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Raymond Richard

Raymond Richard

Forum Owner & Moderator
3 weeks ago today I was getting started on a handle for a rustic knife blade that had been kicking around my shop for close to ten years. Just had to make one cut on my 45 year old table saw and before I knew it I was holding my right hand and thumb which was still attached in my left hand trying to stop the bleeding. 72 years old and still making stupid mistakes like this.. Knowing how to do things safely and doing them, well what can I say. If there was a bright side to this story, I didn't have to look for my thumb.

Got the stitches removed a week ago and looks like a couple more weeks and the skin should be all healed. Hopefully the swelling will be healed up then to. Not sure if I'll ever get the feeling back since I did manage to sever the nerve in my thumb.

Be Safe..........
 
Wow...sorry to hear that Richard. I have a big numb spot on the top of my left thumb from a 27 yr old machining injury. I injure it occasionally because it has no feeling...you'll have to watch that thumb...

Glad you still have a thumb!
 
Good to keep your thumb. I'm sure we've all had accidents and close calls. I've had my share. I always worry about nobody being home while I'm working with power tools.
 
Did the blade grab the piece and pull your left thumb into the blade! Ouch!
I always, always use push sticks. I have a friend who lost part of the first joint in two fingers one year and his thumb the next year. The thumb accident- he was using push sticks and had finished the cut. Laid the sticks down and leaned to the right to pick up more work. His left hand followed the movement and into the spinning blade.
He now has one of those saws that will cut wood but stop dead if a finger hits it.
 
opaul said:
Did the blade grab the piece and pull your left thumb into the blade! Ouch!
I always, always use push sticks. I have a friend who lost part of the first joint in two fingers one year and his thumb the next year. The thumb accident- he was using push sticks and had finished the cut. Laid the sticks down and leaned to the right to pick up more work. His left hand followed the movement and into the spinning blade.
He now has one of those saws that will cut wood but stop dead if a finger hits it.
Click to expand...

The blade hit my right thumb. The wood started to smoke which made me close my eyes for a split second and then the thumb hit the blade. When I used the saw all the time I always used push stick. Now I use the saw once or twice a year.
 
Ouch! I had a construction accident over thirty years ago that's left a numb spot on my right hand. You can still see the scars. I have had my table saw kick wood hard enough to hit the ceiling, but luckily I wasn't in the way. Like you I rarely use my table saw anymore. It's my band-saw's that spook me now.
 
Always a concern, but then we do work with some of the more dangerous tools in the shed. Pleased to hear you have not been seriously injure
 
Ouch! Glad you're OK. Had my share of kickbacks and put dent or two in my hip or the wall, luckily never severed a limb...yet.
 
To quote my Dad after he lost the tips of three finger after he ran them through a shaper trying to back up some work: "I knew better".

Doug
 
Sean Jones said:
Ouch! I had a construction accident over thirty years ago that's left a numb spot on my right hand. You can still see the scars. I have had my table saw kick wood hard enough to hit the ceiling, but luckily I wasn't in the way. Like you I rarely use my table saw anymore. It's my band-saw's that spook me now.
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As I look back the first job I got when I moved up to Oregon was to replace a fellow that had cut his leg while using a Skil saw. I think there may have been a wedge stoping the guard from working properly.

I use my portaband to do most my cutting now. Funny how that thin blade from time to time seems to vanish especially with older eyes. I always use a push stick when using this tool.

Since August of 2016 I've had right shoulder surgery, partial fusion of right hand and wrist and now this. Each time I become more and more aware that we live in a right handed world. Power tools, guns, even the cloth we wear. The only thing I can think of that was made with the left hander in mind is the toilet. Well there you go.........
 
I read the title and got the Heebie Geebies!! Except I thought sharpening a knife! Sorry to hear that!!
 
Raymond, sorry to hear that but great that you still have your thumb. Hope the recovery is complete.
To pick up on what opaul said, I really don't understand why the SawStop technology hasn't been incorporated into
more models of table saws.
Seems to me it would be cross licensed by the inventor.
Sure, it is expensive but I bet even one trip to the ER would more than pay for the difference.
And how much is one of your digits worth?
 
Owl said:
Raymond, sorry to hear that but great that you still have your thumb. Hope the recovery is complete.
To pick up on what opaul said, I really don't understand why the SawStop technology hasn't been incorporated into
more models of table saws.
Seems to me it would be cross licensed by the inventor.
Sure, it is expensive but I bet even one trip to the ER would more than pay for the difference.
And how much is one of your digits worth?
Click to expand...
Good point. I'm sure for what this thumb cost you could get a state of the art table saw.
 
Not gonna lie, I was hoping for pictures. Sorry about the thumb hope it heals up quick and fast. From a 31 year old who is constantly taping/gluing cuts and getting stitches
 
Glad to hear you kept the thumb. My first year fishing in Alaska, I managed to get my thumb caught in our anchor winch... It was a pretty severe break. I still have numb spots and it's been kinda deflated ever since.
 
Peter Killgore said:
Glad to hear you kept the thumb. My first year fishing in Alaska, I managed to get my thumb caught in our anchor winch... It was a pretty severe break. I still have numb spots and it's been kinda deflated ever since.
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Peter, does this make us "Numb Thumb Brother's"? I remember you telling me about your incident. I bet you weren't the first fisherman to do that sort of thing.

Today is the 4th week after my accident. The flesh on the back of the thumb is healed up now but the other side will probably take a couple more weeks for the skin to close up completely. As you can see I added a photo staring my thumb, the most expensive piece of hickory on earth, and the blade I am planing on using. The older I get the more of a left hander I have become.
 

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Raymond Richard said:
Peter, does this make us "Numb Thumb Brother's"? I remember you telling me about your incident. I bet you weren't the first fisherman to do that sort of thing.

Today is the 4th week after my accident. The flesh on the back of the thumb is healed up now but the other side will probably take a couple more weeks for the skin to close up completely. As you can see I added a photo staring my thumb, the most expensive piece of hickory on earth, and the blade I am planing on using. The older I get the more of a left hander I have become.
Click to expand...
That's gonna leave a mark.
 
Raymond Richard said:
Peter, does this make us "Numb Thumb Brother's"? I remember you telling me about your incident. I bet you weren't the first fisherman to do that sort of thing.

Today is the 4th week after my accident. The flesh on the back of the thumb is healed up now but the other side will probably take a couple more weeks for the skin to close up completely. As you can see I added a photo staring my thumb, the most expensive piece of hickory on earth, and the blade I am planing on using. The older I get the more of a left hander I have become.
Click to expand...
will you post a pic of the completed project? I am intrigued!
 
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