Another short fingered forumite

**Ironwood** · 28th January 2011, 10:25 AM

Well I never thought it would happen to me............., but here I sit with one of my fingers shorter than it was when I woke up yesterday.

I was putting in some new cupboards in the back room adjoining the laundry yesterday.
I had them all finished, just had to scribe and trim the edging strips to go against both end walls. I had been using the handheld planer to trim things all day, but thought it would be quicker to do these in the shed.

Went and cut close to the line on the bandsaw, and started cleaning up the edges on the jointer. Usually i am extra carefull using the jointer, always mindful where my fingers are, keeping them away from the blades.
I had finished one piece and almost done on the second one, I thought one more run through and I would go and check them for fit.
Well all I can remember was the bang, and the realisation that my finger had just been whacked by the blades.
I had a look, it was cut halfway through the nail on my middle finger, left hand.

I grabbed a rag and wrapped it up, turned off the jointer and cyclone. Luckily my wife was also home, she drove me the 30 minutes to the hospital.

Spent the next 2 and a half hours there, while they fixed it up. Xrays showed the end section of bone was shattered. Luckily there was a flap still attached to the underside, the Dr pulled this over the end and stitched it up, stitches go right through the nail.
He said this should heal OK, as long as it doesnt get infected, in this case they will have to chop the end off.

So this has put me out of action for a while

.

My wife took a couple of pics at the hospital with her phone. I'll try and load them later on if they are any good ( she took them while looking away)

**Waldo** · 28th January 2011, 10:34 AM

Holy hell.

Dose the finger in some strong alcohol, if that doesn't take the pain away then drink the alcohol.

**The Bleeder** · 28th January 2011, 10:55 AM

This not the club you want to join. Hope everything turns out ok.

**Ironwood** · 28th January 2011, 10:57 AM

Originally Posted by Waldo

Holy hell.

Dose the finger in some strong alcohol, if that doesn't take the pain away then drink the alcohol.

Thanks for the advice Waldo, a few stiff rums were in order last night

**Ironwood** · 28th January 2011, 11:03 AM

Originally Posted by The Bleeder

This not the club you want to join. Hope everything turns out ok.

I wasn't planning on ever joining this club.

The Dr said he's confident that it will heal OK, as long as infection doesnt set in.

He thoroughly scrubbed the wound clean, he said he's had luck with a few similar cases, so "fingers crossed" it will be all good.

**Ozkaban** · 28th January 2011, 11:16 AM

Bloody Nora, Ironwood! Take care of yourself. I've done similar things, though not on a jointer and well remember just how little inattention is required to mangle an appendage. Sincerely hope you recover speedily. I second Waldo's advice, but skip the dunking bit - it might give a funny flavour to it

If you need a hand with the pen swap, I'm happy to offer. I can either do the swap for you or help finish off a pen you've already started.

Cheers,
Dave

**Ironwood** · 28th January 2011, 11:29 AM

Originally Posted by Ozkaban

I second Waldo's advice, but skip the dunking bit - it might give a funny flavour to it

If you need a hand with the pen swap, I'm happy to offer. I can either do the swap for you or help finish off a pen you've already started.

Cheers,
Dave

I did skip the dunking bit

, The Dr advised not to get the finger wet.
He didnt say I couldn't wet my insides though

.

Thanks for the offer of help, but I will be right to finish the assembly of one of the ones I have been working on.
Might take me a bit longer than usuall though

.

**Sawdust Maker** · 28th January 2011, 11:55 AM

Ouch

Hope the Dr is lucky with this one as well

I reckon if it happened to me my wife would take the photos in the same way

**Pops** · 28th January 2011, 11:57 AM

Ouch Ironwood. In just a split second a lot of 'ouch'.

Lucky wifey was home to get you to the hospital straight away. Hope you heal quickly.

Oh, I am happy for the bouncer to refuse me entry to 'that' club too.

Cheers
Pops

**Waldo** · 28th January 2011, 11:58 AM

When something happened with me and the table saw, I got told to drive to the hospital myself and stop looking at the cut because I'll just make it bleed more and get blood on the floor.

Some husbands do have 'em.

Bloody Nora, haven't read/heard that one for a long time.

**Ozkaban** · 28th January 2011, 12:53 PM

Originally Posted by Waldo

Bloody Nora, haven't read/heard that one for a long time.

it came from an Italian bloke I worked with 10 years back. for some reason it just stuck with me

Sometimes it just sums it all up nicely

**Waldo** · 28th January 2011, 12:57 PM

Used to hear it as a kid a lot back in the '70's and got into trouble if I said it.

**rod1949** · 28th January 2011, 01:22 PM

Originally Posted by Ironwood

...
Well all I can remember was the bang, and the realisation that my finger had just been whacked by the blades.
I had a look, it was cut halfway through the nail on my middle finger, left hand.

Got to reading this bit and had one of them hot flush thingies.

Hope it heals soon.

**Mr Brush** · 28th January 2011, 01:43 PM

Ironwood - can I ask how thin these strips were, i.e. how close were your fingers to the blades as the wood passed over the cutterhead?

Hope you mend fast

**Ironwood** · 28th January 2011, 02:01 PM

Originally Posted by rod1949

Got to reading this bit and had one of them hot flush thingies.

Hope it heals soon.

Yeah, I went down to the shed before to check things out. rotated the cutterhead on the jointer to see if any bits were still there, got a bit of an uneasy feeling doing that.
No chunks or any blood visible on the blades, must have got sucked into the cyclone

.

Originally Posted by Mr Brush

Ironwood - can I ask how thin these strips were, i.e. how close were your fingers to the blades as the wood passed over the cutterhead?

Hope you mend fast

The strips were about 30x16mm, one was 900mm long , the other about 1900mm long. I was planing the thin edge.
Through most of the process my fingers were'nt over the blades, as I kept moving my hands on the workpiece to keep them clear.

I vaguely remember the workpiece begin to chatter, I think I moved my hand back closer to the cutterhead to try and reduce this.
My hand may have slipped off the top of the strip because of the chatter. Not sure because it all happened pretty fast.

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