Did something dumb today. And I knew I would.

[B.C.C. Lapp]

I almost posted this in the "Did something dumb today" thread.   But that seemed more like for saw mill mess ups so I'll post it here.

Last week the control valve on my log splitter quit.   Its been getting worn out for a while.  But quit working last Friday.

No big deal, I go get a valve and change it out.   Easy cheap fix and back in action.  Uh huh, should be good to go..  But there was a hitch.     See the way the old valve worked when you pulled the handle the cylinder came out, push the handle back and it retracts.  But the new valve was the opposite. push the handle away to move the cylinder forward.     I took a step back and looked the situation over and said to myself Id better be slow and careful for a while because I could easily smash my hand or something moving the handle the wrong way due to all the years I operated this thing.

So I go out today and start splitting. Split for about an hour before it happened.   I pushed when I should have pulled. Smashed my little finger on my left hand between the wood and the back stop. I let go of the handle and the cylinder stops  and of course my hand was stuck fast.   So I retract the cylinder. But being in a high degree of discomfort an a little excited and with years of muscle memory guiding my hand I pushed the handle away to free myself and of course smashed my finger far worse.  

When I finally pull my head out of my rear and get my self unattached from my splitter I remove my glove and take  a look.  Huh, bleeding, burst open like a cooked sausage, but everything still there.    I take a seat on the log pile to collect myself.   Then take another look.   Swelling fast.   A band aid and a bag of ice aint gonna  cut it this time.   So I wrap it in a towel and get in the truck for the 30 mile ride to the nearest ER.

I get there and I'm met be a security guard.   Do I have any weapons she asks.   No.  She sends me through the metal detector.  It beeb's.    Then the  guard and I discuss my pocket knife.  My 25 year old three bladed schrade stockmen non lock blade old fashion slipjoint pocket knife.   To me its a tool.  She sees it as a deadly implement of destruction.
Whatever.  I take it back out side and put it in my truck.   Dripping a little blood as I travel but what the heck, its all for public safety right.

Now its time to check in.   The nice lady takes a pile of info from me. Then asks me "If I feel safe at home".  Huh?   What kind of question is that. I just hurt my hand is all.   Then she wants to know if I use alcohol and if I have emotional problems and after about the fifth very invasive personal question I say look, I just want this treated.  You don't need all this info for that.   Oh we have to ask she says. I ask who says you have to ask?   She cant answer that.  

We finally get through all that and I'm sent back to the waiting room where I sit for two hours when I am again called to the registration desk and told they don't take my insurance.

I'm a self employed logger.  I have to pay for my own insurance and it cost me plenty.  A whole lot I mean to say.   And they don't take it?   They tell me another hospital 40 miles away does take it. They think.   I say look, all I want is this cleaned up and stitched up and that's all.  I was a little worried there might be bark or something pressed in there.   Oh no they say, the doc wont do that. They will need ex rays and tests and maybe a surgeon to look at it.   I cant pay for that out of pocket.  So.  I wrap my hand in the towel again and drive home.    I cleaned it out and flushed it.  Worked neosporine into the holes and wrapped it up and taped it to my next finger.   Ate a pile of ibeprophin and it hurts but its bearable.  I guess Ill see how it looks tomorrow.

What  makes me so mad is I KNEW this might happen.   I should have got a different valve that worked the same as the old one.  I worked in what I knew was a dangerous situation what with muscle memory and all.   And now I'm paying the price.   Don't do that guys.  Be smart.   And buy better insurance than me.  Oh and don't ever try to reason with a female security guard over your pocket tools. You will lose.

[JJ]

Hard to overcome that muscle memory.  Also hard to argue with 28T of hydro
smiley_carpenter_hit_thumb. 
Hope you heal up quick.

         JJ

[Jim_Rogers]

Can you change the hoses? where they connect to reverse the flow?

Jim Rogers

[Jack S]

Hate to say it but I believe all you will have to do is reverse your hydraulic lines to your cylinder ports to correct your problem 

[B.C.C. Lapp]

Thought of that guys.   Different size ports on this valve.   In fact the whole valve is quite different in shape and size.   Its no trouble to snag another. I should have already done it.  

[realzed]

I can relate - going on 2 years ago I was helping my son split and got distracted momentarily and didn't get my hand out of the way and the end of my middle finger got crushed between the wood and the end block of the splitter and I ripped it out as soon as I felt it getting mangled..
Figured when I pulled of my glove that a good portion of my finger would remain in there and to a degree I was right! 
Took a look, somewhat stuffed it sort of together, wrapped it up with a few towels and said "I'll see you later" heading off to the ED expecting a long evening ahead of me..
Pretty much crushed and cut the entire end off below the nail and after a couple of shots to numb everything I helped the VERY cute, young MD intern sew everything back in place and between us we even reset what little was left of the nail back into the scrambled mess where it appeared it might belong ('Cutie' said it would regrow and despite my doubts it has in some strange form).
When the freezing wore off it hurt like Hell for a couple of days!
Funniest part - I noted the guy in the neighbouring ED stall watching me help her hold / bend everything back into place in some form of what a finger should be, so she could concentrate on her stitching skills and as much as it didn't much bother me - I thought from the look on his face that he was going to pass out taking peeks here and there, when I occasionally grinned his way!
Great respect for splitters now - and obviously new and good sense of the need to attend to the task (pun) at hand..

[doctorb]

I wish they had at least insisted on antibiotics for a day or so.   I'm sorry that insurance is driving the bus.

[B.C.C. Lapp]

Thanks Doctorb. I asked if I could at least get a tetanus booster.  It was either their way or nothing.
I was even more surprised when I called my primary care doc and asked if I could get a  tetanus shot from them and they said go to the ER.    It's not just insurance that is the problem here. Its also that the medical field people are terrified of liability, and maybe with reason to be, but it makes  common sense just fly's out the window. 

Its swollen and black and blue but the splits and holes look better already and its not as painful.   

[Hilltop366]

No fun on all accounts.

I try really hard to not put my hands at the ends of the log as just bumping it between the log and the pusher can be bad but still catch myself doing it once in a while. I will also use a pickaroon as much as I can to place the log on the splitter but you got to be careful with that too.

[Peter Drouin]

was the splitter where the wage is on the ram and not at the end?

[B.C.C. Lapp]

Yeah pete, wedge on the cylinder end. I was adjusting the wood position and had two finger  around the back end.  Meant to move the wedge back so I could turn the log and that's how I did it.

[Jim_Rogers]

Thanks Doctorb. I asked if I could at least get a tetanus booster.  It was either their way or nothing.
I was even more surprised when I called my primary care doc and asked if I could get a tetanus shot from them and they said go to the ER.    It's not just insurance that is the problem here. It's also that the medical field people are terrified of liability, and maybe with reason to be, but it makes common sense just fly's out the window.  

Its swollen and black and blue but the splits and holes look better already and it's not as painful.  

At my recent yearly checkup she asked if I had had a tetanus shot in the last 10 years or not. I could not remember so I got one at her office by one of her staff. I figured it was about time and could be a good thing to have on board.
Jim Rogers

[beenthere]

And from now on you will only move the piece with one or two hands on the sides.  
Also, will switch the hoses to your cylinder OR change out the hyd. valve?

I rail on (talk with) whoever is around my splitter to never place the hands on the log ends, and for sure don't have a second person running the valve lever. There is a tendency to have a younger person or less-active person run the control lever. Not a good safe plan.

Best of luck getting the hand healed up and more useable soon.

[Peter Drouin]

I have seen them, and dislike them a lot. Can't push a stuck piece of wood through it like you can with one with the wage on the end. I think most of the ones with the wage on the piston will stand up, to split down. 
Mine has the wage is at the end, if a piece of wood gets stuck, I pull the piston back, set another one and push. All so I can grab the end of the wood after it passes the wage. And pull sideways. I set the piece on the splitter, left hand to run the thing, right hand on top of the wood. Never a hand on either end with my firewood other than to set it.
I hope you get better soon.

[doctorb]

I agree to some extent with the liability risks as a controlling pressure.  What I can't understand (actually, I can, but find it incredibly hard to swallow) is that there should be some middle ground that provides the patient with the basics of care, including tetanus and antibiotics, at an agreed upon price if the patient does not have insurance, without the my-way-or-the-highway posture.  OK, you're not gonna wait around to see a hand surgeon and pay the list price.  Understood. But an ER doc or a PA could irrigate out the wound, provide the appropriate meds, and dress/splint the hand appropriately.  Yes, that'll still cost you, but to provide no care on the basis of not being able to provide (and get paid for) complete care rubs me the wrong way.  I know I'm an old school doc, but most of us didn't do this just so we could turn away patients in need.  Now, hospital corporations.....they're not gonna be happy with my way of thinking.

[doc henderson]

In the ED we cannot by law turn someone away.  I never know if the pt. has insurance.  I would have to look.  If they tell me they are uninsured I can send them to a clinic that charges based on income.  true life or limb cases get surgery and ask questions later by our referral base.  Our hospital writes off 40 K a month in bills that are not or cannot be paid.  they will often discount 60% based on income.  the charges are high in part to insurance paying 30 cents on the dollar.  so screws folks with out insurance.  My dad told me his mom paid the local pediatrician 2 dollars a month till she died.  they had 11 kids.  I have only ever turned one patient to collections in 32 years and they were an ash.

[barbender]

 BCC, sorry to hear of your accident. I hope it heals up fast. Actually, I don't what I feel more sorry for- the accident or the medical circus you had to deal with. Sending someone away in an emergency situation over a pocket knife🤦

 Our ER's can't turn people away either. But there is a flip side to that, as there are a lot of people that will go to the ER for stuff that should've been at anurgent care clinic. They wait until evening and go to the ER because they can't be turned away or get charged. I'm talking for stuff like prescriptions or a sore knee, things that are not at all emergencies. We had to take one of our kids to the ER once, there was a line there and I didn't see an emergency among the 10 or 12 other people that were there. 

 One of my friends got a hand smashed horribly a couple of springs back in his wood splitter. He had shown me the splitter when he bought it used, it had a home brew "auto-cycle" valve that allowed it to be engaged, extend and retract on it's own. 

 It was pretty slow so it didn't strike me as unsafe. Well, the engine he had on it died and he told me that he had put a bigger engine and pump on it, and it had a super fast cycle time now. "That seems unsafe", I remember thinking to myself. 

 Well it wasn't but a few weeks later he had the accident, a piece of stringy elm stalled the splitter. He was trying to get it loose when one of his boys he was working with engaged the cycle. Caught his hand and smashed it between the wood block and the pusher. It was bad, the Dr thought they were going to have to amputate it. Kinda turned his hand into mush😬

 Miraculously, the trauma team got his hand put back together. It eventually required skin grafts, and a very long recovery. I didn't mention his main income is a CTL logging operation, running the harvester was out for about 6 months before he could even touch the controls. Now, 2 years later, I think they figure he has over 80% function restored so he's doing great all things considered.

 I'm not going to preach like the safety police, I've gotten away with a few boneheaded moves of my own that could've been a major injury. Bit all of us need to step back once in a while when working around this stuff to kind of assess and manage the risks. In my friends case, 2 people working around a machine with an auto-cycle and a really fast cycle time was a recipe for disaster, IMO.

 I think if you have one person running the controls, and another loading the wood, it's not if but when there is an injury.

[doc henderson]

can you rotate it 180 and flip the couplings.  if it is the right valve it should be able to work.  the valve on mine is upside down and backwards.  Had to flip the handle.  but the A port screws onto the front (rod end) of my cylinder.  a straight shot back to the other end with a hose. and input and return hoses.  no hose is over 3 feet and only 3 hoses.  

[Big_eddy]

On a splitter detent valve, you usually can't reverse the hoses, as the detent only works on the one cycle.

But on  some valves, you can change the way the handle attaches to the valve spool so that it reverses the way the valve operates when you push or pull on the handle. (Prince Valves for instance - turn the 4 bolt pivot bracket over so the pivot is below instead of above the spool and now pulling the handle pulls the spool out, whereas when the pivot is above the spool pulling the handle pushes the spool in)

 

 

[B.C.C. Lapp]

Well, here's how it all turned out.   My finger did heal with how I treated  it myself.  Its bent. And I think it always will be.  Its almost twice as big around as my other pinky, but its healed and only aches now and then.  The cuts and holes closed up fine.  

BUT, to ad insult to painful injury, you ain't going to believe this. The hospital emergency room, where I never saw a nurse, never saw a doc, never got so much as a aspirin or a clean wrap, the emergency room where I sat waiting for hours oozing blood, where I only ever talked to the registration lady and the how are you paying us lady, oh and some security guards, sent me a bill for $420 for, get this, triage.   Triage huh?  I was never looked at or evaluated. The only thing that was examined was my insurance policy.

Of course we disputed the bill and after quite a few nasty calls we got them down to $90 which they say if I don't pay they will turn into a collection agency.   I believe them. Oh my yes. Thievery.    That's all it is.  And there aint one thing I can do.  Ive worked to hard and to long to have the credit score Ive got to have them make a black mark on it now. Over this.   So Ill pay the thieves.  

Sorry docs,no disrespect toward you boys but this aint right.  The medical system is broken.  Like lots of other stuff.  Don't want to get political here but I feel I got more to say about the politics of our medical system but Ill take it to the restricted forum if I get up a head of steam for it.

Oh, and I got that splitter valve problem worked out before I used it some more.  What I should have done in the first place.    Prevention is better than cure.  

[doc henderson]

It is a mess.  you should not be charged for just checking in, you need to of had a medical screening exam by a doc or app.  It is about 400 buck to walk through the door, even if nothing needs to be done.  No offense taken.

[JD Guy]

@B.C.C. Lapp I'm very sorry for your ordeal but glad that you're healing up OK! I had a similar incident with my log splitter and smashed my right hand little finger badly. My fault as I was splitting horizontally from the opposite side than usual and like a dumb *** extended the ram rather than retracting and caught the hand between the log and the bottom of the leg. I was fortunate that I got to the closest care facility and avoided the hospital ER. They did a great job and got me right in as it was about 10 minutes prior to closing. Like you said it split it open like a sausage. Also fortunate that insurance was accepted. We are seeing more and more Hispanics and other nationalities in our community and the hospital ER is constantly full. Few if any have either insurance or the ability to pay for services, but they are seen regardless. Right? Wrong? I won't go there but I have my opinion. You are fortunate that no infection set in as you could have had serious complications. Hopefully your healing will continue to go well. Best wishes!