I heard a story from an older gentleman: his shop teacher taught them safety by slicing a cow leg on bandsaw and saying if you touch this while it's moving I won't be able to help you... As someone who accidentally cut himself on a band saw and has all his fingers I agree....
I was victim to a router bit years ago. Completely opened my right index to the bone from the second to last joint. Opened like petals on a flower, somewhere around 17 separate flaps. The suture team did miracles. Healed with no issues, nor loss of motion.
Somehow 6 years ago when I drove a quad and flipped over, I have put my finger between brake disc and pad. My thumb got ripped apart to about 4 pieces with 2 just barely hanging and nail split into pieces. Just poured a lot of alcohol, "assembled" it and wrapped it into rag and now its like new, maybe slightly skewed.
@@TheBerkeleyBeauty The feeling was never a problem for me since nerves regrow. I have cut some of my fingers to the bone few times and never lost any feeling for more than few months. As for my thumb that got squished and torn apart, I dont have any loss of feeling but cannot remember how long it healed and how much feeling I lost then.
A carpenter in our Australian small town deliberately cut his hands off with a bandsaw while having a bad day but got them reattached. Having 'only' severed 5 tendons in one hand really makes me appreciate the enormous job the surgeons did and the ongoing problems this guy's experiencing, especially with woodworking, but also shows how badly one 'bad day' can screw up or end your life, and the importance of making a pact with oneself to never do something 'stupid' when prone to these 'bad days', as on that fateful day his emotional pain actually trumped the physical pain.
Yeah would love to see a part 2. Breakdowns like this saves me a lot of time as an author, the visuals and explanations helps me make my works more grounded, despite them being mostly fictions.
Seeing as how wood and bone have similar densities and strengths, tools designed to cut wood can be very effective at going through muscle (much less dense and stiff than wood) and bone. Thank you for the explanations regarding these extensive injuries.
I have experience in woodworking and with cutting meat in a butcher shop and I can tell you that muscle due to its flexibility often does not cut as well as wood or bone. If it has a large percentage of chilled factor or bone backing it will cut much better on a bandsaw.
Not to mention the exact inverse, as the first prototype chainsaws were designed to do exactly that, specifically pelvic bone, though this could be a myth I've heard. Either way, i can astutely confirm that hardwood hacksaws chew through deer bone as thats how neighbors remove the marrow for cooking.
@@avi1enkin I'd noticed that also, it's why if I'm cooking, I cut the meat while it's not completely thawed, it squirms around less, and if taken slowly and carefully, can reduce injuries in the kitchen due to slipping knives.
My grandpa was always strict on safety. “a few wasted seconds means a few saved hours” as he’d put it. As a former fire chief in rural Oregon he got his fair share of shop and tool related calls, and plenty of them were quite gruesome.
My shop teacher scared the crap outta all of us. Had all the classic posters in the shop. “Suzie never wore her safety glasses. Now she doesn’t need to.” I still tell my dad those two sentences when he and I are working on any project and I catch him without his glasses on.
This is a great video. I no longer work with wood for a living. But I grew up around these tools and still work with them recreationally and as a sideline today. My father almost lost a thumb when I was a kid to a saw. He and I helping one of his childhood friends trim some houses one weekend led to me having a good piece of his buddies index finger in a jar of formaldehyde for years. (It earned me extra credit in 9th grade shop class when I took it to school.) People can argue whatever the "most dangerous" tool in the shop is until they're blue in the face. Some say the table saw. If you listen to others, the radial arm saw is so dangerous that it will sneak out of the shop in the middle of the night to butcher you in your sleep. But "most dangerous" is completely subjective and depends entirely on your skill level and training. That said, what I've told my own sons for years - and what's served me well - is that the most dangerous tool in the shop is whichever one I am using at that moment. Similar to the rules of gun safety, treat every tool as if it is the most dangerous tool around you.
well... I do agree with you that the most dangerous tool is the one you're holding, I would still if you're using a radial like they advertised them when they first came out, hell yah they're more dangerous than a table saw as a tool. we have a couple where I work, and we ONLY use them to cut lumber to length, sometimes longer strips of plywood if we have a ton to cut down to smaller sizes. That thing still scares me using it just for that. Same for the guy who's on it literally all day long. Let alone using the thing as a tables saw/ (yes, for anyone who doesnt know, they were originally advertised as being capable of that)
I was told the most dangerous tool was the woodworking lathe, but I think I like your version better albeit a bit less friendly in saying it: the most dangerous tool in the shop is the person operating the tools! A tool is dangerous because someone put it into a state in which it has become a hazard.
@@Achonas The main problem with the radial saw is the lack of safety precautions, which the table saw has by default just by being used on Earth's gravity in conjunction to the very table built around it, even if the blade is naked. The table and how we move on Earth's gravity naturally limit the ranges of motions and angles of approach to the blade itself you could hypothetically take to generally less than natural directions of movement, and both expanding and breaching said angles requires you to do extra steps to increase your risk factor. With a naked blade mounted sideways instead, your natural way of moving and just existing on earth's gravity already put you in the danger zone, you could literally just walk into it without seeing. Of course, both of these can be drastically mitigated with more safety features, but those could increase equipment cost substantially too. Of course, I am ignoring people who voluntarily dismiss safety measures for nonsense 'maximizing productivity... for non automated work, making a custom individual item' and bullshit macho "reasons". Those lads can have their "facts not feelings" hurt all the time for all I care.
My dad is missing portions of his index and middle finger on his left hand due to both a jointer and a table saw. Two men i've worked with in the past were missing up to the first joint on their right thumbs from jointer injuries. And i've known people that have been hit by strips of wood from table saw kickbacks. Would working equipment has to always be respected. Flesh is a lot easier to cut than wood, and you can suffer permanent life long injury from just a split second lapse in judgement. Most of the aforementioned injuries had long hours and mental fatigue as contributing factors. Also Getting emotional while working (being angry after making a mistake ect..) can contribute to making mistakes. If you're tired, amped up, doped on meds (or drugs/alcohol, if you want to win a darwin award) It's not worth pushing yourself and causing an accident. The parts will still be there in the morning, but if you run your hand through a saw your fingers won't be. Also the ER bill will cost you a lot of money, more than the lost work hours.
Something similar to the saw accident happened to me when I was 14. I hit through a glass door by accident and it cut right into my arm and hand. Slicing through muscles, nerve, tendons and 1 artery. Was 10 minutes away from dying from blood loss and had a 4 week hospital stay. Took me over half a year after to gain control in my hand again. The hand feels different from my other one, even after 19 years, but I thankfully got back most of my motion and function. Seeing now what my surgeon had to go through to save me is eye-opening. Thank you for this insight.
I'm imagining fingers all over the shop, nails in unlikely and unwelcome places, and a drill that skipped at just the wrong moment and went through the back of a hand.
I had a drill bit break while I was bearing down on the drill while holding the work piece with my other hand. Put that puppy right through my thumb. Fortunately, it didn't hit bone and there was no infection. The next day, the tetanus shot hurt worse than the actual injury.
@george sakellaropoulos My dad did something very similar when I was a kid. His drill bit skipped and went through the skin and muscle between the thumb and index finger. I didn't hit a bone or tendon. It just bled a lot, and now he's got an almost perfectly circular scar and a cautionary story tell.
I have worked construction most of my adult life, much of it as a carpenter. About 7 years ago I held onto a work piece as it got pulled into the table saw. It happened so fast I knew that I had lost my fingers and I walked away from the table saw because the first thought in my mind was I didn't want my co-workers standing on my fingers! As it turned out it slammed my hand down on to the steel table so hard it broke one of my fingers and then the saw blade thoroughly lascerated my left index finger. It was not severed, but it took multiple sutures, top and bottom to close the numerous lacerations. One side of the finger along with the fingernail was removed by the saw blade. There was also a deep cut through the pad of the finger approximately 1/8 of an inch wide (the width of the carbide teeth on the blade). It took months to heal along with extensive physical therapy exercises to restore full range of motion in the fingers. To this day the fingertip is numb, however, it is far better than it was 7 years ago. I also went through a period of about six months where I had hypersensitivity to touch on the pad of the finger. I could not stand to even lightly rest my finger on a rough surface like concrete. I have about 98% range of motion, however only about 80% of it is without tightness and discomfort. My finger is now narrower and pointyer than it used to be, but I'm glad to have it!!!
My brother got hit with the nozzle of a 10,000 psi-20 gpm waterblaster. It hit him on his tricep for a split second,it cut out nearly his whole tricep. When they operated on him, they had to make an incision the entire length of his arm, because he had tiny bits of his rain suit laced throughout his muscles and soft tissue of his whole arm. He’s doing fine, considering the permanent nerve damage and loss of muscle tissue. I just wanted to share that with you. By the way, happy Father’s Day Chris!
As a passionate hobby carpenter and med school graduate (radiologist) I managed to avoid power tools injuries (so far), but nicked myself with hand tools a few times. The worst was a carving axe cut on the dorsal side of my left hand, it severed a small artery and nicked the index extensor tendon (fortunately just a bit). Didn't require actual surgery, just a thorough cleaning and some sutures, but I had skin sensitivity issues around that area for the next couple of years and I still get a peculiar "tickle" there when submerging that hand in cold water.
Mu shop teacher back in the 70s demonstrated the danger of a table saw by dropping a 4" piece of 2x4 onto the table saw blade as we watched fly all the way across the shop and hit the cinder block wall extremely hard and very loud.. He definitely got the point across.
My first thought was to share this vid with my old buddy from the wood shop, but then you had to put the jointer first. Nope, my buddy don't wanna see that! Exactly how it happened to him! I'm lucky, I made it to retirement without ever needing more than 9 sutures in my thumb. Table saw! I still do woodworking, but only hand tools! No more power tools for me!
During my apprenticeship as a fitter-machinist I was polishing up a 50mm steel pin with a length of emery tape. The tape grabbed and pulled my right arm in between the tool post and the pin and drove a deep gash into my wrist half way through about an inch wide. At the very split second that this happened the tape snapped and that is why I'm still here today. Lots of stitches and black and blue arms for a month.
I would like to see that video too! Very much related is the injury I gave myself 2 decades ago that the "fingertips regrow" reminded me of. I cut off the very tip of my left thumb (clean through the nail and pulp, pretty far from anything important) and it just... grew back. It was a bit "hollow" for a year or so (honestly can't remember, could have been two years), but there was never any other visible sign of the injury after initial healing.
Two minutes in and I'm already shook, and I'm a professional woodworker that uses these tools on a daily basis. I do use push blocks and such as needed, I treat the tools with a ton of respect and try to never get complacent but also know that being timid or overly scared can cause as many injuries as overconfidence.
You're videos are informative and fun to watch. I would love to see different popular historical injuries/illnesses. Especially for me, there was a lot written about Alexander the Greats many battle wounds, and then his symptoms before death. His physician saved him from a sucking chest wound by packing it with previously boiled mud for example. Your perspective on that would be awesome!
In 8th or 9th grade my Industrial Arts teacher, who had a tough “bearing” covering an actual caring heart, saw me having gotten too close to the blade of a jigsaw. He gruffly stated that he didn’t care about my fingers, but didn’t want any blood on his machine. Point taken! Fast forward to high school and being in an English class when there was a commotion after an upper class man - formerly…. - a pole vaulter…. cut off two fingers on the table saw just down the school hallway. The high school Industrial Arts teacher in that case was by no means at all the guy whose attentiveness to his pupils saved my ass…er, fingers. Thank you Mr. Melcher! Thank you!!
In 1990, I was living in a basement, with metal junction boxes for the light switches - with steel cover plates. I was walking into the kitchen, and when I swiped the light switch, I caught the corner of the cover plate right at the palm side of my right index finger, at the second joint. It sliced around one way 180° to the nail base on the other side, about 1.5”. Unfortunately, it also tore about an inch perpendicular to the slice, creating a triangular flap, with the right angle pointed at the palm. The hole would’ve held a US Quarter,and it bled like mad. I severed the tendon and the nerve running to the pad of the index finger tip, on the middle finger side. (There’s one nerve up the back/fingernail side, and 2 on the palm side of each fingertip.) It took 8-10 stitches to close, plus additional permanent sutures in the tendon (5) and nerve (3-4). 33 years later, I still have issues with diminished sensation and blood flow. The Range of Motion has almost recovered fully… I’m still unable to fully bend that finger - it stops about 1/4” from touching. As odd as it sounds, I got lucky. The nerve was exceptionally thick, which allowed the hand surgeon to throw the stitches in the nerve itself, greatly increasing the recovery of sensation. That was one long night… cut my finger around 0030, didn’t have anything to eat or drink - including pain meds - until after the ER procedure was done at 0630… at least I didn’t need actual surgery, which I avoided by not trying to bend the cut finger, which could’ve caused the tendon and muscle to retract into the forearm. Still was a long painful summer.
Hi. I also had an accident with a saw blade. Index finger, middle finger of the left arm. I can tell you it is not a joke. More than 1 mouth of recovery. I still have all my fingers. The index is a little shorter... Great video!
I'm an arborist, I do a bit of chainsawing. Part of the danger of these tools is that most of them aren't designed to slice, but to carve out a groove of material (which they will happily do to other things besides wood). It creates horrible, ragged wounds that bleed like a faucet - Exsanguination is the problem, you might need a tourniquet asap. Wounds can't close when the meat jigsaw pieces are missing. The saws are also meant to bite into the wood, pulling themselves forward and down. This effect doesn't seem to really be represented in the ballistic gel (no fibres to pull on), even putting a pair of jeans on that test leg might've made things a lot worse.
I had a plank jump while using a disc sander back in middle school. It took two of my fingernails clean off and sanded a tiny bit of my fingertip. It happened so quickly that it didnt even hurt, all of my classmates were freaking out due to my hand aggressively bleeding, but I just calmly walked up to my teacher and asked for a bandaid. He asked "did you cut yourself?" and I replied by holding my bloody hand up. Then I got cleaned up and went back to work. It hurt like CRAZY during the healing process, but my fingertips healed over eventually and my nails grew back perfectly normally. Almost six years later and theres absolutely no evidence on my body that it even happened. Although it was a relatively minor injury imo, it's still amazing how well the fingertips heal.
I can very confidently say I will never want to deal with a table saw after this video. But a great and very educational video all the same. Well done to you and to your editor!
Seeing this scares me to realize that it doesn't take much for things to go catastrophically wrong. It also makes me thankful that I haven't had such accidents. Aside from flying airplanes, I have worked with lathes and mills in my College and now uni. This video is an important reminder to always have deep respect for the machines you use and never leave anything to chance. Many of these scenarios can be avoided if one follows proper procedure.
Working with wood and machinery most of my life till forced retirement, I’ve witnessed and seen the aftermath of most of these and more. 🤯😱 2008, I switched to mostly hand tools. 2020, back injuries disabled even that activity
If Dr. Raynor was my teacher, I would of loved going to school. He explains things so clearly and to the point, without using confusing language. Keep it up Doctor!
I have had several injuries over the 5 years I was a metalworker. From deep cuts to a piece of a finger being crushed and torn off. I stopped for a reason 😅
I used to know a girl in High School who as a toddler turned on a saw and fell into it. She lost an arm just shy of her shoulder. Her father had been a medic in WWII and did 1st aid until the ambulance got there.
It was a good thing her father happened to have the appropriate level of first-aid training when that happened. Toddlers… they always seem to be intentionally trying to speedrun life.
Excellent video, part two please! One little extra you haven't mentioned in the chainsaw section is that the chain picks up lubricant at every rotation from the oil tank, so on top of all the debris it carries into the wound there is the chainoil as an extra bonus. Also chainsaws can have quite a nice kickback if the upper side of the tip gets to the wood.
Yeah! My friend almost lost his leg this year. Got a kickback from a big chainsaw. Chainsaw pants and boots saved his leg. Always wear protection if you have a chance!
Having been a worker of tools and high speed equipment, this video made me wince at points and I have seen a LOT of actual accidents and seen things that would take you a whole show to cover, but I bet you would do a good job of it
I would definitely be interested in seeing a breakdown of a more common self-inflicted accidental chainsaw injury, such as direct kickback into the front lower leg/foot/knee. Unrelated: my brother's shop teacher was missing his ring finger, thus rocked a permanent shocker hand gesture. 😂
I work in the ER and seen many such injuries. I recall a guy nailing his hand to a six foot board. He carried it in with him. We had to call engineering to lend us a pair of cutters to snip the nail head off.
The guy I work with, who taught me how to refinish hardwood floors, lost two and a half fingers on his left hand. Table saw took his thumb, first finger, and half his middle finger. Working late to install a floor. I give my saws a lot of respect.
I just happened upon this on my feed, probably because I watch Blacktail studio sometimes. I really appreciate the collaboration to make real content instead of reacting to clips. This was a great video!
Would LOVE a part 2, Doc'! Just thought I'd pop in to add, with saws, especially circular saws, COLLECT CLEAN SCRAPS FOR SUPPORTS!!! Folks, you just can't beat a "sacrificial support" or "sacrificial pusher" quickly slapped together from some scrapwood to keep a rotating saw blade from kicking back, or getting a hold of parts of YOUR PRECIOUS ANATOMY!!! Scraps don't cost anything. Even if you're just starting out, it takes a few minutes to go over bits and pieces in discarded piles from job sites and find wood that just does NOT have screws, staples, nails, or bits of shrapnel in it, and then use THAT to support a project piece... OR cut a large-ish triangle out with a "hook" on the bottom to hold project pieces DOWN and push them THROUGH the table-saw. If you cut the sh*t out of a scrap piece of wood, NOBODY CARES... If you cut chunks out of your hands, arms, legs, feet, or face... EVERYBODY is going to wonder "What the f*ck were you doing with that saw to get so f*cked up THERE?!" ;o)
My dad and I were always safe with the table saw. One project we had a kick back that blew through our safe measures, through a hollow door and embedded into a wall about 10' away.
Took the tip of my left index off with a circular saw in '96. Though I was 14, I had been using power tools for years. And, I had been using that saw all day cutting branches off overgrown shrubs. Also, I thought it was a bad idea a couple years before when my dad removed the safety guard to fit a 10" blade in place of the then unavailable 8". I just got done beating heavy rag rugs for my mom and putting them back where they were. I flopped back on the last one to take a break for a minute. I then quoted Tim Allen in Home Improvement, saying, "A lot of things go through your mind while laying on the floor, waiting for the ambulance. When are they going to get here. Will the bleeding stop...". We laughed, I got up and went out to cut that last branch and clean up. Little did I know, 5 minutes later, I was literally going to be laying on that same rug, thinking the exact same thing. My hands had obviously tired from all the heavy lifting, and I didn't feel my hand slipping on the saw's base, right into the blade. It only about a half inch of the tip taken off. Enough to require a graft. 12 years later, however, my dad, once again, ignored safety procedures. Instead of using the clamp that came with the saw, he left his hand in the path of his radial arm saw and took the ends off his left index, middle, and ring fingers. Needless to say, his recovery took a bit longer, missing like a month of work.
@peterf.229 because they were well over a hundred years old and they had turned into basically a grove of lilac trees, with three to five inch thick branches. The bow saw we had was crap, we didn't have a chainsaw, and that was the best option.
It'd be really cool for you to cover other Trades industry injuries, I used to work as a cook and while I did I was always extremely safe, but I had known some people who got their hand stuck in a large mixer and seen someone on social media post an image with a gash of the refrigerator door handle shape on their face. Also, a TONNE of oil slip and spill instances.
Hell YEAH... Try "roofing"... I was helping lay tar and gravel on a flat-top in Florida back in the 90's... We had scaffolding all the way around the building to allow space and separate the up-routes from down-routes as well as to facilitate scraps and debris descending, while still bringing up fresh tar and fuel for the heating vat (also kept on the scaffold) and gravel by the barrels, buckets, and bins... SO when lunchtime rolled around, a dude who was too excited about knocking off to eat jumped right over the edge and landed directly into the tar-barrel... He was dead literally before he could realize it. To this day, I don't understand how he could mistake that for anything but the tar-barrel corner of the roof. There WERE literally tar encrusted buckets stacked nearby and the obvious dribbling marks and globs left for the steady traffic of buckets up to be carried across the roof to the rest of us "pushing" it out and the other team adding gravel and raking it over... BUT somehow, he managed... AND for the rest of us, still finding places to cease work properly (so a seamless return can happen), and stashing tools as safely as reasonably feasible... We saw him vault over the kneehigh ridge and disappear about the same moment we heard THE most god-awful, gutwrenching screech you can imagine erupt and echo from that same corner of the roof. I've even heard a woman screaming during a violent attack, and while it's another of those sounds you can never in HELL delete from memory or nightmares, it doesn't even hold a candle to the sound of a man instantly scalded and cooked through from landing in tar up to his collarbone... The tar was hot enough, you could spit in it, and watch BRIGHT blue flames, like iridescent cobalt, dance across the surface, even visible in daylight. Propane and forced-air is incredibly hot... so from the moment his feet left that roof, he was doomed. Of course, none of us hesitated to TRY to help... but that was a tearful and excruciating exercise in futility and self-abuse at some level. I'll spare any further details... Suffice to say, it was Bad... {capital B and all} BUT having been through the gamut in trades, from welding to carpet laying and construction, I'm confident there's a MASS of interesting and fascinating stuff for the Doc' to share, especially from a surgeon's point and perspective. ;o)
I do woodworking and horning work making 16-19th century items out of horn. I use power tools for some stages before switching to hand tools. I would love to see a part 2😊
I had an injury very similar to the second one when I tried to brush off some dust and chips around a router bit while the router table was still running. Luckily it was a very minor brush against the bit and just resulted in some minor lacerations. Scary as hell, still.
I work in Sterile Services in a major Trauma centre, and I would love to see a video on the type of instruments you use. As someone who handles these sorts of things daily, i would love to see you explain how instruments are used. Also Reamers from hip replacements can be really grim.
Thankfully I never had any of these injuries but I once broke my radius bone in my right arm. It had to be surgically re-attached as the broken off part moved from it's position when the break happened. I remember after I got home from the hospital I had to move all my fingers with my other hand before I could move them freely again. Until this day I have a different feeling in one of my fingers when touching something probably from a minor nerve injury that occured during the accident.
Just from the thumbnail, i am now compelled to look up the guy that invented an automatically retracting table saw blade. Something about the teeth being part of a circuit and as soon as the circuit is completed, it retracts rather violently and at great speed.
work in a factory making wood product. mostly pallets and custom boxes. I'm in the box area. I'm about 4 or 5 years in, don't remember when I actually started. current injuries so far: 3 or 4 lifted / removed thumb nails. 1 nail through a finger (finger is 100% fine), more shin scrapes than I can count. 3 table saw kick backs, 2 in the gut, one on the back of my hand. As well as so many splinters I don't even notice half of them anymore. ps, all except the nail were pretty minor. mostly resulting in scrapes and bruises
I'd like to see you break down the degree of injury reduction from the blade contact safety systems. The electrically sense flesh contact to the blade and arrest it, theoretically before major injury occurs.
Oh man I am just about go into my shed and I started watching this! Just 5 mins in and an initial comment - but I will probably has more when I make it through the other 18 mins! The router bit one really is an "optimal" damage with a spiral bit, the majority of router bit are 2 TCT blades spinning at between 10k and 23k rpm some are large and DO pull fingers in much in the same way as the jointer. I use routers ALOT (along with designing and selling bits for them!) and they really have some of the highest possibility of injury when used. Thankfully I have never experienced such injuries! As said in the video ANY time you pick up or use power tools ensure you are total understanding what you are doing and more importantly ensuring you have not loose clothing or that your are wearing gloves!!! Loose clothing and gloves are 2 of the most dangerous things when it comes to woodworking power tools that require hand feeding, Gloves turn cuts and lost skin into mangled and broken bones! 🤢
My grandfather used to work with a man who had cut his leg with a circular saw. I was told that because he was so overweight, it had only cut his leg fat open, leaving all important structures intact.
And stuff like this happens less often and now most people walk away with very little or no injury thanks to newer safety systems like sawstop which would have prevented the serious forearm injury reducing it to a minor cut if nothing at all
I'm only halfway thru but one thing to note is the difference in injuries when there is something that allows the blade or bit to pinch the extremity against versus the tool or body part being able to move or throw itself away from the contact. In 7th grade wood shop there were tools we could use and tools that were only used by the teacher because they were in the "finger-cutter-offer" group. For example, the band saw was off limits but the jig/scroll saw wasn't because you can put your finger on a running scroll saw and if it isn't against something it will just go up and down with the blade where the band saw will pull the finger down to the table and cut as the blade continues to run in that direction.
UMMMM, I got a bit stupid one day and touched the blade on my table saw with my left pointer finger. It turned it into ground up finger. There wasn't much for the kind Doctor to stitch it back together. Years later it looks mostly normal but the touch sensations in the tip are pretty much gone. The next day I bought a SawStop.
I did some woodworking despite being 75% blind, and near-sighted, too. I used jointer/planer, CNC router, hand router, plunge saw and miter saw without any injuries, so far. I just approach such tools with hefty dose of paranoid caution, always planning every cut and using all safety bits added to the equipment. For example most table saw injuries happen because "someone" removed an important piece of safety gear from the saw for particular cut, and never put it back. Also my track record with hand tools is much worse. I stopped counting all the nicks and cuts my hands suffered over the years. Once I nicked my ankle with an ax, 2mm to the left and I would end up with it embedded in the bone. My other accidents include: - dropping hot soldering iron on my thigh; - self-inflicted electrocution, three times in one evening, including once between my nose and lower lip; - a piece of carbide cutting disk almost hitting my left eye. Fortunately it's already broken.
I've witnessed a tablesaw kickback injury once, it was like something out of a horror movie. Horrifying. Chainsaws, lancelots, and table saws terrify me the most, but according to a relative of mine who is an emergency room nurse, router tables are the power tool responsible for the highest number of injuries. Use a dust brush, never your hands to clear the table!
So many stories about tool injuries. In Highschool we had a wood and a metal workshop. Once a kid from a different school, accidentally cut himself on a table saw. He was pushing some wood into the saw with his hand (even though he had been instructed to use a push tool) and before the teacher could do anything, it happened. He had pushed the piece of wood through the saw and the blade went in between his fingers. Lucky there was a hospital on the other side of the road, next to the school. Also some years ago a gang member owed one of the local biker gangs money and well he was found one morning, in a park, with all of his tattoos sanded off. Apparently they’d used one of those belt sanders to do it.
I had my left pinky pulled into a router table before. I got exceedingly lucky and some how the router bit hit my finger nail first which caused my finger to bounce off of it instead of getting hooked into and around the bit. It cracked my nail into the nail bed and left bruise under the nail, but I was otherwise ok. If my finger was rotated just a few degrees from where it was I could of lost my finger tip or worse, have my finger wrapped into the bit like a spool and pulled off complete with the tendons going up my hand and arm. This happened because I did not respect the router table like I did with my tablesaw and miter saw. I got in a hurry because of that. I respect it a whole lot more now.
Friends dad had a chainsaw kick on him and catch his thigh. He was wearing his chaps, but it caught just on the edge of the chaps and dug into his right thigh muscle. He managed to patch hismelf up with super glue and then drive himself to town using his left foot so he could meet an ambulance. I have a sawstop as well as a Ryobi table saw. Any time I need to do a risky cut, I grab the sawstop. I pretty much use the Ryobi for sheets of plywood and repetitive cuts with a sled.
This makes me cringe. Ugh. In 2014 I had a circular saw kickback and try to eat my right hand. A 24 tooth framing blade ripped into the top of the large knuckle of my right thumb (I'm left handed) and into the side of my palm. Didn't bleed much, but it destroyed the tendons and cartilage of my thumb and broke the bone corner of the joint. I had 3 surgeries trying to repair the joint and each failed, I ended up having a 4th surgery that fused the knuckle with my thumb at 20 degrees, which the doctor said was the best angle for usability. I'm back to work, but as a mechanic now, no more power saws for me lol. The fused thumb very rarely causes me issues other than the skin is sensitive over the fused bones and doesn't have much cushion if I hit it against things. Thanks for the videos doc. I always enjoy your analysis.
I worked in construction for 34 years until my lower back got do bad i had to be put on disability. I've seen a lot of injuries on other people the only thing i did was cut the tip of my thumb and it bleed like a stuck pig
Dr Raynor, you are so entertaining and informative! I watch and enjoy every video you put out! I've learned so much and had fun watching! Yoh are no 'stick in the mud! Keep up the great work!!
About halfway through the video. I wonder if there will be a segment about crushing/ pinching injuries from pneumatic clamps, often used in industrial settings...
Being cut by a table saw feels more like a burn then a cut. I nearly lost the tips of 3 fingers when the pulley broke on a table saw I was using and kicked back. I had the blade tilted at a 45 so luckily they rolled over it but cut gashes deep enough in my fingers you could put a ballpoint pin in.
After a car crash a few years ago I had the palmaris longus moved from the bottom of my wrist to the top due having massive trauma to all the nerves in the upper arm due to partial/complete amputation depending on how you look at it
I managed a restaurant for years and witnessed the regenerative ability of the fingertips. A kitchen employee forgot to put on a cut glove while slicing lettuce and cleanly removed a part of his fingertip, including a decent portion of the nail, and it eventually regrew without any conspicuous difference. Obviously you could tell if you examined it, but still amazing. He joked that he was part lizard
I was in a car accident in 2015 and my forearm was cut by the car I was in. My radius was cut and I have a plate in my arm. I also had to have the radial head removed, so I have no pronation anymore. Nerves and tendons were also cut in the top section of my forearm. My arm was 1cm from being cut off. The arm was also internally degloved. In South Africa I am not considered to be disabled. though my right arm is not fully functional at all.
Worked as a butcher for a while had a almost total amputation of the thumb just above the last joint, cut thru all the bone had it connected by just a bit of skin, I actually curfd the blade pulling my hand out and took a larger chunk, it took a full 7 years before I had most the feeling back. It was almost as if the whole end of my thumb died and a smaller one grew inside it since everything fell off eventually but then it grew about 1/4 larger due to all the scar tissue.
Sliced the top third of my left thumb just about clear off a few years ago with a bandsaw. No feeling in the top half of that thumb anymore. Has always felt weird.
So glad you covered this, most people don't appreciate just how devastating woodworking tools can be
I think we do. lol
@@MrAmbrosse not enough people do, sadly
we had an old carpenter teach us woordowrking in school, the guy had like 7 fingers and not all of them were complete.
@@yowtfputthemaskbackon9202 I heard a friend put a 45° champher along the edge of his hand with a router at school
I heard a story from an older gentleman: his shop teacher taught them safety by slicing a cow leg on bandsaw and saying if you touch this while it's moving I won't be able to help you...
As someone who accidentally cut himself on a band saw and has all his fingers I agree....
I was victim to a router bit years ago. Completely opened my right index to the bone from the second to last joint. Opened like petals on a flower, somewhere around 17 separate flaps. The suture team did miracles. Healed with no issues, nor loss of motion.
Somehow 6 years ago when I drove a quad and flipped over, I have put my finger between brake disc and pad. My thumb got ripped apart to about 4 pieces with 2 just barely hanging and nail split into pieces. Just poured a lot of alcohol, "assembled" it and wrapped it into rag and now its like new, maybe slightly skewed.
I almost got my finger ripped open by a table router luckily it didn't catch on the blade I feel bad for you all I got was a cut
@@Zyczu55Amazing! Now tell us about the time you beat up 10 guys using your left hand only, please!
Palm side or back side?How’s the feeling in that part of the hand/finger?
@@TheBerkeleyBeauty The feeling was never a problem for me since nerves regrow. I have cut some of my fingers to the bone few times and never lost any feeling for more than few months. As for my thumb that got squished and torn apart, I dont have any loss of feeling but cannot remember how long it healed and how much feeling I lost then.
A carpenter in our Australian small town deliberately cut his hands off with a bandsaw while having a bad day but got them reattached. Having 'only' severed 5 tendons in one hand really makes me appreciate the enormous job the surgeons did and the ongoing problems this guy's experiencing, especially with woodworking, but also shows how badly one 'bad day' can screw up or end your life, and the importance of making a pact with oneself to never do something 'stupid' when prone to these 'bad days', as on that fateful day his emotional pain actually trumped the physical pain.
Excuse me!? 😭
😮
Yeah would love to see a part 2. Breakdowns like this saves me a lot of time as an author, the visuals and explanations helps me make my works more grounded, despite them being mostly fictions.
Do you have any books I could possibly read?
Seeing as how wood and bone have similar densities and strengths, tools designed to cut wood can be very effective at going through muscle (much less dense and stiff than wood) and bone. Thank you for the explanations regarding these extensive injuries.
No problem. I have often said that orthopedic surgeons are simply framing carpenters that get to work on the body.
I have experience in woodworking and with cutting meat in a butcher shop and I can tell you that muscle due to its flexibility often does not cut as well as wood or bone.
If it has a large percentage of chilled factor or bone backing it will cut much better on a bandsaw.
Not to mention the exact inverse, as the first prototype chainsaws were designed to do exactly that, specifically pelvic bone, though this could be a myth I've heard. Either way, i can astutely confirm that hardwood hacksaws chew through deer bone as thats how neighbors remove the marrow for cooking.
@@avi1enkin I'd noticed that also, it's why if I'm cooking, I cut the meat while it's not completely thawed, it squirms around less, and if taken slowly and carefully, can reduce injuries in the kitchen due to slipping knives.
@@ChrisRaynorMDHow much does one actually translate to the other?
My grandpa was always strict on safety. “a few wasted seconds means a few saved hours” as he’d put it. As a former fire chief in rural Oregon he got his fair share of shop and tool related calls, and plenty of them were quite gruesome.
Thoroughly enjoy your videos. Your teaching method makes learning both entertaining and memorable. Please, please, please keep them coming!
Thanks, will do!
My shop teacher scared the crap outta all of us. Had all the classic posters in the shop. “Suzie never wore her safety glasses. Now she doesn’t need to.” I still tell my dad those two sentences when he and I are working on any project and I catch him without his glasses on.
This is a great video. I no longer work with wood for a living. But I grew up around these tools and still work with them recreationally and as a sideline today. My father almost lost a thumb when I was a kid to a saw. He and I helping one of his childhood friends trim some houses one weekend led to me having a good piece of his buddies index finger in a jar of formaldehyde for years. (It earned me extra credit in 9th grade shop class when I took it to school.) People can argue whatever the "most dangerous" tool in the shop is until they're blue in the face. Some say the table saw. If you listen to others, the radial arm saw is so dangerous that it will sneak out of the shop in the middle of the night to butcher you in your sleep. But "most dangerous" is completely subjective and depends entirely on your skill level and training. That said, what I've told my own sons for years - and what's served me well - is that the most dangerous tool in the shop is whichever one I am using at that moment. Similar to the rules of gun safety, treat every tool as if it is the most dangerous tool around you.
well... I do agree with you that the most dangerous tool is the one you're holding, I would still if you're using a radial like they advertised them when they first came out, hell yah they're more dangerous than a table saw as a tool. we have a couple where I work, and we ONLY use them to cut lumber to length, sometimes longer strips of plywood if we have a ton to cut down to smaller sizes. That thing still scares me using it just for that. Same for the guy who's on it literally all day long. Let alone using the thing as a tables saw/ (yes, for anyone who doesnt know, they were originally advertised as being capable of that)
I was told the most dangerous tool was the woodworking lathe, but I think I like your version better albeit a bit less friendly in saying it: the most dangerous tool in the shop is the person operating the tools! A tool is dangerous because someone put it into a state in which it has become a hazard.
@@Achonas The main problem with the radial saw is the lack of safety precautions, which the table saw has by default just by being used on Earth's gravity in conjunction to the very table built around it, even if the blade is naked. The table and how we move on Earth's gravity naturally limit the ranges of motions and angles of approach to the blade itself you could hypothetically take to generally less than natural directions of movement, and both expanding and breaching said angles requires you to do extra steps to increase your risk factor. With a naked blade mounted sideways instead, your natural way of moving and just existing on earth's gravity already put you in the danger zone, you could literally just walk into it without seeing.
Of course, both of these can be drastically mitigated with more safety features, but those could increase equipment cost substantially too. Of course, I am ignoring people who voluntarily dismiss safety measures for nonsense 'maximizing productivity... for non automated work, making a custom individual item' and bullshit macho "reasons". Those lads can have their "facts not feelings" hurt all the time for all I care.
My dad is missing portions of his index and middle finger on his left hand due to both a jointer and a table saw. Two men i've worked with in the past were missing up to the first joint on their right thumbs from jointer injuries. And i've known people that have been hit by strips of wood from table saw kickbacks. Would working equipment has to always be respected. Flesh is a lot easier to cut than wood, and you can suffer permanent life long injury from just a split second lapse in judgement. Most of the aforementioned injuries had long hours and mental fatigue as contributing factors. Also Getting emotional while working (being angry after making a mistake ect..) can contribute to making mistakes. If you're tired, amped up, doped on meds (or drugs/alcohol, if you want to win a darwin award) It's not worth pushing yourself and causing an accident. The parts will still be there in the morning, but if you run your hand through a saw your fingers won't be. Also the ER bill will cost you a lot of money, more than the lost work hours.
Something similar to the saw accident happened to me when I was 14. I hit through a glass door by accident and it cut right into my arm and hand. Slicing through muscles, nerve, tendons and 1 artery. Was 10 minutes away from dying from blood loss and had a 4 week hospital stay. Took me over half a year after to gain control in my hand again. The hand feels different from my other one, even after 19 years, but I thankfully got back most of my motion and function. Seeing now what my surgeon had to go through to save me is eye-opening.
Thank you for this insight.
saw this when it was first uploaded, really glad to see it coverd by an actual surgeon
After finding and binging your channel, I am now acutely aware of all my bones in my body and it’s uncomfy. Wonderful work.
I'm imagining fingers all over the shop, nails in unlikely and unwelcome places, and a drill that skipped at just the wrong moment and went through the back of a hand.
Sounds like a horror movie
I had a drill bit break while I was bearing down on the drill while holding the work piece with my other hand. Put that puppy right through my thumb. Fortunately, it didn't hit bone and there was no infection. The next day, the tetanus shot hurt worse than the actual injury.
@george sakellaropoulos My dad did something very similar when I was a kid. His drill bit skipped and went through the skin and muscle between the thumb and index finger. I didn't hit a bone or tendon. It just bled a lot, and now he's got an almost perfectly circular scar and a cautionary story tell.
I have worked construction most of my adult life, much of it as a carpenter. About 7 years ago I held onto a work piece as it got pulled into the table saw. It happened so fast I knew that I had lost my fingers and I walked away from the table saw because the first thought in my mind was I didn't want my co-workers standing on my fingers! As it turned out it slammed my hand down on to the steel table so hard it broke one of my fingers and then the saw blade thoroughly lascerated my left index finger. It was not severed, but it took multiple sutures, top and bottom to close the numerous lacerations. One side of the finger along with the fingernail was removed by the saw blade. There was also a deep cut through the pad of the finger approximately 1/8 of an inch wide (the width of the carbide teeth on the blade). It took months to heal along with extensive physical therapy exercises to restore full range of motion in the fingers. To this day the fingertip is numb, however, it is far better than it was 7 years ago. I also went through a period of about six months where I had hypersensitivity to touch on the pad of the finger. I could not stand to even lightly rest my finger on a rough surface like concrete. I have about 98% range of motion, however only about 80% of it is without tightness and discomfort. My finger is now narrower and pointyer than it used to be, but I'm glad to have it!!!
My brother got hit with the nozzle of a 10,000 psi-20 gpm waterblaster. It hit him on his tricep for a split second,it cut out nearly his whole tricep. When they operated on him, they had to make an incision the entire length of his arm, because he had tiny bits of his rain suit laced throughout his muscles and soft tissue of his whole arm. He’s doing fine, considering the permanent nerve damage and loss of muscle tissue. I just wanted to share that with you. By the way, happy Father’s Day Chris!
As a passionate hobby carpenter and med school graduate (radiologist) I managed to avoid power tools injuries (so far), but nicked myself with hand tools a few times. The worst was a carving axe cut on the dorsal side of my left hand, it severed a small artery and nicked the index extensor tendon (fortunately just a bit). Didn't require actual surgery, just a thorough cleaning and some sutures, but I had skin sensitivity issues around that area for the next couple of years and I still get a peculiar "tickle" there when submerging that hand in cold water.
Glad to hear that your hand was OK. Fortunately, your specialty is more friendly to these kind of injuries.
i love your technical breakdowns followed by a layman's terms explanation. its really helps an intermediate understanding. great video
Mu shop teacher back in the 70s demonstrated the danger of a table saw by dropping a 4" piece of 2x4 onto the table saw blade as we watched fly all the way across the shop and hit the cinder block wall extremely hard and very loud.. He definitely got the point across.
on break from nursing school and so much of this is like review. fascinating stuff. hope everyone is making sure to stay safe in the workplace.
I hope so too!
as a woodworking enthousiast i would love to see a part two. 👍
My first thought was to share this vid with my old buddy from the wood shop, but then you had to put the jointer first. Nope, my buddy don't wanna see that! Exactly how it happened to him! I'm lucky, I made it to retirement without ever needing more than 9 sutures in my thumb. Table saw! I still do woodworking, but only hand tools! No more power tools for me!
During my apprenticeship as a fitter-machinist I was polishing up a 50mm steel pin with a length of emery tape. The tape grabbed and pulled my right arm in between the tool post and the pin and drove a deep gash into my wrist half way through about an inch wide. At the very split second that this happened the tape snapped and that is why I'm still here today. Lots of stitches and black and blue arms for a month.
Id love to see a breakdown of injuries in the restaurant industry and i also love all your videos
Burns, cuts, and blunt-force injuries.
Yeah, I'd love to see that one too. Especially since I work in that line of work.
big agree!
I would like to see that video too! Very much related is the injury I gave myself 2 decades ago that the "fingertips regrow" reminded me of. I cut off the very tip of my left thumb (clean through the nail and pulp, pretty far from anything important) and it just... grew back. It was a bit "hollow" for a year or so (honestly can't remember, could have been two years), but there was never any other visible sign of the injury after initial healing.
Yes I'd love to learn about more woodworking injuries, as well as injuries from other trades. great video!
This is my milieu! ❤❤❤ ive many many experiences and horrific jobsite stories of myself and others...i will be here for sure to watch this! 🎉🎉🎉
Wonderful! I look forward to you being there JJ!
Two minutes in and I'm already shook, and I'm a professional woodworker that uses these tools on a daily basis. I do use push blocks and such as needed, I treat the tools with a ton of respect and try to never get complacent but also know that being timid or overly scared can cause as many injuries as overconfidence.
You're videos are informative and fun to watch. I would love to see different popular historical injuries/illnesses. Especially for me, there was a lot written about Alexander the Greats many battle wounds, and then his symptoms before death. His physician saved him from a sucking chest wound by packing it with previously boiled mud for example. Your perspective on that would be awesome!
In 8th or 9th grade my Industrial Arts teacher, who had a tough “bearing” covering an actual caring heart, saw me having gotten too close to the blade of a jigsaw. He gruffly stated that he didn’t care about my fingers, but didn’t want any blood on his machine. Point taken!
Fast forward to high school and being in an English class when there was a commotion after an upper class man - formerly…. - a pole vaulter…. cut off two fingers on the table saw just down the school hallway. The high school Industrial Arts teacher in that case was by no means at all the guy whose attentiveness to his pupils saved my ass…er, fingers. Thank you Mr. Melcher! Thank you!!
In 1990, I was living in a basement, with metal junction boxes for the light switches - with steel cover plates. I was walking into the kitchen, and when I swiped the light switch, I caught the corner of the cover plate right at the palm side of my right index finger, at the second joint. It sliced around one way 180° to the nail base on the other side, about 1.5”. Unfortunately, it also tore about an inch perpendicular to the slice, creating a triangular flap, with the right angle pointed at the palm. The hole would’ve held a US Quarter,and it bled like mad.
I severed the tendon and the nerve running to the pad of the index finger tip, on the middle finger side. (There’s one nerve up the back/fingernail side, and 2 on the palm side of each fingertip.)
It took 8-10 stitches to close, plus additional permanent sutures in the tendon (5) and nerve (3-4).
33 years later, I still have issues with diminished sensation and blood flow. The Range of Motion has almost recovered fully… I’m still unable to fully bend that finger - it stops about 1/4” from touching.
As odd as it sounds, I got lucky. The nerve was exceptionally thick, which allowed the hand surgeon to throw the stitches in the nerve itself, greatly increasing the recovery of sensation.
That was one long night… cut my finger around 0030, didn’t have anything to eat or drink - including pain meds - until after the ER procedure was done at 0630… at least I didn’t need actual surgery, which I avoided by not trying to bend the cut finger, which could’ve caused the tendon and muscle to retract into the forearm. Still was a long painful summer.
Hi. I also had an accident with a saw blade. Index finger, middle finger of the left arm. I can tell you it is not a joke. More than 1 mouth of recovery. I still have all my fingers. The index is a little shorter... Great video!
I'm an arborist, I do a bit of chainsawing. Part of the danger of these tools is that most of them aren't designed to slice, but to carve out a groove of material (which they will happily do to other things besides wood). It creates horrible, ragged wounds that bleed like a faucet - Exsanguination is the problem, you might need a tourniquet asap. Wounds can't close when the meat jigsaw pieces are missing. The saws are also meant to bite into the wood, pulling themselves forward and down. This effect doesn't seem to really be represented in the ballistic gel (no fibres to pull on), even putting a pair of jeans on that test leg might've made things a lot worse.
I had a plank jump while using a disc sander back in middle school. It took two of my fingernails clean off and sanded a tiny bit of my fingertip. It happened so quickly that it didnt even hurt, all of my classmates were freaking out due to my hand aggressively bleeding, but I just calmly walked up to my teacher and asked for a bandaid. He asked "did you cut yourself?" and I replied by holding my bloody hand up. Then I got cleaned up and went back to work.
It hurt like CRAZY during the healing process, but my fingertips healed over eventually and my nails grew back perfectly normally. Almost six years later and theres absolutely no evidence on my body that it even happened. Although it was a relatively minor injury imo, it's still amazing how well the fingertips heal.
I can very confidently say I will never want to deal with a table saw after this video. But a great and very educational video all the same. Well done to you and to your editor!
Seeing this scares me to realize that it doesn't take much for things to go catastrophically wrong. It also makes me thankful that I haven't had such accidents. Aside from flying airplanes, I have worked with lathes and mills in my College and now uni. This video is an important reminder to always have deep respect for the machines you use and never leave anything to chance. Many of these scenarios can be avoided if one follows proper procedure.
Working with wood and machinery most of my life till forced retirement, I’ve witnessed and seen the aftermath of most of these and more.
🤯😱
2008, I switched to mostly hand tools.
2020, back injuries disabled even that activity
Busted my thumb with woodworking tools, you learn the hard way sometimes.
If Dr. Raynor was my teacher, I would of loved going to school. He explains things so clearly and to the point, without using confusing language. Keep it up Doctor!
I have had several injuries over the 5 years I was a metalworker.
From deep cuts to a piece of a finger being crushed and torn off.
I stopped for a reason 😅
Tried taking the tip of my left pointer off with the cutoff wheel about a month ago.
I used to know a girl in High School who as a toddler turned on a saw and fell into it. She lost an arm just shy of her shoulder. Her father had been a medic in WWII and did 1st aid until the ambulance got there.
It was a good thing her father happened to have the appropriate level of first-aid training when that happened. Toddlers… they always seem to be intentionally trying to speedrun life.
@@peggedyourdad9560 Yes, it was, no one knows exactly what happened as she evidently turned it on as she fell on it.
Excellent video, part two please! One little extra you haven't mentioned in the chainsaw section is that the chain picks up lubricant at every rotation from the oil tank, so on top of all the debris it carries into the wound there is the chainoil as an extra bonus. Also chainsaws can have quite a nice kickback if the upper side of the tip gets to the wood.
Yeah! My friend almost lost his leg this year. Got a kickback from a big chainsaw. Chainsaw pants and boots saved his leg. Always wear protection if you have a chance!
Having been a worker of tools and high speed equipment, this video made me wince at points and I have seen a LOT of actual accidents and seen things that would take you a whole show to cover, but I bet you would do a good job of it
I love the B roll of "Charlie bit my finger." Classic video.
I would definitely be interested in seeing a breakdown of a more common self-inflicted accidental chainsaw injury, such as direct kickback into the front lower leg/foot/knee.
Unrelated: my brother's shop teacher was missing his ring finger, thus rocked a permanent shocker hand gesture. 😂
I work in the ER and seen many such injuries. I recall a guy nailing his hand to a six foot board. He carried it in with him. We had to call engineering to lend us a pair of cutters to snip the nail head off.
Great video looking forward to part 2, thank you for sharing your time and knowledge with us.
Thanks for watching!
The guy I work with, who taught me how to refinish hardwood floors, lost two and a half fingers on his left hand.
Table saw took his thumb, first finger, and half his middle finger. Working late to install a floor. I give my saws a lot of respect.
I cut the tip of my finger off, chopping herbs for dinner, and the end grew fully back. Can't even tell if you don't look closely for the seam.
Yeahh Dr Raynor!! Thanks for the video and explaining the anatomy of everything
I just happened upon this on my feed, probably because I watch Blacktail studio sometimes. I really appreciate the collaboration to make real content instead of reacting to clips. This was a great video!
Would LOVE a part 2, Doc'!
Just thought I'd pop in to add, with saws, especially circular saws, COLLECT CLEAN SCRAPS FOR SUPPORTS!!!
Folks, you just can't beat a "sacrificial support" or "sacrificial pusher" quickly slapped together from some scrapwood to keep a rotating saw blade from kicking back, or getting a hold of parts of YOUR PRECIOUS ANATOMY!!! Scraps don't cost anything. Even if you're just starting out, it takes a few minutes to go over bits and pieces in discarded piles from job sites and find wood that just does NOT have screws, staples, nails, or bits of shrapnel in it, and then use THAT to support a project piece... OR cut a large-ish triangle out with a "hook" on the bottom to hold project pieces DOWN and push them THROUGH the table-saw. If you cut the sh*t out of a scrap piece of wood, NOBODY CARES... If you cut chunks out of your hands, arms, legs, feet, or face... EVERYBODY is going to wonder "What the f*ck were you doing with that saw to get so f*cked up THERE?!" ;o)
My dad and I were always safe with the table saw. One project we had a kick back that blew through our safe measures, through a hollow door and embedded into a wall about 10' away.
Took the tip of my left index off with a circular saw in '96. Though I was 14, I had been using power tools for years. And, I had been using that saw all day cutting branches off overgrown shrubs. Also, I thought it was a bad idea a couple years before when my dad removed the safety guard to fit a 10" blade in place of the then unavailable 8".
I just got done beating heavy rag rugs for my mom and putting them back where they were. I flopped back on the last one to take a break for a minute. I then quoted Tim Allen in Home Improvement, saying, "A lot of things go through your mind while laying on the floor, waiting for the ambulance. When are they going to get here. Will the bleeding stop...". We laughed, I got up and went out to cut that last branch and clean up. Little did I know, 5 minutes later, I was literally going to be laying on that same rug, thinking the exact same thing. My hands had obviously tired from all the heavy lifting, and I didn't feel my hand slipping on the saw's base, right into the blade. It only about a half inch of the tip taken off. Enough to require a graft.
12 years later, however, my dad, once again, ignored safety procedures. Instead of using the clamp that came with the saw, he left his hand in the path of his radial arm saw and took the ends off his left index, middle, and ring fingers. Needless to say, his recovery took a bit longer, missing like a month of work.
why would you use a circular saw to prune shrubs?
@peterf.229 because they were well over a hundred years old and they had turned into basically a grove of lilac trees, with three to five inch thick branches. The bow saw we had was crap, we didn't have a chainsaw, and that was the best option.
It'd be really cool for you to cover other Trades industry injuries, I used to work as a cook and while I did I was always extremely safe, but I had known some people who got their hand stuck in a large mixer and seen someone on social media post an image with a gash of the refrigerator door handle shape on their face. Also, a TONNE of oil slip and spill instances.
Hell YEAH... Try "roofing"... I was helping lay tar and gravel on a flat-top in Florida back in the 90's... We had scaffolding all the way around the building to allow space and separate the up-routes from down-routes as well as to facilitate scraps and debris descending, while still bringing up fresh tar and fuel for the heating vat (also kept on the scaffold) and gravel by the barrels, buckets, and bins...
SO when lunchtime rolled around, a dude who was too excited about knocking off to eat jumped right over the edge and landed directly into the tar-barrel... He was dead literally before he could realize it.
To this day, I don't understand how he could mistake that for anything but the tar-barrel corner of the roof. There WERE literally tar encrusted buckets stacked nearby and the obvious dribbling marks and globs left for the steady traffic of buckets up to be carried across the roof to the rest of us "pushing" it out and the other team adding gravel and raking it over... BUT somehow, he managed...
AND for the rest of us, still finding places to cease work properly (so a seamless return can happen), and stashing tools as safely as reasonably feasible... We saw him vault over the kneehigh ridge and disappear about the same moment we heard THE most god-awful, gutwrenching screech you can imagine erupt and echo from that same corner of the roof. I've even heard a woman screaming during a violent attack, and while it's another of those sounds you can never in HELL delete from memory or nightmares, it doesn't even hold a candle to the sound of a man instantly scalded and cooked through from landing in tar up to his collarbone...
The tar was hot enough, you could spit in it, and watch BRIGHT blue flames, like iridescent cobalt, dance across the surface, even visible in daylight. Propane and forced-air is incredibly hot... so from the moment his feet left that roof, he was doomed.
Of course, none of us hesitated to TRY to help... but that was a tearful and excruciating exercise in futility and self-abuse at some level. I'll spare any further details... Suffice to say, it was Bad... {capital B and all}
BUT having been through the gamut in trades, from welding to carpet laying and construction, I'm confident there's a MASS of interesting and fascinating stuff for the Doc' to share, especially from a surgeon's point and perspective. ;o)
Dude this channel is EPIC!
I do woodworking and horning work making 16-19th century items out of horn. I use power tools for some stages before switching to hand tools. I would love to see a part 2😊
I had an injury very similar to the second one when I tried to brush off some dust and chips around a router bit while the router table was still running. Luckily it was a very minor brush against the bit and just resulted in some minor lacerations. Scary as hell, still.
You're a true wealth of knowledge Doctor. Thank you for this informative video!
My pleasure!
I work in Sterile Services in a major Trauma centre, and I would love to see a video on the type of instruments you use.
As someone who handles these sorts of things daily, i would love to see you explain how instruments are used.
Also Reamers from hip replacements can be really grim.
Thankfully I never had any of these injuries but I once broke my radius bone in my right arm. It had to be surgically re-attached as the broken off part moved from it's position when the break happened. I remember after I got home from the hospital I had to move all my fingers with my other hand before I could move them freely again. Until this day I have a different feeling in one of my fingers when touching something probably from a minor nerve injury that occured during the accident.
Just from the thumbnail, i am now compelled to look up the guy that invented an automatically retracting table saw blade. Something about the teeth being part of a circuit and as soon as the circuit is completed, it retracts rather violently and at great speed.
I have one
I’m a journeyman carpenter, forty years experience, I have seen some of this on the jobsite, be careful out there guys
work in a factory making wood product. mostly pallets and custom boxes. I'm in the box area. I'm about 4 or 5 years in, don't remember when I actually started. current injuries so far:
3 or 4 lifted / removed thumb nails. 1 nail through a finger (finger is 100% fine), more shin scrapes than I can count. 3 table saw kick backs, 2 in the gut, one on the back of my hand. As well as so many splinters I don't even notice half of them anymore.
ps, all except the nail were pretty minor. mostly resulting in scrapes and bruises
I'd like to see you break down the degree of injury reduction from the blade contact safety systems. The electrically sense flesh contact to the blade and arrest it, theoretically before major injury occurs.
Oh man I am just about go into my shed and I started watching this! Just 5 mins in and an initial comment - but I will probably has more when I make it through the other 18 mins! The router bit one really is an "optimal" damage with a spiral bit, the majority of router bit are 2 TCT blades spinning at between 10k and 23k rpm some are large and DO pull fingers in much in the same way as the jointer.
I use routers ALOT (along with designing and selling bits for them!) and they really have some of the highest possibility of injury when used. Thankfully I have never experienced such injuries!
As said in the video ANY time you pick up or use power tools ensure you are total understanding what you are doing and more importantly ensuring you have not loose clothing or that your are wearing gloves!!! Loose clothing and gloves are 2 of the most dangerous things when it comes to woodworking power tools that require hand feeding, Gloves turn cuts and lost skin into mangled and broken bones! 🤢
Please create a part 2 video. Thanks
Thank you Dr. Chris great video as always the best part of UA-cam
Yes, please do a part two Doctor!!
I love your content! Let's commence the injury knowledge.
My grandfather used to work with a man who had cut his leg with a circular saw. I was told that because he was so overweight, it had only cut his leg fat open, leaving all important structures intact.
And stuff like this happens less often and now most people walk away with very little or no injury thanks to newer safety systems like sawstop which would have prevented the serious forearm injury reducing it to a minor cut if nothing at all
I'm only halfway thru but one thing to note is the difference in injuries when there is something that allows the blade or bit to pinch the extremity against versus the tool or body part being able to move or throw itself away from the contact. In 7th grade wood shop there were tools we could use and tools that were only used by the teacher because they were in the "finger-cutter-offer" group. For example, the band saw was off limits but the jig/scroll saw wasn't because you can put your finger on a running scroll saw and if it isn't against something it will just go up and down with the blade where the band saw will pull the finger down to the table and cut as the blade continues to run in that direction.
UMMMM, I got a bit stupid one day and touched the blade on my table saw with my left pointer finger. It turned it into ground up finger. There wasn't much for the kind Doctor to stitch it back together. Years later it looks mostly normal but the touch sensations in the tip are pretty much gone.
The next day I bought a SawStop.
I did some woodworking despite being 75% blind, and near-sighted, too. I used jointer/planer, CNC router, hand router, plunge saw and miter saw without any injuries, so far. I just approach such tools with hefty dose of paranoid caution, always planning every cut and using all safety bits added to the equipment. For example most table saw injuries happen because "someone" removed an important piece of safety gear from the saw for particular cut, and never put it back.
Also my track record with hand tools is much worse. I stopped counting all the nicks and cuts my hands suffered over the years. Once I nicked my ankle with an ax, 2mm to the left and I would end up with it embedded in the bone.
My other accidents include:
- dropping hot soldering iron on my thigh;
- self-inflicted electrocution, three times in one evening, including once between my nose and lower lip;
- a piece of carbide cutting disk almost hitting my left eye. Fortunately it's already broken.
I've witnessed a tablesaw kickback injury once, it was like something out of a horror movie. Horrifying.
Chainsaws, lancelots, and table saws terrify me the most, but according to a relative of mine who is an emergency room nurse, router tables are the power tool responsible for the highest number of injuries. Use a dust brush, never your hands to clear the table!
Prart 2 immediately please! Fascinating
I suffered every second of the video, but you kept me watching😂
I love Blacktail Studios. Dude got me into table making.
So many stories about tool injuries.
In Highschool we had a wood and a metal workshop. Once a kid from a different school, accidentally cut himself on a table saw. He was pushing some wood into the saw with his hand (even though he had been instructed to use a push tool) and before the teacher could do anything, it happened. He had pushed the piece of wood through the saw and the blade went in between his fingers. Lucky there was a hospital on the other side of the road, next to the school.
Also some years ago a gang member owed one of the local biker gangs money and well he was found one morning, in a park, with all of his tattoos sanded off. Apparently they’d used one of those belt sanders to do it.
I had my left pinky pulled into a router table before. I got exceedingly lucky and some how the router bit hit my finger nail first which caused my finger to bounce off of it instead of getting hooked into and around the bit. It cracked my nail into the nail bed and left bruise under the nail, but I was otherwise ok. If my finger was rotated just a few degrees from where it was I could of lost my finger tip or worse, have my finger wrapped into the bit like a spool and pulled off complete with the tendons going up my hand and arm. This happened because I did not respect the router table like I did with my tablesaw and miter saw. I got in a hurry because of that. I respect it a whole lot more now.
Friends dad had a chainsaw kick on him and catch his thigh. He was wearing his chaps, but it caught just on the edge of the chaps and dug into his right thigh muscle. He managed to patch hismelf up with super glue and then drive himself to town using his left foot so he could meet an ambulance.
I have a sawstop as well as a Ryobi table saw. Any time I need to do a risky cut, I grab the sawstop. I pretty much use the Ryobi for sheets of plywood and repetitive cuts with a sled.
Amazingly compressive!
In my old job, the table saw was by far the scariest tool to use. Hated using it. And the company couldn't even provide grippy flooring
Dr. Chris and Cam combo? Sweet!
Wow never thought I would see blacktail's video's on your channel!
Part 2 for sure! I want to see the whole thing. :D
This makes me cringe. Ugh. In 2014 I had a circular saw kickback and try to eat my right hand. A 24 tooth framing blade ripped into the top of the large knuckle of my right thumb (I'm left handed) and into the side of my palm. Didn't bleed much, but it destroyed the tendons and cartilage of my thumb and broke the bone corner of the joint. I had 3 surgeries trying to repair the joint and each failed, I ended up having a 4th surgery that fused the knuckle with my thumb at 20 degrees, which the doctor said was the best angle for usability. I'm back to work, but as a mechanic now, no more power saws for me lol. The fused thumb very rarely causes me issues other than the skin is sensitive over the fused bones and doesn't have much cushion if I hit it against things. Thanks for the videos doc. I always enjoy your analysis.
My high school wood shop teacher had a great way to illustrate wood working safety. His own hand, missing two fingers.
Yes, I would like to see part 2 and or any successive programs on topic. I do appreciate your channel and all it's it's content.
Awesome! Thank you!
@@ChrisRaynorMD Oh! And a happy father's day.
I worked in construction for 34 years until my lower back got do bad i had to be put on disability. I've seen a lot of injuries on other people the only thing i did was cut the tip of my thumb and it bleed like a stuck pig
Dr Raynor, you are so entertaining and informative! I watch and enjoy every video you put out! I've learned so much and had fun watching! Yoh are no 'stick in the mud! Keep up the great work!!
Cheers Doc, this came in as I was doing a woodwork project at home 😵💫😵💫😵💫😵💫
Bro was on point, you can see this is his everyday.
You can see an Orthopod in his wheelhouse.
About halfway through the video. I wonder if there will be a segment about crushing/ pinching injuries from pneumatic clamps, often used in industrial settings...
Being cut by a table saw feels more like a burn then a cut. I nearly lost the tips of 3 fingers when the pulley broke on a table saw I was using and kicked back. I had the blade tilted at a 45 so luckily they rolled over it but cut gashes deep enough in my fingers you could put a ballpoint pin in.
After a car crash a few years ago I had the palmaris longus moved from the bottom of my wrist to the top due having massive trauma to all the nerves in the upper arm due to partial/complete amputation depending on how you look at it
I managed a restaurant for years and witnessed the regenerative ability of the fingertips. A kitchen employee forgot to put on a cut glove while slicing lettuce and cleanly removed a part of his fingertip, including a decent portion of the nail, and it eventually regrew without any conspicuous difference. Obviously you could tell if you examined it, but still amazing.
He joked that he was part lizard
I was in a car accident in 2015 and my forearm was cut by the car I was in. My radius was cut and I have a plate in my arm. I also had to have the radial head removed, so I have no pronation anymore. Nerves and tendons were also cut in the top section of my forearm. My arm was 1cm from being cut off. The arm was also internally degloved. In South Africa I am not considered to be disabled. though my right arm is not fully functional at all.
Worked as a butcher for a while had a almost total amputation of the thumb just above the last joint, cut thru all the bone had it connected by just a bit of skin, I actually curfd the blade pulling my hand out and took a larger chunk, it took a full 7 years before I had most the feeling back. It was almost as if the whole end of my thumb died and a smaller one grew inside it since everything fell off eventually but then it grew about 1/4 larger due to all the scar tissue.
Part 2 please 🙏🏽. Thank you.
Sliced the top third of my left thumb just about clear off a few years ago with a bandsaw. No feeling in the top half of that thumb anymore. Has always felt weird.