Doh!!! Brain Fade

[Finger Dicer]

Howdy folks, just a little intro so we can all get aquainted.

Firstly...the Name :) Finger Dicer.

Today I was finishing my latest project for our 19th wedding anniverary (photos coming). Its a six foot artists easel. My wife works for an art supplies shop and they have easels that size in the shop. You better sit down now.

The starting price is $2700 :eek: and they get even more expensive so I made her one. I was just finishing the shelf guides when I made an almost fatal error. I always use a push stik when using my bench saw. For some reason today for one cut I didnt....call it brain fade. The wood jammed slightly so I gave it an extra wee push, the wood shot free and hey presto instant slice thru to the bone on my right index finger. Geez it didnt half hurt.

Number one son was home from college so he applied a quik pressure bandage and off to the local Doc's for a sewing job. To make it a little more complicated I suffer from AF ( attrial fibrolation... irregular heart beat) so I take Wafrin to thin my blood. Talk about leak the claret.

It goes to show you can never be too careful using machinery!! Fortunately for me there was no tendon damage, but I am damn lucky not to have lost the finger.

So anyways back to the name. I had been thinking about signing up here for sometime, today it now seems appropriate, so thats how the name came about.

I hope this serves as a reminder of just how dangerous our favourite pastime can be :o.

Oh yeah, SWMBO loves her new easel and has already started taking orders from her arty friends for me to make more of them....keep you posted :)

[Grunt]

Welcome aboard. I'm glad you kept all your fingers and your wife is happy.

[echnidna]

Welcome to the madhouse.
The finger will be very sensitive for a long while.

[beejay1]

Like you say finger dicer you can never be too carefull.
Who's gonna pick your nose for you?http://www.woodworkforums.ubeaut.com.au/images/icons/icon10.gifhttp://www.woodworkforums.ubeaut.com.au/images/icons/icon10.gif
beejayi

http://community.webshots.com/user/eunos9

[craigb]

Yeah well we all know that the real reason you did it is so you could live up to the screen name you'd chosen :D

Welcome.

[echnidna]

So long as you don't have to try and learn to use toilet paper with the wrong hand. :D :D :D

[Harry72]

Christ $2700 you gotta be kidding, what is the wood?(gold plated)

[Harry72]

Oh yeah, welcome aboard!

[Richardwoodhead]

Thanks for the reminder. When we forget to constantly remind ourselves, it good to get this kind of feedback. Glad it wasn't worse for you! Look forward to your posts.

[bilbo]

Strangely enough I did a similar thing today - but it was a near miss. I felt the blade skim the thumb but got away just in time. JUUSSSTTTT broke the first layer of skin - no blood. Dead jammy.

I was milling a groove in a piece of a table frame in which to locate those little clips that hold down the table top. I wanted to do it with a handheld router. but couldn't find the router rip fence. So, I decided I'd do it on the table saw. I didn't want a full length slot. I planned to to just drop the frame piece onto the blade and just cut about a 300mm slot & then lift it off. I inadvertently went all the way to one end of the wood and thought "Oh, just slot the whole length of the damn thing". So I stupidly pushed the wood back the way it had come and of course the blade grabbed it and threw it back off the table at the speed of light and almost took my hand with it! Damn close 'twas.

Bilbo

[Grunt]

Christ $2700 you gotta be kidding, what is the wood?(gold plated)
I thought so too. I had a bit of a search and most of the easels were in the range of US$150 - US$600 but I did find the one. Really expensive easel (http://www.dickblick.com/zz515/56/products.asp?param=0&ig_id=6492)

Grunt

[Finger Dicer]

Good detective work there grunt :D

I used the same site when looking for design options. This is the model that I have styled my easel off but I've made it to take heavier canvases. http://www.dickblick.com/zz515/59/products.asp?param=0&ig_id=7080

My wifes company stocks most of the mabef and best range, but has a larger variety than whats shown on the web site.

The wood used varies between beech and red oak depending on the manufacturer.

Note the recommended retail price. The factory price is much cheaper.

Now because we a geographically challenged and the prices are in American dollars

At the sale price $230.00 x exchange rate + plus funds tranfer fee + shop markup of 70% + gst of 12.5% = $332 + 25.00 + 260.25 + 77.15 = $694.40 NZ dollars.

Now if we paid the full retail price of $462.49 US dollars that works out to be
$ 1197.66 NZ dollars. Ouchies!!!

Now I make a heavier version of this easel so that budding artists such as my wife can use the one piece of equipment without having to invest in another because they want to paint on a grander scale. I can put these easels in the shop at $500.00 and make a tidy profit. Oh and BTW I use macrocarpa and douglas fir to make them.

[Finger Dicer]

As a footnote to the above, what got me started on easels apart from my wife was a comment from another artist, who was lamenting the fact they wanted a very good easel but also need to spend the bulk of their money on painting equipment and canvases.

Therefore as with most artists it appear they would love a $1000.00 + easel but can only afford two or three hundred at best.

The orders are already rolling in and a Mixed media shop in town wants a display model...so it looks like I could be on to a winner. Will keep you posted.

[Rocker]

I was milling a groove in a piece of a table frame in which to locate those little clips that hold down the table top. I wanted to do it with a handheld router. but couldn't find the router rip fence. So, I decided I'd do it on the table saw.
Bilbo

Bilbo,

I use a biscuit joiner for this job - quick and easy.

Rocker

[Wood Borer]

Welcome aboard Finger Dicer, I would love to see a photo of the easel. Thanks for the reminder about the safety.

[glock40sw]

G'day.
When I started work in the sawmill 30 years ago, there was an old bloke who had worked in sawmills all his life.
He pulled me aside on my first day and told me of a little gem that I now pass on to every new bloke that starts working for me.
This little gem is....." Never put your fingers where you wouldn't put your d1ck & you will always die with 5 fingers on each hand"

Words to live by......

Hooroo.
Regards, Trevor
Grafton

[Finger Dicer]

Hahahahahah :D

[Woodlice]

HAhaha, I will never forget that.

:D

J!

[DanP]

I dunno, Some people put their d1ck in some pretty dangerous places.

[ozwinner]

Like their neighbours wives??


Al :eek:

[Woodlice]

Haha you sound like a culprit of that misadventure. :D

J!

[Wood Butcher]

....." Never put your fingers where you wouldn't put your d1ck & you will always die with 5 fingers on each hand"


Told the boos at work today. He ****** himself laughing hen put it up on the black board. How true it is though.

[Harry72]

I thought so too. I had a bit of a search and most of the easels were in the range of US$150 - US$600 but I did find the one. Really expensive easel (http://www.dickblick.com/zz515/56/products.asp?param=0&ig_id=6492)

Grunt Christ I never knew they needed such a massive contraption just to hold a canvas... how much could they weigh?

[Grunt]

I dunno, Some people put their d1ck in some pretty dangerous places.

I was at a party once where a bloke put his d1ck on the BBQ. It was alight and hot. Too many beers me thinks.

[DanP]

Dunno about that either, I've been fairly p issed once or twice (or was that three times?) and I would never think to put mine anywhere near where it might get hurt.

Dan

(I can just see 's delete finger twitching)

[craigb]

I was at a party once where a bloke put his d1ck on the BBQ. It was alight and hot.
:eek: :D
Now that's a canditate for a Darwin award. O.K. he mightn't have killed himself, but he must have gone pretty close to removing himself from the gene pool. :rolleyes: :D

[bilbo]

Bilbo,

I use a biscuit joiner for this job - quick and easy.

Rocker
Rocker,

I'd do it with a biscuiter too - if I owned one. I do my biscuitin' on a router table.

Bilbo

[Rowan]

why why why doesnt anyone remember to take pictures of the wound to post on the site :D

Actually I can answer that from experience. Just got my second lot of stickes from woodworking (paring of a lid for a bowl, tool caught and dragged into lathe , hand on top of tool.............imagine the rest!!!). Did take a pic of the finger using my phone in the docs waiting to be seen, (shocking quality) but doctor took phone away from my while he was working on my finger :mad: would have been such a cool pic, blood overflowed little mat he put under it and covered sheet on bench/bed he had me on :eek:

[Finger Dicer]

Ah the fickle finger of fate.

Damn digital piccy taker is broke and I havent replaced it yet. Yup red stuff overflowed the little mat thingy they use and the nurse hastily decided it wouldnt be that good for me to continue to bleed in such a fashion. To which I most heartily concur.

Yup it is'nt hard to imagine the rest, I should think there will be a pretty mean scar for some time too.

Weights & Measures

To clarify, as many artists like to paint on various surfaces for all sorts of reasons, and this is the case through the centuries too apparently, it is not uncommon to find a canvas thats 1800mm x 1200mm could easily weigh 40 or 50 kilos depending on the types of stretch frames or whether its a soild backing (mdf ) a combo of these and other factors.

Personally I wouldnt want to have to lug a 50kg painting anywhere, but they are moved about studios and gallerys al the time according to SWMBO.

Hence the need for the cumbersome contraptions they use and I make.

Karma aint it :)

[Tasman]

Well,join the club i have had a nip with the saw and the buzzer and both were a bloody mess and oh yea not to mention the lathe as well,too lazy to shift the tool bar while sanding so my finger fitted through a neat small gap,hence nearly lost the end,the doc trimmed off the exposed bone and folded it up and let it heal,geez you think we would be old enough to know better the dangerous situations we get into with machines but we always know better dont we..........
Hey Finger Dicer if you want some blackwood for a really nice easle i might just have what you need here..........lol Grunt and Snow will tell you our Tassie b/w is A1 for colour..........Cheers Tasman

[MajorPanic]

Welcome aboard Finger Dicer

I have done EXACTLY as you have done but I cut ¾" of my left thumb off... they reattached it but there is no feeling in the end & it's EXACTLY ⅛" shorter than the right thumb :eek:

As to the easel, I was asked to make one for a friend who is an artist. He wanted me to copy one his art teacher had which was 150 years old. He could still buy one from the original manufactures (French) but with a price tag of 15,000 Euro, even he couldn't afford it :(
I did all the measurements etc. but he didn't want to go through with it.
Good easels are VERY EXPENSIVE so get on with it... you could make a killing ;) :D

[Finger Dicer]

Yeah Tassie Blackwood is nice and thanks for the offer, but I went to our local miller, who very conviently has the timber yard about 1.5km from where I live.

Every time I go there to buy or price rough sawn Macrocarpa or some such he's always asking me if I would like to try other types of wood.

So not wanting to offend (cough ;) ) I always say yes.

Today we got to talking about the easel that had so nearly claimed my finger, and he says would you like to try some tassie blackwood? Wood I? Sure I wood :)

So in the car goes some 50 x 25, 75 x 25 , 150 x 50 and a couple of lenghts of 150 x 25. All in all enough wood to make a complete easel out of Tasssie blackwood. About $150.00 NZ. Vey KEWL :) Needless to say SWMBO was gobsmacked.

Last time I went and saw him he gave me a pile of 50 x 25 d4s elm which I havent found a use for just yet.

I actually enjoy taking the time to talk with Gordon as he has an immense knowledge of timber both native and exotic, and as I'm fast learning , striking up a good relationship with a local miller is a very beneficial past time.

Gordons is in his mid fifties and has been around our area milling for the best part of thirty years so he knows where all the good trees are hiding.

Including which of the old Macracarpas are going to be felled by the local councils park division, and when. Guess where I'm gonna be. :D

[soundman]

Come on you gota post pictures of the wound.
see my post from my best ever slice.
http://www.woodworkforums.ubeaut.com.au/showthread.php?t=8645&highlight=ouch
The feelings starting to come back on the downstream side of the cut.
Nice sewing Dr Ho.

[Finger Dicer]

Working on it...because they couldnt stitch it, they used sterie strips so I'm not allowed to open it up till tomorrow, and I need someone at work to take a piccy of it cos my piccy takers broke :(

That btw is one real pretty seam you got there ...OUCH!!!