PSA: Table saw vs fingers(after pics)

you have to watch out for air driven nail guns. I managed to nail a thumb to the side of a shied I was building. Darn near lost the top of my thumb it took a couple of years for the nail to regrow.

Yes the nail gun had a safety over the nail exit.
 
Sorry to read of your incident, best wishes for a full and speedy recovery.

Thanks for sharing and reminding us of the need to be safe in all of our hobbies.

Think I will put the guard back in my angle grinder !!!


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I got lucky...twice. Cut the very tip off my left hand thumb, 2-3 layers of skin and tip of nail.
 
I got an education at a very early age about the dangers that can occur with power saws. My maternal grandfather had lost an entire pinkie and the ends of two other fingers by the time I was old enough to observe and notice such things.
 
I hope it heals quickly and properly Lee.
Three years ago I bought a nice restored 8N tractor from a retired shop teacher who had cut four of his fingers off on a saw and had to go to a tractor with hydraulics and power steering. Happens more than we realize.
 
I worked with a guy who bought a radial arm saw, the all time leader in digit removal, built before the autostop features. He promptly whacked off about an inch of his left index finger. His family was able to retrieve the finger and preserve it properly, and it was successfully reinstalled. About a year later, he does it again. Same hand, same finger, same saw, same surgeon. Doctor tells him this time, and I quote: "Why don't we just call it a day. Then you can keep the saw . . . "

Fella always complained on the range when we did offhand shooting . . .
 
Made several fancy designed push sticks with hand painted purple hearts that I issued to acquaintances, after a saw attack.
I, myself once hurriedly grabbed a 2' long thick wood dow rod, for a improvised push stick, only to have it kick back and solidly crack my forehead. Lesson learned, do not use a too long push stick. :rolleyes::D
 
45 years ago I made my left thumb shorter than my right thumb by the width of a table saw blade. Very uncomfortable for while. Glad you survived.
 
Thanks for the PSA. I think the biggest risk for me would be complacency. If I had to use a power tool often, I'd probably start taking shortcuts.

I recently worked on clearing vegetation around the yard, using a gas powered trimmer. Before getting near the blade to check for play, or to add nylon string. I'd unplug the spark plug. Before starting the engine, I'd check for loose items that could snag, and put on eye protection, ear protection, work gloves, even snake boots for protection against flying debris & kickback; snakes are in hibernation. Before refilling gas tank, I'd make sure gasoline doesn't drip on hot parts, and move it to concrete driveway to prevent fire from spreading in case it does catch fire.

Overkill & paranoia? Those precautions add several minutes to the process. If I had to do it every day (think of all that wasted time) and nothing untoward had occurred in the past, I'd be tempted to ignore those time-consuming precautions and get more relaxed, more complacent.

I'd never heard of Sawstop, but if I get a saw, the safety features would be worth the premium, if any, to protect my appendages. I have a Makita handheld circular saw which is probably more dangerous (Is it?) than a mounted table saw but I don't use it often.

Happens with guns, too. I would argue that a newbie who's learned safe handling and operation of a specific firearm has lower probability of negligent discharge than an "experienced" person who has gotten fast but complacent.
 
Glad them finingers are still attached to the rest of the hand.
I narrowly escaped disaster one day.
All I had left to do on a house I was flipping was get the mop board up in one room. Decided to forego putting my power miter saw on it's stand. Put it on the floor of the garage and went to work.
Have no idea what I was thinking when I brought the saw down and my left arm was in the way.
All I can say is I picked a good day to wear my Swiss Army watch. The blade went through my watch and still managed to cut well into my wrist.
Good lesson from the ER doc. He asked if I was an idiot. Well apparently so, I almost cut my hand off. "No, what I want to know is if you flexed your fingers to see if they still worked." Yeah of course I did. "NEVER do that if you cut yourself severely on a finger or wrist. You may have cut a tendon or ligament that has not separated. Flexing and contracting a damaged one may cause it to break and you would be in surgery for many hours getting that repaired."
You can see the scar in the picture. Every time I work with power tools, I look at that scar and think what might have been were I not wearing that watch.
Best wishes on your speedy recovery.
 

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