| Author | Message | ||
     Mikef5000 |
Just in time for winter fun and games. I had an incident with a small router at work. Chopped off a good bit of my thumb.    Bad pictures, but you get the idea. Notice the bone now is cut to a point. Needless to say I'M PISSED (at myself). I freaked for a minute after it happened, but settled down very quick. I just called my dad, who met me at work to take me to the hospital. It was pretty neat, we were all looking at it at work. The ER was empty. We had a good time. Joking and laughing with everyone there. The worst part BAR NONE was the MASSIVE shots I had to get to numb it up. Picture one of those drink stirring straws, 1.5" long. Going in that nice skin between the thumb and pointer finger. | ||
| Reepicheep |
Of all my power tools, my router scares me the most. Not sure why, but those pictures aren't helping...  Glad it wasn't worse... | ||
| Interex2050 |
ick hope it heals well and fast Personally I have always regarded the router as my favorite tool... | ||
| New12r |
WOW! Heal up well. | ||
| Jackbequick |
"..my router scares me the most..." I remember a buddy's shop with a 3 HP, three phase shaper that ran at 16,000 RPM or something like that. That was a spooky machine. He used to turn it on with the breaker off, then go around the corner and throw the breaker. He'd let it run for about 30 seconds before he would go over and use it. We used to speculate about the velocity that might be attained by the brazed on carbide inserts if one happened to come off. You wack a finger off with a table saw, it might get put back on. But with a router or shaper you take it off in thousands of tiny little slices and it's tougher to keep track of the reassembly sequence. Heal well and soon Mike! Jack (Message edited by jackbequick on December 16, 2007) | ||
| Cochise |
I don't like Al Gore, where's his picture?  JK, hope you heal up quick! | ||
| Reepicheep |
 Most of my favorite tools are the ones that scare me the most. I think its the combination of incredible strength (my router has as much HP as my table saw), the awkward two handed handle, the high portability factor , and the "on stays on till you turn it off" switch. I can just picture the thing slipping or me doing something stupid for just a fraction of a second, and having the thing slap down somewhere and just *remove* what it hits before I even know what happened. Anyway, I digress. Hope you are doing OK today, that finger is probably throbbing like nobodies business Too bad it was not the pinkie, you could have declared it a tribute to Shawn Higbee and Buell Racing | ||
| Nevrenuf |
after being a carpenter for almost 25 yrs i can honestly say all my accidents have not been powertool related. just stupid get in a hurry mistake. using power tools is like riding a bike, you don't want to loose focus. with routers, it is rumored that if you drop one and turn one on that it could explode. hence the turning on by the breaker. mike, be greatfull that's all that happened. running at the speed they do, they can do alot more damage without you even knowing it. going through my apprenticeship down in miami, one guy i was in the apprenticeship with,who worked at the burdines cabinet shop down there nearly cut his whole hand off but got away with just a thumb and a half of a couple of his fingers. never loose focus mike and hopefully it won't keep you from coming down for mbv. | ||
| Ducxl |
OOOOOhhfffff  Work related industrial accidents can be baaad.Who was it,in another thread recently who's seen death occur? Neil? I've seen(in machining) guys' stuck with their finger drilled through and IT stuck between the drill and the part,and have to wait for somebody to reverse the machine. OR,the guy who tried to clear a cylindrical grinder of a part with his finger and instantly ground it OFF! Heal well young man | ||
| Iamike |
We get all the gross pictures at work through our safety dept. The worst one was the guy that got caught in the motor shaft of a fan. They found him after someone was investigating why it wasn't running. | ||
| Bluzm2 |
Years ago I saw a guy get his finger smashed by the hydralic hold down foot on a metal sheer. He was shearing 3/16 or 1/4" sheet stock. Guess how thick his finger was after the foot came down.... Major bummer Mike, however, it could have been MUCH worse. I got my work glove "nicked" by my router this summer while working on my deck addition. It just barely nicked my finger but made a mess out of the glove. I love routers but the big bits scare me more than a little. Brad | ||
| Mikef5000 |
It most definitely could have been worse. It was a small one handed router, with a 3/4" flooring bit on it:  They gave me Vicoden, which I've already stopped taking. The pain was never very bad. I just hope I'm not stuck with this huge soft cast for very long. | ||
| Rick_a |
Nice. I avulsed the end of a finger in a steel door once. Looked similar. Lots of nerve endings in there! My friends were really freaked out. I stayed completely calm, which I think made them the more uneasy. I put a hand drill with a 1/4" bit 3/4's through my left hand. That wasn't pleasant either. Amazing how fast it went through flesh. The worst part was riding my Buell a few days later. My wife got me a new vice soon after! Thankfully, I haven't been damaged by any serious equipment. | ||
| Garyz28 |
I used to work in a wood shop where one of my co-workers stuck his finger into a table router. I looked pretty much like yours. It also threw blood all over the walls in the router both. Very nasty! It will eventually heal up though. | ||
| Wolfridgerider |
 Sorry.. I just had to... Get better quick!! | ||
| Etennuly |
.................................... ................that was low. | ||
| Guell |
routers scare me, but my portable electric hand planer has taken bits and peices off of my thumb before. Thats the scariest tool i have. | ||
| Just_ziptab |
Huh! I had a band saw catch and rip two fingers off my glove last week. Unfortunately, it caught my stink finger and "lifted" the finger nail as well as cutting a small trench for the blood to escape. No other damage from ripping the glove fingers off....bruises, scrapes or anything(??)Prolly should gone to the doc, but it was late and figured they wasn't gonna do nothing that I couldn't do myself. Made a couple of butterfly stitches and have been keeping it dry. Looking less ugly and should be fine. Should just cut the damned thing off. Ran a Phillips bit in a drill thru the same finger nail a year ago. Growed back fine. Speared a wood sliver half way under the same nail a couple months ago and banged it a good one a month ago. Just started looking normal again and this happens. | ||
| Djkaplan |
You'll be surprised how much of your thumb can grow back, Lefty. | ||
| Mikef5000 |
Alright, yesterdays appt. led to me having to tear the now completely stuck on bandage off the wound. That SUCKED. It sucked so much, in fact, that I passed out.  Eventually it came off, and now I just have to have a small bandage on it whenever I'm at work or out, and nothing on it at all at home. Final pictures:   | ||
| Wolfridgerider |
You need to go to Dickens Fruit stand and get some cider to soak that in! (Message edited by wolfridgerider on December 18, 2007) | ||
| New12r |
You need to go to Dickens Fruit stand and get some cider to soak that in! | ||
| Bads1 |
Yummy.  | ||
| New12r |
So did he eat the skull too?? MMMMM crunchy! | ||
| Mikef5000 |
  | ||
| Guell |
thanks for the close up mike  | ||
| Slaughter |
You MUST use Xeroform bandages for changing the dressings! Not all pharmacies carry them but when I mashed my fingers, I had to deal with daily dressing changes and the ER nurse turned me on to them NO first aid kit should be without them. Pricey but the FIRST time you use them, you'll NEVER use gauze ever again. Seriously, get some, it'll make you a believer. They come in sterile, aluminum sealed pouches. Last forever. Bio-compatible and even approved for wound repair INSIDE the surgical area - meaning you can leave them inside a wound. Google them or call a pharmacy that sells burn treatment products. Trust me on this. Field tested my self when I tore the skin off my left middle fingertip (called "de-gloved") and the nail next to it. Pics were after the skin graft. I could still ride and race the next month by using a rubber glove and baby powder outside the glove so I could slide the hand into the riding glove. Go ride, you'll be fine (with no Vicodin!)   | ||
| Mikef5000 |
Right now I can't bend it without major shooting pains. I'll give it a bit before I'm back on the motorcycle. | ||
| Just_ziptab |
Mine looks better!! 11 days old now. Skin is healed nicely and is just tender.  | ||
| Brinnutz |
Mike, at least your thumb could now be used to stab someone if you got in a fight! Glad your gonna be ok man. |
