Router Accident - Trying to understand what happened

nickao65

Gotta check that collar for tightness!

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nzgeordie

Heck Darryl. That's just got to have hurt!! How close have we all come to doing the same thing? Could it have been a change in direction of the wood grain? I experienced (almost) the same thing when routing some table legs with a pattern bit and didn't pay enough attention to the changing grain direction. Hope you heal soon, mate.

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Pete
I've cut it twice and it's still too short! But only at one end.

Darryl

I just went and checked the bearing and it had not slipped at all. I guess I have been looking for any reason other than operator error, this was one on the few cuts that I have made without using a jig or push block (grippers) and I knew my right hand was safe behind the bit holding the board.

That should have been an indicator to me, I felt that I had to hold the board with my hand, therefore I indirectly knew I was not enough control to use a push-pad gripper.

I never gave a thought to my left hand being in danger because it was over a foot away and getting further away. Had I been steadying the board with a gripper pad, I would still have all of my fingers. Notice in the 1st pic of my router table my blue & yellow gripper is sitting there. I have 4 of them, there's no excuse.

I hope that others who consider themselves safety conscious as I did, can learn that sometimes we get too complacent

Thank you all for the good wishes and kind thoughts, It’s been a crazy week for me Just talking about it on the forum helps.

Thanks Again, too all and Happy New Year
Darryl

nickao65

You are doing right by working it out in your head.

But if the bearing slipped that is most probably still operator error for not checking it before you began.

How is the injury feeling today? Throbbing? On pain meds? I hope you get better fast.

Did you get right back on the horse or still waiting to turn that thing on?

When I cut my finger tip I used the table saw that night to get over it. Of course my wife gave me the business. I wanted to get the feeling of respect for the tool and not let fear creep in.

Cedar

That is scarey!
So sorry that happened to you and hope your fingers heal quickly!
Thank you for sharing though,it is a great reminder to us all.
PJ

Darryl

I did a little cutting on the table saw, of course I was getting the business from my wife as soon as she heard it running.

Can do much of anything yet, I can only have my hand below my heart for short periods. I am off the pain killers as of yesterday. Type is really slow

kefjens

Jimminy shikes!! Thanks for posting this to teach a newb like me to be very, very careful. I hope you heal quickly.

I think I will be adding a "bit rotation" reminder to the router table top since I'm so new to this art.

template tom

It is always sad when you hear of such tragic accidents when using the router and I only hope we can all learn a lesson from some Else's mishap.

Darryl
I hope you get well soon and it will mend and you can continue to enjoy your woodworking projects.

I think if we were to run a poll an how we had an accident with the router I am convinced that the router in the router table would head the poll as opposed to the hand held use using template guides

Recently I have devised a method of doing exactly what you were doing with the router where the fingers do not get near the cutter.( another one of my jigs to show that not all procedures should be done in the router table). I will not post it as I am sure I will get a negative response to the procedure but I am willing to forward to you by email on condition that you do not submit it to the forum.

One of the quotes I use regularly when discussing how a certain procedure could be carried out, and this is a typical example."Can it be done safely" and to this end, this is one of the reasons why I have continued to say, "maybe it would be better to make a simple Jig and template to produce the article with greater safety". I have included the method on my DVD with a number of other jigs and templates that enable me to produce articles or do procedures that are best done with the aid of template guides and the router in the plunge mode

All I can say is that members must consider the use of the template guides with the router in the plunge mode and not placed in the table as Bobj3 suggests in a previous posting.

Tom

Ice

Hi Darryl,
So sorry about your accident, about 6 months ago i was routing a piece of maple about 24" long. Everything was going great until I got about half way through it and it just exploded. Splinters everywhere, I grabbed my hand that was holding the wood and was afraid to look at it for the longest time. Blood was dropping on the floor and i finally looked at it. I was not sure if I still had a thumb, that is what I was really scared of. I was lucky it was a fleshy wound but nothing time couldn't help. For the longest time I would not run a piece of wood through a machine with my bare hands but I am now getting back to my old ways of using my bare hands. Now I am scared again. I never could find out why the piece of maple exploded. Good luck, Joe

Darryl

Thanks Joe,
I know exactly how you felt. All of a sudden WOW! It curious, my wounds left very little blood for the damage it did.
I have some drawer fronts and raised panel doors to make. I get the stitches (the kids call them bugs) taken out next week. All the work I do for awhile will be with jigs etc.

Darryl