Jointer Accident --- WARNING GRAPHIC IMAGES

[butzla]

This is a friend of a friend kind of thing so I do not know this man personally.  I've had these pictures for a while now.  I struggled with whether or not I should post these.  Every time I've used my jointer since I first saw these, I think of them and it reminds me to be cautious and not rush things.  As I was using my jointer this morning, I thought others may benefit in the same way.  With all that we have to worry about these days it's easy to get distracted.  Moderators, remove this thread if you think too graphic, completely understand.

 

[live4ever]

Ouch.  Definitely memorable.

Any details on how this happened?  Fingers hanging off the board, or something weirder or more random?

I always use push blocks when face jointing, but wonder if I’m being as safe as possible when edge jointing.  Either way, just going slow and being mindful of hand/finger placement (as well as the path of travel of an appendage if it were to lose grip) goes a long way. 

Thanks for the reminder!

 

[ChuckM]

One way to eliminate jointer accidents from happening is not to use it at all. That approach (good for boards up to 12'' - 13" wide) should work for most hobbyist woodworkers:


For jointing edges, I use the table saw.

 

[Jiggy Joiner]

Very unfortunate, and some extent life changing poor chap.
This has reminded me of a couple of near misses I’ve had, because of my fault. I was once using a table saw after a very long and taxing day, and was so tired but, was short staffed and had to get a job finished for a loyal customer. He needed to collect early next day.
I was on my own in the workshop, running some oak through the saw, I heard something, and turned around, and just felt my hand hit the blade. Because I had good reflexes, I managed to snatch my hand back, and had deeply cut the front of two fingers.
Luckily, I managed to dress the hand and drove home, where my wife fixed me up. Also luckily no tendon damage or stitches but, a stark reminder to me.
Another time, again tired, I had a freak accident with a circular saw, and nearly opened up my groin.
I used to heal quickly back then, but the scars are a firm reminder.

I try to keep away from machinery when I’m tired now but, sometimes easier said than done.
In honesty, I have also witnessed some terrible accident, even though the victim was being careful.

One of the worst was a young chap (19) using a radial arm saw, six feet away from me. He was wearing a baggy jumper, which I advised him to remove but, he said he was cold.
Half an hour later, there was a thud and bang, I saw the guy collapse, I rushed over to him, his left arm was gone from the elbow down!

Poor kid, he passed out something like fifteen times before the ambulance arrived.
They managed to re attach the arm but, he has very limited use of it.
The boss of the company went through an awful time being investigated, and went into depression, and sold the business.

Unfortunately these things happen in all professions, some are just accidents, and some are just stupidity.
I am actually pleased you posted the photos, as they will no doubt serve as a warning to others to be on their guard.

I must admit, as long as I’ve been in the trade, certain machines do instill a bit of fear into me even now.
Probably imagination overload but, I have always been extra careful, or probably extra respectful, around radial arm saws, band saws and planer thicknessers.
These type of machines can cause an awful lot of injury, in a matter of seconds.

Stay safe all  [wink]

 

[butzla]

From what I understand he was face joining without push blocks.  It happens to even the best if us.  The great Sam Maloof had a similar run in with a jointer.  Though not as bad as this, he was missing the tip of his pinky, ring and I think middle finger.  Be careful indeed!

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[ChuckM]

Snip
Probably imagination overload but, I have always been extra careful, or probably extra respectful, around radial arm saws, band saws and planer thicknessers.
These type of machines can cause an awful lot of injury, in a matter of seconds.

Stay safe all  [wink]

The mitre saw is the machine that I "fear" most in my shop. I use it with the quick-release hold-down clamp 95% of the time (as well as with the $1 Mn finger where needed). The SawStop is second because it's the most-used machine.

 

[ChuckM]

From what I understand he was face joining without push blocks.  It happens to even the best if us.  The great Sam Maloof had a similar run in with a jointer.  Though not as bad as this, he was missing the tip of his pinky, ring and I think middle finger.  Be careful indeed!

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I thought he lost his from the use of the bandsaw. He always told people not to use the bandsaw the way he did (without the blade guard).

 

[Vtshopdog]

This has reminded me of a couple of near misses I’ve had, because of my fault. I was once using a table saw after a very long and taxing day, and was so tired but,  [wink]

The "long and taxing day" part of Jiggy's note struck home for me.  26 years ago, three sleepless days after the birth of my first chid I was trying to complete trimming out a loft in a new addition to our home.  The loft has lots of hard to measure funky triangular shapes and was a total pain to work on, we were rough cutting lots of pieces then trimming them down 1/8's and sixteenths to get things to fit together.

End of the day, dead tired I was cutting on a Hitachi compound miter saw that only beveled to one side (super advanced, state of the art in '93 BTW). My friend Mike was measuring and calling down lengths.  Getting the needed weird angle cuts with the single bevel saw required some be made from the non beveling side with the stock positioned sideways-upside-down-inside-out-backwards, (whatever, you know what I mean)

So there I am, 10 hours into the day cutting the same piece of stock for the second or third time with it positioned to right of blade.  Delirious, I found myself pulling the switch with my right hand while holding down the stock with my left which crossed under the saw and my left forearm was positioned under the now running blade.  I managed to wake up and notice with the blade about 1/2" from my forearm, but was close enough to being on auto pilot that it could have happened. Effing-DUH!!  "Hey Mike - I almost chop sawed my arm off, let's call it a day"

All my close calls since then have involved being tired, nonchalant, in a hurry or worst of all a combination of the three.

 

[mrboult]

A good post! We should all be reminded of the potential accidents we face on a regular basis! I try to always fear all power tools as much as possible, and I run through the horrible things that can happen before and as I use them. . . It’s when you feel too comfortable using these things that the accidents happen.
I often wonder if I’ll be lucky enough to have all my digits when I die

 

[butzla]

Agreed.  It's important to be scared in the way of showing respect but I also think you have to be confident and not tentative.  And like others say, the worst time to work is when you're mentally fatigued.
My friend told me they went to look for the missing digits but all that was found was a red sawdust-like pulp.  Yeesh.

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[mrboult]

Of course! I don’t think fear and confidence need to be relative, they just often are.

From woodworking to free climbing, fear is a good thing.

 

[FestitaMakool]

I too thank you for posting.

I really feel for this guy, the images can be seen and felt, still.
We all do something we shouldn’t every now and then. Skilled or not skilled, professional or amateur.

We need warnings, not once but often enough!

I have to different friends who both nearly lost their thumb on a miter saw. As another said here, I too did leave my hand on a piece of stock under the blade, starting the saw with my other hand. I was really tired and presumably at good speed, but I had let my guard down. Realising what just happened I left the piece of wood and saw and called it a day.

 

[Joelm]

Thank you for posting. After seeing the photos it took me almost a whole day to come back and read what happened. As a new woodworker I find these stories really important (and scary). Reminds me to treat tools with respect and not as toys.

Your post reminds me of a recent story on CBC website about a woman who accidentally cut her hand off with a miter saw while constructing a deck in her Backyard.
https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/newfoundland-labrador/botwood-amputation-hero-1.5486515

 

[butzla]

It wasn't the bandsaw.  It was the jointer.  I asked him about it personally.  I had the pleasure of attending a day long seminar with him at the Worcester Center for Crafts back in the day.  And at the brown bag lunch he saw my motorcycle helmet on the table and sat down with me and had lunch together.  He was a big sports car buff but also had an interest in bikes. 

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[ChuckM]

This personal dialogue you had with Sam should set the record straight about how part of his fingers were cut off. Not a lot of people know that he had had such an accident.

The one time that I was with a group which visited his historical compound, we saw his Porche parked in his own spot.We were told he still did a spin now and then.

 

[Michael Kellough]

I was with a group of guys who spent an afternoon with Sam and it was one of the other guys who told be the missing finger joint was from a bandsaw incident. Guess he was luckier than imagined when using the bs.

I’ll go with your story that it was the jointer now on.

 

[Gregor]

I guess the best takeaway would be to invest in a powerfeeder (with a quick setup rig for the jointer that is too quick to not ever not use it), to have laziness make sure that the fingers won't come near the blade, ever.

 

[forestmount]

Thanks for posting, a great reminder. whilst I don’t like to see pictures like this it is better than seeing this outcome in real life.

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[butzla]

The mitre saw is the machine that I "fear" most in my shop. I use it with the quick-release hold-down clamp 95% of the time (as well as with the $1 Mn finger where needed). The SawStop is second because it's the most-used machine.

Chuck,  Until I read your reply, I've never used the quick release hold down on my Kapex.  It was always laying uselessly on the lumber rack above the saw. I was just cutting some 1"X12"X12' red oak shelving down for some table tops I'm working on.  I decided to try the clamp and OMG, total game changer!  I feel like an idiot.  I've had the saw going on 7 yrs now!  Talk about if it were a snake it would've bitten me.  Thanks for the tip.

 

[butzla]

From what I understand he was face joining without push blocks.  It happens to even the best if us.  The great Sam Maloof had a similar run in with a jointer.  Though not as bad as this, he was missing the tip of his pinky, ring and I think middle finger.  Be careful indeed!

Sent from my SM-N960U using Tapatalk

I thought he lost his from the use of the bandsaw. He always told people not to use the bandsaw the way he did (without the blade guard).

Chuck,  After watching him all morning using the bandsaw the way he did, I thought the same thing.  It was a huge bandsaw maybe 36" wheels.  He was cutting arm rests in mid air with no contact on the table but completely freehand.  And like you say he gave us the ole "don't try this at home, kids" speech.  But if you think about Sam's fingers or the ones pictured above, you would have to stumble into the bandsaw pretty hard to cut that many fingers off.  When he told me it was a jointer accident, I was kind of dumbfounded because at the time, I considered it one of the safest tools in the shop.  But picture those fingers feeding straight into the spinning knives like a wood chipper, it's easy to see how it can happen.  It must have been very painful.