Ouch - be aware of the sawing machines!

Herman

Herman

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A nice topic for the category "well, what can i say". Shame on me.

Last evening had an accident with my tablesaw sawing some wood for the gunports. Fed the wood safely (i thought) into the machine by means of an other piece of (push) wood. With my left hand i gently held the wood to the fence, that is where i went wrong. For some reason the wood (stuck?) was launched at me and at that moment (as a natural defensive reaction?) my left hand must have moved forward end the top of my index finger was caught by the blade..ouch.
Initially I thought the wood must have hit my finger as i had not held my hand in the direct vicinity of the blade, but i couldn't explain the hole in my nail and due to the rich amount of blood i did not see the top of my finger.
In the hospital x-ray photos showed that also the bone was damaged. Ultimately the nail was removed and everything stitched together.

For the time being i am out of the running.

I won't be the first but i share this with you in the hope i will be the last. I spare you the photos and hope you are and stay well.

Herman
 
ai ai. that's painfull. I'm always beware of this. That's why I made a crosscut sled. I was lucky, I missed the saw when this happen to me too. Wish you fast recovery
 
Uwek said:
Sorry to hear this - wish you a fast recovery
Do not throw away your saw ...... you still need "her"
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Hi Uwe

I am seriously contemplating what to do with this table saw.

It is a Proxxon Fet, bought second hand, has seen better days and did not come with a blade guard. A blade guard might have prevented this incident, but on the other hand I understand that the blade guard is not valued by everyone and sometimes discarded.

After my recent experience I am somewhat -let's call it- reluctant (or outright afraid) to give it a second chance. What caused the fact that it launched the wood at me (ps. that happened once before) and so resulted in the incident? I am not certain.
Maybe a fresh blade would show some improvement, although i don't think the blade was worn out.

On the other hand I am not certain I would be less reluctant with an other table saw.. or is the praised Byrnes machine so confidence instilling that it might be worth the rather large investment to buy and have it shipped/customs cleared for the Netherlands. And live happily ever after:confused:.

But Uwe, you are right, one thing is certain, I need "her" or her substitute to carry on.

Herman
 
Steef66 said:
ai ai. that's painfull. I'm always beware of this. That's why I made a crosscut sled. I was lucky, I missed the saw when this happen to me too. Wish you fast recovery
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Thank you Stephan.

I too have made a crosscut sled, but did not use it as the wood was a bit longer than the sled.
Also it appears to me that the saw blade is not fully in right angle with the movement of the cross sled as a slim saw blade seemed to be pushed somewhat sidewards/burning the wood.

Herman
 
Maybe a bandsaw, these are not so dangerous as a circle saw. There are also a lot of YouTube video's you can watch what are the does and don'ts of a tablesaw. I watched a lot. For an example never push the wood on the left side against the saw when the glide is on the right side. Always push the wood between the glide and saw. There a lot of things to learn in these video's. Like the speed, blade hight and more.
 
Herman said:
A nice topic for the category "well, what can i say". Shame on me.

Last evening had an accident with my tablesaw sawing some wood for the gunports. Fed the wood safely (i thought) into the machine by means of an other piece of (push) wood. With my left hand i gently held the wood to the fence, that is where i went wrong. For some reason the wood (stuck?) was launched at me and at that moment (as a natural defensive reaction?) my left hand must have moved forward end the top of my index finger was caught by the blade..ouch.
Initially I thought the wood must have hit my finger as i had not held my hand in the direct vicinity of the blade, but i couldn't explain the hole in my nail and due to the rich amount of blood i did not see the top of my finger.
In the hospital x-ray photos showed that also the bone was damaged. Ultimately the nail was removed and everything stitched together.

For the time being i am out of the running.

I won't be the first but i share this with you in the hope i will be the last. I spare you the photos and hope you are and stay well.

Herman
Click to expand...
I received a similar wound last year, inflicted by the brake disk of my bike. A couple of stitches and my index finger is as good as new, but I think a piece of bone got detached as well; I can now feel and here some clicking, whenever I roll my finger over a hard surface.

I am afraid you won't be the last suffering from the effects of sawing blades and other nasty, sharp stuff: nah, that won't happen to me; I'm always careful...

This unfortunately is going to cost you a couple of weeks of precious building time; good luck!
 
Steef66 said:
Maybe a bandsaw, these are not so dangerous as a circle saw. There are also a lot of YouTube video's you can watch what are the does and don'ts of a tablesaw. I watched a lot. For an example never push the wood on the left side against the saw when the glide is on the right side. Always push the wood between the glide and saw. There a lot of things to learn in these video's. Like the speed, blade hight and more.
Click to expand...
Thank you Steef.

Good advice.

BTW I was pushing the wood gently against the slide(or fence?) (on the right side of the saw blade) so not towards the blade. Blade height just above the wood. Speed of the blade is not adjustable. Pushing speed rather slow.

But before any more work is done with this machine i will follow your advice.

Herman
 
RDN1954 said:
I received a similar wound last year, inflicted by the brake disk of my bike. A couple of stitches and my index finger is as good as new, but I think a piece of bone got detached as well; I can now feel and here some clicking, whenever I roll my finger over a hard surface.

I am afraid you won't be the last suffering from the effects of sawing blades and other nasty, sharp stuff: nah, that won't happen to me; I'm always careful...

This unfortunately is going to cost you a couple of weeks of precious building time; good luck!
Click to expand...
Thank you.

You must have made quite a fall with your bike.
 
Herman said:
You must have made quite a fall with your bike
Click to expand...
Did some maintenance on the brakes and was rather clumsy, re-adjusting the front wheel. Boy are those brake disks sharp; gave the front wheel a spin and didn't realize my index finger was still there...
 
Herman said:
A nice topic for the category "well, what can i say". Shame on me.

Last evening had an accident with my tablesaw sawing some wood for the gunports. Fed the wood safely (i thought) into the machine by means of an other piece of (push) wood. With my left hand i gently held the wood to the fence, that is where i went wrong. For some reason the wood (stuck?) was launched at me and at that moment (as a natural defensive reaction?) my left hand must have moved forward end the top of my index finger was caught by the blade..ouch.
Initially I thought the wood must have hit my finger as i had not held my hand in the direct vicinity of the blade, but i couldn't explain the hole in my nail and due to the rich amount of blood i did not see the top of my finger.
In the hospital x-ray photos showed that also the bone was damaged. Ultimately the nail was removed and everything stitched together.

For the time being i am out of the running.

I won't be the first but i share this with you in the hope i will be the last. I spare you the photos and hope you are and stay well.

Herman
Click to expand...
Yikes, hope the recovery goes well.
I see some videos of modelers using saws with out guards and I cringe hoping they don't cut their fingers, maybe that's why I don't have a tablesaw, cant trust myself.
 
donfarr said:
BAND SAW BY ALL MEANS HAVE HAD MINE FOR AT LEAST 3 YEARS can do everything a table saw can and more i can get strips very, very thin with a blade change can do re sawing great tool.
Click to expand...
That might be a solution. Do you have a specialised miniature band saw (like Proxxon)?
 
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