Eric’s Blog

Yesterday, I pulled a bone-headed maneuver in the workshop. I’ve made mistakes before, but this time I was injured in the process.

***Warning*** What you’re about to read is slightly graphic and may be disturbing to some readers/viewers. Especially if you’re squeamish. Parental discretion is advised.

I was in the workshop yesterday and decided to make a paddle. Not one that would be used in a canoe, but an ornamental one that someone could give as a gift. It’s something that personnel in the military give away as a way of saying good job, thank you, or farewell to friends. I figured it would be easy to make and I set to work.

I grabbed a big enough piece of lumber, traced a one inch grid all over it, then sketched a design on the grid for the paddle. It took a few hours to sketch out, but I think it turned out great.

Once that was done, I decided to go ahead and cut it out, so I grabbed the jigsaw, eye protection, hearing protection, and a respirator to protect me from all the dust. Safety first after all.

I started cutting and was a bit worried about how close I was coming to the edge of the table with my blade, so I let go of the trigger and as the jigsaw was winding down, I stuck my fingers under the board to gauge how far away from the workbench I was. That’s when it happened.

The moving blade grabbed the outside edge of my left pinky finger and I quickly jerked it away. I immediately cradled my injured hand hoping for the best and expecting the worst. I was bleeding badly, so I went inside and grabbed the first aid kit. I washed out the wound with soap and water and inspected it. Lucky for me, it was a superficial cut that didn’t require stitches. I put a pressure bandage on it to staunch the flow of blood and sat down to evaluate what happened.

I was wearing all the personal protective equipment I should have been wearing. I was in a well lit work area. My work area was clean and free of hazards. I simply lost situational awareness and had a momentary lapse in judgement. I may have been distracted my the comedy channel I was listening to on my headphones and in a bit of a rush to cut the piece out as it had taken me several hours to design it.

I’m more mad at myself for the injury than anything else. I put safety above all things and in this case, going too fast and inattention jumped in the driver’s seat and took control. It was a stupid mistake, I was lucky it wasn’t worse, and it could have been totally preventable.

I took a hiatus from heavy machinery the rest of the day and contemplated what happened, why it happened, and what I could have done to prevent it from happening.

The biggest thing I could have done to prevent this is to take my time and not be in a rush. I also need to be aware that even though some power tools are scarier than others, even a small one like a jigsaw has capability of removing a digit when used carelessly.