: Hello everyone. I have been a silent reader of this bulletin board for a
: while now. I wanted to tell you what I did that you may say was stupid,
: but it could happen to you. I was ripping an 18-foot board into 1/4"
: strips. I had just purchased a brand new finish blade. I ALWAYS use every
: safety precaution when cutting- hearing & eye protection, feather
: boards, etc. I was using a Delta Unisaw with a Biesmeyer fence. When
: cutting 1/4" strips the fence hits the blade guard, so you have to
: raise the guard, but I let it rest on the fence so that you at least get
: some protection. I was using a push stick to push the board the last
: 6" through the blade. I think my mistake was I set the feather board
: (a magnetic version with plastic feather strips) a little too tight, and
: the wood was a little hard to push. Using the push stick up front for
: safety, I placed my left hand on the board BEHIND and to the left of the
: blade to help push it through- that way if I slipped I would not hit the
: blade, right???? Well, what apparently happened was that the board kicked
: back, and my hand shot backwards and my thumb ran across the blade. I now
: have about 1/4" shorter thumb, and they had to do a skin graft to
: repair. Can any of you say you've never gotten just slightly careless? I'm
: very embarassed, but I wanted to tell you that you can never be too
: careful. By the way, what saved me is that I never raise the blade more
: than just slighty above the piece I am cutting, and therefore it only got
: the tip of the thumb. Just FYI- Dewalt blades make a very smooth cut
: through thumbs... if you were wondering.

Malcom,
Sorry to hear about your accident, as others have stated finger tips do re-generate if you dont damage the bone, (took about 1/4" off my left index finger while butchering salmon, still play the fiddle). About thirty years ago when I was working in a shake mill someone was showing me how to use a splitter,(kind of a hydraulic froe) the first and last rule is never put your hand on top of the shake bolt to position it in relationship to the blade, He did and steped on the valve at the same time, no attention, no fingers. I paint a red line across the table of my power tools, my hands may go past the line but it serves to remind me that I've entered the meat zone. Thanks for the wake up call.
Bob