# I Fought The Saw And The Saw Won



## TwoElkhounds (Mar 11, 2007)

Normally would not post something that openly demonstrates my stupidity, but I think I will make an exception in this case. My hope is that I can prevent future stupidity.

I was spending the afternoon cutting up the cedar playhouse I built for the kids about ten years ago. I designed and built it myself, I think the kids played on it a total of three times, but that is a whole other story. I dismantled the playhouse and had a pile of cedar boards I needed to cut for fall firewood. Brought out my chop saw and started to cut the boards in 16 inch lengths. So I had a large pile of wood to go through so I was chopping like crazy. As I was doing this, I thought to myself that the guard was not able to fully close as I was feeding the wood, I should be more careful. You know where this is going&#8230;&#8230;&#8230;&#8230;

Against my better judgment, I continued to cut the wood too fast. As I was feeding a board through the saw, my hand came into contact with the blade as it was coasting to a stop, no power to it. Well, saw blades are pretty effective at cutting through stuff, hands are no exception. So even though there was no power to the blade, it still had enough momentum to do significant damage to my hand. I ended up chewing my index finger up pretty good. I did not look at it, but the doctor said he could see all the bones and tendons in the gaping wound. He said I was extremely lucky, no bones or tendons were damaged as a result of my stupidity, I just chewed up the flesh on my hand. I will heal with no long term effect.

I post this to remind everyone that when that little voice in your head says STOP!!!, you are being STUPID!!!, ................

LISTEN TO IT!!!!!!!!!!

DAN


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## Gr8daggett (Oct 19, 2011)

Dan
My hand hurts just reading this.
Reminds me of shooting my own finger with the pellet pistol.

Hope all heals up well for you.
Always good to have that little voice saying "Safety First"

Mike


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## Todd&Regan (Jul 1, 2010)

All I have to say is....OUCH! Glad it wasn't any worse.


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## Leedek (Nov 28, 2010)

Glad to hear that you can still play the piccolo..... eventually.







If we ever meet remind me to tell you about the chainsaw massacre back a few years ago. I still have my little finger but your doctor's comment would apply to my situation also. I looked and dang if your mangled finger doesn't look like a chicken leg after you eat all the good meat.









Just a note: My daughters were watching me do my stupidity. After I got back from the ER I called a Safety Briefing for the household. I let my daughters know that what I did was pretty dumb. I too was trying to get the job done quickly. One-handed chainsawing just seemed reasonable..... at the time. I still hear about the incident and get ribbed for my "Safety briefing".Sometimes I hate that I had 20+ years in the Air Force. It has made me accountable for everything I do.


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## MJV (Apr 19, 2012)

Yes , we all make stupid mistakes! About 4 years ago I was cleaning the underside of my awning, with a mix of awning cleaner and water. I was splashing away, but close to finishing I thought my glasses were really "sudsed" up! However, shortly ,my eyes were really stinging. To make a long story short, after three visits to Saskatoon City Hospital eye center, and sitting in a entirely dark room for three days (yes I could have gone blind) I was relieved that I had only done temporary damage.

By the way ---The goggles were hanging in the garage---It did not even cross my mind to wear them!! Marcel Voyer.


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## TwoElkhounds (Mar 11, 2007)

Thanks for the well wishes.

So we cut off the hospital bandages today to change the dressing. Of course I could not bring myself to look, I am a wimp when it comes to blood and guts. However, my DW helped out and did the dirty work for me and removed the old dressing and cleaned the wound. All is healing well. She tells me that I have a jagged, rough laceration that is a few inches long. Lots of bruising. Laceration goes through the meaty part of the upper forefinger and below the knuckle into the side of my palm. All meat, no bone!!! Finger is fully functional, I can bend it completely!  I am so good (LUCKY) that I can expertly cut my hand open without doing any permanent damage!! Bummer is that there is no good way to bandage the wound without having to wrap the entire hand, simple Band-Aids won't do. Right now it is very sore, so I want plenty of padding around it anyways.

Sorry for the gory details, but if I can save just one finger, one cut, it will be worth it. Everyone please be safe. For all of you that work in industries where this sort of stuff can happen, please feel free to share my stupidity with your teams. Nothing like real world accidents to bring home the lesson, it all happens in an instant. There was no way my finger could get past the saw guard, yet it did since I was rushing and ignoring safety. Keep it slow and steady.

DAN


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## rdvholtwood (Sep 18, 2008)

Dan,

I am sorry to hear about your accident. My nephew many years back actually cut his index finger off and the doctors were actually able to reconnect the finger. Unfortunately, he can't bend his finger.

Saw*s have no mercy. Don't knock yourself down - it was an accident. Be thankful you didn't loose your hand or finger! Thank you for sharing your experience and reminding us to be safe when that little voice that tells us that something is not right.

Rick


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## TwoElkhounds (Mar 11, 2007)

I finally got up the nerve to look at my finger, so here it is for all of you to see as well. I am lucky I did not lose the finger or do permanent damage.



DAN


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## TwoElkhounds (Mar 11, 2007)

ob277rl said:


> I hope that isn't your drinking hand. Good Luck.
> 
> Robert


I am fairly skilled with drinking from either hand, so I should be OK.


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## Leedek (Nov 28, 2010)

TwoElkhounds said:


> I hope that isn't your drinking hand. Good Luck.
> 
> Robert


I am fairly skilled with drinking from either hand, so I should be OK.








[/quote]

Always an important skill... ambidextrous drinking ability.


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## camping479 (Aug 27, 2003)

I make my living as a tradesman, cabinetmaker to be exact. I've been around woodworking equipment for 30 years at this point and thankfully still have 10 complete fingers : ).

I think one of the reasons is if I'm not completely comfortable with something I'm doing I stop and do it a different way. Everybody's comfort level is different, I know what I can and can't do safely. It also helps to understand the physics of spinning blades, the front edge or closest part of the blade to you of a spinning tablesaw blade isn't going to kick anything back at you, it's rotating down into the table. But if something contacts the front edge of the blade or the part of it that is rotating up out of the table, it's coming back at you so fast you won't even know what hit you. A contractor was working on our biggest table saw and had a piece of wood kick back so hard it knocked him over and bruised some ribs. He was used to working on a small job site tablesaw, not one with a 14" blade and 7-1/2 horsepower. It's very easy to get used to working on equipment and not be as careful as you should. It makes me cringe when I'm on a jobsite and the carpenters have the blade guard removed or wired up on a chopsaw, it's way to easy to get cut even as you are removing a piece from the saw as the blade is stopping.

Off of soap box now, glad your hand is going to be okay.

Mike


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## TwoElkhounds (Mar 11, 2007)

Pulled the stitches out this evening, wound is healing very well. I have full feeling in my finger. I can bend my finger about 50% without pain, up to 75% with some minor pain. I am sure it will loosen up completely once fully healed. However, I think I am going to have one hell of a scar to serve as a safety reminder the rest of my life.









DAN


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