The be safe post OR the when you go head-to-head with a saw you will always be the loser post
So you know that I struggle with the amount of non-DIY posts I feel that I should subject you guys to, and I tend to end up with not too many of them because I think the reason you visit here is to learn about tools and not so much about me. If that is you, then I will begin with the message of this post and you can decide whether or not to read on: Never lose respect for any tool no matter how comfortable you become with it. It is like a wild animal–it will hurt you when you least expect it to. If you are ever asking yourself whether what you are doing is safe, that should automatically be a huge red flag.
I lost to a hacksaw last night. The little mark was my warning injury–yes, pvc pipe is slippery and when you are trying to cut little pieces, your fingers are right next to the blade. I was a dummy and I paid, I will spare you the injury details. My neighbor is a nurse, but wasn’t home. I was able to wash it out with water before I lost all the blood in my face, got nauseous, and had ringing in my ears. Hubs is worse with blood than me, so he wasn’t getting near it! My friend’s mother-in-law saved the day bandaging it up for me, but turns out today after I went to my friend for her to check it out today, that I probably should have gone in for stitches.
And this is with a hand tool!
When you are working with any tool, you must be present in the moment and safety gear IS NOT OPTIONAL. This includes pesky eye protection that always seems to be at the opposite side of the garage from where you are working. I had a friend in middle school who was trying to repair a camera and a spring hit her in the eye. She lost depth perception in her eyes (cover one of your eyes and try to touch something in front of you). Every time I am tempted to “just do this one real quick cut” without my eye protection on, I think of her and I go and find the goggles.
One of the reasons that I shy away from the idea of a table saw is that I feel like when I am using my circular saw, I am operating where the blade goes, so I always know where it is. I hesitate to include the following info, in fact I’ve written and deleted this twice already, because I don’t want to scare anyone off from learning to use power tools, but this is the dark reality in my immediate family–my grandfather took off 2 fingers at the top knuckle and one uncle took off the pad of a finger (that they had to fix with a skin graft–not a fun recovery at all).
As an aside, wouldn’t I be a perfect advertisement for SawStop??? I mean come on! I even had a cousin nick his finger in a table saw. That is 4 saw injuries in one family. We would be a perfect match, SawStop and I…maybe I need to contact them…
Anyway, I’ll finish by telling you the story about my uncle, that in hindsight was a little funny. My uncles Larry and Jack were working in the shop and my cousin Heather, who was 7 or 8 months pregnant, was in the house. She looked out the window and saw them both lying there in the yard and was like “What is going on?”. She went out and discovered that Larry had taken off the tip of his finger, was trying to make it to the house and passed out. Jack, who cannot handle the sight of blood, was trying to help him, but kept passing out too. Apparently they would revive for a short while to make it a little further and then would pass out again. Heather, with her big belly, had to get them both into the car to take them to the hospital.
I could totally see this in a Will Ferrell movie. Hmmm, maybe I should contact him too…
Don’t be scared, but ALWAYS BE SAFE. It only takes the time of “one quick cut” to mess you up. I’m glad it’s my left hand so I can still operate the circular saw trigger. And I am really happy with the project I was working on. Anyone interested in seeing how I keep the deer from eating my veggies? It involves PVC and a hacksaw, lol!
13 Responses to “The be safe post OR the when you go head-to-head with a saw you will always be the loser post”
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When I saw your picture, I immediately thought of Grandpa! Now whenever you look at that scar, you can think of him.
I obviously knew about Uncle Larry’s finger, but I somehow missed that story- at the time I’m sure it wasn’t funny, but I literally laughed out loud when I read it!
Thanks for the post! I’m new to woodworking, but can see me getting complacent. I never use eye protection, never even thought of it. Thanks to your post, I’m going to buy glasses tomorrow!
I’m actually more afraid of circular saws than table saws… at least you know the table saw is going to stay put!
Thanks for the important reminder!
I gotta tell you, I did the same thing with a pull saw about a month ago. I knew better than to aim the blade toward me while I was sawing, but I did it anyway and now have a scar about 3 inches long on my left thumb.
Aww sweetie, so sorry! Hope it heals fast & you’re back to diy’ing in a hurry. xox
thank-you for posting this and reminding us to work safely!!! I’ll remember this when I’m using my tools. glad you got off fairly lucky. hope your finger is better soon.
Ouch! Get better soon! I admit that all 3 of us have agreed we really dislike the table saw, in fact I don’t think we have one between us. So far we’ve managed without…I think it’s the fact that even if you do everything right you can still have your hand pulled into the blade- eek! Your story about your uncles is really funny in that morbid way– I can just imagine it–
My son was sitting on my lap when I opened this post. He said, “After I’m asleep, go to your friend’s house and tell her to be more careful with the knife.” He also assured me that your finger would “grow back.”
Ouch! Those really hurt! So glad it was a hand tool, though–it could have been worse, as you well know.
Sometimes it takes incidents like that to reinforce our respect for tools. It is so easy to be complacent, but you are correct: if you have to ask yourself “is this really safe”, it’s usually a good idea to rethink your plan– I’ve had to many times.
Oh, and be careful cutting pvc with a chop saw. If it’s really thin, it can shatter and fly everywhere! I found this out the hard way…
Hi! If this is a repeat comment, sorry. I wrote one earlier, but my finger slipped before I was finished and I’m pretty sure it was lost. It was long and actually a little gory, (radial arm saw accident) so it’s just as well.
What I did want to be sure to say, was I’m so glad I found my way to your blog! I think we may be long lost cousins or something. I’m a little behind you when it comes to building, but we seem to have similar thoughts. For example, my daughter gave me an amazon gift card for mother’s day. I spent it on Kreg tools. I bought the right angle clamp and the square cut. While I was at it, I couldn’t resist the rip cut, but I paid for that one myself. I tried it for the first time today, and was really pleased. Maybe I’ll be able to make a straight cut for once.
I was thrilled to see the closet system you made for your daughter. Once I feel a little more comfortable, that will be on the top of my list.
Thanks so much for sharing your work!
So glad to have you here Autumn!! Sounds like you brought home some blue loot just like I did
I love your new headboard and I’ll be checking out your other projects. I really, really want to tackle my own closet with some organization like my daughter got, but I think that one will be awhile down the list unfortunately. I just tell myself that it gives me time to plan it out exactly like I want it so it will be perfect 
Radial arm saw accident–immediately caused me to shudder. My finger is healing up quite nicely–I don’t even think there is going to be much of a scar, but it is still tender and hard at the “seam” where it had to mend back together. A nice reminder to myself to not take chances, even with hand tools!
I just came across your blog and love it! I am a tool head, and love when other women learn the beauty of power tools! I have a garage full of power tools, which I am very salty I cannot find in fuchsia color, but that’s another rant altogether
But, regarding your post about cutting PVC… I use an embarassing amount of pvc, and cut it a lot. Hacksaws got too tedious, and its a royal pain rolling my saw out into the driveway to cut plastic 
I got a cheapie little saw from harbor freight, but it wouldnt even cut thru a small piece of pvc (thats what i get). But wandering around home depot one day, I found one of my favorite hand tools! The only one they have in stock is a ratcheting one, which I love, but its not on their website. Anyway, here is a link to the type of tool I am talking about. Its less than $30, which I think is well worth the expense of cutting my finger off with my chop saw 
oh, but be careful, because you could EASILY cut off a digit or 2 with this thing, its a monster! http://www.homedepot.com/Plumbing-Plumbing-Tools-PVC-Cutter/h_d1/N-5yc1vZbqmo/h_d2/Navigation?langId=-1&storeId=10051&catalogId=10053&cm_mmc=SEM|THD|G|D26WaterHeaters|PlumbingRepair&skwcid=TC|16340|%2Bpvc%20%2Bcutter||S|b|17343732101
No major injuries yet, but I somehow manage to scrape, nick, poke, or otherwise damage myself on almost every project.
Super super cautious with power tools – probably because I recognize how clumsy I am! But when it comes to the little things, I’m often in too much of a hurry.
I’d like to see you put a SawStop on that hacksaw, btw.. trying to picture that made me laugh!