How'd You Get That Cool Scar? Warning Gory Pics.

Fiddleback

Fiddleback

Knifemaker
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Knifemaker / Craftsman / Service Provider
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Oct 19, 2005
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Some of us, I know, have some pretty neat stories to tell about old wounds. Its one of those conversations men often have. Remember the scene in Jaws when they start showing off their scars? What about the scene in Lethal Weapons 2 (hot chick showing scars)?

Anyway I got this injury on my brand new Grizzly cabinet saw (3hp) two years ago. It was so new I hadn't made push sticks yet and was using a scrap of oak to push the work past the blade. Unfortunately for me that was when the saw kicked back. The sharp corners on that board (shown in the pic) ripped the palm of my hand out. All of the bones and tendons were exposed and it looked super wierd when I wiggled my fingers. One shouldn't be privy to the actual workings of his body as a machine. The doctor in the emergency room was stoked about my injury, but laughed at me and told me to take my safety goggles off now.

Had I not known about kickback and had my body positioned behind the blade I don't know what would have happened. This injury happened with NO contact with the blade. If you've used a table saw and heard of kickback lemme tell you how powerful an incident it is. Id rather hold my hand over the barrell of a 22 anyday.

Anyway cool injury pics to follow.
 
Happened on my wifes first Mother's Day too. Just as the roast was ready to come out of the oven....LOUD BANG. Off to the emergency room.:rolleyes:
 
oh man, ouch. I know how that goes though. If we rode a horse everytime I had to be taken to the ER, well the horse would know the way for sure by now. It's bad when you've had stitches so many times that you can actually estimate how many a wound is going to take. ;)

Jake
 
Lucky...could have been worse. I take it you didn't get to the nerves and tendons themselves but rather simply peeled the meat?
 
Nasty said:
Lucky...could have been worse. I take it you didn't get to the nerves and tendons themselves but rather simply peeled the meat?
Click to expand...


Yep. Just ripped out the meat. You wouldn't believe how thick your palm is. No bone or tendon damage at all, but all were displayed. The doctor thought that was cool and called others in to see. "Wiggle your fingers...Ooh." Only thing that sucks is that the scar hurts in the winter, expecially when using a chisel or something like that.
 
Double ouch!

Did you get a discount for providing visual entertainment to the ER staff? :D

You know you've done a bad thing when an ER doc says,"Cool!"

Alan
 
ACStudios said:
You know you've done a bad thing when an ER doc says,"Cool!
Alan
Click to expand...

it's still more disconcerting when he says 'Oops!'
especially in arabic - my left index finger still is a bit numb 10 odd years later. Dammam hospital ER doc did a good sewing job tho.
 
ACStudios said:
...You know you've done a bad thing when an ER doc says,"Cool!"

Alan
Click to expand...

This is *so* true...

One of the top things you *don't" want to hear in the ER.

You also *want* to be one of the ones to wait in the ER...being first in line is *not* a good thing!
 
That HAD to hurt the next mornin'!

Hands are cool. I have seen that part of the hand exposed in the O.R..
Alot of neat function to visualize. Doc was a great teacher, I learned alot.
I have, unfortunately, earned a couple "cool!s and good job!s" from ER staff myself. :rolleyes:
 
Remember the whole point of this thread was for YOU guys to share pics and tell your stories too. Come on post some pics. Everyone can learn from your mistakes then.
 
If I had pics of the time my head took 52 stitches to piece back together, I wouldn't want to look at 'em, much less show 'em to anybody. Didn't hear any of the medics say "cool" that night. Took the surgeon so long stitching he hit a point where he couldn't give me anything more for the pain, would have exceeded max dosage, had to grit my teeth a bit on the last three or four. Not an experience I like to talk about, don't even know why I mention it now, except I never saw a wound that was "cool", the sumbitches plain old hurt. :grumpy:

Sarge
 
Sounds like your wound was beyond anything I would want to imagine. Mine didn't hurt me till next day. The way I knew I was cut was when I closed my hand and it felt like wringing out a rag. The blood was flowing out between my fingers. Next day sucked more.

My idea for this thread was to learn some consequences and better understand the forces behind common shop accidents. Sharing these blunders could save someone else the experience because they may rethink doing iffey things they know are not quite right. I see people take chances in the shop a lot. When you hear of kickback and read about it you can't imagine that your tablesaw is going to sound like a shotgun. Its hard to imagine the momentum that rough plank is going to have in your direction. Maybe I will help someone. Kickback usually sucks you into the blade. I was SUPER lucky.

I don't take it lightly, but people do like to talk gore, and I thought we could benefit safety conditions among us and have a fun conversation at the same time.
 
Never had a shop related accident, I've never had a workshop of my own.
Most of my injuries have been motorcycle related.
I wish I had pics, and I don't have a way to scan radiographs.

DaddyDett
 
I have always prefered scars to tatoos for this very reason...

A scar is a marking on your body that tells a story. Anyone with a scar will most likely be able to tell you an interesting anecdote or the details behind the origin of the scar. But with a tatoo... "I was drunk one day and decided to put this cool dragon on my arm..." It just doesn't have the same effect.

At this time, I am virtually scar free. I have a few small ones here and there, but nothing worth mentioning. My worst experience with kickback was a very lucky one. I was using a crappy plastic push peice while ripping a very thin trim peice through the table saw. I had to use my left hand to push the already cut part thorugh to keep it straight. When I was a few inches fomr the end, I was repositioning my left hand when the saw caught it and flung the trim peice back across the room. I was lucky enough to have my right hand clear of the projectile... but it still scared the shit out of me.
 
Here's a picture of the one I got back in '98.



Long story short, I was chopping wet wood with a sharpened junker kukri, struck at a too-low angle and had the kukri go into my wrist. Four stitches and 8 years later, the scar's barely noticeable and usually hidden under my wristwatch.

Bob
 
Anyway I got this injury on my brand new Grizzly cabinet saw (3hp) two years ago.
Click to expand...

Wow

Ow

Jeez:eek: (that one gave me the cringes as I kept re-imagining how that must have felt)
 
Slipped on the band saw, cut straight through the fingernail down to the first knuckle, right along side the bone.

The worst part was, waiting for the nail to grow out to the point where it wasn't cut in half anymore.

attachment.php
 
Power tools don't play... :( Careful, Andy.

I cut off the tip of my thumb (just a 'lil chunk), slicing my wife's seatbelt to get her out of an upside-down wrecked vehicle.

Looking at the thumb right now, you can hardly tell the scar 'cause I tore off my left thumbnail in an accident a few months ago and the new one is still short about 1/4". Can't use that thumb to pick stuff up. Yet. The edge is like, rounded off. It's annoying. Your hand looks a lot worse, though.

I wish I was making this up. Scars are an unhappy subject.


Mike :(
 
My scars are my tattoos, once when I was younger and was arrested for hitting a LEO(sorry guys:( ), while being processed the officer asked if I had any unusual scars or tattoos, by the time I finished describing all my scars(5 minutes or more) he wrote down "None";)
 
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