewhat surprised to find the index finger bandaged up after the op. :roll:   

The middle finger was the one that was nearly severed and that is healing quite nicely but it might be months rather than weeks before I can use them properly.


Feeling a bit disappointed and a little depressed :?

Good news is no more operations or skin graft  (hammer) 


PS My wife is a nursing sister who specialises in pain management and wound care and so she made me photograph it so that she could have a look too :roll: Suitable for the gallery? :lol:


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## dedee (24 Mar 2006)

Tony, sorry things are worse than you hoped, but it is only time. Sounds like you have some expert care at home which must be a benefit.



Tony":hee0hgmq said:


> PS My wife is a nursing sister who specialises in pain management and wound care and so she made me photograph it so that she could have a look too :roll: Suitable for the gallery? :lol:



Perhaps this is a picture we should all have on our workshop door as a reminder or what can happen. 

Get well soon.

Andy


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## Neomorph (24 Mar 2006)

Tony":21zbeuv1 said:


> PS My wife is a nursing sister who specialises in pain management and wound care and so she made me photograph it so that she could have a look too :roll: Suitable for the gallery? :lol:



Yes Tony... it would be a good for reminding people to take care when routing (plus I would like to print it off and attach it to my brother-in-law's router table when I give it to him.)

I'm really thinking of adding a perspex screen to attach to the fence and go over the router bit itself. That way you can see the bit and the work but prevent you from getting your fingers on the router bit.


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## OPJ (24 Mar 2006)

Neomorph, that sounds like an excellent idea.

I personally don't think we see enough guarding on _home-made_ router tables - perhaps it's down to Norm again, or the threat to personal safety with dado blades in a table saw?

One idea I've seen (might be in the Axminster catalogue) is where the guard runs along a longitudinal groove routed in the fence. Two vertical slots in the guard itself allow it to be raised and lowered by slackening off or tightening the screws/bolts.

Good luck to you, I hope the rest of us follow in example.


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## Neomorph (25 Mar 2006)

Oswaldo I was just looking around the net to find different fences and I found this

I've got the perspex and a hot air blower so I think I'm going to have a go at building one myself. A few years ago a friend wanted to build a console in his car and we got some perspex and my hot air gun and we made a shaped panel that when it was painted on the back looked cool. After we added the embedded led lights the whole thing lit up around all the cutouts for switches and stuff. 8)


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## Anonymous (25 Mar 2006)

I love that little guard John, with one on my Incra fence, I would be typing this two handed with maybe a bruise on my left hand :? 

I will be chatting to our laser cutting shop at work on Monday with a request for a few of those of varying sizes :wink:


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## tibbs (25 Mar 2006)

With that type of guard you'll need to be careful that its always set as close to the wood as possible - if you leave it too high then with your horrendous type of incident you could end up with your fingers being dragged in under it against the cutter and making things even worse by delaying or preventing your natural reaction to get them out of the way as quickly as possible.

I'm certainly re-thinking my guarding requirements as a result of this - I think sprung type guards that are in contact with the wood before & above the cutter, such as featherboards or Shaw guards, is the way I'll be going.

I hope you recover rapidly & fully Tony & thank you for sharing your experience with us all - I think its made more than a few of us re-think things & will certainly have saved some of us from such injuries in the future.

Richard


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## filsgreen (25 Mar 2006)

Come on Charlie, are you going to make this a stickie? :? As well as warning everyone of the inherent dangers in wood work, there are a lot of good ideas that have come out of Tony's misfortune. I know the post heeps getting bumped, but I don't think it will stay up there forever.

Cheers

Phil


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## Neomorph (25 Mar 2006)

I think there should be a sticky post but one that covers all the major disasters that could happen while doing woodwork with power tools. Maybe a list of what should be used and what happens if you don't.

Router Table should be used with Bit Guard, Featherboards, Ear Defenders and Push Sticks - Ignore and you get Tony's DIY surgery
Saw Table should be used with Anti-Kickback, Featherboards, Ear Defenders and Push Sticks - Ignore and you get DIY hand surgery again.
Cutting and Sanding should be done while wearing a Dust Mask - Ignore and you get what happened to me with severe infected sinus and worse what happened to another guy on here (forgot name sorry) who ended up with breathing difficulties.
 :norm: : "... and nothing is more important that wearing, these, safety glasses" :wink: 
 *AND ALWAYS REMEMBER THE EAR DEFENDERS OR YOU WILL END UP TALKING LOUDLY LIKE THIS... EH?... WHAT WAS THAT???? THE TABLE SAW IS TOO PROUD??? WHAT THE HECK ARE YOU TALKING ABOUT????*
There are probably a lot more but those are the main ones I can think of.


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## Scrit (25 Mar 2006)

Neomorph":1j9m7cn8 said:


> There are probably a lot more but those are the main ones I can think of.
> 
> _[*]Saw Table should be used with Anti-Kickback, Featherboards, Ear Defenders and Push Sticks - Ignore and you get DIY hand surgery again._


You missed the most important one - crown guard.....

But I _like_ the positive thinking about this. Wanna see my scars? :roll: 

Scrit


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## Neomorph (26 Mar 2006)

Scrit":2cogyqhz said:


> You missed the most important one - crown guard.....
> 
> But I _like_ the positive thinking about this. Wanna see my scars? :roll:
> 
> Scrit



Ahh.. Nothing like losing the crown jewels is there... or was that family jewels... :shock: 

heh... if you want to compare scars I have a 9 inch x 1 inch one over both hips where they operated on me after I had a bit of an accident with my parachute. #-o 

Theres nothing like thinking "If only had... (insert safety comment here)" is there. :roll:


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## Scrit (26 Mar 2006)

Neomorph":l4te91vk said:


> heh... if you want to compare scars I have a 9 inch x 1 inch one over both hips where they operated on me after I had a bit of an accident with my parachute. #-o
> 
> Theres nothing like thinking "If only had... (insert safety comment here)" is there. :roll:


yes, but hardly a woodworking injury - or did you jump with a genny and a table saw strapped to your front? :roll:


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## Neomorph (26 Mar 2006)

Scrit":38uwqs6v said:


> Neomorph":38uwqs6v said:
> 
> 
> > heh... if you want to compare scars I have a 9 inch x 1 inch one over both hips where they operated on me after I had a bit of an accident with my parachute. #-o
> ...



Does the fact that I landed in a tree after the damn chute got a blown periphery count. Dislocated both hips and left hand's little finger. I really should have a phobia about trees after that... perhaps that's why I want to take up woodworking again.

Hmmm... I wonder if the landowner will let me go back and sacrifice the tree... Mind you it's been that long I can't even remember where the heck it is. Do you remember that TV show called "John Doe" where the guy knows lots of info about everything... well I should change my name to John DOH! as I can't hardly remember anything about everything...


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## RogerS (26 Mar 2006)

Neomorph":16y11jj7 said:


> Does the fact that I landed in a tree .....



or that on my maiden flight in my 'new' glider got a severe case of PIO (pilot induced oscillation), pulled off early to protect the tug pilot and then suffered a bad case of 'get-you-home-itis' where, rather than taking the safe, recommended option of continuing in a straight line and landing in the emergency field, decided that I _could_ turn back over the airfield, that I _could_ land - the only problem being that I didn't have flying speed....erm..well, actually I did achieve flying speed - about minus 5 feet relative to the ground. Ho hum..

the things we do as hobbies  

sorry...strayed off topic


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## Neomorph (26 Mar 2006)

I think that the moral of these stories is that if something can go wrong eventually it probably will and hence we REALLY need to take every precaution to prevent these things happening.

I do know that I'm going to make sure I wear protection (safety glasses and dust mask) and always use a push stick.

Also I seem to remember from somewhere that you shouldn't be directly behind the work you are pushing just in case of kickback. I haven't seen any mention of this here so far yet I think this could be as equally important as the push stick. Imagine routing a piece of wood that has mitres on each end. Now imagine you behind the work on the router or table saw... Kickback!... You now have your workpiece embedded in your gut!


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## Anonymous (31 Mar 2006)

UPDATE

Well, went to the "Plastics and Burns unit" today - almost 3 weeks since injury.

This is the first time the dressings have been off for 8 days and....


....the middle finger is healing really, really quickly :shock: :lol: :lol: 8) ccasion5: 

Prognosis is still no movement in last knuckle, possibly no nail, and no feeling in finger after last knuckle, but I'm fine with that. Small price to pay when one considers the possibilities :? 

Index isn't healing as well, but that wasn't as badly injured.

A RESULT :wink: Needed a bit of good news and that is it.


May be back in the workshop in 4 weeks 

Cheers 

Tony (getting really frustrated doing so many things with just one hand :evil


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## dedee (31 Mar 2006)

Tony, 
glad to hear you are on the mend.

Andy


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## Paul Chapman (31 Mar 2006)

Tony,

Good to hear that the injuries are healing.

Paul


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## Colin C (31 Mar 2006)

Hi Tony
I have not been here long but I am glad you are on the mend \/


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## Shadowfax (31 Mar 2006)

Tony
I am really pleased to hear that. Keep it up (the healing process, that is!).
I hope the knuckle starts to get some movement soon.
Best wishes.

SF


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## Neomorph (31 Mar 2006)

Tony, good, better, excellent news...

I dunno if you are like me but looking at injuries after the dressings are removed actually look worse than they actually are. The lack of feeling may be the nerves just shut off and not actually gone. I didn't know this after an injury to my right hand resulted in a loss of feeling in over half the hand... docs said unfixable so took it as gospel. Years later I had some accupuncture for my back and the woman asked if I had any other probs and I told her about my hand... two months later most of the feeling had come back... and this was after about 15 years (I think... memory still sucks!).

So if you are still having problems with numbness or feeling strange take a trip to your local accupuncturist... they may just surprise you.


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## mel (1 Apr 2006)

ouch!!!! tony , i bet you will think twice about doing that again 
it reminds me of the time when . OH NO 
too long a story mate , after 20 or so years of joinery its too much detail to go into . all my scars are from woodworking machines , enuff said 
glad to hear your on the mend , youll get used to the numbness and will adapt , trust me . i know 
out of interest , when you went to A+E did they ask if it was an accident at work or a diy accident . they seem to into claiming back costs if it was an accident at work {nhs cutbacks} i would imagine 
all the best for a speedy recovery 
mel


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## Alf (1 Apr 2006)

Neomorph":25z619qi said:


> So if you are still having problems with numbness or feeling strange take a trip to your local accupuncturist... they may just surprise you.


I expect they'd *pin* down the problem... :wink: 

Good news, Tony - I think. I suppose the tool sale's off now then? :lol: 

Cheers, Alf


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## Neomorph (1 Apr 2006)

Oh.. groaaaaaaan Alf. :lol: 

What is with it and puns on this board lately!  

On the subject of accidents, I have a cat that's put me in hospital 4 times. One dislocated shoulder, two concussions and one twisted knee plus concussion.

How did he do this you ask... well he had this habit of shooting through his catflap and running straight through the hall... tripping me up in the meantime. The dislocation was then caused by me landing on vacuum cleaner, the concussions were caused by headbutting the toilet once and the radiator once... the twisted knee was caused when I tried to avoid him... failed and then headbutted the wall backwards.

Each time my friend tried to get the cat to the vets and failed. He HATES his cat basket and slices and dices anyone who tried to get him in it. He was fine except a little grumpy after each incident. Mind you the cat has learned his lesson now. Whenever he now comes through the catflap he stops and looks around before progressing through the hallway slowly and if he sees me and the hall light is not on he hisses at me to tell me he's there. I swear he's saying "Don't you DARE try tripping over me again you sod!".


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## Woodmagnet (1 Apr 2006)

Neomorph that's not an accident it's a CATASTROPHE


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## Neomorph (1 Apr 2006)

kevin":2t34isp5 said:


> Neomorph that's not an accident it's a CATASTROPHE



Oh god... ANOTHER PUN 

I'm not going mad... I'm not going ma...


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## Anonymous (2 Apr 2006)

Neomorph":3fkgikgr said:


> . The lack of feeling may be the nerves just shut off and not actually gone..



Nah, the lack of feeling will be due to a 12mm wide by 8mm deep missing section of finger - nerves included :wink:


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## Anonymous (2 Apr 2006)

mel and john":26bhvptv said:


> out of interest , when you went to A+E did they ask if it was an accident at work or a diy accident .



They didn't ask, but then it was 9.00pm sunday evening....


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## bramers (11 May 2006)

sorry to hear about that, cant be to pleasent. my tutor at college cut his pinkey of on an e/b chop saw, he was being filmed at the time at q-gardens they was standing by a water feature and they was filming to show how the new works where being carried out.

his guv was an irish man and he was not to fussy about h&s so he let this bloke use a 240v saw :? (waiting for a disaster).

he was wearing gloves and was cutting a big bit of treated timber with not alot of support :? then he thought it would be boring to just cut the timber so he added a joke, then the wood went up with his hand on it, the glove got caught in the gaurd as he tried to pull it out his finger enevitibly got the chop.

the camera man then fainted and fell back into the lake with the camera   :shock: :shock:    everyone shocked and had no idea what to do while (my tutor) was trying to get his finger out from up in the gaurd with a giant pencil    

i would'nt know whether to laugh or cry


my point is, is that you lose concentration for a second and it all happens, just watch out guys and girls.

bramers


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