Table Saw Vs Fingers—-I lost

This message is long overdue
I want to thank everyone who was at DMS the night of my table saw accident. Your quick thinking saved my fingers! And thank you for all the well wishes. I still have absolutely no idea what happened but will be returning as soon as the hand surgeon gives the thumbs up. Angie

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Sorry to here about your injury. I hope the recovery is quick and successful. It is amazing what the medical system can do.

I’m so glad to hear that your fingers are intact… I was worried about that…I hope you heal quickly

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Angie if you can, it would be worthwhile to try to recreate your last cut setup so we could better understand what might have gone wrong and see if its something we can have better training on.

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During the incident, I heard “use a push stick” mentioned…

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Well your humor is certainly intact! Hope all heals well and you have full function of everything.

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Humor in the face of adversity is always a good indicator of character.

I am reminded of the apocryphal story of the guy that was shot and then rushed to the emergency room. While prepping for surgery the doctors asked if there was anything he was allergic to and he said “yes…lead!”

And of course, the better-documented story of Ronald Reagan after he was shot by [I’d rather not mention a coward’s name here] when he was being prepped, quipped to the surgical team: “I hope you all voted republican?”

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Glad to hear you’re doing ok, and she’s trooper he humor was well intact mid incident and if it was one of us I’m positive you’d of done the exact same for us so really glad to hear you’re going to be back at it soon!

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Everything happened so quickly, I honesdont know what happened. Or what I was cutting. Isn’t it on video? At some point I’d love to know what I did!

I had a push stick right next to me! But I was using another stick to push it through. I’ll be fodder for awhile.

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So what does it say about me that I laugh and tell corny dad jokes when faced with adversity or in pain? Does it say I’ve become a complete nutter?

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Nah. This isn’t the first accident and won’t be the last. The point is that we can all learn from it :slight_smile:

image

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Was this on the powermatic or the sawstop?

Not at all. Says to me you’re mentally healthy and strong. And that you’re gonna be fine.

When I cut my fingers off back in '83 (did it on my Shopsmith 4" jointer while making a cherry jewelry box out in the garage for my Mom for Christmas… and no, she does not know that’s how I lost them, and I will never tell her… It was my own fault and as someone with a Master Craftsman rating at the time I should’ve known better than to leave so much of the blades exposed, but I was going for the sharpest cleanest cut. Let my middle finger get too close to the spinning blades. Was over in an instant. Felt no pain. Knew the severity of what happened immediately. Wife nearly killed us driving to the ER. Watched the hand surgeon put me back together and talked to him the entire time. Interesting experience, to say the least…), at the time, I was working on a crew that was constructing a $5 million 2 bedroom house in Roanoke, TX. Next morning I showed up and told the foreman in front of the other craftsmen, “Sorry to leave you shorthanded, but I’m a little shorthanded myself.” Which got a big laugh all 'round. I was back at work the following day getting used to the new reality of missing digits and having to use a small pair of vise grips to hold finish nails while doing high end trim work. You adapt. You move on. And you try not to hit the nubs! :wink:

I hope you’re ok and that you heal quickly and have no permanent damage. The body is incredibly resilient, but things like fingers seldom grow back. I healed pretty much completely in 3 weeks. Get in touch if you want/need to talk. My experience messed with my mind a bit right afterward. Wondered if people would accept me because I wasn’t ‘whole’. It’s stupid now, but it bothered me then. Get well and ‘get back in the saddle’ as quick as you can.

DD

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It was on the power magic.

Thank you for sharing your story. I didn’t loose the finger and it hurts like hell. Unfortunately it’s not my first accident so head space wise I’m in familiar territory. But if I hit a block, I’ll reach out.

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I mean I’d definitely be submitting a paten revock and a huge lawsuit if it was the saw stop

You should sue your spell check.

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The patent is probably just about to expire, on the original saw stop patent.

I’m not that lucky! Haha…My wood was a little wet or I would’ve been working on the SawStop. The powermatic scares the crap out of me. As strange as this will sound, I’m actually less scared of it now than I was prior to the accident. I have no idea how that could possibly be the case, but I’ve always been weird.