Accidents Happen

Since I’ve started creating puzzles in wood, I’ve been learning quickly and starting to produce some puzzles that I’m very proud of. Over the weekend I started putting together a run of puzzles for a craft fair that is coming up, with the hope of selling a few puzzles there.

I had a batch of sticks cut and spent Saturday morning gluing up pieces. It’s amazing just how quickly you use up the sticks you have cut so after about an hour I went to cut some more sticks. I started rough cutting some sticks from the redwood planks I have and was getting on great.

If you’re a nervous reader, I’d stop reading now…

I was getting to the end of the batch, and it seems I was a little careless. When moving a piece of waste wood from the table, I got my thumb a little too close to the blade. The result, lots of blood and a good chunk taken out of my thumb.

I spent the next few hours in the emergency room where the surgeon operated on my thumb. So I now have 2 pins in my thumb and it’s going to be a bit shorter than it was. I’m lucky, the saw took a clean cut through my finger, clean through the bone, but didn’t sever the top of my finger and didn’t hit the joint. So I have full feeling, and full motion.

It’s a harsh lesson, that it only takes a second for things to go wrong. I’m going to be just fine (although in a lot of pain just now) and I’ll have a nasty scar to remind me to watch where I put my fingers.

I’ll be back to making puzzles in no time, but for now things have to heal and I need to take stock.

Warning: table saws are dangerous. Handle with care!

9 thoughts on “Accidents Happen

  1. Bernhard

    Hi

    all the best and take care in future if you are cutting wood, it happens always in at the end of some work, loosing concantration and then it happens;

    I hade the same but not so serious as you, only a small cut with the tablesaw into my finger, not necessary to got to the emergnecy, but it warnde me too, not ot work without concentrationb or if you are working too long at the tablesaw

    all the best
    Cubefan

    Reply
  2. mhuti

    Hey there Neil,

    Just caught up with the news, I’m sorry to hear about this. I hope your pain eases soon and that you are able to get back to normality ASAP.
    Take care,
    Bruce

    Reply

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