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Stupid, Stupid, Stupid!

Four years ago yesterday I left some red juice on the floor after an encounter with a router table. The tip of one finger still is a little more sensitive than the others. It has made me much more cautious around all tools. I did go to the ER. They told me they didn't stitch flaps. They cleaned it up and sent me on my way with a tube of antibacterial cream.

Vaughn, I hope you recover quickly. Keep it clean.
 
Thanks for the comments and concerns, guys. I think LOML is more shook up by it than I am. It'll be fine. It actually doesn't hurt much, and seems to be far enough away from any tendons and such to not cause a problem. I'll have a good reminder scar, but I doubt it'll have any long-term effect.

I'm going to change the dressing on it before we leave (running late, as usual), and if things are looking funky, I'll get it checked out before we get out of town.
 
I'm sorry about your accident. Thanks for giving us something to think about the next time we think about doing something s-----. I hope you recover quickly. Since you appear to be too s------ to get medical treatment, I hope you are right about missing tendons and nerves.
 
Brief lapses can cost you

Hi Vaughn

Sorry to learn that you got chewed up on the drillpress. It just happens that my worst ever workshop injury happened on the same machine and an nearly identical bit.

BTW, I'd like to point out, because my injury was partly due to a misunderstanding, that the bit in your DP is not a Forstner, but a sawtooth bit. I was set up to make pocket holes with a sawtooth bit (when I should have been using a Forstner) and when the first tooth hit the work, my clamping jig, the work and my thumb all got pulled real fast from left to right.

I'll spare you the details, but I would like to add that after the intitial dressing in the ER, I was in my doc's office 2 or 3 days later with an infected wound and my doc saying "If we hit it real hard with anti-biotics now we probably won't have to amputate the thumb." Negative or not, you don't want to hear that word out of your doctor's mouth.

Do the right thing, get treatment now, get it properly dressed with antiseptic bandage material. Don't let an accident turn into a tragedy.
 
Thanks ian,, i tried to get threw his hard head without going into the docotr gargon but didnt suceed,, i almost lost a finger from a cut by a blade of grass that was barley bleeding but io had my hands in some bad stuff..

vaughn ian is right ask kerry or anyone in the field and they will tell yu the same..
 
larry merlau said:
vaughn ian is right ask kerry or anyone in the field and they will tell yu the same..
Click to expand...

Kerry - meaning me? :huh: As it happens, I am currently in the healthcare industry, but only as the technical lead for a team that maintains claims processing software for insurance companies.

But I'm still entitled to my opinion, right? :rolleyes: It's hard to make a call without seeing the wound (not that I want to!) but "safe" may indeed be better than "sorry". :dunno:

Heal up "clean", man! :thumb:
 
In the 1980's, the best hand surgeon in California was a Dr. Milk from San Francisco. He happened to be in Los Angeles for a lecture at UCLA and successfully re-attached a finger nipped off while forcing a belt on a washing machine pully. Those aluminum drive wheels are sharp.

I learned that, other than one part limited the male anatomy, the fingers have a highest concentration of nerve endings in the body. Drill presses are nasty, because not only does the bit tend to grab, woodworkers are often drilling long pieces. So you can end up with a 24 or 36" piece spinning at 800 rpm.

My dad was a machinist and I remember lessons from him back in the late 1940s. He said that those slots in drill press tables were there for safety reasons. To lock in those eyebolt clamps. I remember him saying that the drill press vices were so outsized and heavy precisely to counteract the horrific twisting torque on workpieces. Use them both, and don't think for a moment that a "dinky" workpiece can be safely drilled when hand-held.

Contact a doctor to get some serious pain medication. I hope you won't need it, but there is a chance.

Gary Curtis
 
Dang just before vacation! ain't that the way things just work!
Hope you are not in any pain and heal quickly.. I hope you have a great
vacation, keep a close eye on that wound.

Now, that being said..... :rolleyes:

nono.gif
.....DON'T LET THAT HAPPEN AGAIN! OR I WILL HAVE TO WRITE YOU UP!

..
 
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Vaughn,

Boy I was really sorry to hear you got hurt especially before vacation. I've got a good word in with the Big Man. Hopefully you'll get by with just inconvenience.
Take care of yourself. All our best,

Wes
 
Vaughn, like the others I am sorry to hear about the accident and hope you heal quickly without incident.
None of us are immune to momentary lapse in concentration. I try to stay safe in my shop. Rarely do I use the drill press without my work being clamped and hands away from the action. I have been thinking about getting a foot switch for the dp, this will hurry up that decision. Fer sure.
I don't wear gloves in the shop. Not because I'm 'agin' them but just don't feel a need. Sometimes, when parting off a large piece on the lathe, I'll wear a glove on the support hand. The tool rest is off or I use my pen rest at the part which puts it well away from the support hand.
My son, the ER physician, often says when he gets shop accidents the injured guys always say the same thing. "I never do it that way, but just this one time......."
Good luck. Heal fast.
 
Vaughn. I feel your pain!

I did pretty much the same thing myself a few years back. Ripped out a bunch os skin and meat on the side of a 2" forstner. Like you, no doctor needed at the time. I washed it out with peroxide, wrapped it up, and went back to work. Only downside other than the PAIN(!) was that I was picking little wood chips out of the scab for about a week. Guess I didn't wash it out as well as I'd thought...

Hope you heal fast and well, buddy.
 
Sorry to hear about the mishap Vaughn. Tough way to learn a lesson but effective-for all of us. Take good care of the wound and try to have a nice vacation.

Now where did I put that drill press clamp ?:doh:
 
Stupid

Vaughan, I know how you feel. I have most of my long finger missing on my right hand from being stupid but it has or will happen to most everyone who works with wood working machines. Best of luck to you in the healing process.
 
Accident

Hi Vaughn, I am so sorry to hear about your accident, that is something that would happen to me. I am always nervous around the power tools and we don't heal as good as we used to. Take care Vaughn & have a great Holiday, Joe
 
Good thinking Chuck!

And thanks to Vaughn for making us double think....

Sometimes, it's the simpler tools that will get you and not that big ole scary table saw...
 
Sorry to hear that.
Not to hi-jack your thread, but
Worked in machine shop wore wedding ring.
The drill bit got caught inside the wedding ring, my finger
was still in there.

To this day 50 years later, I dont wear a wedding ring.
 
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