I was putting the new carb on my Chevelle so I had a razor blade to scrape the intake. Well, the old fuel line wouldn't come off so I decided to use the razor to cut it. Boy, was that dumb of me. I cut right through my middle finger and blood is now throughout my engine bay until I clean it. It went right through the skin and into the tendon. Took 1 hour to stop the bleeding. Now its all taped and straightened because if I don't know if it will bend. It just keeps wanting to open up a day later and bleed. I feel like a moron for not going to the doctor. :clonk:

you only need a doctor if you cut all the way through and something has been detatched from your body. Otherwise, whatever oily rag is nearby will be sufficient :D

I like electrical take for those minor cuts.

We all do stupid things sometimes. Well, you could always buy red hose ends and wires to compliment the blood! I was cutting some very small pieces of plywood on a table saw a couple years ago...too small to use a fence, so I was just using my two hands to steady them. As I was pushing the final piece thru, I was thinking to myself "I really shouldnt be this close to the blade", well, yep, it happened...just caught the nail of my right middle finger...of course, it only took a fraction of a second, and I grabbed it with my other hand and squeezed!!! Then, trying not to pass out, I wanted to look, but was afraid to see...fortunately, it was about half the nail gone, and pretty deep cut...I did go to the hospital, but they really didnt do anything for me except give me some pain meds, and tell me to keep it clean!! Anyway, sorry to steal your thunder... You'll be fine, just try not to bend it till it heals better.

Doctors are too expensive with the high deductible insurance most of us have now. Just put some folded up cloth and a hose clamp on it and you're good to go. Oh, clean the wound with Jack Daniels or a suitable alcohol substitute first.

two words.....Duct Tape

most of the time black electric tape will take care of it .... if its really BAD!! fold paper hand towel & put under tape ;) solvent tank use latter in day will take care of washing out any infection ......then reaply tape !!

Superglue that mofo together and keep on gittin' it.

If you messed it up that bad, just finish slicing it off and close it up with a propane torch. Serouusly, I'd get it stitched up and some antibiotics if I were you. You're just asking for trouble.

I had a thread about this about 3 or 4 months ago, and from the # of posts it had, I would say... yes.

I have been doing really good lately... knock on wood!!

Last one I can remember was during a rear sway bar installation. I was pulling it towards me while I was under the car, trying to get the holes lined up with the LCA. My hand slipped and I punched myself right in the nose.

Years and years ago, I was cutting as piece of refractory plastic gunning hose with my pocket knife and the SOB shut on my second finger!

The Foreman on the job, (Nucor Steel, Jewett, TX), was above me on the reheat furnace discharge end looking down and said, "That must hurt!" as I had to physically pull the blade outta my bone!

He just laughed and said, he would take me inside the Control Room and have "Joe" stitch me up! No pain-killer or nothing b/c Joe was good at doing it!

I just went inside and had Joe tape my up with two big h-d flesh colored band-aides and three days later, I was good as new! Still have a knot on that finger where the bone healed. Never did feel it!!

pdq67

just caught the nail of my right middle finger

Table saws scare the h#ll out of me. Saw an advert (going to leave it that way in case any Brits are watching!) for some sort of safety that stops the blade if it hits your finger. They were using hot dogs (or frankfurters, or wieners, I couldn't tell which) and it appeared to work. So I have two questions.

1. How in the world would that thing work?

2. What is the difference between a hot dog, a frankfurter, and a wiener?

I dont cut myself to often but hit my head a lot doing just about anything on the chevelle haha

The table saw bit me too,I was cutting a long piece of trim and being in a hurry I ran my thumb over the blade.It gouged a 1/8th wide by about 3/16th deep by about 3/4 inch long piece of flesh out of my thumb.The only thing the doc could do was stitch it so it pulled the wound closed.The only lasting damage is a numb thumb in that spot.

Table saws scare the h#ll out of me. Saw an advert (going to leave it that way in case any Brits are watching!) for some sort of safety that stops the blade if it hits your finger. They were using hot dogs (or frankfurters, or wieners, I couldn't tell which) and it appeared to work. So I have two questions.

1. How in the world would that thing work?

2. What is the difference between a hot dog, a frankfurter, and a wiener?


It's got something to do with an electrical circuit, that triggers a disc brake type caliper on the blade. When your flesh grounds the circuit, it triggers the brakes in like a 10th of a second. In the story I saw the guy actually stuck his finger in the blade, and just barely cut into his finger. We're talking no blood, just a couple layer's of skin. Granted, he didn't ram his finger into the blade, like most table saw accidents.

How do I know all this? Was plunge cutting a piece of maple flooring, for a heat vent, the saw hit a knot, kicked back, and cut my left index finger off from the first joint at an angle to the opposite side of the nail. All this happened at a ski cabin 60 mile's east of Bellingham, where I was working alone. Had to pick up the piece of finger off the ground, load up my tool's, catch the damn dog, and drive to the hospital. Then I had to drive back out there to lock up, forgot to do that before I left. I no longer use the table saw without the gaurd, PERIOD. Sometime's as I watch the wood going through the saw, I still get a sick feeling in my stomach, like right now.

As for the second question, this is a family site, I can't really go into details.

Dave,

I saw a similar accident a few years ago. We were building a deck, and one of the guys was ripping a deckboard by holding it with his left hand and holding the Skilsaw with his right hand (which was a stupid thing to do to begin with). The saw kicked back and cut his left thumb completely off. I saw the thumb bouncing on the ground, and the guy turning around with a "WTF happened" look on his face. It was kinda surreal, and I still have a hard time using any kind of circular saw. But seeing something like that might be what it takes to learn to be careful.

i was installing a 9.5 lift on a 97 dakota and trying to get the steering center link on (about 40lbs) and it fell on my forehead and i felt a bump form about 1" high just like on the cartoons..damn that hurt

Dave,

I saw a similar accident a few years ago. We were building a deck, and one of the guys was ripping a deckboard by holding it with his left hand and holding the Skilsaw with his right hand (which was a stupid thing to do to begin with). The saw kicked back and cut his left thumb completely off. I saw the thumb bouncing on the ground, and the guy turning around with a "WTF happened" look on his face. It was kinda surreal, and I still have a hard time using any kind of circular saw. But seeing something like that might be what it takes to learn to be careful.

Yikes! The nice thing about doing a job that could kill you if you aren't paying very close attention is that they constantly drill you on safety. So much so that I'm always thinking safety safety safety even when working in the yard on the house or on the car.

All it takes is a tiny little split second of not paying attention for stuff to happen.

Andy

I don't know if this counts as hurting myself or not but found out this morning that I have galstones. Sounds like I may be loosing my galbladder.. more to come after doc's visit...

Tore my ring finger off back in October. Ring got caught on a bolt when I jumped from end loader and stripped all the flesh off and broke it in half.

Tore my ring finger off back in October. Ring got caught on a bolt when I jumped from end loader and stripped all the flesh off and broke it in half.

AAHHHh!!!!!!! We didn't need to read that...

Lately no(I don't include head hits as I do that ALL the time) but in the past most definately.

As a young scout screwing around with another scout I could have lost my right index finger to a hachet(thank god it was duller than a butter knife). Still hace the scar to remind me of that one.

When doing dishes don't force your hand into a glass twisting trying to get it clean. Glasses have a tendousy to break when larger objests are fored into them. Got a nice scar on my left index finger on that one.

As a younger man I worked in my dads bindry. He got a MACY saddle stitcher that need to be assembled. Man those cut off blades ar sharp. #2 scar on left index finger.

Most recently I was buffing the tim rings for my sons 70 on a bench grinder(buffing whell installed). The thing got away from me a couple of times. I was saying to myself you better be carful. You would have thought I'd of listened to myself because no sooner had I thought it when it got away from me AGAIN but thid time instead of flying past me if hit me in the forehead and split my forhead open(about a 2" long gash). It hurt like, well you know, but there wasn't much blood so I just periodically dab it with a red shop towel. Needless to say when I went inside my wife asked what I'd done. Have a little 2" scar on my forehead now and being bald it shows up fairly well.

Of course there are others but these are the ones that left evidence that is easy to see.

All we can do is hopefully learn from our "accidents" and try not to repeat them.

Oh and when working around electrical take those wedding rings or any others off. Ask me how I know?

Pete

I agree with the superglue - instant fix, back to work.

Only way it takes longer is if you need to hold it open to glue inside first, making it a 2-stage fix.

But 2-stagers might - I say might - need a helper.

An oldtimer told me once, if you get a wound you are supposed to soak it in cider. What ever that means?

I know this for a fact.

A highschool Buddy was helping his Dad frame a small house and he ran the Skil Saw up his middle finger through the first joint!

His Dad grabbed his finger, wrapped a hanky around it real hard and dipped it in a 3 pound coffee can filled with kerosine!

My Buddy said, he NEVER felt a thing and it healed FINE!!

Years later, we were drinking coffee together and he glanced at my cut up left hand and then showed me his middle finger! It looked and worked fine to me!!

pdq67

Tore my ring finger off back in October. Ring got caught on a bolt when I jumped from end loader and stripped all the flesh off and broke it in half.

And people always ask me why I wear my wedding band on a gold chain around my neck.... Too many 9-fingered roofers on the jobsite convinced me.

I didn't think it was cider. Always thought that it was "inside" something?:rolleyes:

And people always ask me why I wear my wedding band on a gold chain around my neck.... Too many 9-fingered roofers on the jobsite convinced me.

I usually keep mine on a chain too... I made it a habit after a friend of mine did something like what rbarnes described, jumping off a ladder. Stripped all the flesh, leaving the bone intact. :eek:

Ten years ago I lost, on my left hand, my index finger and the bone within the palm, the first metacarpal for anyone who took anatomy, my entire middle finger, and my ring and pinkie down to the first nuckle from the hand.

I was cutting wood on a miter saw, the wood slipped as I was bringing the saw down and instinct drove me to try and grab the wood before it dropped. I severed all of these fingers along with my thumb. I had 4 hours of surgery to reattach my thumb, it took and works somewhat. The doctor also tried reattaching my middle finger, but it did not take and had to be removed.

I can't beleive it's been 10 years already but can say it was the worst day of my life. I do try to have fun with it now; fool/scare kids at halloween.
Make it look like I've got my finger all the way up my nose, etc...

All the duct tape and crazy glue in the world couldn't help me that day.

The first time I met my old roommate from grad school, I noticed something odd when I shook his hand. It seemed, well, THINNER. Then I noticed he only had three fingers - his index finger was gone. I asked. He said when he was 18 he was working in his dad's sheet metal shop, with some kind of automatic rotating press thing. Well, his hand got caught, and the rotating press part did it's thing and pressed his index finger right off. It was a clean cut - just like someone took a knife and sliced from between the index and gesturing finger in a gentle curve up to the base of the thumb. The emergency room folks said "no way can we fix that". He has a stash of three fingered gloves that he had tailored to remove one finger.

Ate 10 nutter butters, a package of sour patch kids, a PB&J I made using an eggo waffle, couple of thin mint girlscout cookies, a steak burrito and followed that up with a few pepporicinis and a nice bowl of cereal. This was between the hours of 10:00 PM and 11:00 PM.

So hell yeah, hurt my self something FIERCE the next morning.

Pinched my right thumbnail on the engine hoist boom, then a few days later I'm trying to break a 7/8" nut loose the wrench slipped my hand went into the sharpe peice of metal (perfect aim) and tore the right thumbnail clean off. I looked at my thumb and it had two white bumps (nerves or bone ?) in a bloody pulp. Let's just say for the next few months it's real tough to clean yourself after going to the bathroom if your righthanded.

Personally, I'd like for that fingernail to come clean off, rather than having it dangling loose. I just love to be left with the desicion: Should I leave it alone, or tear it off? Either way, it's gonna hurt like hell. I cringe just thinking about it.