Router - vs -thumb --Mistakes to learn from?

[RPM]

I was going to post this into parrisw's thread, but didn't want to take away from what is a really nice piece of work. This will probably lead into other stories anways which ends up hijacking the original thread maker. I guess any mistake that I've made that someone else can avoid making by reading this is probably worthwile. This ties into WS's comments/ post regarding spiral cutters and template routing and parrisw's adirondak chair (www.arboristsite.com/showthread.php?p=1206328#post1206328).

That body and head of that little pony is made of 2 - 3/4" outside pieces with a 1 1/2" piece sandwiched in between. I glued all 3 pieces together for the body and head (they are seperate and go together later), roughed out on the bandsaw and then fihished up with the template and router.

Long story short, the head piece is relatively smaller than the body and has lots more tight curves - most of which go across the grain. The pony is milled from Douglas fir and this particular piece has some crazy sumer wood in it - dense and very hard. I do not have a variable speed router (mistake #1 - big bits shouldn't be run at 22K rpm)....mistake #2 big bit at high speeds....mistake #3.... should have had the work pices clamped to a sled of some sort to keep my hands away. At any rate....I probably pushed the work piece into the bit a tad fast, the bit caught the that nice dense end grain and promptly spun it of my hands (which caught a my thumb on the way by) and threw it down the length of the shop ...about 25'. Thought I cut my thumb off but it was just the ponies head hitting it at 100mph. My girls love it and my thumb is still numb 2 years later.

I still don't have a variable speed router but did invest in a couple of Desatco toggle / hold down clamps. That sprial cut bit looks worth investigating further by buying one - xmas is coming. I don't template route anything that puts my hands closer than 1' away from the bit without clamping it to a sled now....and yes the wood is CSM:greenchainsaw:

 

[BobL]

Ouch - hope it gets better soon!

 

[slabmaster]

That is a nasty looking thumb.You probably damaged the nerve if you lost feeling in it though.Normally a nerve will come back in a year.But two years is a little long.I hope it gets feeling soon. Mark

 

[BlueRider]

I think the router is one of the most overlooked tools with regard to accedents. mistakes happen at 22,000rpm powered by 1-2.5 hp with your hands too close to react. I pesonaly don' care much for routers even though I have two and a drawer full of bits.

The one thing you failed to mention as a mistake was not using a pivot pin. by using a pin to pivot into the bit it is likely you may not have lost control.

 

[RPM]

I think the router is one of the most overlooked tools with regard to accedents. mistakes happen at 22,000rpm powered by 1-2.5 hp with your hands too close to react. I pesonaly don' care much for routers even though I have two and a drawer full of bits.

The one thing you failed to mention as a mistake was not using a pivot pin. by using a pin to pivot into the bit it is likely you may not have lost control.

Your right...and worse is that I have one (obviously I wasn't using it that day). It my well of kept the piece on the table and not launched it!

 

[woodshop]

Your right...and worse is that I have one (obviously I wasn't using it that day). It my well of kept the piece on the table and not launched it!

Although I have had a few accidents over the years, all have been on the table saw with chunks of wood coming at me 80 mph. I agree though, the router table is one of the most potentially dangerous tools in the shop. Especially with a large bit on it. Most have no guard because they kinda get in the way of using the thing for so many of the things I do with it... and so you have a spinning bit sticking out like a weapon often inches from your hands as you feed a piece of wood INTO it most cases. You really have to keep your wits about you and keep focused on exactly how you are moving the wood in relation to that bit. I know a pin helps control the piece, but I personally don't like them because they take control away from me and often don't let me move the wood in as smooth a motion as I'd like. With some wood like cherry or maple, even a moments hesitation and the bit will leave a burn mark at that point on the wood.

Nice rocking horse btw... very nice job.

 

[Backwoods]

I got a reminder board hanging on the wall in front of the table saw. It is a 12”x 16”x 1” board that has a nice circle where the teeth of the table saw bit into it and launched it back into the wall behind me.

 

[slabmaster]

Yeah,That kick back can kill you.I now a guy that got hit in the chest just below the heart.Said he was ok just little sore ,went home and died in his sleep. The problem with most power tool,you don't have time to react when something goes wrong.

 

[MikeInParadise]

First nice job on the rocking horse.

Second, thanks for sharing as each time I read one of these stories it reminds me to work just a little be safer in the shop.

I am with woodshop as most of my accidents in the shop have had to do with kickbacks on the tablesaw. Also every single one of them has been at the end of session when I have been tired. A couple of times on the last cut of the night. I use board buddies to hold down the wood a lot now.

I have learned that if I am at all tired to stay away from cutting tools.

You really do need a variable speed router for larger bits. I have 5 routers, two of them with variable speeds. It also can help to reduce burning of the wood by having the bits running at the correct speed.

 

[Brmorgan]

Damn... Had my share of those but never a complete nail like that. The worst part about those is the pressure of the blood buildup under the nail, feels like the fingertip is the size of a baseball. I have yet to have a router or tablesaw really kick back on me yet, though I'm certainly not complacent to the possibility of it. I did almost set a still-spinning router bit down on my thigh once though, but caught it at the last minute. So far, my only two fairly major injuries have been on the bandsaw and jointer. First I took the pads off my first three fingers on my left hand when, like an idiot, I left the blade return guard off after a blade change, and inadvertently touched the blade when I reached for the power switch. Not really deep, and healed perfectly, but hurt and bled like a sonuvabi**h. Then I did this on the jointer:

Basically I was a moron and tried to joint something too short and was pulling it over the head instead of pushing. It was quite tall so I didn't use a push stick/block, but it dove into the knives and got kicked out, and my fingertips took the wood's place. Just glad I wasn't pushing it or the head might have eaten half my hand. Lost almost 1/2" from first and third fingers, and about 1/4" from the middle. They healed up really well from the mess they looked after it happened, and they don't bother me other than they are really sensitive to cold. Live and learn, I guess.

 

[The Lorax]

If you do get blood under the nail from an impact/crush type injury, the best way to relieve the pressure is to heat a pin red hot and melt a hole in the nail over the blood.
This won't hurt at all as long as you don't go right through into the nail bed.
the hole allows the pressure to be relieved and you will most likely keep the nail.
and if you are going to do it, do it straight away before the blood sets and won't flow.

 

[RPM]

If you do get blood under the nail from an impact/crush type injury, the best way to relieve the pressure is to heat a pin red hot and melt a hole in the nail over the blood.
This won't hurt at all as long as you don't go right through into the nail bed.
the hole allows the pressure to be relieved and you will most likely keep the nail.
and if you are going to do it, do it straight away before the blood sets and won't flow.

Ohyah.....that hurt like hell. My florence nightinggale wife came to my rescue with a rather large gauge needle and was more than happy to drill holes in the nail....I think you can see the holes in one of the pictures. Father-in-laws are good to have around too (I was working in his shop at the time)....his immediate reaction / remedy was a couple stiff drinks. So to add insult to injury I had to call my wife to come pick me up after b/c I would have been DUI......and then she had her fun drilling holes.

.....and no the nail did not stay either....it took a better part of year to grow back and as mentioned the thumb is still numb past the last knuckle.

 

[RPM]

Fingers - vs - jointer

Brmorgan.....damn is right.....high speed cutters - whether carbide, HSS, whatever. I seem to always have the guard off my jointer, mostly to try and joint wider boards......I think i'll put it back on after work. At least you didn't pay money for that manicure

 

[treemandan]

I hope to not break any forum rules posting this ( not my intention) but I do hope it upsets everybody like it does me. Maybe some of you look at stuff like this for amusement, I don't but I still make myself look. You can see the guys eye but HE ain't looking at much of anything anymore.

 

[treemandan]

Things don't always go as planned, the stupiest thing, the tiniest of things, things that get taken for granted. Don't look away, keep it fresh. I think " What would they ( family) do if I came home looking like that?"
I have worked many tools like that and most likely you have to. A lot of times distracted.

 

[treemandan]

Brmorgan.....damn is right.....high speed cutters - whether carbide, HSS, whatever. I seem to always have the guard off my jointer, mostly to try and joint wider boards......I think i'll put it back on after work. At least you didn't pay money for that manicure

Did you put that guard on yet?

 

[RPM]

Did you put that guard on yet?

You've got 3 hours on me (EST - PST)....its about 2pm but yes....the guard will go back on tonight. I've got a 6" jointer but seem to always end up CSM 8" or wider.

 

[RPM]

OK...generally when I come onto AS I just click on the most recent post in the thread - just so I don't have to scroll through a bunch of stuff to get to the end.......just like I did a minute or so again....and then I saw :jawdrop: shock and awe - man -vs - lathe gore photo.

I'd like to think I'm pretty damn carefull around equipment (part of my job is logging supervision) and such....but that picture is pretty brutal!!!! I've seen enough logging mishaps in 15 years, so I also know what ' brutal' can be. Shock and awe can be a pretty good motivator - some of the time, but I've found that safety is pretty much 100% attitude. You can show people all the gore you want but unless they truely believe that it (safety) is important and that they are not immune then it sometimes does little. I know guys that would say ' oh, he must have been doing something stupid - that wouldn't happen to me". If anyone believes that they're an idiot.

No, I agree...know your job...keep your focus.....mind on task...step away when you can't do all 3 at the same time.


....I'll put the guard back on my jointer tonight.

 

[Brmorgan]

Brmorgan.....damn is right.....high speed cutters - whether carbide, HSS, whatever. I seem to always have the guard off my jointer, mostly to try and joint wider boards......I think i'll put it back on after work. At least you didn't pay money for that manicure

Yeah, the ironic thing was that the guard WAS on when my incident happened, but the kickback occurred much faster than the guard's ability to snap back into place.

As for that poor sod with the lathe, it looks like he violated the cardinal rule when dealing with lathes: NO LOOSE CLOTHING!!! I feel the most for the folks who had to clean up that mess. That makes me think of the scene in the movie The Machinist where the guy gets his arm caught in the feed of a milling machine and the cutter pretty much takes his arm apart. I can't watch that scene ever again, it makes me feel sick.

My cousin used to work as a foreman years ago in an auto plant in Windsor, Ontario, and one day a guy on his shift decided to commit suicide by sticking his head into one of the big sheet metal presses that make stamped parts like valve covers and the like. He said there was absolutely nothing left above the shoulders. That was also his last day as a foreman. Said he never wanted to have something like that happen under his watch again, whether he was responsible or not.

 

[woodshop]

Well... since we're sharing war stories, here is a table saw kickback. This happened about 5 years ago, I was ripping a block of pine, and did NOT have my splitter attached as I had just had it off for a dado cut. After I pushed the block through and gave it a push down my outfeed table I stepped back from the saw, and as I did the piece I had just cut off to the left of the blade (since there was no splitter or riving knife to keep it away) caught the back of the blade. The half pound block of hard pine "climbed" onto that sawblade moving about 80 mph at it's edge, and in an instant, and I mean instant, threw it towards me and put an 8 stitch opening in my chin. I was lucky in that I could have lost a few teeth, or broke my nose, or damaged an eye... I'll take a trip to the emergency room for 8 stitches over any of those scenarios any day of the week. For those not familiar with how this can happen, here is a blow by blow with pics.

Here is the piece just after I ripped it from the larger block... it was just sitting there at the back end of the spinning saw blade like this...

Here it is as the teeth of the saw caught the block and started to lift it onto the blade...

As it grabbed the block and the teeth dug in it started to turn the block clockwise...

Continuing to spin the block as the teeth dug in even more getting a good bite in the wood getting ready to fling it towards me...

Finally it was airborn, turned into a half pound spinning wooden bullet moving towards me at probably around 60mph...

As with many accidents like this it all happened so quick, and the wood comes at you so fast that you're not sure at first what even happened. I remember being stunned and confused for a second thinking I should turn off the saw but instead of reaching for the table saw off button, I ran over to the dust collector that was also running to turn it off, even though the switch to do so was also right there on the table saw. I remember putting my hand up to my chin and feeling the "hole" that I just made in my chin, and my hand filling with blood.

Bottom line is PUT THE SPLITTER BACK ON WHEN YOUR DONE THE DADO CUT. The real kicker of all this is I actually did this same thing again about a year later with a block of maple... this time the wood hit right under my nose with lots of blood everywhere again but little permanent damage other than a small scar. I did get religion after that and always take the extra 15 seconds to attach my splitter now.

Here is a sign I have at the bottom of my steps at the entrance of my basement shop. I says it all. I wonder if there was one in the entrance to the machine shop where that guy was wrapped around that big lathe... or whether he looked at it or thought about it if there was.