Table saw accident (update: gore added with spoiler button)

Glad it came out relatively minor for you (compared to what it could have been). Similar thing happened to my Dad about 20 years ago; he had 40+ years experience with woodworking and power tools at the time, and just got distracted for a second while ripping down boards while making a bunch of project kits for kids (mostly from the foster/group home system in the area) at an annual "camp" he volunteered with. Accidentally fed his thumb tip over the blade at an angle, then tried to drive himself to a local hospital ER while in shock.

I don't need to see the "gore" pics, since I got to watch the ER docs (I lived about 45 minutes from where he'd been working at the time) break down the end of the bone with pliers so they could make a flap and pull it around the end of the thumb in real time. His biggest problem afterward was that they'd used the skin from under the nail to cover the tip, so any time he bumped his thumb into anything for the next 12-18 months he felt it all the way up his arm.

 

I had removed the accessory handle to reach a tight spot. Never again. I'm always amazed at the videos of pro-fabricators using their angle grinders one-handed. Accident waiting to happen.

 

Don't sleep on a plunge router. 3HP motor run off a toggle/rocker switch that's hard to find once the mayhem gets underway...

 

Thanks for the eye bleach, and for responding so quickly. Learned something new about the spoiler function.

 

When I was in wood shop in high school there was a Saw Stop. Only one time did I ever see it retract and it was after the substitute teacher did a similar amount of damage to the inner part of their thumb. I’m sure that it is better to have that measure of safety but from my experience it doesn’t prevent all dangers. The power feeder is a good idea too.

 

Oof. I suppose nothing is foolproof, but I imagine in that case it could have been much worse.

 

They stitch the nail back on?

 

Sort of. Keeping the fragment in place with sutures should help it heal a bit better and more quickly, but I will certainly have to wait for it to grow out to look even remotely normal again. Time will tell. BTW, that part was the most painful of the whole ordeal; the lidocaine hadn't taken effect in the nail bed, so the Dr. got a couple of yelps out of me, LOL.

 

9th grade, school went on lockdown after a kid in woodshop cut off 4 1/4 fingers in one swoop.

 

Not sure why the "lockdown", but it's tragic for that to happen to a child. Kids sometimes do stupid things, but I wonder if there may have been some negligence on the part of the school.

 

Basically, they didn't want to have a bunch of kids in the hall when ems was going through with a kid on a stretcher and a bucket of ice and fingers.
No clue how it happened.

 

This.

I was stupid in highschool and had seized drum brakes on my van. Cut the drum off with an angle grinder. Had the grinder kick at one point and it tapped my leg through my jeans. Had no idea I had hit myself until I felt "wet" running down my leg. Had a nice 2-3" gash that was at least a 1/4" deep. Must have gone right through the nerves as there was zero pain. I also wasn't wearing safety glasses.......