I Had a Serious Table Saw Accident – Caught On Camera
I Had a Serious Table Saw Accident – Caught On Camera
THIS TABLE SAW ACCIDENT VIDEO IS EDITED IN A WAY THAT ANYONE CAN WATCH. THERE ARE WARNINGS BEFORE ANYTHING GRAPHIC APPEARS.
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No woodworker wants to make a video like this. But I want/need to share this experience with you, just like I would share any other experience with you.
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That table saw took almost forever to stop after you turned it off…
Kidding–Adding a little levity to a very serious accident that all of us can and should learn from. Thank you for sharing this, Andy.
Thanks for sharing this, almost done the same thing last week, going to grab a piece of wood by the blade, then noticed the blade was still turning. My No. 1 rule is always make sure the blade is stopped before putting your hand in that area. That is why I always say a Radial Arm Saw is better then a table saw, the blade gets pushed back of the fence and you can safely grab the piece you just cut, but once again I keep with my No. 1 rule, is the blade still turning, if it is don’t put back there what you don’t want to lose.
My father is a former woodworker, he has his both index finger tips cut off. Cant remember how the first accident happened, but the second one, he was jointing a board and after finishing the board, he wondered where’s this blood coming from. First up, didnt even notice that his finger tip was missing 😄
Omg….I did something like this. I was using a pushblock on the tablesaw in college (cutting plexiglass) and in an instant….my right hand flew in the air. I didn’t even know how it got near the blade. Took off the tip of my thumb. (It has since entirely grown back). I stopped using the table saw after that. lol
I provoke thots every weekend i find it healthy.
I never understand why there are NO guards on these saws!
My left hand flinched.
Never grab a board while the blade is running
wow. time for a sawstop table saw
My friend chris bound up a skilsaw it violently kicked back so fast across his leg he didnt even know it this happens so fast. A BLADE GUARD saved his leg and he didn’t get cut because of proper guarding.
I mean you were still lucky considering your fingers are still attached. having that cut still lying there probably saved you.
Someone liked my previous comment made. Hence brought me back here to watch again. In end of your presentation you speak to dangers of distractions. Ironically in my woodworking group dangers of table saw was being discussed this week & lunacy of NOT owning SawStop. Which any sane person will agree is expenditure that is priority #1. In that thread one member said as very young guy working at fast food restaurant an worker dropped spoon & instinctively reached trying catch it. Rammed his hand into vat of hot grease. Writer says to this day will have nightmares from seeing that. But it speaks very dramatically so what that split second lax of concentration will do. He further explains that worker permanently lost use of that hand. My point? I guess it’s to say person can’t be too careful. Distractions will ALWAYS be there in any form imaginable. IE: Ya overly corrected your child during disciplining. Those things will bear heavy on person’s mind. Possibly leading to accident. All that said. I hope you did as I (and others) suggested & you now proud owner of SawStop‼️💯%
Invest in a Sawstop
I’m sorry to see that, brother, but I’m very happy for you that you got to keep all the fingers. saw stops would have reduced that to a mere scratch. A suck the wound and carry on situation. (after changing the blade and stop of course 🙂 )someone tested it really well on on youtube.
por suerte no usabas guantes, o sino, adios mano
Him: Warning! Some may find what happens next graphic. Go to 3:53 to skip this part.
Me – rewinds and hits 0.25X playback speed.
Quick Clot is amazing. Works like a charm in my experience
I’m a sophomore in woods 2 I had a freshman in woods 1 cut his thumb off on the table saw. It’s no joke man.
No offense, we all get sloppy (lose focus). at sometime sometime we get lucky, and sometime we don’t. . . Thanks for sharing
Thanks for sharing. Supper sobering and super helpful! Good first aid tips! Have a plan ready, cuz one won’t be thinking very clearly in the moments right after an injury.
And yes, that is a really good point, not listening to something, while using the table saw does sounds like a good bit of wisdom.
If I may suggest: definitely do not say, "Dad cut his fingers & cant moved the tip of his finger making closet."
That is could easily be something the kiddo will internalize. "My closet? Is it partly my fault, then?"
Maybe better, would be to just focus on the accident & what he/she could learn from your injury.
"Dad can’t move his finger tip, because he lost focus and cut himself, on a wood project."
You can later say, when he/she is older, whos project you were working on, if it ever comes up again.
I feel bad that he actually got injured from a table saw. I hope that he didn’t fully sliced his fingers completely off. When I was working with the table saw today I got nervous because I never used a table saw and I didn’t want to get a kickback or cut any of my fingers off.
Could’ve been so much worse. Accidents always seem to happen when people get too comfortable and complacent. It’s the same thing when driving a car, most accidents happen when people have been driving for 2-3 years after they get their license because they get too comfortable. The trick is to never let yourself feel 100% comfortable driving a 3000 pound vehicle, or working with a spinning blade that can take your fingers off in a fraction of a second. A lesson I learned from a few close calls.
Glad you didn’t lose any fingers. Thank you for posting this.
What’s scary is It really doesn’t make sense. You’d think you’re so well versed and that it’s pretty much muscle memory where exactly the saw is.
Andy, I’m a new subscriber and have watched most of your videos, some several times. Thank you for being the most genuine and humble guy out there. Keep up the great work brother!.
P.S. How about an update on your injury?
I spun my hand up in a chop saw cutting irregular pieces of driftwood. Never seen anything happen that fast, just wham! It suuuucked, took forever to heal.
SAW STOP
Thanks for sharing your experience. Sorry that it happened but thankful you are okay. Sounds like you are doing fine. If it helps just remember it could have been a lot worse.
I cut two fingers off in 1994. Index finger and middle finger on my left left hand. It never did hurt. After several hours of surgery the doctors were able to re-attach both fingers. I’ve learned to slow down and be aware of my surroundings. I am thankful to God that my accident and everything that happened to recover happened the way it did. It could have been a lot, lot worse. I do have sensation in both fingers and some movement.
Thanks be to God.
Thanks for sharing graphical part. That made me reconsider if I really want to use table saw for my DIY projects. Without it I would have been like "nah" and went on.
Massive impact! Thanks for sharing. I have quickclot already but don’t keep it in the shop, I will for now on as well as my first aid…
I’m not very experienced with my table saw and needed to rip 2x4s. I could already see in my mind getting kickback so I positioned my saw away from my car, my neighbors’ cars, hot water tank, etc.
Sure enough my 4th board went flying through the air past me, broke a porch light and slammed into a wall.
Everyone says I’m paranoid…yes, but also hyper vigilant. Stay safe out there!!
Edit: I normally keep the guard etc in place but realized I had to remove everything to get clearance for the boards.
Awww man… sorry to hear. Reminder for us all. Much respect for sharing this.
Glad you didn’t suffer too great an injury. Watching woodworkers on youtube it seems common practice to use the saw without a top guard, one will have been supplied when new. Never cross over the saw with your hands. A push stick is still the safest way I am convinced. You also see the saw used without a splitter/riving knife. same problems when using the surface planer.
At least you kept the tip of your fingers! A little bit more and they would have been gone.
Thank you for sharing that. I completely agree with what you said about distractions leading to injuries. I’ve had a number of incidents that I was fortunate enough to not have sustained any serious injury, until this past summer. I would also add to your good advice that we need to maintain attention to even the simplest actions. In July I received a pallet of walnut that was bundled together with those steel straps. I couldn’t find my snips so I used a drill with a grinding wheel and unfortunately, that put my hand right in the path of that steel strap when it snapped. I ended up with lacerations to the tendons on the back of my ring finger knuckle. It resulted in surgery and six weeks in a cast which I just got out of this past Monday. And it’s going to be a while before I can get back to woodworking.
Construction accidents at home or the workplace. A building was under construction across from my bus depot in Manhattan when a worker stepped onto an unsupported platform. He plunged 50 stories into eternity. Witnesses said he screamed all the way down.
A table saw scares me so much I never even want to have one
Thank you for posting your story; Great to know you didn’t loose any fingers. My boss wasn’t so lucky; Freak accident where the push stick broke and his hand fell on the saw. Cut 4 including thumb, one reattached.
As for listening to a podcast or music, I believe it may play a part to be distracted. But that’s just me.
Watched your follow up video, awesome safety precautions but the main one is you. Stay alert, focused and dedicate attention when working any machinery. Last but not least, respect the machine!!
This was hard for me to watch as someone who has had a similar accident. I managed to cut my finger in half down the middle whilst cutting 10mm strips of engraving laminate, the push stick I was using slipped and went down the side of the blade.
Anyway I hope you’ve recovered now and your fingers are working properly!
Dang man, best of luck in your continued healing!
I’d like to use part of your video as a safety lesson in my HS class. Would it be ok if I used part of your video to create an EDPuzzle?
I like to view the saws as an angry teacher that is over eager to cast the whip when I get outta line
My dad worked in a mill section of a pallet factory, he was feeding the table saw and someone took a bored and cracked the back of the bored he was feeding threw. the bored kicked back at my dad he put his hand up and caught it at his neck but his hand was laid open. That’s what happens in a factory that hires mostly felons
Don’t be a stubborn fool. Being human means we are going to make accidents. It’s 100% guaranteed. It’s only $1500 or $2000 for a Sawstop. Invest in Sawstop, and make your Sawstop you primary cutting tool (vs mitre saw, etc)
And that’s why we should never remove or table saw guard. This video has just opened up my eyes to put mine back on my table saw Thanks for sharing your experience!!
I do believe that listening to a podcast can be distracting even though it may not seem like it is. Our minds can only focus on one task at a time. So you either take some attention away from one tast to tend to another.
NEVER, EVER grab the workpiece, let the blade spin down. Many learned from this mistake
All things considered. Glad U/R going 2/B OKay. You mentioned at end & thus answered your own question. Stop listening to outside distractions. Lastly get SawStop. Especially if your livelihood depends on your being healthy & able‼️Price of sawstop 🆚 just this one accident pays for safer saw‼️
People always think they are in control, I am one of those people. I am always aware of my surroundings always looking around to avoid mistakes etc.. planning and consider myself a safe person im not accident prone. When i was younger like 18 and i was pretty experienced with a table saw been using them since 11 or 12 grew up doing woodworking and building stuff with my grandpa, was always with him. I pushed a long 1×4 through the table saw ripping it to 1×2 and should have had support but was rushing i was like its just a 1×4 i can hold it, as the blade pushed through the end of the board the 2 pieces split left and right and threw my thumb into the blade. I didnt lose a finger but it cut off a chunk and took a long time to heal cause nothing was there, cut the tip off exposing the bone, and it hurt like hell later, I can still feel the intense pain of the bone being exposed when i think about it, or watch someone doing something stupid on the table saw. I clinch up everytime i watch one of john heisz videos and love the guy just dont do what he does pls lol.Needless to say i dont rush when using certain power tools as it only takes a fraction of a second for an accident to happen. By the time i noticed i cut my finger i threw my hand backwards didnt feel it, but knew something bad happened I looked at my finger and blood was every where, couldnt tell how bad it was until the bleeding started slowing down from holding a rag over it. The dr’s in the emergency room werent nice about it either they went to town with a scrub brush scrubbing the wound and this was about an hour later after the pain set in, no numbing or nothing just straight scrubbing. I never want to experience that again in my life. Tools need to be respected, they are dangerous and no matter how much control u think u have its never as good as u think it is.
I watch these videos to be aware of the dangers.. I didn’t thing of a situation like this but:
I can totally see me in this situation..
And I hope this scared me enough to be aware…
Thank you for sharing! Glad you weren’t hurt worse!