It only took 12 years...My first MITER SAW injury.
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- Опубликовано: 6 окт 2024
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Thanks for the OSHA meeting Richard. So glad your incident wasn't worse than it was. My worst injury was about 40 years ago, I was making a white oak threshold and my table saw couldn't rip all the way through so on the second and final pass the scrap kicked back and my index finger was shortened on the corner by about 1/4" by the 10" blade. Thank the Lord that's all it got. You all take care and I hope you all have a very Merry Christmas and a prosperous new year. God bless.
The exact same kickback happened to me with a miter saw doing an angle cut on thin brass strips just like this, I also luckily avoided any injury. It's nice to get an indepth explanation about how it happened for you, and yeah, I've reverted to using hack saws, files and belt sanders for now
So in September of this year I was doing some trim work in my house. Ripping a board down on the table saw. I got lazy and complacent and cut off about an inch off my left index finger, straight through just above the top knuckle. Certainly preventable and solely my own fault. I was able to clean up the mess before the wife and kids got home and drove to the ER. I had surgery and now have a nub that’s numb to always remind me it doesn’t matter your skill level or comfort level, you can never be too careful. I’m all healed up and fired that saw up recently and finished the job. Lesson learned. Thanks for the great content and I’m glad you’re ok!
That pesky finger won’t get in the way anymore at least.
well if you live in a cold climate be prepared for throbbing finger tip for the rest of your life whenever it gets cold mine always gets cold and throbs no matter what i do to try and keep it warm lol it sucks !
You ain’t kidding! The doc warned me about that.
So glad you’re ok! I have worked in the storefront business for over 30 years. We cut all shapes of aluminum extrusions all day everyday. As another commenter mentioned the material should always be positioned with an optional fence board if possible that will get your material further out from the factory fence. You want the blade to force your material down and back. Many saws will be pulling your stock up from the table in stock form. Also your temporary fence should have very little gap for the blade. Every time I have seen someone get “bit” when cutting non ferrous material it was a failure of one of those factors.
yes sir the issue always seems ro be we wont take time to look the situation over "double take "before we try to cut. just saying ,to make it safer ,Is their any way to make this safer?
is a good question before the cutting goes on.or what could happen if i cut this now?
Really look at it objectively before. its worth the 10 seconds for sure...
I worked in an ER for decades. We had an ambulance transport a guy from a manufactured home factory. His crew was framing up some walls when he jumped from the platform to the factory floor holding a nail gun.
It discharged a framing nail into his knee. His knee was locked in place with the nail. When he was off in x-ray another ambulance called in saying they were bringing in a patient from the same factory who also jumped off the platform, discharging a framing nail into his knee as he landed. The injuries were not exactly the same though. With the first patient we were able to use vice grips to grab and twist and pull it out. The second patient wasn’t as fortunate. The nail entered the tip of the femur, went through the joint space and imbedded in the tibial plateau, locking his knee in place. He had to go to the operating room.
I’m guessing there were some changes in workplace policy after that.
Fella in my hometown was nailing up cross bracing on floor joists over his head with an air nailer, nail hit something hard, bounced back and ended up in his heart, poor guy lived for a few days longer. The owners sold the house without finishing it. All very sad.
@@shamrock4500 Very sad “freak”accident but I could see it happening.
@@shamrock4500i could see that happening I’ve sent a framing nail into an old railroad tie it bounced out (guess there was metal still in it. Couldn’t see it from the top) and flew right past my buddies head. Luckily nobody was hurt.
Holy smokes ! I cringe at the thought of that,... Yikes
I'm surprised you didn't use a band saw to cut these pieces. Obviously precision is key but a miter saw just seems sketchy
Glad it wasnt too serious! For cutting small pieces, wood or brass, you can make a similar jig for the miter saw fence as to what you did on the table saw to prevent the piece from moving while you are making the cut. I think that would allow you to make small offcuts like you were attempting.
Glad you are ok Richard, I also have been using power tools for many years. My accident was not filmed as I did not have a youtube channel at the time. However, I do have a video on my channel covering it. It is called my tablesaw accident. I short I was building a barn style pocket door. I wanted the blade marks in the wood. I was resawing 2x4's to make the panels. Decided to do a test cut with a short piece of material to make sure the thickness was right for the dato slots. As I was reading the short piece, something went wrong and my tablesaw kicked the material out, however in the process it pulled my finger in. I still have all my fingers, nine stitches later and several weeks of healing all is good. I have never looked at the tablesaw the same. Every cut today is 100 percent attention on the saw. Thanks for sharing Richard.
Thank you for sharing your story, Richard. We can all learn from this kind of eye-opening experiece, and I'm glad you were not seriously injured.
I'm a hobby woodworker who has made some hardwood furniture and other small items. I was cutting a 1 inch wide by 1/8 inch thick aluminum strip, which I have done several times in the past with no isses. I also had a brand new Diablo crosscut saw blade on my miter saw. I was very slowly lowering the blade through the aluminum strip when some how the blade grabbed the aluminum and jerked it from my grip. I was startled and very surprised because I don't know exactly how this happened, and I was being very slow and deliberate with the cut, just as you were when it happened. Good news is I was not injured other than a little bit of temporary pain in my thumb, all but upon inspection, I discovered that one of the carbide teeth had been ripped off the new saw blade. I also cannot be certain that the blade was not compromised in some other way due to the impact. So I figured the new blade is a total loss. I think a carbide tooth can be replaced, but I don't think it would be worth the trouble, so I am chalking it up to experience. The cost of another new blade is cheap compared to any injury that could have happened. I was lucky it was not worse, and I think I'll hesitate to cut aluminum in the future without some additional precautions.
Glad you’re ok. I was lifting my end of a large beam with the claw end of my hammer and put my forearms on my knees and apparently leaned back a little bit,which caused the claw to release at high speed sending the hammer into my head, which earned me some stitches in my eyebrow and the nickname “hammer head “. ✌🏻🇺🇸
We have a winner,lol. Sorry Bro, funny but true,lol.
Thanks for the safety briefing. I sent the tip of a 3" nail through a jack and a king stud into the hand holding the two boards together with a nail gun that was set a little deep. It was a minor injury, but it got my attention. I was much more careful about the placement of my support hand when nailing after that.
same here
First of all, Richard I’m so glad you’re ok! Secondly, the job you did on the range hood is sick! Your talent just keeps getting deeper and wider. I’m glad you are sharing your journey with us!
My story:
I was building a miter saw table and I was using the biscuit joiner, well I needed to put slots in a piece of trim, I was holding the trim with my left hand (I didn’t use a clamp, because you can’t hurt yourself with a biscuit joiner right?!) I was putting pressure with the tool against the trim, the blade caught a knot in the wood, it went flying, and as I’m continuing to put pressure on the tool toward the trim piece that my hand is holding, as the piece went flying out of my hand the blade cut into my thumb and middle finger. I nearly cut through both fingers. I had to remain calm, I was alone in my shop, ran into the kitchen wrapped my hand in a bunch of paper towels and called my friend to come and get me to take me to the hospital. The doctor sewed me up and I had a month of recovery and healing. I still have scares on my fingers, the feeling is slowly coming back. Thank God! Whew!
Thanks for sharing that valuable lesson, nice to have a ‘good’ outcome you can really take to heart and learn safer practices from. My worst accident involved being unprepared to operate a box truck lift gate that had tilt function I was not aware of until mistakingly causing the load to dump / injuries incurred.
Glad you’re okay. For the last three years I worked for a kitchen designer installing kitchens. And I learned the importance of knee pads. I spent 4K last year trying to undo a number of back problems as well as years of sitting on my wallet.
Hey Richard. That’s amazing that this was your only significant power tool injury. I see you have deep respect for the tools you use. Im glad to see you are recovering well 😏. I instal flooring for a living. My comp. name is Good Day Flooring llc, out of the South West Florida area. A couple years back I was employee to a local installer, under whom I learned the tread. He would always take the guards off his miter saws, so I was extra careful when making cuts. One day he got a new miter saw and right away took off the guard before using it. We were cutting shoe molds that day and I was zipping along as always. I made a quick cut, let go of the handle, turned to walk away and the blade sprang up and hit me on the pinky. I was shocked at what happened and in disbelief. I realized the reason I got the injury was because the saw we were using prier to this one was so old that the spring didnt lift the blade up any more. It stayed down where you left it but because this miter was new the spring was fresh on it and thats why it sprung up and hit me. Thankfully i still have my pinky.
Hello, Richard, glad to see you are using some Festool: operate mine everyday.
Number one. I'm glad your hands are safe and you take a mature step back.
We don't ever put our hands near the blade. We don't ever cut small material unless we are using push sticks, sled, or clamps. We don't ever ever cut metal. That's just our perspective. And we wish you a peace and healing in the New Year, my friend.
Nearly 50 years ago I was making 1/2” quarter round trim for an addition to my home. I had a small,cheap router table and while pushing the square stock through I ran my forefinger through the spinning blade. Ended up in emergency having the fingernail removed plus stitches. No permanent damage but still have a scar. Very cautious around power tools, especially routers, ever since. I’ve learned a lot from you over the years, thank you.
I incredibly happy you’re ok. The unexpected happens to all of us, regardless of the number of years we have under our belt. I call my scars trophies since I earned every single one of them. You are an exceptional teacher and when you share all of your experiences, good and bad, it helps everyone who gets to watch your videos!
Glad youre ok.. I've had the same thing happen when cutting aluminum. Was schluter edging for a tile project. Somwthing about the metal and catching the edge of the blade just right really makes you jump. I now use scrap wood for backing and even then I plan on it trying to bite me. I love the tools but always need to respect them.
Good to see your ok Richard. And able to survive the holidays intact as well. Merry Christmas to you and your family.
Worst accident, I've been active in the trades since age 12 now 51, have seen alot, experienced a few only 1 major that required ER attention. April 1 no less of 2017. Ripping a 2 x 6 on the floor with a (i have no) skil saw. Talk about being complacent. Somehow the shoelace of my saloman wrapped up in the arbor and pulled the saw to my foot ripped through my shoe and my foot. Up my 2nd toe up my foot back down my foot in between 3rd and fourt toes along inside. Stood up and said well cant super glue this or duct tape it, going to have to go in on this one. Alone on job sight. Took 1 step blood spurted out. Took my home made belt off that can be used as tourniquet to stop the bleeding. Called jobs brother to take me in. He thought i was pranking him since it was April fool's day. And I'm a calm and mellow guy. He showed up saw the trail of blood to the truck and flipped out. I was more worried about getting blood on his floor of his raptor than he was. Er nurse didn't believe that it was as bad as i said. My friend said don't let his calm demeanor fool you he f'ed up his foot. She rolled her eyes. They wanted mye to wait. I took off what i could to show them and the nurse almost fainted she was as white as her coat. 100 plus painful stiches later. No damage to bones or ligaments thankfully. But it is quite touchy when you clip nails. Lol. Btw went back to work same day, didnt take a day off until july 4th. Even was walking stilts. Have pics to prove it lol
Keep up all the great work your doing. Very inspiring!!!
Close calls will wake you up to safety. I was ripping a 2x12 on a portable table saw. The kick protector was broken on the saw and I just wanted to continue to work. Well I got 3/4 through the rip and hit a deep knot that I did not see. Boom, it kicked the board back into my right hip and it knocked me to the ground. There was no breaks but I was in pain. I shut everything down and went and got an X-ray. I spent the rest of the day trying to fix the kick back protector. I ended up having to order a replacement and finished the siding job. Love the content. Merry Christmas and Happy New Year to you and yours.
Over the last 30 years, working as a finish / trim carpenter, there have been minor injuries. But the worst was using my father's 'skill saw' at the age of 14. Working with a den of cub scouts, me being the den leader, I thought of using a power tool. Without permission, mind you. Yes I 'surgically ' removed my ring finger from my left hand. Quick thinking from the den, I got my finger on ice. Quick trip to the hospital. Within 2 days I was home with it reattached! AYE!
Jeez, that’s lucky. Bet that’s a weird looking scar. U get full use and feeling back?
Reattached...and is it functional or just decorative?
@jeff-w it works as a finger should. Looking at it, people can not tell.
@@jamesmyerssr.3119 wow. That's amazing. Lucky guy!
Using a Delta Unisaw cutting small pieces of trim for a jewelry box the off cut was fluttering from the air movement of the blade, as I approached the blade with a pencil with eraser the presents of my hand must of disrupted the air flow lofting the small piece of trim into the blade firing said piece as fast as a gun shot into my inner thigh millimeters from you know what! Hitting the e-switch as I fell to my knees the pain made me lightheaded. After a few minutes of nauseousness and holding my family jewels my jeans had a hole in them. Dropping said jeans a bruise appeared. With in a few hours my leg turned red from my groin to my knee. Thinking I injured an artery off to the ER. Thank the man above I only injured a vain that bled internally leaking for a short while. That bruise lasted months changing colors and finally fading. Now I always wear a leather apron along with other ppe.
About 11 years ago… about a year after I retired from the military I started my own business as a contractor….. I was using a paslode framing nailer the nail shot through the wood and shots from one side of my hand, where my index finger is to the other side of my hand, where my pinky is up by my knuckles going all the way across my hand, I grabbed the head of the nail with a pair of pliers and pulled it out, poured peroxide on it, wrapped it in gauze, and finished what I was doing….
I was very lucky
Man it’s nice to see that you still got all fingers. I thought this video was going to be a lot worse, oh and by the way… that range hood looks AMAZING! Awesome work as always. Love seeing stuff like this. Happy Holidays Richard.
Same experience as you with aluminum and brass.75 years old 50 year wood working. My method now to cut down chance of kick up. 1 lock my sliding miter to use as chop only. Any movement in slider can create kick up. 2 use blocking close to cut area with clamp making product as stationary as possible. Glad you are alright really like you and your content.
Hi Richard, you did get lucky ,could have been so much worse. Im almost sixty one years old now and working construction since 16 years old. Many small accidents over the years and things will happen to us all from time to time. .My worst was 5 years ago while working on a 6'6" scaffolding. I was by my self and had a pile of tools up there so i would not be climbing up and down all day, not a smart move either. tripped over the tools and feel down to the concrete flooring.Shattered my wrist and arm in uncountable places. Two surgeries later along with a few screws and a plate still bothers me to this day. We really do need to think about what we are working on and how we go about things, but have noticed this relly slows up the process, but thats ok. take a little extra time and be ok with it taking extra time. I really enjoy your videos and occasionally you teach the old guy something. LOL
Merry Christmas
Hi Richard, glad you're okay. I bought a cheap 7 1/4" miter saw and fit it with a blade that is specifically made for cutting non ferrous metal. Whenever I need to cut a piece of metal, tin, brass, etc, I pull that saw out, make the cut and then put it away again. I found it easier than changing blades on my 12" miter saw. Don't know if that would have made a difference in your situation, but might be something to consider in the future. I can tell you that the cheapo saw does surprisingly clean cuts on metal and makes gorgeous miters. Again, glad you're injury was not serious or life altering.
I was working in a hanger, no big deal, but then my bit dropped out of my bit holder and rolled into a gutter. Went to get it back (it was only a foot and a half deep), lifted the grate and noticed how stinking heavy it was (felt like over 100 lbs.). So I got my buddy to help me and was able to recover the bit. Also we couldn't just leave it because we were working on an aircraft and aren't allowed to leave anything lost. We went to put the grate back and as we were setting it back in place, a combination of bad finger placement and my buddy dropping the grate preemptively, led to my pinky getting absolutely crushed. It wasn't a good day. Thanks for sharing your experience so I could learn from you!
I just installed my wood floor and my neighbor was kind enough to lend me his Chop Saw. I watched a few safety videos and I still have all my fingers but I really respect the power of that machine. One thing I learned is never remove material until the blad totally- I mean totally stops. I did rush one cut and had a small kickback. All material needs to be supported; you grab the work AND the fence and stay well outside of the danger zone- so about 6+ inches away from the spinning blade. Using a clamp, when possible is a great idea that helped me a lot. Connect a vacuum cleaner was good to but it kept falling off when I raised the machine- I attached the non bendable, hard part because I did not have flexible tube to use. I wore safety glasses, hearing protection, a N95 mask, etc. Still, it is a machine one needs to greatly respect. It can take off a limb real quick. Make sure your safety guard is working correctly as well and the machine is very stable and secured.
Richard glad you are ok! 30 year ago, I was hurrying as I was cross cutting rails for a bed frame on an arm saw, had a rail up against the fence and the other about a foot away, but in the line of the cut. The cross cut was fine until the blade got to the second rail forcing the rail against my thumb, the second rail pressed with so much pressure that it broke the tip of the thumb, to this day the tip of my thumb looks like pointy egg, and I the finger nail grows a little misshaped, and have a little numbness left.
Happy to see that you came away from that injury intact. DIY project: needed to add a bathroom to my second floor back in 1993 and didn't have a power drill strong enough to bore through the floor joists to route plumbing lines. 100 year old house, all of the framing was aged and hard. Borrowed a 1/2'' Makita corded drill from work - never used it before BTW. Fitted it with a 1-1/2" hole saw and attempted to drill the first hole of the day (which quickly became the last one). Pilot drill on the hole saw caught a knot in the joist. The drill motor did not lock - which would have happened if I were using my DIY 3/8" Craftsman 19V battery powered drill. Instead, the drill motor violently twisted my hand, slamming my ring finger into the side of joist. Finger was not cut as a result of this but instead basically exploded - tissue and muscle hanging all over the place. Luckily, it didn't break my wrist. Valuable lesson learned. Know and appreciate the power of that tool in your hand.
Worst accident I had on the job was doing side work with a painter friend. We were painting a 12’ ceiling room but he only had one 16’ extension ladder. I had the genius idea of splitting them so we each had an 8 footer. I had gotten so confident on ladders I wasn’t even thinking, but the side I had didn’t have any rubber feet and the pad I put it on apparently wasn’t enough. Long story short, the ladder slid out when I was one rung from the top. I jumped off and luckily was ok but I take ladder safety so much more seriously now. I will never split an extension again.
Glad you’re okay! That’s happened to me with small cuts on aluminum. All I can advise is to place a piece of sacrificial wood on top to help keep the metal still.
During the first week at a cabinet shop, I was asked to fetch a full sheet of 1/2” acrylic amongst a stack of plywood and acrylic sheets leaning against the wall horizontally. I would lean back one sheet after the other towards me to rifle through the stack. After going through 10 or so sheets, the acrylic was too flexible and came crashing down like a tidal wave. I jumped back to avoid getting crushed. However, I was in a hallway that was just over 4ft wide and the acrylic sheets sliced off my skin from below the knee all the way to my ankle as it fell to the floor like a deli slicer. As I was picking them back up, I found my skin attached to the sheet with hair still on it! I never wore shorts to a job site/shop afterwards!
I am glad your injury was not serious! I am very thankful that you shared this video with us!! I learn so much from these types of experience stories. I have been fortunate, and only experienced minor injuries in the shop. My most painful was when I was unloading lumber. I was carrying three boards at a time, they were heavy. Lost grip on one, and it fell directly onto my front of my foot. No broken bones, but bad bruising and limping for a while. After that, I found a very comfortable pair of composite toe shoes (Orthofeet) , which I wear all the time when in the shop.
Hi, my worst injury on a job is a broken finger. I drive a semi truck with a flatbed trailer. February 2021, I was picking up a load of granite slabs sitting on A-Frames in Washington state going to Boise, ID. When I was tightening the last strap, last efforts, feeling good, job almost done, cranking it down with a winch bar - the strap snapped. Since I was pushing down with my whole core and full force, I flew to the ground, upper body first. Upon landing, my finger got caught between the asphalt and the winch bar. Finger destroyed.
I still made it in time to Boise next day and made 3 deliveries. Finger looks ok now but there's some permanent numbness left. Keep on trucking :)
Sawing 1/2” PVC flat stock. Was doing a cut (stupidly) where I cut part way through the stock and then backed the stock out of the running saw. Was on cut 5 of 5…and the piece bound, kicked back and flipped over raking two fingers across the running blade.
The good news is that this accident got me off of the shop floor and into an office role that I retired from 40 years later.
A reason for everything! Cheers!
I've been doing custom picture framing for almost 23 years now. When I first started chopping moulding, I wasn't given any proper training on the saw. The aaw we used was a hydraulic double miter saw made by pistorius. The person before me cut a 4" tall moulding, and neglected to put the blade guards back down. The project I was working on involved cutting 3.5" pieces of fillet-- basically 3/8" wide sticks of wood that look like your 1/4" quarter rounds of brass. With the dust collector on, sometimes the smaller pieces would get pulled in slightly. Me being young and stupid, didn't notice the blade guards up, so when I pulled out the 3.5" piece of wood that slid under the blades a little, the knuckle on my dominant hand just barely caught the spinning blades. I was lucky enough to only need 5 stitches, and I retain full use of my digits... But I never made that mistake again.
Glad you're OK. Years of working with saws, engraving and cutting thick brass taught me one thing about thick brass. Several slow, controlled passes while using engraving oil gives the best and safest results. For mitre saws, 1 very slow, controlled pass with the oil should suffice. Not only does the oil help control heat issues with brass but it will also help deburring issues. A MUST for safety issues is clamping or making fixtures to keep brass from sliding which the oil will make the brass harder to control so taking this into account on trial runs will help prevent injuries. Of course there are no true fail-safes. Be safe always.
I did this same thing the other day. It because the part of the blade that was cutting was past/lower than your work piece. That means the blade was cutting up instead of down/back into the fence. Still have a ding in my palm where the board lifted into my hand. Never thought of it all all until it happened. Glad you are good.
Awesome brass work! My worst injury happened at my brother's shop. I was returning a concrete saw I borrowed and walked up to his workbench as he was prepping a piece of 10 foot piece of 2" steel pipe to make a lumber rack for his truck. Within two seconds of me getting to the workbench the pipe rolled off the edge of the workbench and smashed my toe. A trip to the emergency room and 4 weeks of limping around while the crushed bone healed. Not a fun experience at all.
Hey Richard I’m glad you didn’t get hurt. I’m a tile guy here in New Jersey I had the same scare while cutting schluter aluminum trim on a wet saw no blood just a little pain. Great videos great trim work.
Thank you for this info Richard. Probably saved some of us from disaster.
My worst injury, to date, was when I bought a box of moulding cutters for the table saw on ebay and
installed one for a test run. It looked pretty formidable so I decided to use a power feed to run the test piece through safely.
I bolted the power feed to a piece of plywood and clamped the plywood to the saw's table.
When I fed the test piece through, the plywood stretched under the strain, and the piece climbed over the cutter and instantly became a projectile hitting my left thumb and hand.
11 stitches later I decided that was a bad idea. Stan Stevens
I am so glad you didn't get hurt an worse than you did.
I work in the truck tire and agriculture tire industry. I have had two injuries, I had the tips of my pinky, and ring finger mashed off by a man lift shifting as i was cradling the machine up. And i have had a patch of skin pealed off to raw meat on a metal fender from a big rig. The finger still hurt me to this day when it is cold outside. Be careful everyone
When I was little, I enjoyed working with my Dad, learning and imitating his carpenter skills. To keep me out of the way, he gave me some cutoffs to practice hand sawing. I didn’t have any clamps, so I held the blocks down to the workbench with manual pressure. On one too-short piece, that Disston crosscut saw took a nice gouge out of my left index finger.
I experienced a similar kickback when cutting jolly trim for a tile job. After cutting several 45’s finally had one bite back. No blood but plenty of pain in the hand. While I still occasionally use a miter saw to make a cut I always use snips to remove the mud flange out of the cut area.
Kickback on a table saw. Milling a 3 foot board and I pivoted to feed more in and the board pulled away from the fence. Bingo, the board caught me in the hip. I’ll never feed a board again standing in line with it. I also use Jessem hold fasts now for additional safety. Happy that you were not seriously hurt! Thanks for sharing.
Glad you’re okay buddy. My worst injury was actually while using an electric hedge trimmer while on a ladder. Holding the trimmer one-handed, I swung too fast and began to lose balance on the ladder. As I reached over with my free hand to stabilize, the trimmer sliced down the edge of my middle finger the length of my fingernail. Stitches put it back together.
I was doing some masonry walls and I picked up a big block up off the floor and kind of dropped it down onto the ledge i was working on. It came down on my pointer finger and shattered it. I got super hot and nauseous I couldn't even stand. So I laid on the floor trying not to throw up the pain was intense. I love the videos I have been a carpenter for over 10 years and I'm learning so much from you. You're the man. Keep up the amazing work!
Had a kickback injury on my old Craftman table saw. Was cutting 1/4 plywood which was closer to 3/16”. The extension wings on the saw were stamped steel with raised ribs every few inches for stiffness. When the fence lined up to a portion of the wing where there was no rib, there was a sizable gap between the bottom of the fence and the wing. Well after partially into the cut, the material went under the fence and caused the material to bind and kickback. Luckily I only got a small scrape on my arm. Needless to say, that extension has been replaced with a new one that is totally flat.
Love that you are using more Festool products. I was cutting Chanel Raceway with a metal grinder and a piece got stuck in my index finger. I still have it in my finger. New skin grew over it.
Thanks for the OSHA meeting, lol. Always good to share with others about possible mishaps. I know I have a lot of things I could share but don't remember most of them. I did get a nasty deep splinter in my thumb while working in the shop couple days ago milling out parts on my cnc machine. They are parts I'm making to build shelves in my tool trailer. Splinters still hurt, and I usually just take a utility knife and dissect it. Great channel, thanks for everything you share. I have taken a lot of what you do and made some into my own practices doing my own carpentry. Keep it up.
Glad you weren't seriously hurt. Mine was a captured channel that I was routing out on the router table. Faster than you could see, that piece of wood was sticking out of my cutting foam for sheet goods, 15 feet away. My ears were ringing from the bang and my fingers were hurting. I've done that cut dozens of time to make a channel for an adjustable jig. Had stops at both end of the cut, it was the last of four cuts that needed to be made on that piece of wood to complete the channel.. I had lowered one end onto the bit, and was slowly moving it forward when it took off. The only injury I had were bruises to two finger on my right hand. It made me realize an accident can happen faster than you can see it. I now double check all my cuts to make sure nothing gets hung up such as a hose, cord or the piece I am sliding through a machine, and blocks or push sticks are used to keep me away from the spinney things.
I think I know what went wrong, you had a "V" grove cut in your zero clearance fence. Normal for cutting molding. This left the short end of the brass you were cutting, unsupported in the back of the cut. Many metals when being cut have a tendency to fall back in the direction it is being cut pinching the blade causing kick back. Try that cut again with a new uncut zero clearance fence so that the small cut off is supported in the back as well.
In high school wood working class I put the chisel through the side of one of my fingers, sliced it nearly to the bone. I think about that almost every time I use my chisels now and thankfully haven’t hurt myself with a chisel since.
Really enjoy your videos thanks for sharing.
My worst injury was on a table saw. I was new to tables saws, this was years back, and I was trying to cut a small block of wood. Where I made my mistake was using the fence as a guide with the end grain against the fence. The piece kicked back, jammed my thumb, and shot right into my waist. It didn't break the skin but my thumb was raging sore for two weeks and where it hit my waist left a large black bruise. Ever since then, I have had a profound respect for power tools.
Harvey from NC here! Working in freezing weather, my glove had the trigger of my nail gun depressed as I was crawling around a hip joist on a gazebo I was framing. My knee bumped the safety and a 3 1/4" , ring-shank nail shot into the "knuckle" of my femur down onto my tibia. This made the nail bend up like a fishhook which had to be surgically removed!
Always love the humor with your content. Carrying shingles up a roof and the plywood gave away under my left foot, leg went through, but didn’t hurt myself too bad. Ever since then, I became afraid of heights. Never was before until that day.
My worst injury was in 7th grade. I was making a bowl on the lathe. Doing the inside of the bowl, the tool rest was positioned to reach deep into the bowl. It was a smaller tool rest and I could only work on one area at a time. The gouge(tool) I was working with slipped off the tool rest and spun around the inside of the bowl carrying my fingers with it. One finger caught the tool rest on the second time around. It peeled the skin on my finger. All in all, I was lucky. We taped up my finger for a couple of days and I healed up pretty well without any significant scars or permanent damage. This definitely made me realize how unforgiving of mistakes these power tools can be. Glad you’re Ok Richard. Keep up the great work. I learn something from every one of your videos.
My husband was using his router to make a frame and he put it down running and wasnt think when he reached over it. It shred the skin all around his elbow. The ER did a great job stitching it up. It actually looked like a Christmas tree when they were finished.
I've been a carpenter for almost 40 years & a general contractor for 34 yrs. so I have a few, but the one that comes to mind was when I was building some custom wall mounted bookshelf "boxes". They were melamine with an oak nosing. I was sanding the oak ends with a 3x21 ryobi sander. This is the one with front handle that sticks out over the front of the belt so when you grab the handle your fingers are pointing towards & near that spinning belt.
The accident happened all so quick I didn't realize how bad until after. Some how he tip of my index finger got to close, caught the tip of the finger nail & ripped the whole thing out including the roots I didn't know what happened at the time other than the sander "bit me". I looked down & saw the blood on my fingertip & touched it and it was all soft skin-no nail. Looked around on ground & found it. Wrapped it up & went to emergency room. Doc said it would never grow back, but he cleaned it up & then sewed the old nail back in to "protect the raw skin until it heals". Big Mistake- It got badly infected & over the course of a couple weeks & 4 or 5 rounds of antibiotics it got worse. At a couple weeks it had swollen to the size of a pickle & started changing color. The Doc gave me one last shot & told me to come back in 2 days & if it wasn't better he was going to amputate. That scared the crap out of me. Went home, drank a couple shots of whiskey; put the finger in some hot water with Epsom salt until numb, then cut the stitches & pulled the nail out with a pliers. The pus squirted out 2' & I squeezed the finger until just blood came out (it was so deep it was almost purple.
Woke up the next day & finger was back to normal size & color & pain was gone. That saved my finger. It took about 1-1/2 years but a nail did finally grow back. The nerves in the end of my finger are dead though.
Started framing at 18 and was really excited to learn first day of using the framing nailer shot my self in the hand, nothing serious but learned a lot from that accident and have not had anything serious happen since, thanks for the awesome carpentry keep up the great work!
I have the most respect for table saws, circular saws, and miter saws. All of them I have encountered kickback with no injuries. Glad nothing serious has happened to you!
My worst power tool injury resulted from a battery powered drill. I got complacent pushing in some screws and I hit something that bumped the bit off the screw head. The bit ended up landing into the meat between thumb and pointer finger on my other hand. Got me pretty good and reminded me for weeks with pain
Good to hear you’re okay.
I once tried to use a drill press with a 2” hole saw and no pilot bit, and just thought I could hand hold the 6” maple board in place. When the bit spun the board it took significant chunks out of my left pointer finger and thumb, the whack against the bone left me with a tingling that’s still there 6 months later. Happy to say that’s the worst and only one.
Pushing and cutting 1/4” plywood 12”X14” drawer bottom through a table saw. Kick back into groin and shatter the left testicle. Happened so fast, never saw the plywood fly, just felt the hit. Nice short ride to emergency room and once there, first experience with morphine. I was a very experienced carpenter and cabinet maker by this point.
Learned a lot and will never forget that experience. To this day when I run a table saw, I focus and thank god for the modern anti-kick back devices.
Sometimes learning and wisdom have to hurt.
Thanks for sharing. I learned the hard way with Miter Saw as I looked to my right talking to my buddy and my left hand drifted into a spring blade. I had let off trigger, but it was still rotating. I still have my complete hand, but severed the tendon and it was stitched back together. I’m a programmer and my fingers are my daily money maker. Thanks for posting all this and the other great content.
In my wood shop, I was running an 8 ft board thru my jointer. It was getting close to being flat, I lifted the board up to inspect it, on the way down my right middle finger got a little shorter as I touched the rotating jointer blades. One millisecond took 1/8” off the tip of my middle finger.
My scarriest injury was about 20 years ago. I was ripping a board on a radial arm saw in my garage when I had a bad kick-back when the board split and shot back into my abdomen. Thankfully I wasn't standing perpendicular to the fence and it ricocheted off me and hit my beer fridge. It broke the handle off the fridge and I had a badly bruised belly which I felt for some time. The refrigerator is still there and I haven't repaired the handle to remind me about safety. I am always super careful (I had a fantastic teacher in school) and there was nothing wrong with the setup, all guards and anti-kickback pawls were in place and adjusted properly but sometimes s*** happens like a board splitting unpredictability. Stay safe out there and glad you're ok Richard. Merry Christmas!
My worst injury also happened at the miter saw with aluminum stair nose trim for vinyl. I was doing the same as you, but instead of the saw pushing your finger away, it pulled mine into the spinning blade because I was cutting 45 the other way. At first it felt numb like a smashed finger until i looked at it and saw it took a small chunk and blood was dripping. Im lucky to still have all of my fingers and the scarring now is pretty minimal. Didn’t need to go to the ER.
Glad to see you’re okay. I was running a board through the table saw and ran my left thumb over the blade as I was feeding it. Thankfully I followed the advice of only having the blade a tooth higher than the board. It cut a groove in my thumb, but it didn’t need stitches and I still have a thumb.
Been very fortunate, no major injuries. Used to build pool cages (enclosures) was cutting 2x2 inch aluminum and seen the small piece go flying in the air right into my eye.
Glad you’re ok Richard and the chimney came out beautiful!
19yr machinist and had to cut a metal band on a pallet of material. Used tin snips like the previous 6-7yrs. the band was so tight it flung back once cut and hit the top of my left hand. It lacerated 3 tendons and I had to go into immediate surgery. I have the Letter L on my hand and to this day, 80% finger strength in middle 3 fingers and numb knuckles. Lesson learned… USE CUT PROOF GLOVES when cutting tight metal bands (specifically when the band is excessively tight aka spring loaded). I’d post a pic but not sure I can haha.
Be safe everyone and Happy New Years🙏
December of last year, was up on a ladder in front of the house. Should have been paying more attention as the ladder I was on had moved a bit in the back, but I was trying to get things done fast. Long story short, fell 2 floors worth on to the concrete, Broke a vertebrae & slammed my head off the brick wall. After the ambulance ride to the level 1 trauma center, I needed surgery, with 2 rods & 10 screws in my back, & my head required 10 staples & 5 stitches. 2nd surgery in August to remove the hardware in the back, but all & all I'm mostly back to normal. And incredibly, incredibly fortunate.
Lesson learned: TRY to be patient & take your time!! The 5 minutes you end up saving cutting corners isn't worth it!
Glad you're ok & Merry Christmas!
I still remember when you used to use your Dewalt saw with the guard removed. Glad you are ok!
I'm glad your incident wasn't more severe. In 2000, I was a pattern maker. For people that do not know what that is, it's an old world trade where you make patterns and cores out of wood for foundries so that they can pour castings of products. My worst injury came while using a 20" disc sander. When pattern building every piece had to have what's called draft, meaning every edge needs to be slightly angled or rounded so that the sand pack could be lifted away from the pattern board. Well while sanding some smaller pieces with the sander table at an angle to achieve the draft a piece had got away from me and of course with the pressure I was applying towards the wheel my finger tips and knuckles went into the wheel. Result was some oddly flattened finger tips and some knuckles sanded down to the white meat. I was 21 or 22 at the time and learned that a 1/4" of missing finger tip will actually grow back like nothing happened, thank goodness 😅. Keep up the good work sir!! Stay safe 😊.
It happens.
I'm a woodworker since 2003.
Like you say those machines bite back hard.
On the 26th of February 2010 I had my accident in my father's woodshop.
I ripped open the top of my right hand in a milling machine.
All of my fingers broken, pretty much all tendons cut through, shattered joints...
55 stitches and titanium rods to keep it all together.
It took me 6 months to recover.
But... I still have all my fingers thanks to a top notch surgeon who fixed me up pretty good. 👌
Be careful out there fellow woodworkers, it happens in a split second!
Stepped on a form board nail as well. I remembered that pain instantly when you mentioned it.
Glad you're ok! Outside of splinters, random nicks in my hands, and some back sprains, I luckily haven't had any serious injuries from home DIY projects.
Nice service announcement! Glad you’re okay. I was cutting square steel tubing a few years ago using cutoff wheel on 4.5 inch grinder held in my right hand and the blade pinched and kicked backed across my left arm. Luckily it was not too deep but painful and dirty. Needed a good clean out and stitches at the local urgent care facility. Now I have that battle scar as a reminder to always be careful.
Been working in commercial carpentry for 12 years now. We frame with metal studs so plenty cuts on my hands.
Once a three wheel was dropping Sheetrock, I decided I could quickly make a mark on the floor and move on. Next thing I know the back tire of the moffit is riding up the back of my leg. Lucky me he heard my screams and stopped. Tore some stuff in my ankle, not sure what since I don’t have insurance, but I limped around for about a month. All good now lol
Glad you're OK. I was winding a garage door spring and all was going well when one of the bar slipped and the spring unwound and smack my hand. Nothing broken and was lucky that the ring i had (under my work gloves) took the brunt of the forces. Was left with a bruise that took a long time to heal.
High school, kick back on a Delta table saw! Messed up a coffee tabletop, but learned a lot of respect for the table saw. That was 44 years ago. Never ever had another issue with a table saw.
This same situation happened to me. I was cutting a long piece of 3/4 x 1/8 aluminum flat bar to inlay into a picture frame. I was cutting a 45 one end with a small off cut and it jumped, just like yours did. Scared the crap out of me and, just like you, I was fortunate that it didn’t break or cut any skin. I was also using a Kapex. Thanks for sharing your story as it just confirms that my setup and cut were doomed to failure right from the start. Be smart, be safe 😊
You should've placed a sacrificial piece of 1x3 laying flat on the table spanning the fence, (no gap). That way as you cut the brass there is material keeping it stable. I do this all the time when making minuet cuts.
Both my ER trips were on Fridays. Just not focussed. One was holding the mitre saw blade guard up with my thumb and reaching across to clear out an off cut. It happened so fast, and felt surprisingly exactly like you’d think a circular saw across the arm felt like. Luckily just a clean scrape, didn’t catch or pull my arm. The other was leaving just the metal backing and tubing of a built in vac port standing after removing a wall in demo. Running through at the end of the day to close the windows I didn’t even see it before walking right over it. Caught it in the shin and that thing bled so much my wife had to pour out my boot. Finishers have to be problem-solvers but quick and decisive. It’s good to consider where your mind is at and what could happen.
I was drilling a half inch hole through a chunk of aluminum in the drill press and the bit grabbed, spinning the whole thing around into the back of my hand. Nothing broken, but it was painful. I always make sure to have good camping now, and sometimes clamp something next to the work piece too to further prevent spinning if tried to come loose.
Thank you for your video and reminder to not get complacent.
You reminded me one. It was Saturday really cool job, restoring historic house entry columns.Saturday is a good day, I was enjoying working, but in a split second I did cut of a little piece of my finger with miter saw. Two thinks to lean - go to a doctor! But I did not want to lose any money and i worked with my bloody finger. Took a month to heel it. Second - always keep med. bag in a car, never know when you will need it. Good luck!
One of my first jobs in a sawmill, I was cleaning underneath the band saw over lunch break and the sawyer decided to turn it on. The huge carriage that carries the logs through the saw ran me over and jammed me into a big pulley. Lost my pinky finger and scarred my body up pretty good but made a full recovery. And a heck of a story to tell.
I’ve had this happen myself. Not with brass but with aluminium. you need a constant pile of wooden off cuts next to the saw to put behind every piece you cut. You need to support the back of EACH cut. the sacrificial fence you have made was great for the first few cuts. But as soon as you cut the mitre out of it you lost the support being the work piece. I hope this helps someone. I learnt this lesson exactly how Richard did. got away injury free but boy does it send a shock wave up your thumb!
First of all I'm glad you didn't suffer a worse injury.
I had kickback while using the dado stack on the table saw. It was really bad but thankfully I still have all my fingers. My middle and part of my pointer finger hit the blades. Visit to ER was the worse pain I can remember experiencing.
Merry Christmas to you and your family!
My worst injury is on the table saw. I was building something for my mother, a couple of days before Mother’s Day, and experienced a horrible kickback.
Fortunately, I didn’t lose any fingers, so I agree with you, it was a good day lol.
However, the kickback was so intense, it shot a piece of wood at my stomach and it created a knot in my stomach that hurt so badly. I couldn’t sleep on my right side for weeks. It’s the weirdest thing ever. I still have a small knot from it and it’s been a long time.
P.S I love your brass work! Absolutely amazing!
Good afternoon Richard. Glad to see that your injury wasn’t to awful, but any mistake ever made is a Great opportunity to pass along to help others. Love your channel. I would say one of the injuries I have had over the years was smashing my wedding ring on my hand between some pipe back in my oil field days. We were racking 2-3/8 upset tubing and my hand rolled off a pipe as the other one was rolling in the rack and it caught my hand. Thankfully I was able to use channel locks to reshape the ring to get it off my finger. I no longer work in the oil field but have been in construction for over 10 years now and still to this day I don’t wear any kind of jewelry. So my suggestion is to keep the jewelry for when you are heading out for a date night and away from the job sights.
This October I was demoing a plaster barrel ceiling in a house built in the 20’s. While taking it down the metal lath cut me open like a surgeon. 21 stitches. Just got the Milwaukee cut resistant sleeves from my brother for Christmas.
Hi Richard, that was thankfully a near miss for you, even though there was pain! I haven't used my table saw since I almost cut the top of my left thumb off a couple of months ago. I think I'm a bit traumatised and don't know what to do to overcome it. It's healed well, just that that thumb is a lot 'slimmer' than the other one, and still tingles in the deepest part of the original cut. I've ordered one of those expensive push blocks in the hope that it'll help me overcome my fear... wish me luck!
Glad you are okay, you don't need luck, just extreme care.
In Europe, they advocate & partially regulate that a user never ever put their hands near the blade. Push sticks, clamps, don't cut angles, don't put pressure on the falling piece to create a pinch & shear(There have been many tablesaw injuries and deaths without even getting cut by the blade... if the scrap piece gets ejected at a high speed for instance: one user embedded wood in his chest, luckily his nurse wife saved his life).
I could go on and on. Yet it's possible to have a life with no injuries.
Same situation with me, but with aluminium during my second cut on the saw with the material. After that I clamped the piece while cutting and had no more problems. I think with any kind of metal you have to clamp the piece because of the higher risk of the teeth of the saw catching the metal and digging into the material while cutting. Had a sore hand for a time but no other issues. All the best to you for the new year.
Glad you're good. I tripped over my old craftsman table saw leg and hit everything I could on the way down to the ground. Took some skin off on the side of my work bench and had a bunch of bruises. I'm a machinist by trade and being careful around powerful machines is everything but being clumsy isn't something I usually think about.
Ive been doing custom cabinet work since 1999. My first injury was on a table saw in 2004. I was re-sawing a piece of wood about 10 inches long and 2-1/2 wide. I didnt have a zero clearance plate in my saw. As the workpiece ran through the blade, the wood got sucked through the gap between the blade and throat plate. It pulled my fingers into the blade. No permanent damage, just cut my finger tips on the first 3 fingers on the left hand. Got 3-4 stitches per finger I got really lucky.
Next time was in 2014. Same table saw. I was ripping a piece of 3/4 x3/4 oak cove mold. Pushing it through the blade with the right hand, and holding it town on the saw table while keeping it against the fence. As I was watching the front side of the blade, I misjudged where my thumb on my left hand was and I sit my thumb right down on the backside of the blade. No permanent this time either. Got about a 1 inch cut on the pad of my left thumb Had to have about 4-5 stitches
Lastly in December of 2020 I was cutting off an appliance garage from a set of kitchen cabinets that the lady no longer wanted. So instead of the corner wall cabinet coming down and sitting on the countertop, she wanted it cut off to look like a normal corner wall cabinet. I was having trouble cutting the wood rails under the cabinet against the back wall. So I had this chainsaw looking carving wheel. (I had a bad feeling about purchasing this beforehand but decided to go against my gut feeling) I had taken the guard off the grinder a couple weeks before . I start cutting it and its going good. Then with in a fraction of a split second, the back side of the grinder blade catches another piece of wood under the cabinet and BAM the grinder kicked back and the grinder chainsaw wheel of death danced across the first two fingers at the knuckles. Again, no permanent damage, 4 stitches in the pointer finger and 6-8 stitches in the middle finger. Very very lucky on this one.
Auto body guy here. But DIY all my own home repairs. First auto body project learned an important lesson. Putting a T-top roof on a ‘87 Monte Carlo. With my dad. He did auto body his whole life. Scraping the urethane off the windshield. Lesson don’t cut towards yourself. Still have the long scare across my thumb. Paper towel, masking tape and went back to work. lol. Worse DYI injury was with a screw gun. Was framing a soffit. Drilling above my head. Slipped off the screws and the bit went right through the skin between the thumb and pointer finger. Perfect Philips head shape.
Glad you’re OK. My worst injury to date was a kickback on the router table (same as yours ;-) ). More fear than pain but I have a scar on my pinky, which is a good reminder.
Thank God your injury wasn’t worse!!! 10 years ago I remember installing luxury vinyl plank by the bedroom doorway making te cut with utility knife y cut my index finger off 1/8 inch including part of my nail it was a clean cut, I wasn’t able to work for one full week. My finger now is very sensitive at the injured area
Glad you’re ok. Thanks for sharing. My worst (had a few) was shooting a 16d nail into my knee. I had been framing for over 10 years by that time, so we are talking hundreds of thousands of nails shot without an incident. Unfortunately, all it takes is one to ruin your day or worse. I can’t blame the bump trigger because I was the one with a whiskey grip on the trigger, but I will never use a bump trigger again. Not worth the potential risk. Ironically, as I lay in the hospital, they told me how lucky I was. The knee has many intricate and delicate parts, and I managed to miss all of them except the bone to which it was deeply and securely fastened to xD. 9 years later, my knee is still going strong and I have a good story to tell while taking a break from the dance floor.
Just ran into your site about DeWALT. I had a kickback issue with my Delta contractor's saw. I was cutting plexiglas to replace windows for adding window air conditioners. I had a thick hoodie, shirt, etc. and I was cutting and it kicked back and hit me across the stomach. Although I was in pain I thought I was ok. A little later (about 30 minutes later) I decided to check it out, when I noticed blood on my shirt and hoodie. I never would have imagined that the plexiglas would have cut me through all of the layers of clothing and with no visible issue showing on the hoodie.
I am glad that you are ok .... yes it is a shock when that happens.
Frank's Boots High Heel and High Arch Support solved my lower back problems.. celastic toe helps pertect my toes.. from items dropping on them.. and the thick leather and rubber soles protect me from nails like shoes or cheep boots offer no back support. No foot support. Thanks for all your share man. Absolutely love your channel.