Injury report
Bill Tindall, E.Tn.
I recently had the worse injury I have had on a Table saw. I can report how it started, how it ended, how to avoid it, but I don't know what the middle looked like.
I was mitering the ends of thick veneer boards for the triangular corner cupboard shelves. This stuff is only 3/ 32" thick, the blade is a 1/16" kerf and 7 1/4 diameter. The cutting resistance is near zero. I had nothing to worry about, I thought.
The beginning- I was positioning the long piece to miter its end (simulated in photo). I had thoughtlessly left a cut off near the blade, something I religiously avoid with thicker stuff.
The end- The split cut-off shown in the picture that was once whole became divided with half flung 6' to the back of the saw and half in front, and the middle missing in action(notice the half's don't join). My thumb that was on the end of the piece to be mitered had its end split in a 3 band-aid wound, shrapnel wounds on both hands and probably a broken bone in palm.
The middle- ???
The moral- don't leave stuff on the table that isn't being about to be sawed and under control.
