I got lucky today.

Arborist Forum

Help Support Arborist Forum:

This site may earn a commission from merchant affiliate links, including eBay, Amazon, and others.

user 188535

Chainsaw-wielding middle-schooler
Joined
Jan 21, 2023
Messages
1,033
Reaction score
1,120
I was carving using my Makita die grinder with a Kutzall extreme burr and touched the burr when it was spinning and it crawled up my finger. As a result, I got some road rash. It was pretty scary and I am glad that I have good reflexes so my finger was not torn up. Not really arboriculture-related but still scared the s*** out of me. Make sure to keep a firm grip on the handles!

20231018_183455.jpg
 
I was carving using my Makita die grinder with a Kutzall extreme burr and touched the burr when it was spinning and it crawled up my finger. As a result, I got some road rash. It was pretty scary and I am glad that I have good reflexes so my finger was not torn up. Not really arboriculture-related but still scared the s*** out of me. Make sure to keep a firm grip on the handles!

View attachment 1120872
give it time, you'll get some killer scars from grinders if you keep up with using them...
This one time, I was doing a welding job for another outfit, they had their 4" grinders out, so I grabs ahold of em and zipped the back of several knuckles off, they believe (mistakingly) that the guard gets in the way... I believe you have better control by gripping close to the wheel, and using the guard as its meant to...
So now I make sure to just use my own damned tools and keep their guys away from me.
 
I was carving using my Makita die grinder with a Kutzall extreme burr and touched the burr when it was spinning and it crawled up my finger. As a result, I got some road rash. It was pretty scary and I am glad that I have good reflexes so my finger was not torn up. Not really arboriculture-related but still scared the s*** out of me. Make sure to keep a firm grip on the handles!

View attachment 1120872
Gloves are your friends.
Qua welding gloves are even better friends.
 
give it time, you'll get some killer scars from grinders if you keep up with using them...
This one time, I was doing a welding job for another outfit, they had their 4" grinders out, so I grabs ahold of em and zipped the back of several knuckles off, they believe (mistakingly) that the guard gets in the way... I believe you have better control by gripping close to the wheel, and using the guard as its meant to...
So now I make sure to just use my own damned tools and keep their guys away from me.
It was an electric die grinder with a Kutzall flame burr. Not an angle grinder. The only time I take the guard off of an angle grinder is when I am using the sander kit that extends about 1/2'' beyond the guard rendering it pointless, otherwise I NEVER take it off. I also always use the little side handle wit 2 hands on the tool. That is the grinder I was using:
e9d5abc9-ed25-44ea-b8e5-abcdd94c3096_gd0601_p_1500px.png
 
Gloves are your friends.
Qua welding gloves are even better friends.
I was wearing gloves with the Dremel when the burr caught the glove and yanked it almost off of my hand. Now imagine what a big beefy Makita die grinder could do. You cant really get stuff caught on your skin as much as a glove can. I use my bare hands for woodcarving because it is safer. When I am using die and angle grinders for metal and masonry I do wear thick leather gloves.



 
gloves and any sort of spinny tool are a bad combo... good way to lose a fanger, or more...
Seen guys running lathes with gloves on, just shake my head and walk away
Did see a guy wipe chips off a spinning endmill... it hamburgered his hand but somehow he didn't lose it.
Yep. My old shop teacher told us about a girl who caught her hair in the chuck of an electric dill. Anything loose and moving edges don't ever go together.
 
I was carving using my Makita die grinder with a Kutzall extreme burr and touched the burr when it was spinning and it crawled up my finger. As a result, I got some road rash. It was pretty scary and I am glad that I have good reflexes so my finger was not torn up. Not really arboriculture-related but still scared the s*** out of me. Make sure to keep a firm grip on the handles!

View attachment 1120872
I did that a few years back and minced my fingertip into bits. it took 156 stitches inside and out, and two metal bars drilled into my entire finger to keep it all together.. but 3 months later I had my finger tip back and you can hardly tell from first look.
 
oh boy, the list of things getting stuck in spindles... or idiots hangin material several feet out the back of a spindle...
Bosses kid, for example stuck a piece of 2"? stainless a good 3 feet or more out the back side of a cnc lathe, then hit go with the spindle at like 2500RPM...
As I was walking by... missed me by inches but tore most of the backside of the machine apart... several $1000 in damage, somehow the jerk didn't get fired over it... would of killed me if it was any closer, sounded like a Helicopter being gunned down by a machine gun...

Same kid got his shirt stuck in a part while supporting it with gloves on... somehow tore the shirt off him (he's a big donkey kong of a person so)
Same kid got gangrene on a cut toe...because bathing is a thing... and then lost the toe, tried to suit the doctor, and his girlfriend over it...
... theres more... lots more...

Queso Crisco I think I need some more therapy lol.
Different shop, different kid... Shop safety manager (you read that right) stuck his hand inside a punch press THAT HE WASN'T EVEN OPERATING lost a fanger, kid running machine go fired, SSM was still the SSM when I quit several years later...
 
Many years ago, I was using a router bit in a vertical mill to hollow out a wood cup I was making. I was holding the wood free-hand, but it escaped the interior and ran over my thumb and gouged hell out of the wood I was working on, too.
"Crawled up my finger" was pretty much exactly what happened to me, too, only my router bit was about 5/8ths in. diameter, and it was taking much bigger bites than a burr.

I got a nice scar and a nice lesson at the same time. The wood project turned out ok, but I can still see the gouge in the wood.


Beer stine 2.jpg

Of course, I lost that scar on my thumb when I cut it off in a wood planer. Be careful! Those power tools can hurt you.
 
Many years ago, I was using a router bit in a vertical mill to hollow out a wood cup I was making. I was holding the wood free-hand, but it escaped the interior and ran over my thumb and gouged hell out of the wood I was working on, too.

I got a nice scar and a nice lesson at the same time. The wood project turned out ok, but I can still see the gouge in the wood.




Of course, I lost that scar on my thumb when I cut it off in a wood planer. Be careful! Those power tools can hurt you.
That is why you use the proper tool for the job.
 
I was using the correct tool. My technique was seriously flawed though.
What speed were you running it at? Let's just say vertical mills have a very LOW spindle speed compared to a router........:surprised3: Do the reverse and stick an end mill in a router. (upgrade your life insurance first)
 
Unfortunately I have seen my share of tool related incidents of near all types. You will shoot your britches when a chuck key comes out of a 3 jaw chuck on a lathe and an attentive man catches it in his hand.
 
Back
Top