What! No pictures?
This does happen to everyone.: Hello everyone. I have been a silent reader of this bulletin board for a
: while now. I wanted to tell you what I did that you may say was stupid,
: but it could happen to you. I was ripping an 18-foot board into 1/4"
: strips. I had just purchased a brand new finish blade. I ALWAYS use every
: safety precaution when cutting- hearing & eye protection, feather
: boards, etc. I was using a Delta Unisaw with a Biesmeyer fence. When
: cutting 1/4" strips the fence hits the blade guard, so you have to
: raise the guard, but I let it rest on the fence so that you at least get
: some protection. I was using a push stick to push the board the last
: 6" through the blade. I think my mistake was I set the feather board
: (a magnetic version with plastic feather strips) a little too tight, and
: the wood was a little hard to push. Using the push stick up front for
: safety, I placed my left hand on the board BEHIND and to the left of the
: blade to help push it through- that way if I slipped I would not hit the
: blade, right???? Well, what apparently happened was that the board kicked
: back, and my hand shot backwards and my thumb ran across the blade. I now
: have about 1/4" shorter thumb, and they had to do a skin graft to
: repair. Can any of you say you've never gotten just slightly careless? I'm
: very embarassed, but I wanted to tell you that you can never be too
: careful. By the way, what saved me is that I never raise the blade more
: than just slighty above the piece I am cutting, and therefore it only got
: the tip of the thumb. Just FYI- Dewalt blades make a very smooth cut
: through thumbs... if you were wondering.