# Pretty gruesome finger nail Loss!



## treecutterjr (Mar 2, 2014)

So splitting firewood Saturday and had a new guy working with me but basically I have an iron & oak splitter, similar to a tw 5 or 6.I'm running the control and he's loading the log lift on y the other side. It doesn't have the table so as a split comes off we either let it fall or grab it and throw in the truck. 

So I'm splitting Elm. It's stringy. Split a piece. It hung on by a few strings. Ram comes back. I'm going to re split the piece to break the few stands. 
Gets fuzzy here. 


I guess as I hit the ram to start the split, I was guiding the piece of wood? Well just as it get s to the ax head, the Guy on the other side of the machine where the log lift is? He yanks the piece to try and break the strand! It does not break and just pulls the whole piece ALONG WITH MY HAND right into the wedge and BAM!! WE'VE GOT A BLEEDER!!

I'm still not sure if i was holdingthe piece of wood to close to the top or on the side and he just yanked so hard that my hand just wentinto the wedge?
I THOUGHT it cut my finger off at first but lucky me, I guess. Just a boo boo. It could have been much more serious I guess. This is just one of those "... it can always happen..." type of things. When you least expect it, doing some of the most routine things, it can still happen! 

So stay alert out there! Everything is dangerous in this line of work not just running a saw or chipping brush, even splitting wood can be a life changer!











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## demc570 (Mar 2, 2014)

o man that had to hurt!! glad it wasnt worse tho! hope for speedy recovery


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## hanniedog (Mar 3, 2014)

That hurts just looking at it. Keep it clean so you don't get infected.


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## ACATS (Mar 12, 2014)

OOOHHH that hurts..... done close to the same thing myself except mine was complacency


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## LegDeLimber (Mar 12, 2014)

ouch!


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## treecutterjr (Mar 12, 2014)

Yep it hurt!. It's healing up pretty nicely though. I don'tknow if my mail will grow back, but time will tell. 

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## sgreanbeans (Mar 13, 2014)

Damn. OOOOOUCH!

You will always get the mail to come back, I get junk mail everyday. Your nail tho, I dunno bout that, think it might be a goner. 

My son and FIL where splitting, son got his finger caught in the splitter as my FIL kept going. Just about took it off. Didn't know who to treat first, kid or dad in law for shock. Smashed up his hand pretty good, but all is well. That'll teach them both to pay attention to the other guy


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## imagineero (Mar 22, 2014)

It's gonna hurt more later, every time you knock it. Nail may never grow back if you ripped the root out with it.


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## avason (Mar 22, 2014)

Oh Boy!!! Hope you heal quickly.


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## Rookie1 (Mar 22, 2014)

I got my left index finger slammed in a door of a truck. Looked similar to yours. Tip of finger was fractured and nails ripped off,nothing they could but clean it and give me antibiotics. I feel your pain. Take it easy. Thanks for reminding us accidents can happen.


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## stihl sawing (Mar 22, 2014)

OUCH!! that had to hurt. Hydro splitters can be very dangerous if you get in a hurry and not pay attention. I did that yesterday. Mashed my finger when the ram was coming back and had a big chunk of wood on it and pinched it between the wood and stops. Nothing like what you got though. But I was rushing trying to get done and not watching what I was doing.


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## treecutterjr (Mar 22, 2014)

It's coming along. A little crusty but it's getting there. 


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## stihl sawing (Mar 22, 2014)

It does look better. still probably hurts some.


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## 066blaster (Apr 17, 2014)

I have been told by wise old men to always split by yourself. It's safer. Definitely could have been worse.


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## farmer steve (Apr 18, 2014)

066blaster said:


> I have been told by wise old men to always split by yourself. It's safer. Definitely could have been worse.


 i think all the operator manuals say to keep all persons other than the operator back X amount of feet.
hope you heal fast treecutter.
them pics make my butthole pucker.


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## treecutterjr (Apr 18, 2014)

Yea. I have been thinking of downgrading back to a couple regular splitters or going up to a wood processor. Every time Iwatch my guys split now I just keep looking at everyone putting their hands around the wedge area grabbing and pulling peices and Now it seems like a serious safety hazard. Very seriously thinking of selling and putting money down on processor or just buying 3 or 4 huskee splitters from tractor supply. On the plus side my nail has started to come back. Rather gnarled but atleast its something.







The Internet says it can take 6 to9 months for a nail to heal completely. 

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## ZEbbEDY (Feb 4, 2015)

how is the finger doing?


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## lone wolf (Feb 4, 2015)

treecutterjr said:


> So splitting firewood Saturday and had a new guy working with me but basically I have an iron & oak splitter, similar to a tw 5 or 6.I'm running the control and he's loading the log lift on y the other side. It doesn't have the table so as a split comes off we either let it fall or grab it and throw in the truck.
> 
> So I'm splitting Elm. It's stringy. Split a piece. It hung on by a few strings. Ram comes back. I'm going to re split the piece to break the few stands.
> Gets fuzzy here.
> ...


I have seen that happen before it grew back fine.


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## treecutterjr (Feb 4, 2015)

Coming back pretty good. I was surprised actually. A little section in the middle hasn't completely filled in yet, but that's no problem at all. Looks great to me.


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## lone wolf (Feb 4, 2015)

treecutterjr said:


> Coming back pretty good. I was surprised actually. A little section in the middle hasn't completely filled in yet, but that's no problem at all. Looks great to me.


Lucky that's all that happened. Were you wearing gloves?


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## treecutterjr (Feb 4, 2015)

Yep, cut right through the glove. When I took the glove off I didn't know what I would see!


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## avason (Feb 5, 2015)

Ouch...That did heal up nicely. I felt this for a while.

I slammed it raking the coals in my OWB. I still don't know how I did it.


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