I'm a complete IDIOT

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Well it's nice to see you're keeping a sense of humor thru the ordeal Gary. I have to tell you, your post was a real wake-up call for me. My skilsaw is always plugged in and lays on the garage floor, I grab it without even thinking. I've gotten a bit lax and lazy, resting lumber on my shoe to cut it instead of a proper rest on a pair of horses. I've got a couple of garage projects coming up that are skilsaw intensive, I'll be paying a lot more attention to what I'm doing now, and get things done correctly without shortcuts or safety violations, I should know better. Take care and take time to let that hand heal, when you are hurt there's no rushing anything. RAY
 
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Could be much worse but still feel for you. Best of luck on the mend!!! Props on posting the pic.

I am a musician (REALLY like my fingers) and also woodworker and always use the girlie boy pushing tools and have no shame about it. My fave one is the shoe. My PM66 is 5HP American and kicked backed one time on me and hit the wall so loud it sounded like a gunshot.

https://www.finewoodworking.com/2007/03/13/essential-push-sticks
This one also looks promising: https://www.lumberjocks.com/projects/410271
 
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My goodness Gary, that looks painful. I ripped my hand open with a pressure washer but that looked like a mosquito bite compared to that. Hope you have a successful recovery, and be kind to the nurse. Things like this can make some people irritable. Prayers :emoji_pray:
 
Thanks everybody for all the kind words. I'm slowly starting to gain some ability using my left hand. But....I gotta admit that when it comes to using a fork, my almost 4 year old grandson is actually better at getting food from the plate into the mouth. LOL!!!!
Gary
I hope this doesn't offend you, but you started the thread ... ?
I found a place for you to visit
lefty.JPG
 
Well like the man said "Stupid is as stupid does".

I just pretty much wrecked my right hand--and of course I'm right handed. No excuse, 'cause I know better. I was using my skill saw to cut some pieces of 1x4 wood into 1 1/2" strips to use as shims on our freshly cut Christmas tree (the trunk was too small to lock into place in the stand), and holding the wood in my right hand while I sawed it. Done it hundreds of times. But this time, yep you guessed it, the wood suddenly kicked back. It removed a lot of meat from my thumb across the palm to my little finger. Miss Linda drove me into our local emergency and the doc put in 26 stitches to stop the bleeding. Then an ambulance ride to the big city hospital in Red Deer to see what they could save. Well, it turns out, the wood literally tore its way through the 2 tendons, nerves, and all the blood vessels in the first finger (next to the thumb) and through 90% of the 2 tendons in the next finger.

The surgeon--Red Deer's top Plastic Surgeon--is pretty sure she successfully repaired the damage to the tendons, but the blood vessels are another matter. Turns out they're the size of the finest hair on the body. How the hell do you repair something that tiny?? So only time will tell if she was successful or if that finger has to come off. Now that's no big deal--don't really care as I can work around that. But, for the next 2 months, I can't use the hand FOR ANYTHING. And I'm just a couple of days away from the start of my Winter Log Haul.

I'm going to lose at least 2 months of high dollar work. So you can guess just how PO'd I am. And it was my own stupidity for doing something that I knew had the potential to turn out bad.

Anyway, it took me half an hour to one finger type this with my left hand. I'll still be reading all your posts, but........probably not posting for at least 2 months.

As a warning not to do this, I've included a pic of the hand Miss Linda took. It's just a tad ugly so i put in as a thumbnail. Open it or not, your choice.

View attachment 518625

Gary
Oh man , sorry to hear. That looks and sounds as painful as it gets.

Best of luck with the recovery, just listen to the doctors and do your best not to rush it back
 
Could be much worse but still feel for you. Best of luck on the mend!!! Props on posting the pic.

I am a musician (REALLY like my fingers) and also woodworker and always use the girlie boy pushing tools and have no shame about it. My fave one is the shoe. My PM66 is 5HP American and kicked backed one time on me and hit the wall so loud it sounded like a gunshot.

https://www.finewoodworking.com/2007/03/13/essential-push-sticks
This one also looks promising: https://www.lumberjocks.com/projects/410271

I make my own push sticks. Only takes a couple minutes and a chunk of wood. But I bought the push block through Rockler.
 
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Wow Gary!

We all do dumb things with power tools and always thinking "Awe, nothing will happen".

Well, your tragic incident has got me rethinking how I will do things from now on. Taking the extra time to do it right and not rush into an accident.

I hope you heal quickly and there is no permanent damage.

Take care my friend,

John
 
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