I hate it when...

Way-Barney said:
Surely you are using a push stick, right?
It sounds to me like bandsaws are the most dangerous tool in your shop, you need to remove that nonchalance from your mind, next time you might not be so lucky. šŸ„²
Every tool room I ever walked in had guys with fingers missing, it can't be fun looking for a finger tip on the floor and then putting it in a matchbox hoping they can sew it back on at the hospital. However, if you do end up in that situation make sure that you put it on ice, the tissue remains viable for longer. ;)
Click to expand...
Ummm ā€¦ from what I have heard, do *not* put severed members on ice. Aside from the risk of infection, there is a huge possibility of freezing the tissue, rendering it useless.
 
The MOST DANGEROUS machines in the shop are the ones you take for granted and don't respect.

Yes, people get hurt badly with buffers because they don't think about the consequences of a snagged blade ...
But, people also drill holes in their legs and hands with a cordless drill and saw off fingertips with a saber saw holding a board with one hand while cutting. The list is long.
 
Cushing H. said:
Ummm ā€¦ from what I have heard, do *not* put severed members on ice. Aside from the risk of infection, there is a huge possibility of freezing the tissue, rendering it useless.
Click to expand...
I stand corrected, your right. Maybe a bunch of kitchen roll to sit the fingers/finger tips on over the top of the ice to keep it/them chilled down.
 
Crag the Brewer said:
Yup, nonchalance. I'm sticking with what I said.

(My) opinion of the Most Dangerous machines in the machine shop is the drill press and the pedestal grinder/buffer.

I know what I did was wrong. Thanks.
Click to expand...

If I feel that on a particular day my mind is wandering with that carefree feeling, I wont go into the shed. Several times I have opened the door and thought "no machines today!" Sometimes its a reminder that I have forgot to take my tablets.

I stick to making a new design or a bit of Filing something down.
 
navman said:
No sad faces guys...positive side is, I have a new model now!
Click to expand...
Similar to one like this:

pveGbcA.jpg


To becoming one like this?

0CRVf3H.jpg


Don't know how that happens. Well there was this warble on the edge............
 
I know a bit about this situation.
Here is the protocol for a severed digit:
First - Try not to puke. It can look pretty horrible, especially if it was smashed off.
1) Don't do anything to the finger/toe. Don't remove a ring or trim off dangling flesh.
2) Rinse it off with clean water.
3) Wrap it in a clean cloth or towel and dampen the cloth
4) Put the towel in a plastic bag (zip-lock is best)
5) Put that bag in a second bag with some ice. (Zip-lock is best)
6) Take the finger/toe to the hospital with the injured person or give it to the paramedics with the ambulance. Time is of the essence here.
7) Pray for a vital reattachment.

Fun - well not so fun - story.
Back in 1954 I got the tip of my left ring finger caught in a tetter-totter (see-saw). It sliced it off cleanly like a guillotine. My dad was a Chief Navy Corpsman and took the fingertip with me to Portsmouth Naval Hospital. Thanks to dad being well known there, we were in an ER room within 45 minutes of the accident. He and the doctor looked at the clean cut end of my finger and the clean cut end of the severed part and decided to try and put it back on. What was there to loose? BTW, I was awake and watching the surgery.
At first, it didn't take too well, and within a week it looked like gangrene was setting in. They decided that if they couldn't stop it, they would take the finger at the middle joint in 5 days. With massive doses of penicillin and soaking my hand several times a day in hot water with a mix of Epsom salts and sulfa powder the color started coming back and the black tissue sluffed off. In another month it looked ugly but had a bright pink color. I barely had a scar after a year. If you saw it today it is hardly any different than the other fingers. The only part that is different from the other fingers is it had less sensitivity for about 10 years as the nerves re-grew, and it is rock hard because the cut off bone grew into a round knob.
This may not sound like anything exceptional today, but there is some interesting history here. 150 years earlier a British Surgeon reattached a severed fingertip. It worked. However, it was hardly ever done again. After my replantation, as far as I know, it wasn't done again in the US for 10 years until the mid 1960's and the invention of the surgical microscope.
My dad had read about what the old-time surgeon did in some old medical books he found at the hospital he was stationed at in England handling wounded soldiers and prisoners after the war ended. Dad was a corpsman, not a doctor, but was talented medically and did a lot of surgical work in the Pacific and then in England. He told the doctor about the article from the early 1800's and the doctor decided to try it, with dad's help. Neither one of them had ever heard of it being done before, and had no idea what the outcome would be. They just went with what they knew of anatomy, realigned everything as close as they could, and made their best guesses on how to do it. I remember it had tiny sutures all around the finger.

Thanks, Dad!
 
Last edited:
fitzo said:
Most dangerous tool in the shop is the soft machine with the poor decision making process.

And I defy any of you to tell me you haven't done sumpin' stoopid in the shop. :) How long ago did you lose count???
Click to expand...

Our Brain.... Yup, Very Dangerous. Very Dangerous
 
One minor addition to Stacy's instructions - ideally, you want to rinse with Saline solution, and cover in gauze with saline solution. Minor difference, but better for the tissue - which needs all the help it can get !

Bill
 
Yes, that is what the paramedics will do. In the shop or at camp, it is doubtful you will have either. The cleanest cloth around or a paper towel and some bottled water is what will work in an emergency.
 
I hate it when the weld on my 14" bandsaw blade breaks and nearly causes me to soil myself. Thank goodness for push sticks!

Unfortunately my $200 fence and lower tire to some pretty nasty damage. :(

Anyone have a good recommendation for a decent bandsaw tire for a Laguna 1412? šŸ˜‚

On the plus side... I cut 286 sets of scales today before the bandsaw went down. :D
 
Fixall said:
I hate it when the weld on my 14" bandsaw blade breaks and nearly causes me to soil myself. Thank goodness for push sticks!

Unfortunately my $200 fence and lower tire to some pretty nasty damage. :(

Anyone have a good recommendation for a decent bandsaw tire for a Laguna 1412? šŸ˜‚

On the plus side... I cut 286 sets of scales today before the bandsaw went down. :D
Click to expand...
how is it that you use a push stick that it keeps you from soiling yourself? Er, actually, I don't wanna know.
šŸ¤£
 
Stacy E. Apelt - Bladesmith said:
Yes, that is what the paramedics will do. In the shop or at camp, it is doubtful you will have either. The cleanest cloth around or a paper towel and some bottled water is what will work in an emergency.
Click to expand...
Do you remember him?
Bobbit I think his name was, i wonder how he found and transported his pecker.
There would have not been much cool calm and collected thought there.
I hope that the knife was sharp!
 
I remember it well. It happened about 200 miles from my home.

30 years ago, Lorena Bobbit cut of her husband's penis after he came home drunk and forcibly raped her again. This was a repeated pattern with him. John Wayne Bobbit passed out drunk afterwards, and she took a knife and severed his "member" cleanly at the testicals, and left him there in bed. The knife was an 8" "Ginsu" knife with a very sharp edge. The cut was straight and clean. As she drove away, she threw the penis out the car window into a field. Mr. Bobbit woke up to discover the problem and wrapped a sheet around himself and drove himself to the ER. The doctors sent the fire department to the field to search for the penis. They found it, dropped it in a Zip-Lock bag, and placed it on ice. It was reattached successfully.
IIRC, the knife was offered at auction several years later for a large sum of money but was withdrawn from sale. There are many knives sold as "Bobbit" knives. The most popular is a cheap folding knife called "Bobbit Weenie Whacker". You can find them easily on eBay and other sites.

John Bobbit went on to be a porn star and Lorenna founded a group to protect women from "spouse rape". Many laws were passed to protect wives from being forced to have sex with their husbands.

BTW, John Bobbit was convicted of sexual assault. Lorena was found not guilty by reason of temporary insanity.

Even today, at the Harrisonburg knife show I have people refer to some of my super sharp Japanese kitchen knives as "Bobbit Specials".
 
Last edited:
Stacy E. Apelt - Bladesmith said:
The MOST DANGEROUS machines in the shop are the ones you take for granted and don't respect.

Yes, people get hurt badly with buffers because they don't think about the consequences of a snagged blade ...
But, people also drill holes in their legs and hands with a cordless drill and saw off fingertips with a saber saw holding a board with one hand while cutting. The list is long.
Click to expand...
You can think as much you want , simple . .. . .. . **** happens :)
 
Don't need a coffee after catching up on this thread. šŸ˜±
 
I think you missed my point. I was saying that people regularly don't think about the possible adverse things that could happen when using a familiar tool.
I agree, **** happens. However, **** happens more often when you don't think about what you are doing beforehand.
Tools like buffers are well known as dangerous, and definitely **** happens even with those taking care. If you don't respect a buffer, it will likely hurt you.

The main point was that people do some really dumb things with tools that should be respected, but are taken for granted as easy to use and safe. I have seen people use a disc grinder on a bar of metal they are holding in their other hand while resting it across their knee, sawing a bar with a saber saw while holding the bar across their leg, and drilling on wood and metal while hand holding it on their leg or hand. One very common accident in a knife shop is holding a sheet or bar of metal ... or worse, a knife blade ... by hand while drilling on the drill press. I am willing to bet that anyone who makes blades frequently has had a blade "Helicopter" at least once. When you get too nonchalant with things, accidents happen.
 
Agreed, simple to prevent, but honestly, how may time do knifemakers do it with no "spin stop".
It takes maybe 30 seconds to pick up the C-clamp or spin stop bar and put it on the drill press table. But, it takes just a fraction of a second for the caught drill bit to rip the blade or piece of metal out of the strongest grip and spin it around 10 times before you can pull your hand away.

A tip on making a low-cost spin stop that is quick to attach is get a 3" to 4" long 1/2"/12mm bolt. Drill a hole in the back and/or side of your drill press table. Tap it to match the bolt. You can quickly thread the bolt in the hole when needed to act a stop.
 
Stacy E. Apelt - Bladesmith said:
Agreed, simple to prevent, but honestly, how may time do knifemakers do it with no "spin stop".
It takes maybe 30 seconds to pick up the C-clamp or spin stop bar and put it on the drill press table. But, it takes just a fraction of a second for the caught drill bit to rip the blade or piece of metal out of the strongest grip and spin it around 10 times before you can pull your hand away.

A tip on making a low-cost spin stop that is quick to attach is get a 3" to 4" long 1/2"/12mm bolt. Drill a hole in the back and/or side of your drill press table. Tap it to match the bolt. You can quickly thread the bolt in the hole when needed to act a stop.
Click to expand...
i just made a long t nut to fit the slots on my drill press. proud of the table by 3/8inch
nothing can helicopter that way..
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top