dmcgarry Posted October 23, 2013 Report Share Posted October 23, 2013 WARNING!!!!!!!!!!!: i have attached images of the injury to this post incase you dont want to see them they should appear at the bottom of this post. I'm a relatively new woodworker, i started woodturning nearly 2 years ago and over those 2 years i have gone from making the odd present for someone to producing custom pieces for customers... Last year i got a surface planer... a fox F22 563, some info on it can be found here: http://www.sitebox.ltd.uk/fox-f22-563-surface-planerjointer-6-240-volt-only-oFOX_F22563 And last tuesday 15th October 2013 i had my first serious woodworking related injury. I've always been a bit of a safetly freak around certain equipment and this was one of them, i never buy a machine till i first google accidents with them to see what i could be getting myself in for and this machine was no different before i started using it. I've always said if i was ever going to have an accident it would be with this machine, maybe fear of it was part of how the accident happened i don't know... but in short i never used this machine without pushblocks/the guard and being well positioned at the machine, the wood i was using was sycammore and i had just planed enough of it for the front of the board to reach the bed after the blade where it got caught, i remember watching many videos stating never to try force it through so i didn't. a few seconds had passed and the blade was still spinning under the wood to i slowly took my right hand to reach the stop button and just as i was doing this the blades caught the wood and sent it flying along with the safety guard of the machine towards the end of my workshop, the next thing to make contact was the push block which also decided to join the safety guard and the board at the other end of the workshop which left nothing between the blades and my fingers so in went my middle finger. As far as i know i must of pressed the stop button at this stage or at the same moment cause the next thing i know is i'm looking down and i am missing my finger from the joint at the nail bed on my middle finger and very lucky to only be missing this much!!! I did not feel a thing or an ounce of pain but just started screaming. anyway to wrap this up i ended up losing that part of my finger just over a week ago but would just like to say i'm not posting this to look for sympathy or anything like that, just to share my experience and hope that by doing this it will prevent it from happening to someone else. if i could say something... in hindsight i should of saved up and bought a planer with a better guard on it, one that you dont have to pass the wood under. Any way, thnaks for reading, Damien McGarry Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tpt life Posted October 23, 2013 Report Share Posted October 23, 2013 Ouch! Thanks for posting. Every post like this helps the rest of us remember to slow down (and why.) 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
G S Haydon Posted October 23, 2013 Report Share Posted October 23, 2013 OMG! . Wishing you a speedy recovery. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jfitz Posted October 23, 2013 Report Share Posted October 23, 2013 Oh my! I hope your recovery goes as well as possible. Thanks for posting. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mds2 Posted October 23, 2013 Report Share Posted October 23, 2013 Oh man. I too wish you a speedy recovery. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
duckkisser Posted October 23, 2013 Report Share Posted October 23, 2013 know how you feel almost cut my finger off this summer took 3 months to heal and im still prity stiff in the mornings. hope you feel better and you will eventuly get back to working in the shop. p.s. you need to clean under your nails 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ColinF Posted October 23, 2013 Report Share Posted October 23, 2013 Well, I'm certain glad it wasn't any worse than what it is! I wish you a speedy recovery and thanks for posting, I just showed my daughter who is currently in woodshop at school, she has used the jointer several times there and I hope that image is in the front of her mind the next time she uses it! 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JoshC1501 Posted October 23, 2013 Report Share Posted October 23, 2013 Next to the table saw the jointer scares me more than any other tool I have! Hope you heal fast and get feeling better soon. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
..Kev Posted October 24, 2013 Report Share Posted October 24, 2013 Best wishes for a speedy recovery. Thanks for sharing, if it only saves one other injury, it was worth it! 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
wtnhighlander Posted October 24, 2013 Report Share Posted October 24, 2013 Is anyone else familiar with that style of guard on a jointer? I've never seen one like that. It obviously allows the formation of a pinch point like a crooked tablesaw fence. Every jointer guard I've ever come across is the swing-away style that does not cove the workpiece. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bglenden Posted October 24, 2013 Report Share Posted October 24, 2013 I believe that's a European style guard. I actually thought they were considered safer, but not if they can come flying off I guess. It seems like OP was doing everything correctly - guard in place, push block being used. Is there anything he should have done differently (other than, as he notes, buying better equipment)? Best wishes for a speedy recovery. Cheers, Brian Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
rodger. Posted October 24, 2013 Report Share Posted October 24, 2013 Is anyone else familiar with that style of guard on a jointer? I've never seen one like that. It obviously allows the formation of a pinch point like a crooked tablesaw fence. Every jointer guard I've ever come across is the swing-away style that does not cove the workpiece. I think the western version is called a "pork chop". Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
rodger. Posted October 24, 2013 Report Share Posted October 24, 2013 Scary post. I hope you have a speedy recovery, both physical and mental. Thank you for being brave and sharing your story. It is an excellent reminder to all of us of how dangerous our machines truly are. 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dmcgarry Posted October 24, 2013 Author Report Share Posted October 24, 2013 Is anyone else familiar with that style of guard on a jointer? I've never seen one like that. It obviously allows the formation of a pinch point like a crooked tablesaw fence. Every jointer guard I've ever come across is the swing-away style that does not cove the workpiece. it was the first thing i didnt like about the machine was the guard for a number of reasons, untill you put the board through the planer theres a gap of ATLEAST an inch between the blade and the guard, when you push a board through you have to lift off the board to get over the guard so you have one hand controling the whole board for a short period of time and also then you have to do the same with the block pushing the board when it reaches the end to go over and pull it through or as i've seen done people push through under the guard!!!! i actually think this sort of guard should be illegal on machines as it is just an accident waiting to happen! and then when an accident does happen the guard hops up and legs it to the other end of the shop P.S. thanks for all the get well messages, they're greatly appreciated, i doubt i'll ever use a planer again but thats ok because i can use normal hand planes and get a thicknesser to do the jobs i'd need to do so my hands will be well clear. @duckkisser... nails are spotless now Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
williaty Posted October 24, 2013 Report Share Posted October 24, 2013 To me, the question is why did you have a kickback in the first place and what could have been done to avoid having one? Once the kickback happened, the safety features are just window dressing. The tool is going to win, as you found out. What I want to know is what did you do (and I understand that you may not know and it may never be known) that the rest of us need to not do. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dmcgarry Posted October 24, 2013 Author Report Share Posted October 24, 2013 To me, the question is why did you have a kickback in the first place and what could have been done to avoid having one? Once the kickback happened, the safety features are just window dressing. The tool is going to win, as you found out. What I want to know is what did you do (and I understand that you may not know and it may never be known) that the rest of us need to not do. in short what happened was the roller with the blades was slightly lower then the bed on the other side so it went over the blade and then was only the slightest of slight lower then the bed so didn't go any further, and was then pretty much trapped waiting for the kick back to happen, machine is on its own bench that has never gotten a knock or bump. somehow be it wear and tear on bearings or rubbers or whatever makes it revolve made it drop those minute fractions of an inch which was enough to cause it to catch. I dont have the machine a year yet and for the use it's gotten i would still class it as new and as such wear and tear should not be an issue. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Beechwood Chip Posted October 24, 2013 Report Share Posted October 24, 2013 I guess on a machine like that you can't reach the stop button with your leg. It's hard to say, but it might have been safer to keep both hands on the work piece (to avoid any motion) while killing the machine with your leg. I like to use these with my router table and bench-top machines. I probably would have done exactly the same thing as you - I'm just trying to find out what we can learn from this. Here's hoping for a successful recovery. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dmcgarry Posted October 24, 2013 Author Report Share Posted October 24, 2013 yea i agree if i could of kept both hands on i possibly would of still had 10 digits, but there was no way, also if i hadnt been using push blocks (which i would never do and definitely dont recomend!!!) i could of lifted the piece straight up. I am now looking into a master foot pedal with a long cord that will be hooked up to the power coming into the sockets rather then having to hook it up to individual machines (because we all know if we had to do that every time we changed machine we would often do without) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CessnaPilotBarry Posted October 25, 2013 Report Share Posted October 25, 2013 GET WELL SOON! I'm so sorry to see this happened to you. Thanks for sharing... It will remind all of us to stay safe. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Andrew Pritchard Posted October 25, 2013 Report Share Posted October 25, 2013 My jointer's guard is more of the regular type with it's own stand. Having seen the serious injury here (which I'm most definitely not showing my wife), I'm seriously considering two additional power switches - one at each end of the stand so no matter where I'm standing, I can kick an off switch. I've managed to stop the 1/2 hp motor on my jointer and I've never been more nervous in my whole life. Fortunately my hands were at either end of the board, so I even if the wood did take off my hands would hand just landed on the feed tables. In this instance the wood was a 3" by 5 1/2" by 40" piece of red oak. Heavy enough that the 1/2 hp motor would have had trouble throwing from a dead stop and I was able to turn off the motor with my knee. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bmchan Posted October 25, 2013 Report Share Posted October 25, 2013 Thanks for sharing. The only time my 6"Grizz has scared me is when the piece I tried to run was too small. No harm done. My TS is the only tool that scares me. This is a good thing. I have been getting reacquainted with my hand planes lately. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
chopnhack Posted October 25, 2013 Report Share Posted October 25, 2013 Wow... thanks for sharing and speedy recovery. With respect to the machine, you may want to get in touch with the manufacturer and let them know your story. They need feedback like this to make better decisions at the engineering level. Unless you are thinking of suing them, in which case post no more and only talk with your lawyer! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TerryMcK Posted October 25, 2013 Report Share Posted October 25, 2013 Damian I hope you have a speedy recovery and thanks for sharing. I've never got on with the European guard over a jointer/planer blade. It just doesn't make any sense to me but is supposed to be "safer" than the pork chop guard. On mine you can set the height, with an adjustable stop screw, to just clear the wood being planed. You pass the stock under the guard but I find that you end up swapping hands at the end of the cut partially losing control because the guard is in the way! This has potential for kick back. Alternatively the aluminium guard can be simply retracted laterally so the gap left can allow the stock to pass over the cutter head. However that totally exposes the blades and just seems counter-intuitive. That does mean you can push the stock over the cutters with both hands safely controlling the entire cut. I always use push blocks for this (the plastic ones with handles and rubber or abrasive on the bottom). If there was a retrofit kit for the pork chop I would fit it but there isn't. Anybody know of the origins of the European guard and why it is "safer"? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tpt life Posted October 25, 2013 Report Share Posted October 25, 2013 I am just guessing so please read this that way. Pork chops leave the cutter head exposed at the end of the cut while they sweep back into a closed position. I have seen more than one with knife chatter on them. I wonder if that has something to do with things. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JoshC1501 Posted October 25, 2013 Report Share Posted October 25, 2013 Jointer safety question. I always use push block when face jointing a board but find it very difficult to do when edge jointing. So, do you guys use push blocks when edge jointing? It always makes me nervous especially when the board is not very wide. Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk - now Free Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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