Neighbour's circular saw accident

[scooby]

I would not try and put them in order of potential hazzard or the risk of them causing an incident, they are all more than capable of delivering life changing injuries and so treat them all with the repect they require.

Agreed, I wasn't trying to be flippant. I use them all on a daily basis at work and know the damage they can do.

 

[Doug71]

I guess he was holding the wood while he was cutting it and just cut straight through his finger ends, makes me ill just thinking about it, poor chap.

 

[akirk]

Surely she must realise that it is not the tools fault but the person using it, Ok I have seen someone chased by a circular saw but that was another silly person and again the saw did not make the decision to attack.

of course...
but some tools have a bigger safety margin than others... a table saw, the blade stays in the same place, a chainsaw it doesn’t... add to that the fact that chainsaws are used up trees or ladders and on unknown material and you can see why they are more dangerous than a table saw with guard, riving knife, push sticks and a known clean piece of wood!

now, for real fun, the highest on the list currently is angle grinder, esp. if fitted with a chainsaw type attachment for wood carving!

 

[Inspector]

Festool do a saw with sawstop, but a bit out of my price range!

Festool's parent company bought SawStop and that's why Festool is starting to use the brakes. Actually the same brake as the ones here. You point out the saw to your wife when they have a model you like and I bet she won't have any problem coughing up the bucks. I wouldn't be surprised to see Festool incorporate a brake into a mitre saw someday.

Pete

 

[TRITON]

You should have met my mate who was apprenticing at the same firm I did. I actually had to convince him that hitting a Hilti Nail Gun cartridge with a hammer wouldn't be a good idea

Hilti nailgun cartridges were put on this earth for one thing........FUN

 

[Popey]

I guess he was holding the wood while he was cutting it and just cut straight through his finger ends, makes me ill just thinking about it, poor chap.

I think it’s exactly what happened. It’s so easily done if you aren’t paying attention and not using anything to hold the work down.

 

[Cirks]

Put loose timber top of the list. While lying upside down screwing work top into wall mounted support for quick/rough benching in garage yesterday, a piece of 3x2 which I had forgotten was leaning on wall behind me fell and hit me on the head . So, timber is most dangerous.....

 

[paulrbarnard]

easy
chainsaw
circular saw
table saw
mitre saw

depends on natural need to move around freeform / lack of material or saw being held down / likelihood of kickback etc etc

Well I’m certainly not going to get an easy then!

 

[Keith 66]

A neighbour was building an extension last year & had a bunch of mates helping him, none of them seemed to have a clue about safety, heaps of crap everywhere, cutting blocks & stone with no goggles etc, classic was me & another neigbour watching them hoist an air con unit up to the first floor they had it slung in such a way it could have easily tipped out ot the sling & two of them were under it stopping it from tipping as it inched higher. It was no surprise when one of his mates chopped two fingers off with a circular chop saw, they were reattached.
As for what tool is worst? The bloke driving it is the answer!
They can all maim you, Chainsaws its not just the chain whizzing round its what you are cutting & how its going to react when you cut it that often catches people out.
Circular saws are obviously high on the list & angle grinders should be too.

 

[Doodahdebs]

I’ve no idea if this is true but someone once told me that more accidents happen with the bandsaw than any other woodworking machine because they are quieter and seemingly more gentle lulling you into a false sense of security.

 

[Rorschach]

I’ve no idea if this is true but someone once told me that more accidents happen with the bandsaw than any other woodworking machine because they are quieter and seemingly more gentle lulling you into a false sense of security.

I would suggest that the danger of the bandsaw is that you hold the work and push it into the blade, same with a table saw. At least with a circular saw you are holding the saw so one hand is pretty well protected from the blade.

I have suffered kickback from a circ saw, blade got jammed in a bit of old fencing I was cutting up for the bin. Luckily I was holding the saw in a manner that I was able to somewhat control the kickback and was out of the line of fire but it did still shake me up a bit.

 

[Sheptonphil]

When pictures like this are used to actually sell chainsaws, it’s hardly surprising novices think they are only toys, not items of self mutilation. Could be steel toe caps I guess?

 

[Glitch]

I find reading these 'accident' threads very sobering and thought provoking.

Part of my retirement plan was to do some woodwork. I signed up for a local public workshop.
First thing I did wasn't woodworking it was using the bandsaw to cut some fruit tree branch into small chunks. I use them for BBQ smoke.
Did quite a few then in the blink of an eye one caught in the blade and somehow flipped around to smash my finger against the cast iron platform.
I got away lightly. Pad of RH ring finger sliced open and fractured bone. Nothing caught in the blade. People around seemed more shocked than me. They did a good job of getting me to A&E. I've since been back and used the bandsaw for the woodwork project - now paused due to Covid.
On reflection it really was an accident waiting to happen.

A few months ago a mate of mine was up a ladder with a hammer drill opening up a hole in the wall. Drill slipped forward and so did he. Drill still running his glove caught in the rotating part. Took the pad of his LH ring finger clean off. Bone exposed. Didn't reattach, no skin graft, just left to heal itself.
He's has had 'dangerous' jobs before (including trawler and lobster fishing) and worked with machinery and tools all his working life. Worst thing is he was a good guitarist, something that kept his head together. He is having to adapt how he plays and the injury.

Then most recently my (adult) son's mate jumped a fence to retrieve a ball. Drop on other side more than expected. Caught his middle finger ring on the fence. It stripped all the flesh off the bone. Finger had to be amputated. Not a woodworking injury but shows that innocuous situations can end up with life changing injuries.

My Ryobi router decided to pack up when I needed to trim the OSB on the roof of my shed build. I've had it for years and always felt comfortable using it.
I bought a Bosch replacement to get the job done. It's a scary beast. Much heavier and far more powerful. The switch seemed to lock on by default when I first started using it. I think it could be user error but that made it effing dangerous.
All the hundreds of cuts for my shedshopshack build have been done with a Ryobi cordless circular saw. Only a couple of kickbacks and it usually stops the blade. Danger of being complacent but very aware thought the bandsaw accident that things go wrong in a nanosecond.

I'm now rethinking plans to buy new woodworking gadgets for my micro 'shop and perhaps primarily stick with hand tools and use the public workshop for its specialist machinery. At least there is always someone there to take me to A&E

 

[Jonm]

easy
chainsaw
circular saw
table saw
mitre saw

depends on natural need to move around freeform / lack of material or saw being held down / likelihood of kickback etc etc

My son who is well in to his thirties was using my mitre saw. Handle in right hand, holding wood with left hand as one would usually use a mitre saw.

He then decided that the wood needed holding on the right hand side of the blade. He kept his right hand on the handle and reached under the blade with his left hand to hold the wood on the right hand side. Fortunately I happened to be watching him, I think the whole neighbourhood heard me shout. He was unhurt, but went quite pale.

 

[Ozi]

Very sobering thread. I'd like to add grinding wheels to the list of things that can suddenly be full of hot buzzy anger. Had a wheel burst, still don't know why. It was quite new and well faced and balanced. In the process of sharpening several drills turned away to pick up next one when my goggles were gone, the type that look like a diving face mask with elastic round your head. Bits of wheel all over the workshop but not a scratch on me. If I'd been facing it I think it might of killed me. Sat very quiet for a long time. I have used a wheel since but do most of my sharpening by hand now.

 

[kingcod]

My mental checklist before operating anything:

1. Am I tired?
2. Am I distracted?
3. Can I clearly see what I'm doing?
4. Do I know how the tool will react to resistance?

I invented these rule after my only near miss was with an 9inch angle grinder. I reflected I had the wrong answer to all these questions! Working with the grinder held too high inside a fireplace chock full of flying brick dust the grinder kicked back and nearly went through my leg. Still got a lovely 4 inch scar.

 

[Trextr7monkey]

Interesting that he is coming down here, Swindon usually gets sent to Oxford for hand injuries... My wife says that she didn’t do the operation! (consultant hand surgeon in Southmead...)

sadly it is another example which means that circular saws are high on her list of tools I can’t buy

This is why I don’t possess a chainsaw despite running machine shop for nearly 20 years. Wife was GP for 25 years and was always against it so when trees need lopping I just pick up the phone!

 

[MARK.B.]

Moving up from a small handheld angle grinder to a 9" catches many people out as they press the go button , from zero to top speed in a very short space of time tends to throw the machine up and away from you( often towards your mate standing watching you while having a ) once you loose grip with your left hand on the handle you are left with a heavy lump of metal and spinning disc in the right . If ya got muscles like Arnie it's not a problem , if not that spinning disc is going to drop down rapidly towards your legs/groin . Now the strange bit - you desperatly want to let go of the trigger drop the bloody thing and move away but you can't because part of your mind is telling you to hang on because if you let go the spinning bit is going to bite .

 

[Nic Rhodes]

I take the view that many of these tools can be dangerous, so some I never use as I have not had the proper training (chainsaw in particular). It would be great to use one I am sure but without proper training best avoided.

I would add number 5.

1. Am I tired?
2. Am I distracted?
3. Can I clearly see what I'm doing?
4. Do I know how the tool will react to resistance?

5. Am I under the influence of drugs / /alcohol?

 

[paulrbarnard]

I take the view that many of these tools can be dangerous, so some I never use as I have not had the proper training (chainsaw in particular). It would be great to use one I am sure but without proper training best avoided.

I would add number 5.

1. Am I tired?
2. Am I distracted?
3. Can I clearly see what I'm doing?
4. Do I know how the tool will react to resistance?

5. Am I under the influence of drugs / /alcohol?

Isn't adding number 5 simply trying to block Darwinism?