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I just got done eating 5 Tacos and sat down to relax and opened this thread unaware what it was about....

We need a warning on it indeed....

My Father taught me to never set the blade higher than you want to get cut and to this day , that advice saved my fingers on more than one occasion. I also don't use push stick but push blocks . A puck block is much wider and heavier than a stick , and while it can hurt , it won't stab you like a push stick can. I have a friend that boned his finger with a stick. Thanks again for posting the pictures and stories . While I am thankful you are going to be ok , it is good to have a kick in the pants once in a while about safety . We all do take that for granted too often.
May your recovery be fast and painless . and may the scar be a reminder that it will never happen again.

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John Hall
blues creek guitars
Authorized CF Martin Repair
Co President of ASIA
You Don't know what you don't know until you know it

Thanks for this post, I am the shortcut king and need these kind of reminders to remember how easy it is to have an accident. Best of luck with your recovery.

Wow, Jim, sorry to see that, but glad to see it looks mostly recoverable.

I too have but one machine injury in my years of woodworking, back in '97. Of course on the table saw. In my case I was ripping a short narrow piece and felt safe because I was using a fat pushblock on top. However, the throat plate opening between the blade and fence was wider than the rip, so the piece dove down, the blade grabbed the pushblock and flipped it right over along with my hand still gripping it. My extended index finger landed fingernail side down on top of, and parallel with, the blade. I got a very neat kerf about 1/8" into the bone, across the 3rd joint (hope this description makes sense). I now have only half the fingernail and can't extend the finger all the way, but have basically no functional impairment. VERY lucky.

The important things I took away from this are:

> Whenever using the tablesaw, I always visualize a "bubble" several inches out from the blade which I pretend is a force field - I simply do not let my hands inside this zone.

> I made about 50 blank throat plates so I can always, ALWAYS, maintain zero clearance around the blade. Any new setup gets it's own new throat plate. So I have a library of plates for various setups. I even use different ones for different blade heights just for a straight cut.

Trite but true, folks: Safety First! I always try to think of what can go wrong before I start in on something, and try to never go on 'auto-pilot' just because a process is familiar.

Peace,
Sanaka

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...imagine there were no hypothetical situations...

Jim, Sorry to hear this happened to you.I hope it heals up just fine so you can
still play and still build.Thanks for the reminder of "No Shortcuts"!

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Anderson Guitars
Clearwater,Fl. 33755