Painful Lesson

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Ice31

Ice31

Member
Joined
May 23, 2013
Messages
50
Location
Central Illinois
Well...I have to tell you. A couple of weeks ago I decided to teach myself one of those life lessons that stick with you. A painful one at that...you see, I came across some fantastic wood shop tools at a local auction about a month ago. Drill press, scroll saw, jointer, and router table with router....and i got them all for $140. SCORE!!

I brought back a chunk of wood from a witewater trip down the Big South Fork and I was processing it into blanks. I just had to use that new jointer.

Lets see...it was on the other side of the garage were I don't have any shop lights, it had no guard, I wasn't wearing any safety glasses, and the piece I was working on just needed that one more pass...know what I mean...and bang, my middle finger on my left hand is now a bit shorter. I'll spare you the pictures. But as we all know education can be painful and it is always expensive.

The moral to this story is please do not get complacent in your work shop. We all know..."it's not if we're going to get hurt, it's when", but we have to be diligent in minimizing the potential damage. I was not and got lucky that the damage wasn't greater.

Please use my STUPIDITY as a reminder to keep your eyes protected, fingers clear, and be mindful of what you're doing.
 
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Sorry to hear about your accident. Your so right about getting lax when working a home or doing the same thing over and over. Thanks for the reminder and glad it wasn't any worse.
 
Wow! Take care and I hope you heal quickly.

On a stranger note, this is the third instance in 7 days that I've heard of people loosing partial digits, and all from completely different circumstances. I've otherwise only known a few people in my 57 years of life that's lost them.

Consider me warned! And thanks for sharing your story.
 
Ouch! Hope you are back in "working order" soon. On the bright side, WHAT A DEAL on all those tools! Condolences on the finger, congratulations on the score
 
I run a shop and I think the Jointer is the most dangerous tool in the shop. I tell my workers that it is the one tool where people tend to get more complacent because it is so unassuming. I always tell them, "You can't make potatoes out of potato chips".
 
Thanks for the kind words. It was an accident, but a very avoidable one. I should have known better and I got what I asked for....
 
When I was about twelve years old and tinkering around in my dads shop, somehow three of my fingers became shortened in the jointer as well...:frown: …Blood everywhere. Not a pretty site. That's something you never forget and is forever there to remind you of what went wrong!:eek:

Every time I use my right hand, BOOM! there it is, staring me back in the face.:rolleyes:

Glad nothing worse happened to you and thanks for the reminder to always be safe, regardless of how much of a hurry we get in!
 
Ice31 said:
Thanks for the kind words. It was an accident, but a very avoidable one. I should have known better and I got what I asked for....
Click to expand...
I know first hand the kind of problem - I had a run in in 2007 with my Table Saw and I am lucky that I still have 10 fingers albeit that 3 of them could work a bit better and have a lot more feeling. Recover fast.
 
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