Derby Talk

I never use all caps and 'shout' on forums, but this post deserves everybody's attention.

I'm sure I'm not the only one who's done this, but it's never a good idea to bleed all over a block of pinewood. Was in a bit of a rush to get my adult division car moving along last night, so I was trying to expedite the cuts at the scrollsaw when the wood block jumped and pulled my thumb into the blade.

Now, it's not as bad as it could have been (at least I wasn't at the jigsaw), but I do have a rather rough, serrated laceration on my thumb that is on the verge of needing stitches. Keeps bleeding through the band-aid, but I think it'll heal on it's own. I know we adults often get too comfortable around our woodworking power tools, but we all (adults and kids) need to be patient, calculated, and safe when we work with power tools or sharp objects.

And to drive the point home, after I bandaged my thumb, I took my daughter's car to the drill press, and neglected to clamp the block down before drilling a weight reduction hole (ladder cutting). The danged car jumped on me and I ended up breaking off a small piece of the rear of the car. It was easily repaired with wood glue, but darned if my being in a hurry didn't cause yet another problem during the build process.

For goodness sake (me), SLOW DOWN!

Scrollsawer

True words, man, true words. I know exactly where you're coming from. I haven't yet split blood upon the saw table, but I've had unclamped blocks do the drill-bit spin on me. Once broke a rear-axle fixture doing that.

Glad to hear it was "only" the scrollsaw, though. Saw some horror stories regarding bandsaws on other forums and, trust me, you don't wanna go there.

New name for that car, "Blood, Sweat and Tears". Leave the blood on it and clear coat it. Sorry about ur finger too.

Yes, SLOW DOWN and be careful when using power tools

Here's from a recent thread on one of the league forums:

A wise old man once told me, "You have to be smarter, than the tool you are using."
His words rang true, last night, when I shoved my thumb into my scroll saw blade!
When approaching the end of my cut, the wood broke free. The car went one way, the waste went the other way, and my thumb went straight into the blade. Before it even hurt, I was haunted by my friend's words many years ago...
I'm thinking a blood red car, might be in the works.

It's still attached, it just added a little character to my fingerprint. 1" long X maybe a 1/4" deep. Probably needed stitches, but a paper towel and duct tape, had to do... No time for a doctor- I still had more cars to build!

Went to Urgent Care today for stitches.(Wouldn't stop bleeding...) 32 stitches later, and now it REALLY hurts! It's pretty bad, when you "Gross-Out/[censored]-Off" a Doctor. "When did this happen? Why didn't you come in sooner? You should have known better!" (On and on for 45 minutes straight!) I think she gagged two or three times--- I thought Doctors have seen everything, and a little cut wouldn't have caused such a reaction. I kept it clean, changed bandages often, but when she opened it to clean it there, it squirt blood about 2' in the air. I thought she was going to puke on it, and have to start over!
Any way... I'm gonna take a few days off from building my cars. Heal a little, and hopefully quit bleeding on the cars in progress. Thanks for everyone's advise, and well wishes. I should have known better, and in hindsight, I saw it coming, and made the wrong choice. Safety FIRST! I only posted this as a learning experience, or a chance to laugh at our mistakes.

vitamink wrote:Saw some horror stories regarding bandsaws on other forums and, trust me, you don't wanna go there.

gpraceman wrote: Here's from a recent thread on one of the league forums:

A wise old man once told me, "You have to be smarter, than the tool you are using."
His words rang true, last night, when I shoved my thumb into my scroll saw blade!
When approaching the end of my cut, the wood broke free. The car went one way, the waste went the other way, and my thumb went straight into the blade. Before it even hurt, I was haunted by my friend's words many years ago...
I'm thinking a blood red car, might be in the works.

It's still attached, it just added a little character to my fingerprint. 1" long X maybe a 1/4" deep. Probably needed stitches, but a paper towel and duct tape, had to do... No time for a doctor- I still had more cars to build!

Went to Urgent Care today for stitches.(Wouldn't stop bleeding...) 32 stitches later, and now it REALLY hurts! It's pretty bad, when you "Gross-Out/[censored]" a Doctor. "When did this happen? Why didn't you come in sooner? You should have known better!" (On and on for 45 minutes straight!) I think she gagged two or three times--- I thought Doctors have seen everything, and a little cut wouldn't have caused such a reaction. I kept it clean, changed bandages often, but when she opened it to clean it there, it squirt blood about 2' in the air. I thought she was going to puke on it, and have to start over!
Any way... I'm gonna take a few days off from building my cars. Heal a little, and hopefully quit bleeding on the cars in progress. Thanks for everyone's advise, and well wishes. I should have known better, and in hindsight, I saw it coming, and made the wrong choice. Safety FIRST! I only posted this as a learning experience, or a chance to laugh at our mistakes.

Well, I guess somebody wanted to go there...

Vitamin K wrote:Well, I guess somebody wanted to go there...

LOL One can get the idea with scroll saws that they would not do much harm. That guy's story goes to show us all that we all have to respect scroll saws just as much as we do other types of saws.

Gives new meaning to your name.

resullivan wrote:Gives new meaning to your name.

Well played sir. Well played.

Scrollsawer

gpraceman wrote:

Vitamin K wrote:Well, I guess somebody wanted to go there...

LOL One can get the idea with scroll saws that they would not do much harm. That guy's story goes to show us all that we all have to respect scroll saws just as much as we do other types of saws.

Well, I suppose i need to keep a very close eye on my thumb after reading that story. I'm essentially doing the same thing (not going in to the doctor, because it really does seem not that bad), and I'm also applying 'triple antibiotic ointment' on it daily. Hopefully, this will not result in a gagging physician office visit.

Scrollsaws are pretty safe when set to low rpms. But when they are cranked up, they can be a little wild.

I don't want to think abou the other woodshop horror stories.

Scrollsawer.

Scrollsawer wrote:I don't want to think abou the other woodshop horror stories.

Oh, yeah.

One day my wife and I were in our local Woodcraft store and walked by the Sawstop table saw. I was drooling over it and my wife shocked me. She told me that I needed to get one. I guess that she thinks that I need my fingers to do my software programming. I've got a great wife! Now, if only they would come out with blade stop mechanisms for other types of saws.

gpraceman wrote:

Scrollsawer wrote:I don't want to think abou the other woodshop horror stories.

Oh, yeah.

One day my wife and I were in our local Woodcraft store and walked by the Sawstop table saw. I was drooling over it and my wife shocked me. She told me that I needed to get one. I guess that she thinks that I need my fingers to do my software programming. I've got a great wife! Now, if only they would come out with blade stop mechanisms for other types of saws.

I think you should change your name to Fingersaver. I can picture in my cartoon bubble the scene of your cat-like reflexes saving your finger by pulling away quickly, looking at it to see if it's still there, realize you're dripping blood onto the floor, saw and car then quickly cover it. The whole time, your overriding thought is: my wife is gonna kill me...or...maybe that's what my thought would be.

Tell your wife you're a little gun-shy now and will work on getting confidence back enough to cut the grass. Until then, it's her job.

davet wrote:I think you should change your name to Fingersaver. I can picture in my cartoon bubble the scene of your cat-like reflexes saving your finger by pulling away quickly, looking at it to see if it's still there, realize you're dripping blood onto the floor, saw and car then quickly cover it. The whole time, your overriding thought is: my wife is gonna kill me...or...maybe that's what my thought would be.

Tell your wife you're a little gun-shy now and will work on getting confidence back enough to cut the grass. Until then, it's her job.

You're close...my overriding thought (while covering up the scene of the accident) would be "oh great, my wife is never going to let me hear the end of this."

Yeah, I'm trying to think of a way to milk this injury, but it's darned near healed up already, so my prospects are slim.

Scrollsawer,

I bet I can make you feel beter about your words of wisdom & topic.. SLOW DOWN!
With these words as well..
It happed to Scrollsawer.. and then it happend to me .. (( Don't let this happen to you!))

Good topic Scrollsawer..

Just so you know you are not the only one.

Whoda.

Nobody likes a copy-cat Whoda.

Hey, at least we now match!

Scrollsawer