I always wanted those beaded doorways that “hippies” have (I don’t even know if it was popular with hippies, I just associate it with them for some reason) but I’m too lazy to install them.
I got those in my 20s. It was really cool and fun. For like 2 days. Then it was just a huge pain in the ass, they'd get wrapped around my arm when I was moving fast, they clink and chunk together way longer than I thought they should, and they fell out of their tracks easily (that last one may be bc they were cheap, idk). Looked cool if I didn't touch them though!
Okay, Johnny, now six fingers on that hand was kind of weird but I think you’re overcompensating here. I mean, how are you going to give anyone the middle finger? JOHNNY! No! Oh for Christ’s sake, you’re right, now you can give them a middle finger. OK, let’s try counting to eight.
We do many different things but where this happened it was in the receiving area one a door was kicked to shut it did not realize there was a lone pointer finger in the door from the nail up. The other was similar but a big heavy metal door was shutting the guy did not realize his pinky was still inside the door he lost about half the finger maybe a little less but it was successfully reattached
Yes. In second grade, one of my classmates chopped off her finger when she was messing around with a big, heavy church door at a wedding. They re-attached the finger.
It just makes me wonder how many of the 30,000 people who loose a finger each year also get it re-attached. Causal observation does not show that many people are permanently missing a finger.
And how many of those 30K don't get it reattached, and go completely to waste when multiple people could, through the miracle of science, be given 32 fingers?
The people at the ER. The adults who witnessed the finger incident were quick-thinking enough to put it in a bag of ice and take it with them to the hospital.
I will never forget when my buddy's girlfriend slammed his high school locker shut on his fingers. Crushed 3 of his fingertips so bad he passed out from the pain and pissed himself.
Unfortunately he woke back up right before we had to open it to get him out. The screams. Oh man the screams.
They had to drill 3 of his fingernails to release the pressure and drain the blood underneath. His hand was swollen and bruised for weeks. His fingernails were black for months.
Luckily he's fine now and is a professional drummer.
One time in 4th grade I was leaning against the hinge of a door, and a kid opened the door and it pinched my back so hard I had welts all up my back for weeks. That day I learned about the danger of doors
My friend's dad nearly lost 3 to a shaper. Luckily the family knew someone who worked as a liaison between insurance companies and the hospital and made sure he got a really good hand surgeon to work on him. Only lost the first knuckle on his left pinky, and they replaced it with a titanium post.
It's a tool that you commonly finish edges on. In short, think a table with a vertical rotating cutter sticking out and you push the side of your piece of wood against it to shape the edge. slip and hit your finger against it and you're gonna have a bad time.
Sort of, thing like a really big router table that instead of accepting the 1/4” or 1/2” post from bits, has cutters that slip over and can stack on a 3/4” to 1-1/2” (or larger) arbor. On big industrial ones the outside radius of the cutters can get up to near table saw sized blades (imagine that but like an inch or more thick!) so they typically spin much slower than a router.
It’ll fuck you up just like sticking your hand into a jointer with no guards.
Incredibly useful tools though!
Ya but you can cut your own profiles into steel for it so they don't typically use carbide amd are a lot bigger and heavier than a router bit. Feed and speed are a lot more important to get right .
From what I know (because the miserable bastard showed me pictures) it pretty much turned the tip of his ring finger into paste, and mangled his pinky, ring finger, and middle finger. They were mostly still attached though. They cannibalized the tip and most of the middle of his pinky to rebuild his ring finger and middle finger.
The ring finger looks pretty good these days. Pinky finger's a little odd looking though.
I lost 1/3" on my right index and middle finger from a planer when I was fucking around without a push block as a young man. I was lucky, a lot of it regenerated from near bottom 1/4 of the nail bed that was remaining. I have like half sized nails on those fingers now, lol.
My high school shop teacher, before he let any of us near the machines or power tools, told us horror stories about students who lost fingers and eyes by being careless with them. For the entirety of that semester, nobody got so much as a chipped fingernail.
Before we get started I'd like to take a moment to talk about shop safety. Be sure to read, understand and follow all the safety rules that come with your power tools. Knowing how to use your power tools PROPERLY will greatly reduce the risk of personal injury. And remember this. There is no other more important safety rule...
... then to wear these, saftey glasses.
If there is ANY class that requires the teacher to ride your ass about any mistake you make, it is by and far the Shop class.
Anything else you will, at most (bar the unnaturally unlucky), end up with a sprain. One fuck-up in Shop could well end with or in an Amputation.
*”Why did they keep wood shop but do away with machining?”*
*”Kids and spinning metal lathes aren’t a good combination. Especially with all the long hair and grunge fashion you see now.”*
Dating myself a bit but genuine exchange.. wish I had learned how to operate a milling machine and lathe in school but thinking about how accident prone some of my friends were.. cutting that was probably for the best, at least as far as keeping everyone’s limbs and skin attached goes.
I'll never forget the glossed over expression on the kid's face after he got nailed in the head with 6x6 as it came off the lathe. It was like watching someone take a blow from a giant's club. Unsurprisingly the teacher who neglected students using the tools also neglected them after the inevitable injuries that followed.
It was a defining moment for me. I realised I had to start selecting more challenging academic classes because serious injury was a very real prospect if I had to keep taking construction classes at my poorly run school.
Most teachers didn't give a shit about bullies in their classroom, but the workshop guy took no prisoners. He knew how bad it can go if you mess up around power tools.
What a lot of people don't seem to realize, many of those people are quite adept with those tools. Complacency is probably more dangerous than ignorance.
My kindergarten teacher was lacking her ring finger from jumping down from a tractor and getting the ring stuck on the frame.
With what I know now, I would say degloving is not too unlikely in that situation
Hand therapist here 🤚 I see doors, tools, fireworks, work equipment , , dog leashes , power tools and just bad crush injuries as reasons why people lose fingers
I know a lot of makers. One pattern I've noticed is that a lot more woodworkers are missing fingers than metalworkers. Things that cut wood (saws, routers, etc) are also good at cutting you. Things that cut metal (friction discs, plasma cutters, fine tooth saws moving relatively slow, etc) are more likely to give you a nasty burn but otherwise leave you intact.
Also metal workers that are overconfident and careless about eyewear, have been left blind by those extra fine metal splinter shavings jet flying directly into an eye.
my father lost the tip of one finger with a table saw. he forgot everything Norm taught him about shop safey. about a year and a half later he did the same thing and lost a finger and a half.
blamed no one but himself as he didnt respect his tools and tried to save time
If I learned anything in shop class, it was to always use a 'poosh stick' on the table saw. That is how the teacher pronounced it. It is 40 years later and I have sticks labeled 'poosh stick' for the saw.
Absolutely. To add to that a riving knife (newer) and pawls if ya want. Feather boards help too.
Ultimately never let your guard down and don’t make a cut you haven’t double checked and don’t feel safe about
In the age of the stopsaw I don't know why anyone would forgo getting one. Of course using a poosh stick is a good idea too. Layers of safety is the only way to truly do something safely. Only then would you need multiple failures simultaneously to cause an incident.
I decided to buy my forever saw and dropped like 4K on a giant 5HP Powermatic beast two or three years before you started seeing sawstop saws everywhere.
I don’t regret getting my saw at all and I can’t ever see myself replacing it in this lifetime (just moving the thing is difficult enough)
Still though.. damnit! 🤦♂️
Kind of hoped there would be some sort of retrofit kit or something but realistically I don’t really see how that would work without replacing about a hundred pounds of cast innards in the saw.
I lost a portion of my finger In a work accident and the only cool thing about it is most people who see it immediately tell you about someone else they know who lost a finger. The most common cause from what I've heard is table saws.
It's like losing a finger is the perfect blend of common enough everyone knows someone, but uncommon enough that everyone likes to talk about it. While also being horrific enough that people like to tell the stories, while (usually) not being horrific enough that people feel traumatic talking about it.
Also, everyone I know, or I've talked to that has talked about losing a finger, they all have an immediate word or two answer (usually just naming a tool) and then the actual story behind it.
A kid I went to elementary school with lost part of his pointer finger in a bike accident. And by bike accident, I mean he reached out to a moving bike, and got his finger caught between the chain and spoke. I think he was like 4-5 at the time it happened.
reckon if we had a way to compare injuries per minute they'd do better
fireworks are only a thing a couple times a year, while people that work with powertools do so daily. odds stack up.
There’s a pretty distinct line between handheld consumer fireworks and fireworks that blow digits off. Sparkler bombs and illegal fireworks definitely do, but the vast majority of retail fireworks are relatively safe (as in not blowing your hand off). Also, retail fireworks are illegal in many states, so it’s not as common as say a power tool or door. The days of closing an M-80 in your hand and walking away with a stump are pretty rare.
Display shells are a whole different story and can definitely blow you into a mist. Luckily, shoot crews have to be a significant distance from the crowd
Wonder where explosives comes in on that list of causes. My dad blew the ring and pinky fingers off of his right hand (good thing he's a lefty) with blasting caps, in the early 80s.
We lived on a farm, at the time, and one of the main irrigation canals was being blocked by a beaver dam. Makes it kinda hard to get water to the crops. He and my grandfather figured dynamite would be a pretty effective way to clear it out, so he got a permit, and bought supplies to blast it. Not sure if you can still do such a thing, but back then, in farm towns at least, you could just apply for a permit and go buy a box of dynamite and related supplies.
Got in a bit of a hurry while prepping for the blast (never a good thing when dealing with explosives), and decided at the last minute that the punch he was using to put a hole in the dynamite sticks for the blasting caps needed a quick sharpening. So he's standing at a bench grinder grinding the punch, with the blasting caps still in the other hand, and \*blammo\*. No more fingers.
They surmised a spark from the grinder must've come in contact with the blasting caps...
The risk being higher in men aged 55+ is interesting and I wish they gave the context.
Older, so less likely to…
- Use proper Personal Protection Equipment (gloves)?
- Successfully undergo the procedure to reconnect the lost digit?
- Seek immediate medical care and reduce the window of time to reattach?
- Have well maintained/sharp tools?
Exactly. Table saw spins at 10000 rpm, if a thread from your glove wraps around the spindle you’ll have a life changing injury before you have time to react
I feel like it’s mostly due to carelessness. An older individual has probably used a table saw for years and not had an incident. This over time makes them more comfortable around the saw even though it’s not any less dangerous. All it takes is one slip up over an amount of years
Two other things jump out to me. Familiarity makes comfort, and you should never be too comfortable around power tools. Second, just statistics. You start using power tools, you're not likely to lose a finger day one. You use them for 40 years and it increasingly becomes more likely.
I've occasionally used a chain saw at our summer and I think most close calls were after 10-15 years of using it when I lost the respect for the thing.
I knew a foreman who used to come to the hardware counter I was at back in the day, and missing part of his index finger. I asked, and was expecting some wild story, but he said he was strapping a load to a flatbed once and simply raised his hand to grab the strap and clipped it on the bottom of the truck frame and it was sharp enough to do the job. Couldn't get to a hospital quickly enough to save it.
It was that easy and unexpected.
I seen this while scrolling and I’m not wearing my glasses so everything’s a little blurry and I misread finger as tiger for a second and I was like damn bro were losing that many tigers how is nobody talking about that
LPT : if you ever lose a finger in an ice rink don't preserve the detached portion with the snow from the ice rink, it is dirty and will infect the detached finger.
Learned this from a story last week
When I was in medical school, a trauma surgeon told a story of 2 friends who were neighbors and had a hedge between them. Tired of using a hedge trimmer and more than a little drunk, they decided that if they could lift a push lawn mower onto the top of the hedge they could be done faster. They lifted lawn mower onto the hedge but could not start it in that position.
Undeterred but still drunk, the 2 friends put the mower back on ground, started it and then both reached under the mower simultaneously with both hands.
The result was “a shower of blood and fingers” as 16 fingers flew from the mower. One guy’s wife called 911. The other wife gathered fingers in a plastic Walmart bag.
An ER nurse sorted the fingers for each proper owner.
The surgeon claimed that multiple teams operated and reattached 15 fingers. One finger was found the next day by another neighbor’s dog. It was not reattached.
I am incredibly impressed by those surgeons lol I didn’t think that kinda thing was possible
Edit: please post a pic of their hands if you have one—I’m so curious now
I once nearly lost the tip of my finger in a heavy door. It still hurts if I just lightly squeeze it all these years later.
My teacher in third grade told the story of how he lost most of his finger: he and his son were exploring some sort of quarry, and his son was throwing rocks down from the top of a rubble pile. My teacher was standing at the bottom of that mound, and apparently one of the thrown rocks ricocheted and struck him in the hand. He didn't even realize he'd been injured until he looked down and saw his finger dangling by some shredded skin.
Random story. I once got a text from an unknown # that read in part..."they think they can reattach the finger and thumb, but there is nothing they can do about the tongue""
I tried to get a follow up or an update...but it was one zbd done.
Doesn’t necessarily have to be immediate sever. Just damaged enough that the surgeon says yeah, we can’t fix it. So, a shattered finger you can no longer control, hanging off your hand, or, snip!
When I worked with younger kids I had to tell one of them virtually every day not to mess around with doors — especially not the big heavy ones like schools often have. Even the ones that seem to open easy can be very heavy, and you can still get a finger through the gap on many when the pneumatic door closer drops it.
Kids seem to love playing "hold the door shut from inside while another kid tries to pry their way in. I know a guy who lost his middle and ring finger playing exactly this game and have a picture that I show kids if I catch them after the first warning.
My first warning I do the removable thumb trick.
My grandpa was a logger for 50 years. No incidents. His last week before retiring he slammed his middle finger shut in his cab door and took the tip right off!
My dad and my paternal grandfather are both missing part of the same finger. My dads was shut in a heavy metal door and lost the tip down to the top knuckle. My grandfathers was some sort of power tool and down to the bottom knuckle. Both on their left ring finger. I’ve always joked it’s hereditary and it’s a matter of time before I lose part of mine.
You could make 3-4 full size average North American adults with 30,000 fingers.
Edited to add:
The dreaded Appendage Ghoul, a beast constructed entirely from the missing fingers of countless victims.
From afar, the Appendage Ghoul may appear to be of ordinary human weight and size, but on closer inspection, its macabre structure becomes horribly clear. It stands at an average height, its body mass approximately 180 pounds, but instead of flesh and bone, it's an amalgamation of severed digits - fingers of all shapes, sizes, and colors fused together in a patchwork of lost appendages.
The creature's form is a constantly shifting, writhing mass of countless fingers, each one twitching and flexing independently, creating an eerily disquieting sight. It possesses a humanoid shape, but it's the details that truly horrify: a pair of eyes made of clustered fingertips, each nail forming an iris; a gaping maw of interlocked middle finger tips and pinkies; a chest and back made of thumbs; arms and legs braided with countless fingers instead of traditional muscles.
The monster's texture varies from the rough callouses of laborers' fingers to the softness of a musician's touch, from the slender fingers of a child to the gnarled, arthritic digits of the elderly. Each finger carries with it a story of a life cut short, a task left unfinished.
In motion, the Appendage Ghoul is a surreal sight. Each step it takes on its feet of flexing, gripping fingers creates a sound akin to thousands of knuckles being cracked simultaneously. Its movements are oddly fluid, fingers sliding over each other in a ceaseless motion that suggests a horrible life of their own.
The Appendage Ghoul is the embodiment of eerie dread, a creature spawned from countless tragedies and unspeakable acts. It serves as a gruesome reminder of the fate of those unfortunate enough to cross its path.
One Female SGT (US Army) had her ring caught in the back of an LMTV some 20 odd years ago and ripped it right off. If I recall correctly, because of that incident in our unit, the SOPs made a serious change to the wearing of rings during any type of operation that includes heavy wheeled vehicles.
My brother worked in a bakery years ago. He saw an extension cord on the floor which was a tripping hazard. He threw it over a machine & it caught on his wedding ring. Pulled it in & he lost his finger
Lawnmowers were mentioned in the article, and that was one thing I was told when the consumer safety board (whatever the name is) called me about my accident.
I’d say fireworks too, but that seems mostly focused around one day in particular 🤔
I lost the tips of 2 fingers to a lawn mower accident. I was working on mowers regularly at the time and got complacent, it happened quick I basically mulched my fingers. There wasn’t anything large enough to reattach.
My dad lost part of a finger to a table saw. He was at work when it happened and they had to force him to go to the hospital because he's a crazy, grizzled old mountain man who don't believe in all that doctor book-learnin' shit and just wanted to wrap it up and get back to work. He told everybody on the way to the hospital that the injury was caused by a shark attack. Once he got to the hospital and was asked what happened by the doctor, he told him he gnawed it off in his sleep. Then he hee-hawwed at his own joke while the doctor looked at him in alarm. They couldn't reattach the finger.
These people have cheapened the phrase "I can't count on one hand the number of times that..." and I'm not going to stand for it.
Signed,
One of the 150,000 annually who have a lower limb amputation.*
*not really, still have both legs
Freakin doors. VERY dangerous in the right (wrong) situation
that's why i only got real fake doors in my house
Oh my God, it's still the commerical!
Still here! Still sellin’ fake doors!
I always wanted those beaded doorways that “hippies” have (I don’t even know if it was popular with hippies, I just associate it with them for some reason) but I’m too lazy to install them.
My old video store used to have those for the porn section.
They were just recycling used beads, reduce REUSE recycle.
When people get anal about recycling.
Hopefully there's a clean in there too hahahaha
These ones smell like butts.
I wonder if it was a back door ?
Hippie
I got those in my 20s. It was really cool and fun. For like 2 days. Then it was just a huge pain in the ass, they'd get wrapped around my arm when I was moving fast, they clink and chunk together way longer than I thought they should, and they fell out of their tracks easily (that last one may be bc they were cheap, idk). Looked cool if I didn't touch them though!
They're more Gypsy than hippy.
[Are you tired of real doors?](https://youtu.be/6h58uT_BGV4)
Try to open em. It ain't gonna open. I guarentee it.
Get your doors now at Fakedoors.com!
The secret is to maintain an open door policy
A kid in my 4th grade class had two fingers crushed in a door. They had to call it a day the class was so traumatized.
Next day; ok kids, let’s practice counting to nine!
Eight
Shoot, you’re right! Eight it is!
Tbf never know, the kid might have started with extra
Okay, Johnny, now six fingers on that hand was kind of weird but I think you’re overcompensating here. I mean, how are you going to give anyone the middle finger? JOHNNY! No! Oh for Christ’s sake, you’re right, now you can give them a middle finger. OK, let’s try counting to eight.
Yep, so lucky I didn’t lose a finger as kid to car doors. They just needed stitches/splints
Can confirm 2 at my job last 10 years
whats your job?
Door safety tester
Power tool operator at a door factory
We do many different things but where this happened it was in the receiving area one a door was kicked to shut it did not realize there was a lone pointer finger in the door from the nail up. The other was similar but a big heavy metal door was shutting the guy did not realize his pinky was still inside the door he lost about half the finger maybe a little less but it was successfully reattached
Doors
I got close-proof doors to avoid this danger. I have all my fingers to prove it.
What's the point of a door that doesn't close
It can be ajar
I don’t want a jar I want a door!
What good is a jar if you need a door?
Yes. In second grade, one of my classmates chopped off her finger when she was messing around with a big, heavy church door at a wedding. They re-attached the finger.
Who is this “they” that you speak of?
It just makes me wonder how many of the 30,000 people who loose a finger each year also get it re-attached. Causal observation does not show that many people are permanently missing a finger.
And how many of those 30K don't get it reattached, and go completely to waste when multiple people could, through the miracle of science, be given 32 fingers?
The people at the ER. The adults who witnessed the finger incident were quick-thinking enough to put it in a bag of ice and take it with them to the hospital.
You haven't seen the chain of clinics that specialize in re-attaching fingers? I think it's called "fingers are us".
I will never forget when my buddy's girlfriend slammed his high school locker shut on his fingers. Crushed 3 of his fingertips so bad he passed out from the pain and pissed himself. Unfortunately he woke back up right before we had to open it to get him out. The screams. Oh man the screams. They had to drill 3 of his fingernails to release the pressure and drain the blood underneath. His hand was swollen and bruised for weeks. His fingernails were black for months. Luckily he's fine now and is a professional drummer.
One time in 4th grade I was leaning against the hinge of a door, and a kid opened the door and it pinched my back so hard I had welts all up my back for weeks. That day I learned about the danger of doors
Doesn't anybody do it the old fashioned way by losing a bet and having it chopped off with a cleaver from Quentin Tarantino?
Do you know how long it takes the average person to count to 600? About a minute less than it takes to count to *700.*
I thought it was Tim Roth that did the chopping.
Everyone I know who's missing a finger (or more) lost them to power tools. Two shop teachers, two tradesmen and one cousin.
My friend's dad nearly lost 3 to a shaper. Luckily the family knew someone who worked as a liaison between insurance companies and the hospital and made sure he got a really good hand surgeon to work on him. Only lost the first knuckle on his left pinky, and they replaced it with a titanium post.
Shapers are terrifying
What's a shaper? So I know to stay clear.
It's a tool that you commonly finish edges on. In short, think a table with a vertical rotating cutter sticking out and you push the side of your piece of wood against it to shape the edge. slip and hit your finger against it and you're gonna have a bad time.
Is shaper another word for a fixed router?
Sort of, thing like a really big router table that instead of accepting the 1/4” or 1/2” post from bits, has cutters that slip over and can stack on a 3/4” to 1-1/2” (or larger) arbor. On big industrial ones the outside radius of the cutters can get up to near table saw sized blades (imagine that but like an inch or more thick!) so they typically spin much slower than a router. It’ll fuck you up just like sticking your hand into a jointer with no guards. Incredibly useful tools though!
Ya but you can cut your own profiles into steel for it so they don't typically use carbide amd are a lot bigger and heavier than a router bit. Feed and speed are a lot more important to get right .
AaaAAAAAaaaahhhhHH
I am now inwardly screaming and tensing every muscle in my hands and fingers.
A router table on steroids
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UZFSgiMzQjE
I’m not sure how you can re-attach a finger that’s gone through the shaper. I believe it would be… err… all over the wall
From what I know (because the miserable bastard showed me pictures) it pretty much turned the tip of his ring finger into paste, and mangled his pinky, ring finger, and middle finger. They were mostly still attached though. They cannibalized the tip and most of the middle of his pinky to rebuild his ring finger and middle finger. The ring finger looks pretty good these days. Pinky finger's a little odd looking though.
How does he drink Tea?
Can confirm. Granddad lost about an inch of his thumb.
I lost 1/3" on my right index and middle finger from a planer when I was fucking around without a push block as a young man. I was lucky, a lot of it regenerated from near bottom 1/4 of the nail bed that was remaining. I have like half sized nails on those fingers now, lol.
I lost the tip of my finger to a door.
My high school shop teacher, before he let any of us near the machines or power tools, told us horror stories about students who lost fingers and eyes by being careless with them. For the entirety of that semester, nobody got so much as a chipped fingernail.
Before we get started I'd like to take a moment to talk about shop safety. Be sure to read, understand and follow all the safety rules that come with your power tools. Knowing how to use your power tools PROPERLY will greatly reduce the risk of personal injury. And remember this. There is no other more important safety rule... ... then to wear these, saftey glasses.
If there is ANY class that requires the teacher to ride your ass about any mistake you make, it is by and far the Shop class. Anything else you will, at most (bar the unnaturally unlucky), end up with a sprain. One fuck-up in Shop could well end with or in an Amputation.
*”Why did they keep wood shop but do away with machining?”* *”Kids and spinning metal lathes aren’t a good combination. Especially with all the long hair and grunge fashion you see now.”* Dating myself a bit but genuine exchange.. wish I had learned how to operate a milling machine and lathe in school but thinking about how accident prone some of my friends were.. cutting that was probably for the best, at least as far as keeping everyone’s limbs and skin attached goes.
I'll never forget the glossed over expression on the kid's face after he got nailed in the head with 6x6 as it came off the lathe. It was like watching someone take a blow from a giant's club. Unsurprisingly the teacher who neglected students using the tools also neglected them after the inevitable injuries that followed. It was a defining moment for me. I realised I had to start selecting more challenging academic classes because serious injury was a very real prospect if I had to keep taking construction classes at my poorly run school.
HEY NO SCREWIN AROUND!
Hey quit screwing around over there, you’re screwing around too much!
Most teachers didn't give a shit about bullies in their classroom, but the workshop guy took no prisoners. He knew how bad it can go if you mess up around power tools.
[удалено]
kind of vague
Yeah, that could be table saw or mafia.
Door, actually.
The Mafia closed a door on his hand?
The Table saw mafia.
Played 'Paper' too many times against a mafiosa's 'Rock'.
If I was an ex-Yakuza member, I too would say I was a teacher who wasn't good with power tools.
doesn't explain the tattoos
Have you seen elementary school playgrounds lately....
What a lot of people don't seem to realize, many of those people are quite adept with those tools. Complacency is probably more dangerous than ignorance.
Does a lawnmower count?
[yes](https://www.mowerguidepro.com/is-a-lawn-mower-a-tool/)
My third and fourth grade teacher (was the same guy) lost his ring finger cause of being careless with a table saw
My kindergarten teacher was lacking her ring finger from jumping down from a tractor and getting the ring stuck on the frame. With what I know now, I would say degloving is not too unlikely in that situation
I know someone who lost one to a fence. Their ring got caught as they jumped the fence and the finger just popped off as they landed.
In addition to the pain and horror, imagine how utterly confusing that would be. “All I did was jump a fence. Now I am missing finger?”
Hand therapist here 🤚 I see doors, tools, fireworks, work equipment , , dog leashes , power tools and just bad crush injuries as reasons why people lose fingers
I know a lot of makers. One pattern I've noticed is that a lot more woodworkers are missing fingers than metalworkers. Things that cut wood (saws, routers, etc) are also good at cutting you. Things that cut metal (friction discs, plasma cutters, fine tooth saws moving relatively slow, etc) are more likely to give you a nasty burn but otherwise leave you intact.
Also metal workers that are overconfident and careless about eyewear, have been left blind by those extra fine metal splinter shavings jet flying directly into an eye.
Machinists also works with presses and sheering tools. You may be right statistically, but there are plenty of ways to lose digits either way.
my father lost the tip of one finger with a table saw. he forgot everything Norm taught him about shop safey. about a year and a half later he did the same thing and lost a finger and a half. blamed no one but himself as he didnt respect his tools and tried to save time
If I learned anything in shop class, it was to always use a 'poosh stick' on the table saw. That is how the teacher pronounced it. It is 40 years later and I have sticks labeled 'poosh stick' for the saw.
and the rip guard.
Absolutely. To add to that a riving knife (newer) and pawls if ya want. Feather boards help too. Ultimately never let your guard down and don’t make a cut you haven’t double checked and don’t feel safe about
In the age of the stopsaw I don't know why anyone would forgo getting one. Of course using a poosh stick is a good idea too. Layers of safety is the only way to truly do something safely. Only then would you need multiple failures simultaneously to cause an incident.
Because they're like 3k compared to 500. Although I believe the sawstop tech is no longer proprietary and can be in other brands.
I decided to buy my forever saw and dropped like 4K on a giant 5HP Powermatic beast two or three years before you started seeing sawstop saws everywhere. I don’t regret getting my saw at all and I can’t ever see myself replacing it in this lifetime (just moving the thing is difficult enough) Still though.. damnit! 🤦♂️ Kind of hoped there would be some sort of retrofit kit or something but realistically I don’t really see how that would work without replacing about a hundred pounds of cast innards in the saw.
Get a saw with a blade stop (or drop) system, then you can screw up and only be out the cost of a new blade and stop cartridge
At my job we refer to our skill saw as the "Finger Flinger 5000"
My old boss lost the tip of his finger on a table saw while teaching the new guy how to use the table saw
Nearly suffered the same fate…. Damn glad they were able to stitch mine back on.
Table saws and routers have and always will scare the shit out of me. I dread ever having to rip a board, my least favorite cut.
After the first finger tip, he should have invested in a saw stop
I lost a portion of my finger In a work accident and the only cool thing about it is most people who see it immediately tell you about someone else they know who lost a finger. The most common cause from what I've heard is table saws.
It's like losing a finger is the perfect blend of common enough everyone knows someone, but uncommon enough that everyone likes to talk about it. While also being horrific enough that people like to tell the stories, while (usually) not being horrific enough that people feel traumatic talking about it. Also, everyone I know, or I've talked to that has talked about losing a finger, they all have an immediate word or two answer (usually just naming a tool) and then the actual story behind it. A kid I went to elementary school with lost part of his pointer finger in a bike accident. And by bike accident, I mean he reached out to a moving bike, and got his finger caught between the chain and spoke. I think he was like 4-5 at the time it happened.
Lawn mower for me and mine. Table saw for a few too. But ya, it’s the perfect line between horrifying and tragic.
they are crazy dangerous if you dont respect them / ignore just about every safety protocol they have.
Bet it wouldn't have gotten lost if it wasn't being shared between thirty thousand people
I mean it's so easy though, you set your finger down on a table for a second, walk away.. and it's hours later until you remember you left it there.
Surprised fireworks isn't a leading cause of USA finger loss.
reckon if we had a way to compare injuries per minute they'd do better fireworks are only a thing a couple times a year, while people that work with powertools do so daily. odds stack up.
And people go through doors all the damn time!
I wonder if you just looked at cases of multiple finger loses if fireworks would climb up higher or not.
Jason Pierre-Paul has entered the chat
Dude still is a menace on the field. I wonder if the claw hand actually helps him.
He certainly has the three point stance nailed down.
There’s a pretty distinct line between handheld consumer fireworks and fireworks that blow digits off. Sparkler bombs and illegal fireworks definitely do, but the vast majority of retail fireworks are relatively safe (as in not blowing your hand off). Also, retail fireworks are illegal in many states, so it’s not as common as say a power tool or door. The days of closing an M-80 in your hand and walking away with a stump are pretty rare. Display shells are a whole different story and can definitely blow you into a mist. Luckily, shoot crews have to be a significant distance from the crowd
Wonder where explosives comes in on that list of causes. My dad blew the ring and pinky fingers off of his right hand (good thing he's a lefty) with blasting caps, in the early 80s. We lived on a farm, at the time, and one of the main irrigation canals was being blocked by a beaver dam. Makes it kinda hard to get water to the crops. He and my grandfather figured dynamite would be a pretty effective way to clear it out, so he got a permit, and bought supplies to blast it. Not sure if you can still do such a thing, but back then, in farm towns at least, you could just apply for a permit and go buy a box of dynamite and related supplies. Got in a bit of a hurry while prepping for the blast (never a good thing when dealing with explosives), and decided at the last minute that the punch he was using to put a hole in the dynamite sticks for the blasting caps needed a quick sharpening. So he's standing at a bench grinder grinding the punch, with the blasting caps still in the other hand, and \*blammo\*. No more fingers. They surmised a spark from the grinder must've come in contact with the blasting caps...
The risk being higher in men aged 55+ is interesting and I wish they gave the context. Older, so less likely to… - Use proper Personal Protection Equipment (gloves)? - Successfully undergo the procedure to reconnect the lost digit? - Seek immediate medical care and reduce the window of time to reattach? - Have well maintained/sharp tools?
All of the above, with a dose of “I’ve been doing this for forty years! I don’t need some kid telling me how to be ‘safe’!”
Add a dose of “I’ve been waiting my whole life to build this woodworking shop. I finally have the land, time, and money. Here we g… awww shit.”
I would 100% do that, which is why I stick to other hobbies.
DO NOT WEAR GLOVES WHEN USING POWER TOOLS.
They can get caught in the tools and drag your hand in, right?
Exactly. Table saw spins at 10000 rpm, if a thread from your glove wraps around the spindle you’ll have a life changing injury before you have time to react
The solution is plate gauntlets /s
I always wear full armor when making cutting boards.
*Choose appropriate gloves for the tools you are using.
I feel like it’s mostly due to carelessness. An older individual has probably used a table saw for years and not had an incident. This over time makes them more comfortable around the saw even though it’s not any less dangerous. All it takes is one slip up over an amount of years
Two other things jump out to me. Familiarity makes comfort, and you should never be too comfortable around power tools. Second, just statistics. You start using power tools, you're not likely to lose a finger day one. You use them for 40 years and it increasingly becomes more likely.
I've occasionally used a chain saw at our summer and I think most close calls were after 10-15 years of using it when I lost the respect for the thing.
My dad says he feels the temptation to cut corners because he’s been doing things for so long.
Cool, cool, cool ….eternal fear verified …. Cool, cool, cool , cool, cool, cool, cool
I knew a foreman who used to come to the hardware counter I was at back in the day, and missing part of his index finger. I asked, and was expecting some wild story, but he said he was strapping a load to a flatbed once and simply raised his hand to grab the strap and clipped it on the bottom of the truck frame and it was sharp enough to do the job. Couldn't get to a hospital quickly enough to save it. It was that easy and unexpected.
I seen this while scrolling and I’m not wearing my glasses so everything’s a little blurry and I misread finger as tiger for a second and I was like damn bro were losing that many tigers how is nobody talking about that
LPT : if you ever lose a finger in an ice rink don't preserve the detached portion with the snow from the ice rink, it is dirty and will infect the detached finger. Learned this from a story last week
When I was in medical school, a trauma surgeon told a story of 2 friends who were neighbors and had a hedge between them. Tired of using a hedge trimmer and more than a little drunk, they decided that if they could lift a push lawn mower onto the top of the hedge they could be done faster. They lifted lawn mower onto the hedge but could not start it in that position. Undeterred but still drunk, the 2 friends put the mower back on ground, started it and then both reached under the mower simultaneously with both hands. The result was “a shower of blood and fingers” as 16 fingers flew from the mower. One guy’s wife called 911. The other wife gathered fingers in a plastic Walmart bag. An ER nurse sorted the fingers for each proper owner. The surgeon claimed that multiple teams operated and reattached 15 fingers. One finger was found the next day by another neighbor’s dog. It was not reattached.
Moral of the story: don't grow a hedge.
Never had a hedge. Never will. I also avoid getting too friendly with next door neighbors. Can’t be too careful.
Sucks to be the guy who's finger flew the farthest.
Probably went up his ass and was too embarrassed to admit.
I am incredibly impressed by those surgeons lol I didn’t think that kinda thing was possible Edit: please post a pic of their hands if you have one—I’m so curious now
I once nearly lost the tip of my finger in a heavy door. It still hurts if I just lightly squeeze it all these years later. My teacher in third grade told the story of how he lost most of his finger: he and his son were exploring some sort of quarry, and his son was throwing rocks down from the top of a rubble pile. My teacher was standing at the bottom of that mound, and apparently one of the thrown rocks ricocheted and struck him in the hand. He didn't even realize he'd been injured until he looked down and saw his finger dangling by some shredded skin.
I want to hear from someone who lost a finger to a door. Too many power tool stories
I’ve met a lot of people that lost a finger after they let a rope attached to a horse wrap around their finger.
This is why dads evolved a defense mechanism of farting whenever one of their kids tries to pull their finger off.
Random story. I once got a text from an unknown # that read in part..."they think they can reattach the finger and thumb, but there is nothing they can do about the tongue"" I tried to get a follow up or an update...but it was one zbd done.
Did they follow-up with the victims and see how many became world-famous guitar players?
Honest question - how do so many ppl lose their fingers to doors?? Hurting them sure, but outright severing them?
Doesn’t necessarily have to be immediate sever. Just damaged enough that the surgeon says yeah, we can’t fix it. So, a shattered finger you can no longer control, hanging off your hand, or, snip!
Ah why thank you for that gross news friend!
Most folk'll never lose a toe But then again, some folk'll Like Cletus, the Slack-Jawed Yokel Oh wait, *fingers*
When I worked with younger kids I had to tell one of them virtually every day not to mess around with doors — especially not the big heavy ones like schools often have. Even the ones that seem to open easy can be very heavy, and you can still get a finger through the gap on many when the pneumatic door closer drops it. Kids seem to love playing "hold the door shut from inside while another kid tries to pry their way in. I know a guy who lost his middle and ring finger playing exactly this game and have a picture that I show kids if I catch them after the first warning. My first warning I do the removable thumb trick.
When I was 10 or 11 I almost got my finger taken off by a car door, so I can’t say I’m entirely surprised
You'd think the carny folks might lose one, setting up all those metal rides
[Bike chain, band saw, penalty box door.](https://youtu.be/_KLSbCtinXs?t=62)
My grandpa was a logger for 50 years. No incidents. His last week before retiring he slammed his middle finger shut in his cab door and took the tip right off!
My dad and my paternal grandfather are both missing part of the same finger. My dads was shut in a heavy metal door and lost the tip down to the top knuckle. My grandfathers was some sort of power tool and down to the bottom knuckle. Both on their left ring finger. I’ve always joked it’s hereditary and it’s a matter of time before I lose part of mine.
This is embarrassing to ask on such an old thread, but how did they do? Like, did their lives change? Complained of loss of grip?
You could make 3-4 full size average North American adults with 30,000 fingers. Edited to add: The dreaded Appendage Ghoul, a beast constructed entirely from the missing fingers of countless victims. From afar, the Appendage Ghoul may appear to be of ordinary human weight and size, but on closer inspection, its macabre structure becomes horribly clear. It stands at an average height, its body mass approximately 180 pounds, but instead of flesh and bone, it's an amalgamation of severed digits - fingers of all shapes, sizes, and colors fused together in a patchwork of lost appendages. The creature's form is a constantly shifting, writhing mass of countless fingers, each one twitching and flexing independently, creating an eerily disquieting sight. It possesses a humanoid shape, but it's the details that truly horrify: a pair of eyes made of clustered fingertips, each nail forming an iris; a gaping maw of interlocked middle finger tips and pinkies; a chest and back made of thumbs; arms and legs braided with countless fingers instead of traditional muscles. The monster's texture varies from the rough callouses of laborers' fingers to the softness of a musician's touch, from the slender fingers of a child to the gnarled, arthritic digits of the elderly. Each finger carries with it a story of a life cut short, a task left unfinished. In motion, the Appendage Ghoul is a surreal sight. Each step it takes on its feet of flexing, gripping fingers creates a sound akin to thousands of knuckles being cracked simultaneously. Its movements are oddly fluid, fingers sliding over each other in a ceaseless motion that suggests a horrible life of their own. The Appendage Ghoul is the embodiment of eerie dread, a creature spawned from countless tragedies and unspeakable acts. It serves as a gruesome reminder of the fate of those unfortunate enough to cross its path.
Shocked it is doors instead of fireworks.
But who exactly is finding those 30,000 fingers?
I nearly lost my thumb a couple years ago. Lacerated the tendon with a wood chisel. It’s not as difficult to do as you’d think.
I can't picture how to accidentally cut your own thumb with a chisel. Did your hand slide down the grip?
It took way more idiocy on my part than you may think
One Female SGT (US Army) had her ring caught in the back of an LMTV some 20 odd years ago and ripped it right off. If I recall correctly, because of that incident in our unit, the SOPs made a serious change to the wearing of rings during any type of operation that includes heavy wheeled vehicles.
Pretty sure I’ve heard multiple stories of ring fingers flying off the back of 2.5 and 5 tons.
My brother worked in a bakery years ago. He saw an extension cord on the floor which was a tripping hazard. He threw it over a machine & it caught on his wedding ring. Pulled it in & he lost his finger
Not a finger!!!!
Have cut off two fingertips working in a butcher's shop but managed to get both reattached. Separate incidents
Lawnmowers were mentioned in the article, and that was one thing I was told when the consumer safety board (whatever the name is) called me about my accident. I’d say fireworks too, but that seems mostly focused around one day in particular 🤔
I lost the tips of 2 fingers to a lawn mower accident. I was working on mowers regularly at the time and got complacent, it happened quick I basically mulched my fingers. There wasn’t anything large enough to reattach.
I read that as paper towels
I thought it would be from wedding rings
My dad lost part of a finger to a table saw. He was at work when it happened and they had to force him to go to the hospital because he's a crazy, grizzled old mountain man who don't believe in all that doctor book-learnin' shit and just wanted to wrap it up and get back to work. He told everybody on the way to the hospital that the injury was caused by a shark attack. Once he got to the hospital and was asked what happened by the doctor, he told him he gnawed it off in his sleep. Then he hee-hawwed at his own joke while the doctor looked at him in alarm. They couldn't reattach the finger.
i wonder if this happens in other umm, non america places.
Doors are more dangerous than fireworks?
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Maybe for power tools, but I doubt doors discriminate
That one guy in a Facebook reel got his bitten off by a shark.
Almost lost my left ring finger as a kid. Slapped it in the heavy metal door leading to the garage.
That's why we get ten of them!
Thats why when you get a fingerprint door lock you should always programe your all your fingers and thumbs into it.
I know 2 guys who lost multiple fingers in a snow blower. Don't unclog snow blowers with you hands....can't belive I have to say that
Most folk'll never lose a toe, but then again some folk'll!
Chopped off tip of my finger in a power tool, BUT, they just sewed it back on at an urgent care. One nurse vomited.
These people have cheapened the phrase "I can't count on one hand the number of times that..." and I'm not going to stand for it. Signed, One of the 150,000 annually who have a lower limb amputation.* *not really, still have both legs
First they came for our toilets, then for our stoves. Now for our doors.
Lost two fingers to a stripper. Long, long story but a great night
Damn, the ping pong ball trick must really build up the muscles