Jointer Injury

[Tree Feller]

I didn't want to hijack dablack's thread so I'm starting a new one to describe my jointer injury.

I had unloaded and stickered a large load of lumber, changed the forks and tiller on my tractor to a bucket and bush-hog and then did some mowing. It was around 6:00 p.m., I was tired and ready to relax. My grandson who was over suggested we go to the shop so away we went.

The grandson (4 yrs old) climbed up onto the outfeed/extension table around my tablesaw as is his habit. I made sure the blade was lowered beneath the tabletop, grabbed a cold Corona from the fridge and sat down in my thinking chair. I had barely leaned back when the grandson (Little Man) held up my bottle of TBIII glue and announced that he wanted to glue some boards together. So, I picked up a piece of scrap from the scrap bin, laid it on the jointer table and set my Corona on top...can't be having wet circles leaving rust rings on the cast iron.

I got a piece of scrap pine about 8" x 12", intending to rip it in two on the bandsaw and then let Little Man glue the two pieces together. He clamps them in a little vise on the edge of the outfeed table. He's always amazed that the boards are stuck together so well the next day.  The pine, however was rough sawn and I thought I would smooth it up a bit first. So, meand the grandson donned our ear muffs, I put on safety glasses, turned on the dust collector and proceed to face joint and edge joint the piece of scrap. As I finished the edge joint, I bumped the scrap "coaster" and the Corona bottle fell over, spilling beer on the jointer table.

Crap! All I could think of was that the beer would rust the cast iron tabletop. I strode across the shop, pulled a shop rag from the bin and went back to the jointer. The guard was in place but with the DC running, ear muff on and focused on getting the beer off ASAP, I simply forgot that it was still running.

What happened next is mostly conjecture but as I went to wipe up the spill, I assume the shop rag got pulled underneath the porkchop guard and my fingers followed. The cutterhead got just the tip of my right index finger but about half the nail and end of my middle finger. It only took a nano-second, too.

I looked at my fingers to see how much was left, got another rag to wrap around them and then shut off the jointer. It had completely shredded that first shop rag. There was a lot of blood and it scared Little Man something fierce. I managed to grab him off the outfeed table with my left hand, went in the house and told my wife I needed to go to the ER. The grandson stayed with my oldest daughter.

The ER basically examined the fingers, bandaged them and gave me some stuff for pain. The following Tuesday I went to see a hand surgeon and after painfully removing the bandages (the ER used something called surgi-seal which was really stuck to the wound) he advised giving them a week to see how well the middle finger was healing and them decide if more bone needed to be removed. I go back tomorrow for that follow-up.

As a result of the injury, I have resolved to make a few changes to my shop activities.

1.  I  will not be using my power tools when I am tired.
2.  I have planned for a while to move the DC to a shed expansion on the back of the shop. That has become a priority.
3.  No drinks on the power tool tables, with or without a "coaster."

Some relatives and friends, upon hearing that a spilled beer led to the accident, have admonished that alcohol and power tools don't mix well. They are correct and I don't use my power tools when I have had  even one beer. Except, I had not had one in this case. The beer was my first of the day and I don't think I even took a sip before proceeding to smooth the piece of scrap. It could just as easily have been a soft drink, a glass of tea or bottle of Gatorade. The mistake was placing it on the jointer table and then using the jointer.

I was tired, somewhat in a hurry to satisfy the grandson and ready to relax and enjoy a productive day. Unfortunately, all I can do at present is become frustrated that I can't do what I want to do.

Thanks for the concerned comments and just realize that razor sharp tools spinning at a high rpm can bite.   :(

[clww]

In the other thread, I figured it had been a stationary blade that cut you, not one spinning under power. This is much more scary X10! Glad you are going to make a speedy recovery.

[beenthere]

Appreciate the update, and adds to the many things that can pop up when least expected.
I am thinking the DC is the jointer. 

A close one when my youngest boy was 4 years old, and he wanted to make me a Christmas present. He found a small piece of walnut from the shop and, because his older sisters had been doing decoupage, talked his mother into jointing this walnut scrap. She wasn't a shop tool user by any stretch but was listening to the 4 yr old tell her how it should be done.
On Christmas morning, he surprised me with this piece of walnut with a picture pasted to one side.
I noticed the end grain of this 3/4 by 2" piece (about 10" long) was quite smooth. I asked how he did that, and he explained that Mom did it. She said she just followed his directions. 
And to this day I don't know how she managed to joint that end grain on such a small piece. No blood, no tossing the piece across the shop.... Just thankful for someone watching over her.

[Magicman]

Wow Cody.  I grimaced a few times reading your post.  And as bad as it was, I guess that it could always have been worse.  Thanks for sharing.  Everyone can glean a bit of something from your accident that may very well prevent them from having a similar situation.

[mesquite buckeye]

Appreciate the update, and adds to the many things that can pop up when least expected.
I am thinking the DC is the jointer. 

A close one when my youngest boy was 4 years old, and he wanted to make me a Christmas present. He found a small piece of walnut from the shop and, because his older sisters had been doing decoupage, talked his mother into jointing this walnut scrap. She wasn't a shop tool user by any stretch but was listening to the 4 yr old tell her how it should be done.
On Christmas morning, he surprised me with this piece of walnut with a picture pasted to one side.
I noticed the end grain of this 3/4 by 2" piece (about 10" long) was quite smooth. I asked how he did that, and he explained that Mom did it. She said she just followed his directions. 
And to this day I don't know how she managed to joint that end grain on such a small piece. No blood, no tossing the piece across the shop.... Just thankful for someone watching over her.

I'll say.

[thecfarm]

Too many things going wrong,all at just about the same time. But ain't that the way things happen???  Take care of yourself.

[sawguy21]

I imagine that gave the young feller some bad dreams. You were lucky. I was always VERY careful using dad's jointer, didn't take my young mind long to figure out it could bite given the opportunity. Helped that he was a shop teacher and impressed safety on me early on. I did manage to trim a finger in a table saw though. :-\

[Jay C. White Cloud]

Cody, I truly feel for you.  It has taken me all of almost and hour to get through reading what happened.  Just could feel what happened to my finger as I read it.  You got it way worse than I did, I believe.  I hope you mend well from it all.  Hope you grandson doesn't get to scared by all of it, and gets back in the shop real quick with you.

Regards,

jay

[PC-Urban-Sawyer]

Cody,

My heart goes out to both you and your grandson.

My father had a similar accident when I was six years old. I was watching him as he face jointed a piece of oak when his left hand slipped off the board and into the unguarded blades. You're right, it was instantaneous and there was a lot of blood. He lost the first full joint of both the little finger and ring finger. After a lot of trouble healing properly he had them take the bone out to the second knuckle.

I'm sure you know that you need to pay special attention to your grandson. He quite possibly considers it his fault and he will probably always remember the accident.

I can also identify with your injury since I had an accident with a table saw a few years ago myself...

Be (more) careful!

Herb

[WDH]

Thanks for sharing this, Cody.  There are so many ways that spinning blades, knives, saw blades, and bits can get you.  How will this affect your day job?

[Norm]

Well all I can say is OUCH!

Power tools are so unforgiving no matter how careful we are, hope for the best outcome Cody.

[ND rancher]

Man, I think someone was watching you! Very lucky indeed. It made my finger hurt reading the story, as last month I had a table saw kick back that broke my thumb. Doing things when we are to tired leads to stupid accidents, maybe  a club should be formed?    Keith

[Axe Handle Hound]

That story made my stomach roll.  I noticed your post in the other thread and had been waiting to hear the bad news.  What I find so interesting is that your injury with the jointer is different than the usual story we hear.  Normally jointer accidents happen when people are pushing wood across the cutterhead and slip, but in this case it was a completely different reason.  Really hope that heals up well and fast and that your grandson can shrug off any resulting fear.     

[WmFritz]

I was cringing while reading your mishap. Hope you heal quickly. I saw your post in the other thread too and hoped is was more like a near miss. 

[Tree Feller]

Thanks for all the kind, empathetic remarks. They are certainly appreciated.

I just got back from seeing the hand surgeon and he says the fingers are healing well. I'm to keep soaking them daily in a 50/50 solution of hydrogen peroxide/saline and go back in two weeks unless complications arise.

The grandson is okay. He did have some feelings of guilt but I have assured him that it was purely an accident and in no way his fault. He's been back in the shop with me helping paint a couple of planter boxes. He has told me several times to remember to turn off the jointer when I use it.  I think it was actually a good lesson for him on how dangerous those shop tools can be. If he wasn't convinced before, he is now for sure.

Danny, the day job is not affected at all. That's another long story but I'm in the middle of an extended time off...sort of an early look at how retirement feels.     That's fortunate since I have been pretty limited in what I can do but unfortunate in that I had a lot of plans for stuff I wanted to get done while I had the extra time.

[beenthere]

the usual story we hear.  Normally jointer accidents happen when people are pushing wood across the cutterhead and slip

And to expand on that a bit, the "slip" is usually when the fingers are on the wood just above the jointer knives (and they never should be) which causes the wood to suddenly shoot out back, leaving the fingers nowhere to go but into the blades.

Always push on the wood with a push block if possible, and if not where the fingers are only above the bed either before or after the blades. Never passing over. Trying to keep in mind the vision that suddenly the piece being jointed may leave at any split second.

And this is another reason I don't like too much ear protection. I like to hear the sounds that my tools are making. But everyone needs to make that judgement for themselves.

[Tree Feller]

Always push on the wood with a push block if possible...

I ALWAYS use push blocks when face jointing. For relatively short stock, I have a shop-made push block with a cleat for pushing. I have two others with gripper pads, also. The gripper pads are chewed up on the bottom, which is a testament to why they should be used.

When edge jointing, I don't use push pads unless the piece is extremely narrow. My front hand holds the stock against the fence and slightly downward. The rear hand holds the stock against the fence and pushes it through. On pieces longer than three feet, footwork is as important as hand placement in jointing accurately and safely.

[Jeff]

I sure hope you heal up quick. We had a kid in our highschool woodshop class that slipped using the jointer and lost two fingers half was to the second knuckles. They tore the jointer apart, and went through the frshly emptied dust collection system, and never found even a drop of blood. We learned that jointers are most efficient in removing digits. That same year our SHop teacher, whose name was Lavonne Crowl (Past on now so I'll say his name) was demonstrating on the lathe how to turn the inside of a bowl. His plan was to give us a demo on why you should never go past center when turning the inside.  We will never forget it. Pretty sure he did not plan on having the tool catch, then come around and take parts of two fingers off between the tool and the tool rest.  That was also the same year that the only girl in our shop class, who always had her hair tied back, somehow had a chunk of hair fall forward while using the drill press. It pulled the hair, scalp and all out the size of a quarter.

Talking about it now, it seems like we must of had a pretty dangerous shop! Didn't seem like it then.

Get well quick Tree Feller

[Tree Feller]

Thanks, Jeff. I'm healing well but it will likely take a couple of months or more to get fully healed. Of course, I expect to be able to use the fingers well before then, just with a bit of pain.

Woodworking shops are inherently dangerous if power tools are used. All it takes is a brief loss of focus and losing a digit or two is definitely possible and even worse injuries can happen. I've been woodworking since 2000 and in that time have heard about a router bit disintegrating and the shrapnel cutting the operator's femoral artery. He bled to death in the cabinet shop in front of his co-workers. The hand injuries I've read about and seen pics of are just too numerous to list. A couple of years ago, an accomplished lady turner in either Tennessee or Kentucky was found dead from a large bowl coming apart and a piece if it hitting her head. Prior to that, a young coed at a northeast university was killed when her hair got entangled in a lathe. I believe she was strangled by her own hair.

I think I am a pretty safe woodworker but seeing all the accidents that occur to even people with 30 years of experience, I sorta recognized that I would likely experience a serious accident at some point. It just seemed unavoidable. I sure hope the jointer incident was my last but I wouldn't bet the farm on it. I love woodworking too much to give it up but do recognize that there are associated risks that go with it. Managing those risks is what keeps us from getting maimed but the fact is, humans make mistakes and the machines will do what they are designed to do.

[WDH]

Several local people, one a close friend, have had serious accidents in the shop, both with table saws in the last year.  Serious accidents.  Sawing lumber on a bandsaw is safer than making stuff from the lumber.  However, Tree Feller, felling trees can be even more dangerous. 

[Busy Beaver Lumber]

Tree Feller

Hope you heel up real soon and better than new. A few months back I had one of my son in laws at the shop with me. He is a good hearted fellow and always looking to lend a hand, but he quickly demonstrated to me that he has no business being around power tools. While we were there, I wanted to run a few boards through the jointer and he asked if he could help on the outfeed side of the jointer. I gladly accepted the offer after making it clear to him that he needed to keep his hands away from the cutting head guard all the times, several times. But alas he just about gave me heart failure as he kept getting his hands ever so close when there was no need to do so. I politely came up with an excuse of not needing to do any more and took him to lunch, then went back the next day and jointed the boards myself.

I personally don't like distractions or company in the shop while I am using certain equipment like a table saw or the bandmill unless I know that person to be safety minded and well trained. I never allow pets to wander in the shop area while power tools are in use. A fellow i work with had his cat outside in the vicinity of the garage while he was using a table saw. Something spooked the cat and it jumped up on to the table saw while the blade was turning. In an attempt to protect the cat and keep it from harms way, he wind up putting three of his own fingers into the sawblade.

[Dan_Shade]

i always tell folks that trees, logs, and equipment have no conscience....

My father lost a finger on a radial arm saw in high school.  I've had a few minor injuries in the shop, things can go south in a hurry if things aren't right.

Thanks for sharing with us, get well soon

[Lud]

A wood shop is dangerous but so is life.  A car car will kill you faster than a table saw.  Stay safe and keep in the present as much as you can.  Distractions can hurt you and may destroy you.  Looking ahead and looking behind and looking side to side are all important in staying in a routine that keeps you aware of everything around you. 

Sorry you got hurt, Cody, but you know, you're dealing with it as best as one can.  It's just an accident and we all have them.  Remember, If it doesn't kill us , it makes us stronger!

[Tree Feller]

I was in the shop all day today with a good friend. I can use the index finger a little bit but the middle finger is still too tender. Accidental bumps on it almost drive me to my knees but I'm tired of sitting idle.

I made some modifications to a large, Red Oak panel that I framed in Walnut. I cut out two openings in the Red Oak for 11" x 14" pictures, including rabbeting the back side of them. I also built a Wahoo game board from a 64 year old kitchen countertop that came out of my friend's home. His dad and granddad had built and installed it in 1949 and it lasted until my friend had the kitchen re-modeled last year. The laminate was chipped in a few places and I couldn't get a clear 24" square piece. So, I centered one of the chips in the board and inlaid a small square of Red Oak that I sanded smooth with the formica. I then wrapped the board with more Red Oak trim. The Red Oak matched the colored swirls in the formica perfectly and it came from trees off my friends farm. After routing out the recesses for the marbles, I let my friend paint them. It looked absolutely great if I do say so myself. I had a wonderful day.

[Magicman]

Ya can't keep a good man down.