Taxidermy injury!
General Topic
Warning! It’s not pretty.
I’m sure not many can say they did this. I cut the tip of my middle finger off down to the bone on a table saw. I was cutting a strip of plywood to use as a spacer to go under a skullcap for an elk mount. I was being dumb and not using a push stick. Well, the blade grabbed the wood and jerked my hand right into it. Now I’m out for a while on finishing any mounts or processing any meat. Good thing I have some good employees to cut meat.
Yikes! Good thing you’ve got nine more of them! Had a classmate in high school, run 3 of his fingers through a planer in shop class.
Ouch!!!!!! What’s the after look like?
Been there, somewhat. Glad it wasn’t any worse than that. Took my left hand off in ‘97 with a compound miter box. Thank God for great surgeons. Hope ya heal up soon.
The after picture the next day is the second picture. Once the bleeding mostly stopped and it was somewhat dry. Had to go in have the dressing changed and let the doc look at it. She said “Oh! I can see the bone now!” Lol go in again tomorrow (Thursday) for another check. Doc said just going to keep it covered, scab over and grow new skin. There isn’t anything there to sew closed without cutting more off.
You’re a butcher. You’re supposed to cut the tip of your finger off when you’re butchering!
Earning your handle....
Sorry to hear that (and even more sorry to see that). Heal well.
Lol. The problem is I didn’t cut it off processing but while in the Taxidermy shop. Though I did cut the tip of one thumb off years ago processing. That one was just the very tip and it grew over like nothing even happened. Barely even scratched the nail on that one.
Yeeeeoooow!
That’s a mean one!
At least, if you’re right handed, you can still shoot!
Yep, can still shoot but I think my grip may be a little awkward at first.
Reminds me of a story.
A guy cut his finger at work and called his wife to tell her. She asked “The whole finger?”
He said “No. The one next to it “. Lol.
But yours is the hole finger
Just put some Gorilla Glue on it and keep on trucking....with a push stick next time.
Back when I was a young guy on the CG cutter, we had a young, new cook show up. He came straight from school. One day he fancied himself on slicing and dicing up the fixin's for a big salad. I was watching him slice up something...maybe a carrot, real fast like the pro chefs do on TV. I guess he got distracted while slicing fast and I watched him slice off the tip end of one of his fingers right on the cutting board. It was a clean cut with skin and nail left on the cutting board. I don't recall if anyone ate the salad that night.
My dad was a wood shop teacher. He liked to palm a hotdog and lop off a chunk pretending it was his finger when showing kids how to use a bandsaw. Had some other creative teaching methods...most of which would not fly these days.
Sorry for your injury ButcherBoy.
This goes back to Another reason why taxidermy can take so long. This probably just delayed your work and income.
Thanks for sharing. Get well soon
Taxidermy will definitely be at a standstill for a little while. Dang it!
That's nasty! Those saws have no mercy.
I did something similar 30 years ago. That finger is going to feel ice cold this winter in the deer stand lol.
Good God man, hope that heals up for you...I think you just moved a SawStop table saw one notch higher on my list...
Dear Lord, that looks miserable! Heal quickly!!
Be careful so it heals as quick as possible !! Hunting season is getting close !!
Well just a heads up. Lol. I had a buddy loose the tip (from the nuckle) of his middle finger a few years ago. He tried shoving meet into a meet grinder with his finger instead of the push stick. Auger took it off.
Yowza!!! We've got a cabinet shop here in Winnipeg. Maybe I should post that up in the lunchroom as a reminder ;) Heal well
So sorry! Praying for you buddy!
Just sitting here thinking about you typing this up and I am sure your words per minute has significantly decreased. :) Hope you recover fast.
DANG!!!!!!!!!!!!! That hurt just LOOKING at it! : (
Keep that thing clean! That is an infection just waiting to happen!
I can feel the pain when looking at the picture. Have an old friend that is a full time taxidermist for yrs and he showed me his foot and toes from where the scalpel have stuck when dropped, occupational hazard.
You have my sympathy as taxidermy can sometimes be more dangerous than many think due to he tools used. Hope that you heal quickly and well......Bob
Brother, you got so lucky! It could have been way worse!!! Thank God it wasn't!!!
So on the lighter side, another horrible joke!
A guy comes home from work and tells his wife...
Honey I got fired from work today!!
She says OMG, For What?
He says... I got my pecker caught in the meat cutter!!!!
She says... OMG Are You OK????
And he say's yes, I am fine, but she got fired too!!!!
LOL!!!
I really hope I don't have to explain this further!!!
I wish I had seen this post after dinner. my best, Paul
Thanks for all the well wishes. Doc said it looked good today just concerned with infection with my diabetes. Have to go in everyday for a dressing change and get it checked. They take a picture so they can compare from day to day.
I just sit in the office, answer the phone, and get customer orders out of the freezer for them. It really stinks but grateful it wasn’t worse.
I feel your pain .Heres. My hand in 1985 while placing a log on a log splitter and my brother in law decided to hit the lever at the time I loaded the log.
Hey Butcher, I have been using a table saw for almost 50 years. Not every day, but at times, darn close to it. Been dinged twice. Did not lose any fingers, but endured 2 nasty slices, lots of blood. Lesson #1 - always use a push stick. (I do now!) #2 - when using the big saws, it's 100% concentration on you and the saw. NO distractions.
Good luck with your future endeavors.
I came close once. Had the guard off on table saw and distracted. Blade was up high enough where it made a notch through my thumbnail (Into the flesh). Lucky it wasn't any higher.
Thanks for "Giving us the finger"! LOL! (I can't believe no one grabbed that "low hanging fruit")
Maybe this will make you feel a little better, right after seeing this thread I went over to my folks' house to run the dripper on their trees while they're out of town. I stepped on a sharp stick the size of a pencil that went through my sandal and into my foot and then broke off, It pinned my sandal to my foot and I had to yank the wood out with a pair of pliers before I could get the thing off to stop the bleeding and inspect...
Looks like I’ll be visiting with a plastic surgeon soon. Probably take more off. Doc said today it’s deeper and worse than she thought. No infection though.
Ow ow ow. Worst I’ve done is take off a finger print using my fleshing machine.
Yep DL, have a lot of slices from that thing too! I don’t think I can use it without some kind of slice or ding. Lol I just send everything to my local tannery guy now.
My hell man!!!
That doesn't go good with my morning cup of coffee!
Please take every precaution to avoid any Infection for sure.
Good luck, Robb
Do you have workman's comp or a D&D life insurance policy. When I cut the end of my finger off (you have to get bone) I got $7500 from insurance policies tax free. Not worth it.
Yep, never take "shortcuts" on a table saw.......hope it heals fast and with no long term pains.
Doing residential construction for 35 years I have seen some gnarly accidents and have had lots of close calls so I learned to respect the blades, they are wicked dangerous! Although I have always been prone to messing up with knives and razor blades which also have no mercy for flesh.
Been there ! Only I ran the saw blade through the middle of the tip of my trigger finger. Not too deep, less than a quarter inch into the nail, more on the pad. Needless to say I bumped that finger on everything in the next couple months. Saw blades make for a nasty cut !
Update. Plastic surgeon said I don’t need surgery. Just going to let the skin grow back over. Will end up with a weird shaped finger (jokes coming, I know) the other suggestion he made was to sew my finger into a flap of skin on my palm. I said no way to that!
Ouchie! i hope you heal up fast.
