Wood router

H

hellgap

Joined
Dec 17, 2008
Messages
1,189
Well some one shoulda warned me about routers. This is how stupid i was tonight. Ifree hand held the wood and should have put it in the vice to router out for a hidden tang im making. Well the F __ kin wood went flyin and sucked my finger into the router. MY guess is im lucky i didnt loost the end of my finger. I think it needs about 5 stitches i put hydgen peroxide on it gauze and a large piece of duck tape. I stings like wowWOW :eek: I need to take a break for a day till the throbbing stops.How freakin stupid. kellyw
 
You may want to see a doctor about it. If its not too bad you should use Neosporin and keep it bandaged up. Been there, done that but usually its the drill press that tries to rip my fingers off.
Heal up fast.
 
You're lucky you got to keep any of your fingers. NO power tools are made for working on small parts unsupported. A router or shaper or tablesaw or chopsaw should NEVER be used to cut parts as small as a knife handle without a jig of some sort to hold the part. People lose fingers and HANDS to these tools all the time trying to hold a part that is too small. I'm glad to hear you didn't lose any parts.

When you get healed up and are ready to try again you might try making a jig to hold the handle slabs. If all I had was a router I would put the slabs on a scrap of plywood a foot or so square or bigger. Drive screws in all the way around it to hold it down. Drywall screws will work fine just get them right up next to the wood and drive em down until the heads lock against the slab. Then I'd glue some scraps of wood all around my slabs to support the router. Make sure these are all the same thickness and are higher than the screw heads around your handle. Now all you gotta do is stay within the lines and try not to hit any screws on the way in or out. Go slow and hang on tight.


One thing to keep in mind when using any power tool is to never apply pressure directly towards a cutting tool. Just pretend that whatever you are pushing on could disappear at any moment (because it can) and ask yourself "Where will my hand go if this isn't there to stop it?" Don't count on a piece of wood to stop your hand from hitting the blade. It probably won't be there when you need it.
 
Router and power tool rules

You should never take off any of the covers and shields like I do. It's amazing how fast and easy it is to cut yerself.

You should never hold a piece specially small pieces, with yer fingers like I do. It's amazing how fast a tool can rip a piece out yer hands.

You should never remove the fence on a router like I do.

You should never place anything on a power tool like I do. It's amazing how far a piece can drive itself into a wall when you lay it on the belt sander and plug it in and the switch somehow gits turned to the ON position already.

If you insist on doing these things, like I do, at least wear all kinds of pertective stuff like I do to pertect yerself from yer own silliness.

It is also amazing that I still possess all my digits (does it count that some are in jars of fermaldehide?)



Just kidding on the last part, but is is still amazing that I still have all my original body parts and suffered no serious injuries. It's just a good thing that I heal really really well.

The sound and sight of things flying past yer head is interesting tho. You know, wood; steel; glass; sharp stuff; things like that.

It's also good that you keep duck tape handy. Super glue is good, too.

I keep wood shavings around to soak up the blood and I git it cleaned up before I tell folks about it. Some family members don't like those large puddles on the floor and those smeery hand prints on the tools and door knobs; makes em queezy. Lots of paper towels are handy to keep around the shop, too.

Rubber bands make good turnicuts. Keep a supply of various sizes on hand (he he, on hand, that's a good one, huh?).

Some folks git lite headed when they see all that blood so keep a chair around so you can sit down afore you pass out and hit yer head on something and really hurt yerself.

And, ifn you do slice off a finger, git someone to wrap the finger in a clean, slightly damp but not dripping wet paper towel. If the victim is stable, rinse the finger if it is dirty, then place it in a plastic ziploc bag. Place the bag into another one filled with ice or cold water. Never place the finger directly on cold water or ice as this could cause frostbite in the finger and render it uvsalvageable. http://www.wikihow.com/Save-a-Finger-after-Accidental-Amputation

Hope this helps and I'm glad you're not seriously injured. Been there, done that.
 
I have had a few hours to think about how stupider than stupid i was. I knew better, I just hope there isnt any saw dust in it. I sqweezed it when it happened and i was bleeding like a stuck pig. Well it was like 2 weeks ago i cut my hand 5 stitches but that never hurt not one bit didnt even feel it serious but this was and is bad ill see in the morning my doctor told me he has lots of thread lol. The dumb thing was the vice was 5 inches away and i coulda put the wood in there just never though about the safe route.
 
Hellgap,

You're not stupid. You're just a guy. Guys do $#!t like that (can I say $#!t, here?). You wouldn't believe how many times I've cut myself, when I knew better. There have been a couple of times I was actually thinking about how dumb this is and I should probably stop and and do it right; just before I cut myself real good.

If you're like I am, you'll do it again, too.
 
We need threads like this to remind us once in a while. I have a couple pretty dumb scars myself.
 
daveinvegas said:
Hellgap,

You're not stupid. You're just a guy. Guys do $#!t like that (can I say $#!t, here?). You wouldn't believe how many times I've cut myself, when I knew better. There have been a couple of times I was actually thinking about how dumb this is and I should probably stop and and do it right; just before I cut myself real good.

If you're like I am, you'll do it again, too.
Click to expand...

On the worst cut I ever gave myself, that's exactly what I was thinking right as it happened. "This is pretty silly, I should do it...D@MNIT!!!11!! OUCH!!!!" :D

I got lucky and didn't cut any of the tendons or veins that I saw where I split the skin open in my arm. That was over 20 years ago. I still do some pretty silly things, but not as often now.

Walter
 
I had a laugh at one of the other threads where a photo showed someone holding a knife in their hand, sure enough the tips of the fingers had cuts in them.

Been there, done that, got the scars to prove it LOL
 
"Never trust a skinny cook" as they say... maybe the same goes for knifemakers with no scars?

Anyone who works with their hands is going to get banged up or cut a little at some point. It's just that with things like power tools, really bad stuff can happen really fast. I try to remember the HALT principle: never work with dangerous stuff if you're Hungry, Angry, Lonely or Tired.
 
hellgap said:
Well some one shoulda warned me about routers. This is how stupid i was tonight. Ifree hand held the wood and should have put it in the vice to router out for a hidden tang im making. Well the F __ kin wood went flyin and sucked my finger into the router. MY guess is im lucky i didnt loost the end of my finger. I think it needs about 5 stitches i put hydgen peroxide on it gauze and a large piece of duck tape. I stings like wowWOW :eek: I need to take a break for a day till the throbbing stops.How freakin stupid. kellyw
Click to expand...

You mean like the instruction manual on the router? Warnings about kickback are all over those first two pages on every manual I've ever seen. :rolleyes: One thing you NEVER do with a router or tablesaw is try to freehand things.

People, Bladeforums is a great place to learn about knives. But if you think it is the responsibility of this place or these folks to make you safe and wise in the shop then you are diluded!

This was really an ignorant thing to do in the shop. Routers are extremely dangerous. And yes. You are lucky. A 5 stitch router wound is barely a scratch!
 
Apparently chicks do love scars. A woman once touched a small scar near my eyebrow/temple (never mind how I acquired it, suffice it to say it wasn't due to stupidity on my part) and said she loved that scar. I asked why she liked the scar and she said she imagined some seriously manly thing I did to earn the scar.

Wimin; go figger. It's just a shame that almost all the other cuts I've received (some really good ones) healed to the point the resulting scars are all but non-existent. I once ran my thumb into the blade on my bandsaw. Cut it down to the bone. No scar, nothing, zip, zilch, nada. Musta been the duct tape and tissue band aid.

By the way, I wasn't kidding about the blood in the earlier post. I bleed like a stuck pig (has anyone ever actually seen a stuck pig?).
 
James_Terrio said:
I try to remember the HALT principle: never work with dangerous stuff if you're Hungry, Angry, Lonely or Tired.
Click to expand...

Man, I'd never get anything done! :D

That cut I mentioned above, it was about a 3" diagonal across the inside of my wrist. The doctor dutifully asked me "Are you depressed? Feeling OK? Under any stress?" I just smiled and said, nah, none of those, just stupid. :D

Walter
 
Manual? What's that?

James, since I was laid off and started putting handles on knives my manicure has gone to hell. But I don't have to trim my fingernails anymore; the belt sander does a nice job keeping them short.
 
Guys, I understand stuff like barking your knuckles on the grinding belt, getting a little nick or whatever... it's gonna happen. Heck, I cut my thumb the other day just opening a can of cat food. But stuff like holding the work-piece in your hand when routing or drilling is just plain dumb. Clamps are cheap! ER visits are not.
 
James,

You're absolutely correct. I always clamp parts down in my drill press. I use wood to push pieces thru the band saw. When I cut a piece of wood, I turn the saw off and wait for the blade to stop before removing the scrap. I don't set the Dremel down until it stops running. I make jigs for the router and make 3 passes so I don't try to cut too deep all at once. I have more clamps than anything else and I need to buy a couple more. I have some skin tight leather gloves (altho I'm not too fond of wearing gloves around most power tools) that I wear when I'm working with a blade and Dremel. I wear safety glasses, a respirator and hearing protection (even tho I've lost a lot of hearing in one ear; too much shooting) One can't be too safe. But I still have lapses. I turned on the belt sander the other day and it didn't turn on; I placed an object on the belt and went and plugged it in. Failed to turn the switch to the off position. It launched a small piece of wood across the room. Stoopid? You bet. I know better. I keep reminding myself not to place ANYTHING on a power tool. Also, unplug power tools before changing blades or belts or anything.
 
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Actually, I have more safety tips. Most are things I don't think about now. Even tho I have only been playing at assembling knives for a short time I have been making pistol grips and gun display stands and other items on and off for decades. All those safety tips I learned in junior high wood shop and junior college machine shop and are ingrained to a point (for the most part, not counting a mental lapse once in a while). I do stupid things when I'm in a hurry or I'm interrupted and forgot what I was doing. I make an effort to the same things the same way every time so I don't skip steps or whatever.
 
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