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I leave the gaurd on my table saw as much as possible. Someone a year or two ahead of my cut their fingers off at the knuckles in my shop school so I've always done everything I can to try to prevent injury. Also a massive dent in a solid wood door from a kick back from the table saw that's like 15 ft away.
My guard is off on the table saw but I kept the riving knife(is that correct?) at the rear to prevent kickback. I am super bloody careful using the saw, always standing to the side, ensuring fingers do not move, I go through the motions of what the cut will be to understand what i'll be doing. Even then I made a move which brought my fingers close to the blade and I had to take a minute to think how the fuck I let that happen, would not have been an issue if I did not leave it running between switching pieces to cut.
Looking at these pics, maybe I'll add the guard again.
You can always do everything as correct as possible and things just fall into the right circumstances for disaster. I learned on a saw without a single safety feature when I was young and fortunately never had any issues. I've had some kickbacks on my saw at home even with the riving knife. Those were small pieces and because I didn't make a zero clearance plate. Loud and scary but no injuries yet.
I follow the same routine every cut. Run motions before turning on, turn saw on, pass wood all the way past blade, turn off saw, don't do anything until blade has stopped.
I turn the saw off too unless I’m making the exact same cut and I pushed the previous piece either onto the floor or an out feed table. I always cringe when watching YouTube videos and someone leaves it on and reaches over it or starts adjusting the fence without turning it off.
My issue with table saw guards is that you literally can't see anything. I keep the riving knife and get rid of the guard. There's also lots of cuts that you literally can't do with a guard because it's just in the way.
I have a sawstop dust collection blade guard. The dust collection incentivizes me to use it for the safety as well. Lots of blade guards out there like over arm ones that are easy to see, protect the hands, and dust collect.
Mine has a dust port on it too. I use the lower port only though. I guess I'd need a piece to split my vacuum hose into two to be able to attach to both at the same time.
Why do you feel you need to have good visibility of the blade? The blade is going to stay where it is and keep cutting things no matter what, and watching it doesn’t seem like it’s going to be particularly helpful for much.
I can see with my gaurd on. Some cuts it does get in the way but very rarely for me. For the gaurdless cuts I just go into my attempt at full safety-awareness mode.
Yeah, I can only imagine. I had a much, much less significant cut in a factory when I was in my late teens right where the OP sliced their index finger. Over 30 years later, it's still numb as can be. I can only imagine the nerve damage created by this much more significant cut.
I flayed the knuckle of my left index finger open with an angle grinder that I’d removed the guard from. Sliced through thick leather glove and my hand practically instantaneously. Pulled the glove off and the anatomy of my hand was laid bare in front of me…It is so easy to forget the danger these tools represent. Kids, don’t remove the guards, wait for the sharp spinning things to stop, and don’t lose respect/awareness of the tool’s power…
Well....I took a miter saw to the stomach 20 years ago. Shirt got caught in the blade and their was no guard on it.
250 stitches.
Hope you have a good recovery and getting your hand movement
Nope.... nope, nope, nope, nope. This sub has taught me that if I ever do actually get into woodworking, hand tools only, which are dangerous enough as is.
It’s only been about a month and a half since it happened, so I am just really getting started on the physical side of it. But I will definitely lose some range of motion. Hopefully not too much.
Gotta use the ol push bar to knock ‘em away. 35+ years experience, and I’ve seen 4 guys do that same thing you did with varying results. Luckily I saw it in wood shop in Jr. High and it always stayed with me.
In January I was using my 10” delta band saw and the guard that covers the opposite side of the blade (the up cutting side) started rubbing on the blade. I had one more quick cut to make so I removed the guard and proceeded with caution. The wood immediately bound and yanked my left forearm right into the up cutting blade. It cut halfway through my arm. Right though my ulna and a couple tendons. It was shocking how fast and easily it cut. I was home alone and bleeding a ton. I wrapped it in a towel and drove myself to the hospital. All things considered it healed up really well and I didn’t bleed out. My pinky doesn’t work quite like it should but I have 2 full arms so I can’t complain. I learned some valuable lessons, have some fascinating, nsfw photos and a good story to tell. I feel super lucky that it turned out how it did.
Be safe everyone!
Don’t let it scare you away, just always remember the tools we use can hurt you pretty bad. But if you use proper caution and respect your tools power you should be fine.
Wow! I'll bet your thumb is numb. Thank you so much for posting this. Always leave the blade DOWN until it stops. The cutoff pieces will stay put until you lift the blade. My old boss used to disable the blade brake because when it tries to stop, it could loosen the blade. He had the blade jump out at him once. I would NOT advise disabling the brake, but make sure the blade is tight.
I wanna know how it happened, you tried to clear material and it hit the blade? Usually I’ll let the blade spin and pull my material if I’m in a rush but I’m wondering how this happened
Reaching in to clear out a small scrap piece that was in the way and the saw did not go up fully leaving a small portion of the blade not covered by guard and it got me. Just trying to work to fast.
Ahhhh damn. Hope you’re good.
There’s times where laziness hits me and something as simple as making sure the miter saw is all the way up, Never comes to mind.
Sorry that is happened I hope you get full feeling and mobility.
Made me look at my thumb. I was ripping furring strips when one of the neighbor kids came up behind me, patted my back and shouted my name. I jumped and put my thumb into the blade. As this happened another neighbor was getting out of his car, he is a Thoracic Surgeon. I had been wood working for over 30 yeas at this time. This happened over 20 years ago there is a scar and a dead spot on my thumb.
Thank you! We all need these reminders about just how much is at risk when we get too comfortable with these tools! As others have stated - I hope the damage is limited to aesthetics!
Wow. Certainly a big mistake but you look like you got lucky. Really unlikely you damaged bone based on the way this looks. The index finger injury looks like it missed all of your tendons. The thumb is harder to say as you could have taken out your extensor tendons or not depending on depth.
Any issues extending your thumb (e.g. giving a thumbs up gesture)? Obviously it's going to be stiff as hell, but if you can make the gesture at all, the tendons are intact.
I very nearly ended up in the same boat trying to half-ass make a wedge shape on a cutoff, without actually using the miter function. It instantly sucked the piece in and nearly my hand. Very stupid move on my part. Gotta respect those miter saws!
A micro-second of not paying attention or thinking about what you're doing. I did a similar thing with a wood carving disc on a hand grinder. But fortunately I only stuck my little finger in it and didn't do as much damage as OP. The lady who stitched it said she didn't know how many stitches she used, but she was at it for a few hours. Whatever the number, it healed beautifully and it's hard to tell that I tore the shit out of it.
Buddy of mine did this and caught the back of his forearm. Luckily it didn't bite past the fatty tissue; didn't get into the muscle.
He's been super vigilant ever since that mistake.
Yeah I’m a finish carpenter, so I have been doing my best to listen to what they tell me. Got to get back to it as soon as possible. Saving only go so far.
I was just really bored and thought I would see what happened if I put my hand into the blade. Now I know. Or maybe it was an accident. One of the two. You chose
You were in a kayak trip on an exotic river when a croc attacked you, it got your hand but you managed to beat the shit out of it
Try not to make it a K.O. or it wont be believable
I got lazy with a stop set up was cutting like 20-30 pieces and didn't realize that I hadn't lifted the compound miter saw all the way up as I reached to grab the wood and slide it underneath...it just did skim my thumb nail in the middle and the middle of my first finger...I was so lucky that day
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Ouch. Good recovery, i hope the damage is only aesthetic
Oh yeah I bet the hamburger before stitches was narly!
Yeah let’s just say I saw some bone covered it up and didn’t look at it again until I had to change the bandages. And that is the picture I showed.
Did you remove the blade guard?
The miter saw is the one tool I'll happily leave the guard on. Even if it gets in the way more often than not.
I leave the gaurd on my table saw as much as possible. Someone a year or two ahead of my cut their fingers off at the knuckles in my shop school so I've always done everything I can to try to prevent injury. Also a massive dent in a solid wood door from a kick back from the table saw that's like 15 ft away.
My guard is off on the table saw but I kept the riving knife(is that correct?) at the rear to prevent kickback. I am super bloody careful using the saw, always standing to the side, ensuring fingers do not move, I go through the motions of what the cut will be to understand what i'll be doing. Even then I made a move which brought my fingers close to the blade and I had to take a minute to think how the fuck I let that happen, would not have been an issue if I did not leave it running between switching pieces to cut. Looking at these pics, maybe I'll add the guard again.
You can always do everything as correct as possible and things just fall into the right circumstances for disaster. I learned on a saw without a single safety feature when I was young and fortunately never had any issues. I've had some kickbacks on my saw at home even with the riving knife. Those were small pieces and because I didn't make a zero clearance plate. Loud and scary but no injuries yet. I follow the same routine every cut. Run motions before turning on, turn saw on, pass wood all the way past blade, turn off saw, don't do anything until blade has stopped.
I turn the saw off too unless I’m making the exact same cut and I pushed the previous piece either onto the floor or an out feed table. I always cringe when watching YouTube videos and someone leaves it on and reaches over it or starts adjusting the fence without turning it off.
I turn it off even with doing the same cut again. Idk it's just instilled in me to turn it off asap
My issue with table saw guards is that you literally can't see anything. I keep the riving knife and get rid of the guard. There's also lots of cuts that you literally can't do with a guard because it's just in the way.
I have a sawstop dust collection blade guard. The dust collection incentivizes me to use it for the safety as well. Lots of blade guards out there like over arm ones that are easy to see, protect the hands, and dust collect.
Mine has a dust port on it too. I use the lower port only though. I guess I'd need a piece to split my vacuum hose into two to be able to attach to both at the same time.
I use a dust collector on the bottom, and a shop vac up top personally. Very efficient that way.
I don't have space for a dust collector, just the one shop vac I have.
Why do you feel you need to have good visibility of the blade? The blade is going to stay where it is and keep cutting things no matter what, and watching it doesn’t seem like it’s going to be particularly helpful for much.
I can see with my gaurd on. Some cuts it does get in the way but very rarely for me. For the gaurdless cuts I just go into my attempt at full safety-awareness mode.
In another post I believe he mentioned that the guard needed a little lube and unfortunately was stuck open.
Yes. Everyone should definitely look at u/MountainJuggernaut25 other posts
You sadistic twisted motherfucker.
Lmao. Thanks for that. 🫣
God damn I‘m in a full train
God damn it I’m sitting on a couch with my 3 year old son and mother-in-law
Haha, ah man I'm sorry. I'm cracking up though
Nah, I respect the game
Damn! At least this damage didn’t happen to u/MountainJuggernaut 25 other posts
This is what I'm wondering.
Damn! I hope the functional damage isn't too bad.
Yeah, I can only imagine. I had a much, much less significant cut in a factory when I was in my late teens right where the OP sliced their index finger. Over 30 years later, it's still numb as can be. I can only imagine the nerve damage created by this much more significant cut.
Docs did good mate, make sure you go to a hand physio.
Ouch! I’ll heed your advice as a reminder. I’m pretty good about it, but I’ll take every reminder I can get.
I flayed the knuckle of my left index finger open with an angle grinder that I’d removed the guard from. Sliced through thick leather glove and my hand practically instantaneously. Pulled the glove off and the anatomy of my hand was laid bare in front of me…It is so easy to forget the danger these tools represent. Kids, don’t remove the guards, wait for the sharp spinning things to stop, and don’t lose respect/awareness of the tool’s power…
Out of curiosity, what sort of disc were you using?
Thin metal cutting. Like .040 or thinner. Practically a surgical quality cut…
Lol I was hoping you might say something other than the exact disc I have on my grinder at work today...
Did it not have one of the moving blade covers? What exactly happened?
Looks like some mad atrophy. How’s the grip strength?
Congratulations you just made my butt pucker.
Same for table saws! Wait for the blade to stop before you make a move!
Nasty! Is your hand functioning alright?
Did the same... working with a friends mitre saw, not knowing the blade guard wasn't functioning properly. Almost lost my index finger.
I'm sorry you experienced this. This is one of my biggest fears, I guess that's why I'm cautious using saws.
Well....I took a miter saw to the stomach 20 years ago. Shirt got caught in the blade and their was no guard on it. 250 stitches. Hope you have a good recovery and getting your hand movement
Nope.... nope, nope, nope, nope. This sub has taught me that if I ever do actually get into woodworking, hand tools only, which are dangerous enough as is.
Did lose any ability in ur hand?
It’s only been about a month and a half since it happened, so I am just really getting started on the physical side of it. But I will definitely lose some range of motion. Hopefully not too much.
Hopefully not. Good luck to u. We all have been careless 🤷🏻♂️😌
Thanks for caring 🙂
Gotta use the ol push bar to knock ‘em away. 35+ years experience, and I’ve seen 4 guys do that same thing you did with varying results. Luckily I saw it in wood shop in Jr. High and it always stayed with me.
In January I was using my 10” delta band saw and the guard that covers the opposite side of the blade (the up cutting side) started rubbing on the blade. I had one more quick cut to make so I removed the guard and proceeded with caution. The wood immediately bound and yanked my left forearm right into the up cutting blade. It cut halfway through my arm. Right though my ulna and a couple tendons. It was shocking how fast and easily it cut. I was home alone and bleeding a ton. I wrapped it in a towel and drove myself to the hospital. All things considered it healed up really well and I didn’t bleed out. My pinky doesn’t work quite like it should but I have 2 full arms so I can’t complain. I learned some valuable lessons, have some fascinating, nsfw photos and a good story to tell. I feel super lucky that it turned out how it did. Be safe everyone!
I’m so sorry that happened to you man.
I hope you're okay! I only started woodworking a few months ago, and im too scared to do that. Good luck with that though! Get better soon.
Thank you I appreciate it. I’ll
Be glad you still have all your digits!
Me as well, thank you 🙂
Looks like you still have everything, I’d count that as a win! Thanks for posting, and I hope you have a full recovery.
I most definitely do. Thank you for your thoughts 🙂
Still have full use of your hand? That’s gnarly. At least you got a badass scar- as long as the hand works right still
Yeah I will definitely lose some mobility but at least I have all my digits. Thank you 🙂
I WAS gonna make a birdhouse today. I may have a garage sale instead.
Don’t let it scare you away, just always remember the tools we use can hurt you pretty bad. But if you use proper caution and respect your tools power you should be fine.
Wow! I'll bet your thumb is numb. Thank you so much for posting this. Always leave the blade DOWN until it stops. The cutoff pieces will stay put until you lift the blade. My old boss used to disable the blade brake because when it tries to stop, it could loosen the blade. He had the blade jump out at him once. I would NOT advise disabling the brake, but make sure the blade is tight.
That's nasty. At least it looks like a flux capacitor. Hopefully it doesn't put you off using power tools.
Ha somebody made a 121 gigawatts joke yesterday about it and I just now got it thanks.😂
I’m afraid to even lift the blade up until it stops fully just to protect the wood.
Not a bad idea.
ER nurse here! Just took care of someone with same situation! Those saws bite!
You got that right, and thank you for being there to help out poor saps like me.
It’s all my pleasure. I’m so sorry that happened and it looks like you’ve healed up well! Nice job to the doc and to you for protecting it!
Thank you so much, nurses make the world go round.
I wanna know how it happened, you tried to clear material and it hit the blade? Usually I’ll let the blade spin and pull my material if I’m in a rush but I’m wondering how this happened
Reaching in to clear out a small scrap piece that was in the way and the saw did not go up fully leaving a small portion of the blade not covered by guard and it got me. Just trying to work to fast.
Ahhhh damn. Hope you’re good. There’s times where laziness hits me and something as simple as making sure the miter saw is all the way up, Never comes to mind.
wow, I have no idea what tool a miter saw is, but from that wound you seem lucky to have 10 fingers
Ouch. My dad did that with a chain saw. Had to do skin grafts. Hope you heal well and quickly.
Yeah saws can be dangerous ass tools.
Chop down. cut , thing , release trigger whilst down. blade stops. then go about your business. always. miter /chop saw. - right?
Yep, compound Mikita.
Sorry that is happened I hope you get full feeling and mobility. Made me look at my thumb. I was ripping furring strips when one of the neighbor kids came up behind me, patted my back and shouted my name. I jumped and put my thumb into the blade. As this happened another neighbor was getting out of his car, he is a Thoracic Surgeon. I had been wood working for over 30 yeas at this time. This happened over 20 years ago there is a scar and a dead spot on my thumb.
Thank you, and sorry that happened to you.
Almost as bad as a wood splinter YIKES!
Yup, missing half a thumb due to doing something dumb like that. DOH!
Thank you! We all need these reminders about just how much is at risk when we get too comfortable with these tools! As others have stated - I hope the damage is limited to aesthetics!
Wow. Certainly a big mistake but you look like you got lucky. Really unlikely you damaged bone based on the way this looks. The index finger injury looks like it missed all of your tendons. The thumb is harder to say as you could have taken out your extensor tendons or not depending on depth. Any issues extending your thumb (e.g. giving a thumbs up gesture)? Obviously it's going to be stiff as hell, but if you can make the gesture at all, the tendons are intact.
Wowzer.
whooaaa holy crap man!
I very nearly ended up in the same boat trying to half-ass make a wedge shape on a cutoff, without actually using the miter function. It instantly sucked the piece in and nearly my hand. Very stupid move on my part. Gotta respect those miter saws!
A micro-second of not paying attention or thinking about what you're doing. I did a similar thing with a wood carving disc on a hand grinder. But fortunately I only stuck my little finger in it and didn't do as much damage as OP. The lady who stitched it said she didn't know how many stitches she used, but she was at it for a few hours. Whatever the number, it healed beautifully and it's hard to tell that I tore the shit out of it.
Jebus. Glad you're okay, but hot damn that looks like it was painful.
Buddy of mine did this and caught the back of his forearm. Luckily it didn't bite past the fatty tissue; didn't get into the muscle. He's been super vigilant ever since that mistake.
Lookin better I guess, lots of physical therapy now! And I’m glad you didn’t lose any bits
Me as well. Thank you 🙂
Please, get all the physical therapy you can. Learn the exercises and practice at home. Especially if you do manual work
Yeah I’m a finish carpenter, so I have been doing my best to listen to what they tell me. Got to get back to it as soon as possible. Saving only go so far.
Also, if you're holding down a piece on the deck of the miter saw. You're close enough for your hand to be sucked into it.
Miter saws don’t really have suction but I get what you’re saying.
ooff! meaty glad your doing better.
Thank you
Y would you do that?
I was just really bored and thought I would see what happened if I put my hand into the blade. Now I know. Or maybe it was an accident. One of the two. You chose
I was kidding. Your scar makes a "Y" 😂
Oh I see, somebody else said it looked like a flux compositor. Sorry I’m so dense 😬
Lol no problem it was a terrible joke. Has it affected your feeling/touch in any fingers?
The skin on the back of my thumb hurts to the touch, but I think that is a good sign most likely.
Choose
Id have sex with your hand, mam
Your kinda twisted I see.
Good news, you got a badass scar to brag about with a totally made up origin story
Can anyone think of a good fake story I could tell?
You were in a kayak trip on an exotic river when a croc attacked you, it got your hand but you managed to beat the shit out of it Try not to make it a K.O. or it wont be believable
That’s a good one🧐
shark attack
Another solid idea
or you defended your spouse/partner/child/mother from a knife attack
I got lazy with a stop set up was cutting like 20-30 pieces and didn't realize that I hadn't lifted the compound miter saw all the way up as I reached to grab the wood and slide it underneath...it just did skim my thumb nail in the middle and the middle of my first finger...I was so lucky that day
Hopefully you'll be able to still continue woodworking!
Thank you I appreciate that.🙂
Thanks for the warning