It only took 12 years...My first MITER SAW injury.

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[ronmack]

Thanks for the OSHA meeting Richard. So glad your incident wasn't worse than it was. My worst injury was about 40 years ago, I was making a white oak threshold and my table saw couldn't rip all the way through so on the second and final pass the scrap kicked back and my index finger was shortened on the corner by about 1/4" by the 10" blade. Thank the Lord that's all it got. You all take care and I hope you all have a very Merry Christmas and a prosperous new year. God bless.

[clintprice]

In 1998 I was ripping a piece of trim on a new table saw, I had not yet installed the blade guard, I was pushing the board through and in one second all was well and in the blink of an eye the board kicked back and two fingers😂 on my right hand came down and kissed the blade. One finger healed fine, the other finger also got stitches but I did some nerve damage and never got all the feeling back. The hand surgeon said the upside was the blade was new and sharp so it cut instead of tearing the skin and very little chance of infection. I’m so fortunate to have both fingers and like you said being complacent as I was already in business for 22 years at that point. I am now 65 and retired after 47 years of being self employed, my whole adult life.
Hoping anyone reading this learns from my STUPID mistake. Stay safe everyone!

[de]

I worked in an ER for decades. We had an ambulance transport a guy from a manufactured home factory. His crew was framing up some walls when he jumped from the platform to the factory floor holding a nail gun.
It discharged a framing nail into his knee. His knee was locked in place with the nail. When he was off in x-ray another ambulance called in saying they were bringing in a patient from the same factory who also jumped off the platform, discharging a framing nail into his knee as he landed. The injuries were not exactly the same though. With the first patient we were able to use vice grips to grab and twist and pull it out. The second patient wasn’t as fortunate. The nail entered the tip of the femur, went through the joint space and imbedded in the tibial plateau, locking his knee in place. He had to go to the operating room.
I’m guessing there were some changes in workplace policy after that.

[tmr]

Thank you for sharing your story, Richard. We can all learn from this kind of eye-opening experiece, and I'm glad you were not seriously injured.

I'm a hobby woodworker who has made some hardwood furniture and other small items. I was cutting a 1 inch wide by 1/8 inch thick aluminum strip, which I have done several times in the past with no isses. I also had a brand new Diablo crosscut saw blade on my miter saw. I was very slowly lowering the blade through the aluminum strip when some how the blade grabbed the aluminum and jerked it from my grip. I was startled and very surprised because I don't know exactly how this happened, and I was being very slow and deliberate with the cut, just as you were when it happened. Good news is I was not injured other than a little bit of temporary pain in my thumb, all but upon inspection, I discovered that one of the carbide teeth had been ripped off the new saw blade. I also cannot be certain that the blade was not compromised in some other way due to the impact. So I figured the new blade is a total loss. I think a carbide tooth can be replaced, but I don't think it would be worth the trouble, so I am chalking it up to experience. The cost of another new blade is cheap compared to any injury that could have happened. I was lucky it was not worse, and I think I'll hesitate to cut aluminum in the future without some additional precautions.

[detroitdiy]

Glad you are ok Richard, I also have been using power tools for many years. My accident was not filmed as I did not have a youtube channel at the time. However, I do have a video on my channel covering it. It is called my tablesaw accident. I short I was building a barn style pocket door. I wanted the blade marks in the wood. I was resawing 2x4's to make the panels. Decided to do a test cut with a short piece of material to make sure the thickness was right for the dato slots. As I was reading the short piece, something went wrong and my tablesaw kicked the material out, however in the process it pulled my finger in. I still have all my fingers, nine stitches later and several weeks of healing all is good. I have never looked at the tablesaw the same. Every cut today is 100 percent attention on the saw. Thanks for sharing Richard.

[bobfinnecy]

Sawing 1/2” PVC flat stock. Was doing a cut (stupidly) where I cut part way through the stock and then backed the stock out of the running saw. Was on cut 5 of 5…and the piece bound, kicked back and flipped over raking two fingers across the running blade.

The good news is that this accident got me off of the shop floor and into an office role that I retired from 40 years later.

A reason for everything! Cheers!

[tomgiese]

So in September of this year I was doing some trim work in my house. Ripping a board down on the table saw. I got lazy and complacent and cut off about an inch off my left index finger, straight through just above the top knuckle. Certainly preventable and solely my own fault. I was able to clean up the mess before the wife and kids got home and drove to the ER. I had surgery and now have a nub that’s numb to always remind me it doesn’t matter your skill level or comfort level, you can never be too careful. I’m all healed up and fired that saw up recently and finished the job. Lesson learned. Thanks for the great content and I’m glad you’re ok!

[satellitesam]

The exact same kickback happened to me with a miter saw doing an angle cut on thin brass strips just like this, I also luckily avoided any injury. It's nice to get an indepth explanation about how it happened for you, and yeah, I've reverted to using hack saws, files and belt sanders for now

[KeliSays]

First of all, Richard I’m so glad you’re ok! Secondly, the job you did on the range hood is sick! Your talent just keeps getting deeper and wider. I’m glad you are sharing your journey with us!

My story:
I was building a miter saw table and I was using the biscuit joiner, well I needed to put slots in a piece of trim, I was holding the trim with my left hand (I didn’t use a clamp, because you can’t hurt yourself with a biscuit joiner right?!) I was putting pressure with the tool against the trim, the blade caught a knot in the wood, it went flying, and as I’m continuing to put pressure on the tool toward the trim piece that my hand is holding, as the piece went flying out of my hand the blade cut into my thumb and middle finger. I nearly cut through both fingers. I had to remain calm, I was alone in my shop, ran into the kitchen wrapped my hand in a bunch of paper towels and called my friend to come and get me to take me to the hospital. The doctor sewed me up and I had a month of recovery and healing. I still have scares on my fingers, the feeling is slowly coming back. Thank God! Whew!

[JonDunnmusician]

Hello, Richard, glad to see you are using some Festool: operate mine everyday.
Number one. I'm glad your hands are safe and you take a mature step back.

We don't ever put our hands near the blade. We don't ever cut small material unless we are using push sticks, sled, or clamps. We don't ever ever cut metal. That's just our perspective. And we wish you a peace and healing in the New Year, my friend.

[tallpaul]

Glad you’re ok. I was lifting my end of a large beam with the claw end of my hammer and put my forearms on my knees and apparently leaned back a little bit, which caused the claw to release at high speed sending the hammer into my head, which earned me some stitches in my eyebrow and the nickname “hammer head “. ✌🏻🇺🇸

[thomasault]

Glad you’re okay. For the last three years I worked for a kitchen designer installing kitchens. And I learned the importance of knee pads. I spent 4K last year trying to undo a number of back problems as well as years of sitting on my wallet.

[MichaelZarate-bzkn]

Man it’s nice to see that you still got all fingers. I thought this video was going to be a lot worse, oh and by the way… that range hood looks AMAZING! Awesome work as always. Love seeing stuff like this. Happy Holidays Richard.

[sergeysovenok]

Hey Richard. That’s amazing that this was your only significant power tool injury. I see you have deep respect for the tools you use. Im glad to see you are recovering well 😏. I instal flooring for a living. My comp. name is Good Day Flooring llc, out of the South West Florida area. A couple years back I was employee to a local installer, under whom I learned the tread. He would always take the guards off his miter saws, so I was extra careful when making cuts. One day he got a new miter saw and right away took off the guard before using it. We were cutting shoe molds that day and I was zipping along as always. I made a quick cut, let go of the handle, turned to walk away and the blade sprang up and hit me on the pinky. I was shocked at what happened and in disbelief. I realized the reason I got the injury was because the saw we were using prier to this one was so old that the spring didnt lift the blade up any more. It stayed down where you left it but because this miter was new the spring was fresh on it and thats why it sprung up and hit me. Thankfully i still have my pinky.

[brettbooth]

I incredibly happy you’re ok. The unexpected happens to all of us, regardless of the number of years we have under our belt. I call my scars trophies since I earned every single one of them. You are an exceptional teacher and when you share all of your experiences, good and bad, it helps everyone who gets to watch your videos!

[hansscott]

Nearly 50 years ago I was making 1/2” quarter round trim for an addition to my home. I had a small, cheap router table and while pushing the square stock through I ran my forefinger through the spinning blade. Ended up in emergency having the fingernail removed plus stitches. No permanent damage but still have a scar. Very cautious around power tools, especially routers, ever since. I’ve learned a lot from you over the years, thank you.

[tlheingrunst]

Good to see your ok Richard. And able to survive the holidays intact as well. Merry Christmas to you and your family.
Worst accident, I've been active in the trades since age 12 now 51, have seen alot, experienced a few only 1 major that required ER attention. April 1 no less of 2017. Ripping a 2 x 6 on the floor with a (i have no) skil saw. Talk about being complacent. Somehow the shoelace of my saloman wrapped up in the arbor and pulled the saw to my foot ripped through my shoe and my foot. Up my 2nd toe up my foot back down my foot in between 3rd and fourt toes along inside. Stood up and said well cant super glue this or duct tape it, going to have to go in on this one. Alone on job sight. Took 1 step blood spurted out. Took my home made belt off that can be used as tourniquet to stop the bleeding. Called jobs brother to take me in. He thought i was pranking him since it was April fool's day. And I'm a calm and mellow guy. He showed up saw the trail of blood to the truck and flipped out. I was more worried about getting blood on his floor of his raptor than he was. Er nurse didn't believe that it was as bad as i said. My friend said don't let his calm demeanor fool you he f'ed up his foot. She rolled her eyes. They wanted mye to wait. I took off what i could to show them and the nurse almost fainted she was as white as her coat. 100 plus painful stiches later. No damage to bones or ligaments thankfully. But it is quite touchy when you clip nails. Lol. Btw went back to work same day, didnt take a day off until july 4th. Even was walking stilts. Have pics to prove it lol
Keep up all the great work your doing. Very inspiring!!!

[benhumpin]

Good afternoon Richard. Glad to see that your injury wasn’t to awful, but any mistake ever made is a Great opportunity to pass along to help others. Love your channel. I would say one of the injuries I have had over the years was smashing my wedding ring on my hand between some pipe back in my oil field days. We were racking 2-3/8 upset tubing and my hand rolled off a pipe as the other one was rolling in the rack and it caught my hand. Thankfully I was able to use channel locks to reshape the ring to get it off my finger. I no longer work in the oil field but have been in construction for over 10 years now and still to this day I don’t wear any kind of jewelry. So my suggestion is to keep the jewelry for when you are heading out for a date night and away from the job sights.

[roccodambro]

Hi Richard, you did get lucky, could have been so much worse. Im almost sixty one years old now and working construction since 16 years old. Many small accidents over the years and things will happen to us all from time to time. .My worst was 5 years ago while working on a 6'6" scaffolding. I was by my self and had a pile of tools up there so i would not be climbing up and down all day, not a smart move either. tripped over the tools and feel down to the concrete flooring.Shattered my wrist and arm in uncountable places. Two surgeries later along with a few screws and a plate still bothers me to this day. We really do need to think about what we are working on and how we go about things, but have noticed this relly slows up the process, but thats ok. take a little extra time and be ok with it taking extra time. I really enjoy your videos and occasionally you teach the old guy something. LOL

Merry Christmas

[johnrager]

Close calls will wake you up to safety. I was ripping a 2x12 on a portable table saw. The kick protector was broken on the saw and I just wanted to continue to work. Well I got 3/4 through the rip and hit a deep knot that I did not see. Boom, it kicked the board back into my right hip and it knocked me to the ground. There was no breaks but I was in pain. I shut everything down and went and got an X-ray. I spent the rest of the day trying to fix the kick back protector. I ended up having to order a replacement and finished the siding job. Love the content. Merry Christmas and Happy New Year to you and yours.