What have you learned today?

[TrimTheKing]

So, I was changing the blade in my bandsaw last night and after fitting it and slightly tensioning I was spinning the upper wheel by hand to centre the blade. All good.

Then, the phone rings so I reach over to the bench to grab it, can't quite reach comfortably so stretch, but still keep spinning that wheel :roll: and guess what, on the final stretch my finger slips off the rim of the wheel and though one of the holes in the casting and gets nipped between the wheel and the tensioning guide.

Natural reaction was to whip my finger out quicksmart and on inspection it appeared to have suffered a very small nick on my fingertip with a tiny speck of blood. On further investigation (stretching the skin to make sure it looked okay) the blood gates opened and the pain came.

Jammed my finger over the skin and pressed hard while going to the sink and running under cold water for a couple of mins but the blood would just not stop. Cut is only about 8mm long but about 5mm deep and would not stop bleeding. Eventually I managed to apply enough pressure for long enough for it to stop flooding long enough for me to get a plaster on there nice and tight to pull the two sides together.

All seems to be sealed up now, still got a plaster on there to stop it catching but I feel very fortunate it wasn't worse! Lesson learned by me, always concentrate when playing around with your power tools, even if they are not switched on.....No phone call is worth a finger!

Cheers

Mark

 

[Gill]

Today I learned that holding a small piece of oak on a router mat while attempting to sand it with a ROS will lead to said piece of oak and sander both moving very rapidly across the finger tips.

Fortunately, the wood wasn't damaged or stained by the blood.

Hazardous game, this woodworking lark, isn't it?

Gill

 

[frugal]

Cut is only about 8mm long but about 5mm deep and would not stop bleeding. Eventually I managed to apply enough pressure for long enough for it to stop flooding long enough for me to get a plaster on there nice and tight to pull the two sides together.

SuperGlue is your friend in these cases. It was originally developed to glue back flaps of skin during the Vietnam war.

I managed to do something similar when I just wanted to pair off a little bit from a piece of oak I was working on and was too lazy to clamp properly so I just held it in my hand. I discovered that I am better at sharpening chisels than I am as a vice

 

[marcus]

Well not long ago I learned that sanding a small component on a disc sander when tired and not paying attention can result in said small component being pulled down into the gap between the table and the disc, along with finger. Having almost an entire fingernail instantly sanded off hurts like hell. I had always thought of the sander as not being a particularly dangerous machine until then. Lesson - they're all dangerous!

I also learned once that vigorously hand planing the edge of an iroko board while allowing ones finger to rub along the corner of the board can result in an iroko splinter going right through ones finger and out the other side... that one needed a trip to casualty to be removed....

Marcus

 

[brianhabby]

Done exactly that with a sander Marcus.

We need to be constantly on our guard, these things bite

regards

Brian

 

[marcus]

Hi Brian - painful isn't it?!



What scares me is the speed with which things can go wrong with machines - one moment one is working quite happily, then - BANG - before you can even register it has happened, everything changes and there's blood everywhere... hopefully reading these stories from time to time helps us to keep complacency at bay....

Marcus.

 

[cambournepete]

SuperGlue is your friend in these cases. It was originally developed to glue back flaps of skin during the Vietnam war.

Sounds odd, but A&E superglued a gash in my 5 year old son's head a few months ago - just a slight scar there now, mostly hidden by his hair.

 

[frugal]

I also learned once that vigorously hand planing the edge of an iroko board while allowing ones finger to rub along the corner of the board can result in an iroko splinter going right through ones finger and out the other side... that one needed a trip to casualty to be removed....

Strangely enough one of the guys in my reenactment group got an inch long splinter through his finger this weekend... On the battlefield at Tewksbury shooting 12 shafts per minute, he didn't notice that the shaft was damaged and he has a 120lb bow...

 

[woodbloke]

I've done something similar on the Tormek with a finger nail. The only advantage I can think of is that it's water cooled so you don't feel the pain...much :shock: - Rob

 

[Paul Chapman]

The only advantage I can think of is that it's water cooled so you don't feel the pain...much :shock:

These Tormek people think of everything :lol:

 

[DangerousDave]

Hand tools can be just as dangerous, I nearly sawed my finger off with a coping saw while cutting a scribed mitre in some moulding. It was only one stroke of the blade but it was enough to cut my left index finger to the bone. Luckily SWMBO is a paramedic, although for some reason she thought it was hilarious :shock:

 

[Pekka Huhta]

Hand tools can be just as dangerous, I nearly sawed my finger off with a coping saw while cutting a scribed mitre in some moulding. It was only one stroke of the blade but it was enough to cut my left index finger to the bone. Luckily SWMBO is a paramedic, although for some reason she thought it was hilarious :shock:

The difference to machines is that with a hand tool you usually need at least two strokes to get your finger off. It takes a lot of attitude for the second stroke, I think :wink:

Pekka

 

[CWatters]

Top tip: Never work bare foot....standing on the head of that countersunk screw you dropped earlier is a bugger.

 

[OPJ]

Trim, I've done the same thing on the bandsaw, except I wasn't trying to answer the phone (I just got a bit carried away spinning the wheel! ). Yep, it seemed to pinch away a lump of skin from my finger; blood wouldn't stop and it did indeed hurt like hell! :?

Another good tip is to keep your up above where your heart is as this supposedly reduces the blood flow.

 

[Corset]

I learnt that steel sole boots are quite a good idea. Standing on a 3inch nailwhen knocking down a wall with nike trainers does not offer the same protection. I also learnt that your shoes really can fill with blood.
Owen

 

[brianhabby]

Top tip: Never work bare foot....standing on the head of that countersunk screw you dropped earlier is a bugger.

I hope you're not speaking from experience :lol:

regards

Brian

 

[Digit]

It seems that we, as a group, have found an unlimited number of ways of hurting ourselves! :lol:

Roy.

 

[whoops!]

mine's good, I mean really good and stoopid!!

Was cutting about 40 tenons on my bandsaw, was tired, late at night and the job was already late. The bulb in my desk lamp (which I attach to all things with spinny blades) was blown so I was relying on the light from the strip lights.. After about 30 tenons the blade was cutting really slow, "Aha, " thinks I "resin build up", but the blade seemed to be running really, really slow. So what did this tired clot do? He goes and touches the side of the blade. The tube lights cycle matched the speed of the blade, like a strobe effect, giving the impression that the blade was hardly moving. It was!! What an absolute *****.

Fortunatly I only lost the very top of the finger and nail. I know have all the correct spec flourescent tubes in the workshop, a good supply of bulbs and some very strong coffee. :sign3:

The chump....Decklan #-o

 

[Digit]

Perhaps we should get Charley to offer a prize for the daftest accident, I know I'd be in with a chance! :lol:

Roy.

 

[p111dom]

The worst I've had was when I was just starting out and before I had any major machinery I was making two small rocking horses for my son and one of his friends. I needed to create several circles about 50mm across but couldn't think how to do it. I ended up clamping my belt sander in a workmate and clamped a piece of MDF next to it. The idea was to drill though the rough cut circles into the MDF using the screw as a pivot. Seamed reasonable at the time. I turned the sander on and before I had a chance to react it has spun the wooden disc trapping my thumb between the piece and the sanding belt. I turned it off straight away but my thumb nail had already gone. Not a huge injury in the great scheme of things but for months simple things like putting your hands into your pockets for change was agony. Even lying in bed I'd roll over and it would brush against the sheets and the pain would wake you up. Like constantly knocking your funny bone. It took 6 months for the sensitivity to die down and a full year for the nail to grow back.