The Forestry Forum

General Forestry => Firewood and Wood Heating => Topic started by: 1woodguy on February 19, 2014, 02:07:05 AM

Title: Blue fingers
Post by: 1woodguy on February 19, 2014, 02:07:05 AM
    i am the curious type so just for fun I decided to see which was toughest
chunk of firewood , my fingers, or the lip on the Owb the door seals on.

  If you want to try this at home just hold a big chunk by ends swing it hard and don't throw into the big fire box opening
    try to crush fingers on The door  lip

  Surprise,surprise the fingers  between the wood and door lip lost it seems they are soft and drip red fluid and later are blue purple and don't bend
    I was happy the fingers stayed on that hand,
Glad I wasn't wearing gloves would of hated to have the extra padding :D
Title: Re: Blue fingers
Post by: r.man on February 19, 2014, 05:22:14 AM
Makes me wince to read it. Have not done that to any extent that I remember, mine is to throw the wood, have it bounce once or twice on the lip and then fall on the ground. Hope you get better soon, glad you can still count to ten.
Title: Re: Blue fingers
Post by: Roger2561 on February 19, 2014, 06:01:21 AM
Man, that makes my fingers hurt just thinking about it.  As stated, glad you can count to 10.  But, thanks for sharing your research results with us.  Roger
Title: Re: Blue fingers
Post by: dave_dj1 on February 19, 2014, 06:20:05 AM
Thanks for doing that research for us :D Note to self, always wear gloves, use extreme caution when loading  8)
Put that in the memory bank for something to NEVER do again. I'm glad you kept your digits.
dave
Title: Re: Blue fingers
Post by: Peter Drouin on February 19, 2014, 07:46:57 AM
 yikes_smiley arg-smiley
Title: Re: Blue fingers
Post by: goose63 on February 19, 2014, 07:54:09 AM
ouch now I know to try that
Title: Re: Blue fingers
Post by: thecfarm on February 19, 2014, 09:02:40 AM
1woodguy,I was curious once too. But I had a indoor furnace.I went down into the basement after the alarm clock went off to start my day. Probabaly 4am. I think I shut the alarm off and went right down into the basement. I did my "curious" part just a bit diffeant. I put my gloves on. At that time,my theory was,if it fits,why split? I choose a nice big piece of maple. That will hold for a while. I picked it up thinking about where it came from and how it will keep me warm and with sleep still in my head I threw it in as I have done many times through out Old Man Winter. I was fully awake as my finger was between the bottom edge of the furnace and that wonderful big stick of maple. I was curious no more as my finger was about a ΒΌ thick and turning colors as I howled in pain and was dancing around in front of the furnace with the furnace door still open. Sometimes it is not wise to be curious like a cat.
But I was lucky, only one finger. Just about six months later,it looked fine. I lost the nail. I bet this happened 25 years ago.
Title: Re: Blue fingers
Post by: gspren on February 19, 2014, 09:57:58 AM
  Quite a few years ago I was wearing light tan colored pig skin gloves and did something similar. My little finger was numb more than hurting so I didn't take the glove off until that finger on the glove started getting dark, when I read your post I looked at the scar I still have where the finger split. If your gonna be dumb you gotta be tough!
Title: Re: Blue fingers
Post by: SFires on February 19, 2014, 11:42:20 AM
I've delivered firewood to one of my customers three times this year and each time while unloading my wife has smashed one of my fingers some how or another. On the last trip I made sure to unload from the other side of the truck from her hoping to avoid another smashing. I almost made it too but when I was gathering the last arm load my wife found a piece that fell off the side and tried tossing it to me and sure enough it caught my finger between another piece of wood.
Title: Re: Blue fingers
Post by: Corley5 on February 19, 2014, 11:58:43 AM
My neighbor who's 83 has a couple fingers that messed up from loading his wood furnace 50 years ago.  They're a bit crooked and the nails aren't quite right  ;) :)
Title: Re: Blue fingers
Post by: Tom L on February 19, 2014, 01:32:56 PM
ouch!!   although I am glad you tested this theory out instead of me.

now I know, the fingers will always loose.
Title: Re: Blue fingers
Post by: Wick on February 19, 2014, 02:52:49 PM
Pictures ?!!!  :D
Title: Re: Blue fingers
Post by: clww on February 19, 2014, 05:57:04 PM
That story reminds me of the time a few years ago when I cut off half my little finger between two pieces of wood. Luckily, the doctor sewed it back on and I still have it. That one hurt, too, and still does when it's really cold outside. :)
Title: Re: Blue fingers
Post by: yellowrosefarm on February 19, 2014, 06:34:50 PM
I've done the grab and smash too, but not to that extent. I try to put on gloves when loading, more for the splinters I've had to dig out than anything. Nothing like tossing a piece of wood only to have that spear hanging off the side pierce your leading hand. Or, tossing a piece, hitting the edge of the hole and  it bouncing back onto your slippered feet. I've done a few dances early on Sat morning that might have won me first prize on AFV.
Title: Re: Blue fingers
Post by: jueston on February 20, 2014, 09:14:26 AM
it seems to me, to do a proper study, after you publish your results we need a peer review. that means a few more people on here have to test the experiment and see how it goes... i don't have an OWB so i can't volunteer....

its for science afterall!

i'm glad you can still count to 10 though, take it easy on that hand and heal up.
Title: Re: Blue fingers
Post by: John Mc on February 20, 2014, 10:32:05 AM
Something tells me we already have a lot of folks who have participated in this study.  I myself participated in a study comparing the relative strength of the end of a log, my finger, and the anvil on my wood splitter. (Prior to that study, I used to be able to say "I'm always very careful about where I put my hands when splitting.")

To make a long story short, I did not lose the end of my index finder, but the ER doctor said another 1/8" of travel and it's likely I would have.  It healed up so it looks OK, but I lost some range of motion, and it gets cold easily (the real problem is that I can't really tell it's getting cold most of the time).  As an added bonus, that finger is now a decent weather forecaster. It aches when a big storm is coming. (My wife says in another few years, my whole body will do that anyway.)
Title: Re: Blue fingers
Post by: CarlR on February 20, 2014, 09:10:56 PM
I have observed the magnetic properties of cordwood.  While being thrown into the boiler, if cordwood hits the lip of the firebox door and:
If the thrower is wearing muck boots then gravity prevails and it will land on said thrower's toes as expected.
If the same thrower is wearing steel toe boots then the same piece will be repelled by the steel in the boot and hit the thrower in the shin.
Should the thrower be wearing shin guards, the point of impact will be on the kneecap.
Title: Re: Blue fingers
Post by: Jack72 on February 20, 2014, 09:35:06 PM
Quote from: 1woodguy on February 19, 2014, 02:07:05 AM
    i am the curious type so just for fun I decided to see which was toughest
chunk of firewood , my fingers, or the lip on the Owb the door seals on.

  If you want to try this at home just hold a big chunk by ends swing it hard and don't throw into the big fire box opening
    try to crush fingers on The door  lip

  Surprise,surprise the fingers  between the wood and door lip lost it seems they are soft and drip red fluid and later are blue purple and don't bend
    I was happy the fingers stayed on that hand,
Glad I wasn't wearing gloves would of hated to have the extra padding :D

Congrats. I did that last year and got a brand new finger nail out of it.     it took forever to grow out the new one  because I hit it up high on the nail.    I was hurrying because my wife wanted to go Christmas shopping so I said I have to load the stove before we go she said dang it I'm not going if your going to smell like smoke. So I blame her because I was loading it really fast so I could hurry and close the door and didn't smell like smoke


Jack
Title: Re: Blue fingers
Post by: Magicman on February 20, 2014, 09:50:13 PM
Ouch, the things that we will do to ourselves.  Pat has taken me to the ER more than all three kids combined.  Maybe we will learn to take better care of ourselves when we grow up.   ;D
Title: Re: Blue fingers
Post by: Roger2561 on February 21, 2014, 05:58:52 AM
Quote from: Magicman on February 20, 2014, 09:50:13 PM
Ouch, the things that we will do to ourselves.  Pat has taken me to the ER more than all three kids combined.  Maybe we will learn to take better care of ourselves when we grow up.   ;D

You're saying we have to grow up?  I'll grow old but I refuse to grow up.   
Title: Re: Blue fingers
Post by: goose63 on February 21, 2014, 12:18:45 PM
Grow up or grow old nope thy tried to give me senior discount wait a  minute I am still a kid eating with my fingers 8) 8)
Title: Re: Blue fingers
Post by: Magicman on February 22, 2014, 01:37:00 PM
I think about my Dad and Granddad when they were 70.  I wonder what they would think about the way I act ???

Yup, I guess that I am too old to grow up.   smiley_dizzy