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  1. #1

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    Took a nasty table saw kick-back into my right palm last night. IDIOT me was in a hurry to finish something and was not wearing a work glove, which I always do. Lower palm ripped open, bleeding like crazy, wife going crazy wanting to take me to the hospital, I refused because of the current climate. Treated it with a lot of peroxide and gauzed it. Cannot even hold a pick today, let alone do anything else with my right hand. Have to figure out how the heck I'm even going to wash/shower!

    Good thing all my gigs this year were already cancelled for covid!

    To everyone: ALWAYS wear a work glove no matter how quick or simple the task! Pic is from this morning after all night, still oozing.

    UH-OH! (nasty table saw hand injury)-hand2-jpg
    Last edited by Woody Sound; 06-01-2020 at 08:27 AM.

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  3. #2

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    Sorry to hear about that, man. I got a SawStop a couple of years ago because I decided I couldn’t afford to lose any fingers, being a guitarist and all. I have never had any major kickback with that saw—it has a well-designed splitter and pawls and guard.

    I did have a kickback incident years ago with a different saw. It threw a piece of wood 20 feet back and dented a garage door. Fortunately, I was not in the way of the trajectory. I make a point to always stand to the left of the saw blade for just such reasons. I do wear gloves most of the time, the safety of which is debated vociferously among woodworkers. (Some say they will get caught on a blade or feeding mechanism and “pull” the hand into the blade. I don’t agree with that.)

    I’m sure you know how to prevent kickback, so I won’t go into that. Seems to me all my mistakes happen when I’ve been working awhile and am tired.

    Anyway, heal up soon. Don’t hesitate to go in to the doc (urgent care preferable) if you need stitches or you think it’s looking infected. Hospitals right now are safer than the local grocery store.

  4. #3
    Tnx DJ. I am normally super-safe. Was tired at the end of the day, and I only had to make two quick cuts for a shelf, what the heck, right? I guess that's when bad things happen. As someone who knows the force of a kickback, I am just grateful and lucky that my hand is still attached. Couple of inches lower at the wrist and maybe not.

    One of the reasons I picked our downsized home location is because it's close to a major hospital and just walking distance from a couple of urgent cares. Now I don't want to go!
    Last edited by Woody Sound; 06-01-2020 at 09:04 AM.

  5. #4

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    Hopefully no severe damage done - fingers crossed for fast healing as well...

  6. #5

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    Woody,
    I took a long look at my hobbies when I started playing guitar. I did this because I was always having spraied fingers and other ailments from my various sports activities (football, basketball, sometimes soccer). I gave them up - not just for guitar playing but for age-related reasons as well.

    But like you said, fatigue is one of the main causes of failures, whether its mental or physical. This was a great word of caution.

  7. #6

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    I had a hard time clicking to open this thread. That title is cringe worthy.

    I'm a bone marrow transplant patient on immunosuppression and consequently immune compromised and at high risk of covid. Even still, if there is any question to it needing stitches I'd go to the doctor.

    I've actually had to go to the oncologist twice and a dermatologist once during the lockdown. It's like a ghost town at both of those clinics and they're hyper cautious. Probably safer than walking in my quiet single family houses neighborhood.

  8. #7
    Quote Originally Posted by fep
    I had a hard time clicking to open this thread. That title is cringe worthy.

    I'm a bone marrow transplant patient on immunosuppression and consequently immune compromised and at high risk of covid. Even still, if there is any question to it needing stitches I'd go to the doctor.

    I've actually had to go to the oncologist twice and a dermatologist once during the lockdown. It's like a ghost town at both of those clinics and they're hyper cautious. Probably safer than walking in my quiet single family houses neighborhood.
    Yeah tnx, not to gross anyone out but I basically have a 3/4" hole in the center base of my palm, at the beginning of the thumb muscle. But it's not too deep, so I am hopeful.
    Just got through with a quarantined period because of my 90+ father, don't want to have to do it all over again.

    As far as my appearance, think "stigmata" but just in one hand.

    UH-OH! (nasty table saw hand injury)-irving-francis-houle-stigmata-1-jpg

  9. #8

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    Best wishes!!

  10. #9

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    Sorry for your accident. I would get it seen to asap. To bathe, cover the hand with a plastic bag and seal with a couple of rubber bands to keep it dry.

    I had an eight foot piece of 5/4 green white oak kick back and hit me in the shin. Wound up with severe cellulitis. Not fun.

    I hope you heal swiftly and completely.

  11. #10

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    A work glove while operating rotating machinery is not the answer. Spatial awareness and concentration is. I had my hand caught in a lathe because I wore a work glove e.g. it was cold. Bent my entire had backwards until the glove gave way. Lost the ability to hyper extend my fretting hand ring finger with that one. 15 years later stuck a knife into the same finger and severed the tendon at the base of the palm. Never fully recovered from that exercise in stupidity.

  12. #11

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    Hoping for a complete recovery and full strength/mobility after your injury heals. I am very squeamish about hand injuries. I do woodwork as well and am always extra careful with my table saw. Thanks for the safety reminder, but very sorry about the circumstances leading to it....

  13. #12

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    Quote Originally Posted by Woody Sound
    Yeah tnx, not to gross anyone out but I basically have a 3/4" hole in the center base of my palm, at the beginning of the thumb muscle. But it's not too deep, so I am hopeful.
    Just got through with a quarantined period because of my 90+ father, don't want to have to do it all over again.

    As far as my appearance, think "stigmata" but just in one hand.

    UH-OH! (nasty table saw hand injury)-irving-francis-houle-stigmata-1-jpg
    What about the stigma from that giant epidermoid cyst above the left eye? That’s a Dr. Pimple Popper special, right there...

  14. #13

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    I have been using a table saw for many years and I love the things that it does. It also scares the shit out of me, thinking what it could do if I'm not hyper focused every instant. Things go wrong before you can react.
    Hoping your hand recovers soon. If it was my hand, I would see a specialist, just to be sure.

  15. #14

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    Don't forget safety glasses, too!


  16. #15

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    I never learned about push sticks when I was first starting to do woodworking. I’m glad I discovered them before I ever had a mishap. I don’t make any table saw cuts without one (or two) of them between me and the workpiece.

  17. #16

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    I almost never use my saw without the riving knife and pawls in place. Every now and then there is a cut like a groove that needs to be done without them. Or dadoes, which I don't have set up right now.

    The saw needs to be set up properly so it doesn't bind at the back of the saw blade--see below.

    I almost always hold the piece to the left of the blade (and stand to the left), or use a push stick. Anytime my hand is to the right of the blade--sometimes for very tricky angle cuts for instance--I am super careful about where I and my limbs are. And usually use featherboards.

    https://www.woodcraft.com/blog_entri...cceptable-risk

    I realize you all who have saws probably know this already.

  18. #17

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    Had a 2 X 4 catch me in the gut once, that was no fun. other than that just a nick from a blade in 40 yrs of using a table saw daily, been very lucky. I guess the amp showing up isn't as urgent as it was Woody, but take care of that hand don't let it get infected.

  19. #18

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    There’s also this technology. I am in dire need of a new table saw. (Mine was obtained 20 years ago by giving a $20 bottle of wine to a colleague who was upgrading his circa 1972 Sears contractor saw....) When I do, it will be one of these. I have read that the table saw manufacturers have for years lobbied to avoid this technology being mandated on consumer saws. Think of how many accidents this would have prevented if widely adopted.

  20. #19

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    Yea... it sucks. best of luck and skill in your recovery. I rip my palm open years ago, left hand, about 3" rip. Sitches etc... had duo gig that night with big name sax player. Somehow pulled it off, lots of blood etc...

    Took a few weeks to heal etc... still have some numbness in fingers. But can still play.

  21. #20

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    Push sticks!

  22. #21
    Thanks to all for your wishes (and great links). Just an update. Did not want to go to a hosp or urgent care because of covid. But there is no obvious tendon or bone damage. Those things are working fine. Just a bad deep 2" gash in my palm, and a LOT of bruising from my knuckles down into my wrist. The flesh that got torn off is starting to turn hard and die, and the open fresh pink flesh below is starting to adapt and turn into the new skin surface. I'm being ultra careful to keep it clean and disinfected and expose the new skin to air whenever I can cleanly do it. The human body's healing process is an amazing thing. Man, I am so lucky, of all the exact places in that area for the board to hit, the lower palm is probably the most protected by deep muscle and tissue. An inch or so lower and the delicate exposed wrist gets partially severed. Couple of inches over and my thumb gets cut off. Couple of inches higher and some fingers get broken or severed.