A Blade of Gratitude

After 36 years of woodworking and major remodeling,
I can be proud of my lack of injuries more severe than a nasty oak splinter under the finger nail or pinning my finger to a door jam with a nail gun. I have always strived to be safe and totally focused on what I’m wearing (loose clothes and jewelry-bad), where my hands are, and the repetitive safety methods I use on every power tool.

I show my hands to my guys as an example:   "See?.....No scars,.... ten fingers,.... safety first."

We have safety meetings regularly and everybody is usually on board. We all watch out for each other and have an enormous respect for what these tools can do, in a heartbeat.

The other day, we were working on a cabinet and it was one of those days where “we” just couldn’t get in a groove and be productive. 2 steps forward, 1 step back. My helper, Randy was in a pissy mood and just wasn’t helping at all.

I would have sent him home but he didn’t have a ride until the end of the day plus I was cutting 4×8 sheets that day and, even though I can manage them by myself, 2 guys are so much faster and it’s definitely easier on my lower back.

So we took a break and tried to regroup.

My expectations are not that high for Randy but he usually does a good job. He’s a good soul with a bad past.

I take on these “projects” because I believe it is my duty as a master carpenter and a human being. I have helped out over a dozen young men to get them to see their full potential. I find they respond with gratitude and truly want to be a better person and a professional. I had mentors all thru my life that nudged me in the right direction when needed. I believe strongly we must pay it forward.

It was a Friday, the sun was shining, so we went to our favorite hot dog stand, Sammie’s and I bought him lunch.
I figured he would be in a better mood and maybe we could come back and salvage what was left of the day. We finished cutting all the panels and moved on to making face frame stock and cutting them to length on the Makita sliding miter box. I was making good progress as I had a proper cut list and a fence stop set up for multiple cuts.

I like to site the blade when I make cuts without a stop. This involves rotating the guard up and holding it there while I make the cut. The Makita guard is hard to hold with one hand compared to my job site 12” delta miter box so I bungee cord the guard in the up position.

I know, I know…..Bad, very bad! but Hey, see all the fingers?

Meanwhile, Randy is all over the place, trying badly to look busy, doing the smoker's shuffle, looking for excuses to go outside. I gave him a list of easy things to do, in no particular order but he just wasn’t there. I was trying not to get irritated but he was such a distraction I could tell it was effecting my work.

Just as I was finishing cutting some rails on the miter box, he knocks over a can of screws all over the floor and starts yelling and cussing. I was in the process of clearing the fence and all of a sudden…..PING!

My thumb just tipped the 12” 80 tooth diablo blade as it was coming to a stop. Blood everywhere.

I don’t know what was worse, losing half of my thumb nail or the overwhelming feeling of nausea that swept thru my body knowing I almost lost the whole thumb.
Randy was beside himself.

I think he knew somehow he was partially responsible. I don’t blame him. It was my own fault.

We took the rest of the day off and had a beer or two.

It was a wake up call for both of us. Randy is a much better shop mate now.
And I humbly admit, no matter how “injury free” my lifetime of experience using woodworking machinery has been, no matter how safe I am…...

You can still lose a thumb in the blink of an eye.

One month later, almost healed