GRAPHIC: When am I gonna learn?

Well, I did it again. for those that remember, I had an accident with my dog and he bite down hard on my index finger, which put me out of playing for nearly a week. Today, working in the shop building jigs, and tools for my uke tooling, I was even doing some welding, then grinding. Well, my hand grinding wheel came apart today. The wheel fragmented and got me in a gut shot (hurt like hell, but ok), and it dang near knocked my index finger off at the first kuckle on my fret hand (same finger the dog got). I was lucky, it didn't do any permanant damage, but again, been benched for uke playing, probably longer than the dog accident. Having withdraws already.

But I am blessed. My wife and daughter were in the shop with me, and fragmented grinding wheel was even stuck in the wall. Fortunatly, when I am using power tools, especially high speed ones, I always make sure every one is clear, and away from the plain of rotation. No one else was hurt.

Owwy..

Jumpin' Catfish, Man!

Be careful. That looks painful.

Ouch. I hate it when tools decide to bite me back. I've been extremely lucky and only had a few close calls on my tools.

Woodworking for Engineers has a link to a few vids on tool safety for those who want to prevent things like this happening. I suggest everyone read up on safety around table saws in particular.

Here's to a quick recovery, Tudorp.

~DB

:shaka:Hurts worse than a 'kuckle sandwich', I'll bet.

Speaking of tool safety, After I finally opened my eyes again, and could talk. I gathered the wife and daughter to show them exactly what happened, and the stupid mistake I made that caused the disk to fail. Also, reitterated why I stay out of the plain of rotation the best I can, and keep bystanders clear. It was a lesson learned, and a refresher for myself. By the way, my 14 year old daughter has taken an interest in watching my welding, and learning to weld. I am teaching her, and in a day or two, gonna put the wand in her hand. She thinks it is cool, and today (before the accident) learned about creating a puddle, manipulating the puddle, and moving the puddle along your work. She can't wait to get the wand in her hand. She is the son I never had (My 3 grown sons, none of them ever took an interest in any of that from my vintage hot rod building hobby, nor my guitar/music thing, but the girl kid does it all, lol)

Aloha Tudorp,
Sorry to hear about your unfortunate accident.....hope it heals quickly...lesson learned, power tools bite...shoots... oh yeah, 4th time is a charm eh...MM Stan

Ooh, Yikes!!!

Maybe you could do a little left handed practice.

OUCH! Hope it heals quickly!

Well, I have it all cleaned really good, took a couple of my pain pills. I think it hurt allot worse than it really is. Like I said, I was really lucky, because being in the car restoration, welding, grinding and all that for over 30 years, I know several people that don't have all 10 of theirs, some maimed for life, and one friend of mine was killed 20 years ago from this exact thing. Disk came appart on him, he didn't have face sheild or anything on, a fragment about the size of a quarter entered his eye and ended up into his brain, and did allot of damage to his brain. He died in the hospital about a week after that accident. So, yes, I am lucky, the good Lord has always watched over my goofy arse.. lol

Eek! Hope you feel better soon!

Well, it kept hurting pretty bad and swelled up bigger. Went to the Dr. Apparently, it's broken too at the 2nd joint. The dr. noticed it was slightly twisted and missalinged with my other fingers now. I didn't notice that until she told me to look at it.. owwy... It'll heal... Maybe it will help me reach some of those difficult chords I had issues with before, lol..

chindog said:

Ooh, Yikes!!!

Maybe you could do a little left handed practice.

Click to expand...

or slide uke..

Geeze Tony,....i FEEL your pain,.......I REALY DO! But at least you should heal up OK.
(i've got my "nub" crossed for you! ......read below)

I'm 55 now, but when i was 16 i was about as fearless as most youngsters. I had just rebuilt a motorcycle engine,
rebuilt the carbs and had fired it up on its stand. I had the front sprocket cover off still and somehow got distracted. My knee hit the shift lever just as i was checking the tension on the chain,....and my finger simply followed the chain and
caught my index finger between the sprocket and chain!

I stood there watching the tip of my finger and the entire nail go round and round!!! Part of the nail grows back, but
it's of no use for picking as it curls around before it gets very long, and is weak in the nail bed anyway. I still pick the
nylon strings a bit on the classical guitar on some fingerstyle pieces where i need more appendiges in action, but
just with the fleshy part.

Most times i avoid using it as without a nail it's not as loud as my other fingers, and is a bit sensitive anyway. That's
one of the reason i'm really liking the ukulele. With 1/3 less strings to deal with,....one less picking finger is hardly noticed most times. hehe It also ended up about 20% thicker than my left hand index finger at the same point,
not sure why. But a thumb and 2 other pluckers works great on a Uke for fingerstyle.

Truth be told,....i was really lucky much earlier. I was inquisitive as a youngster, and at 12 years old was in my
parents garage and was fooling with my dad's reloading gear. I had picked up some small cast iron pipe, and fitted
a brass connection at one end that i could place a pistol cartridge primer into. Then i would pull a .22 caliber long rifle
shell apart, pour the gunpowder down the front end of the pipe,.....followed by the lead bullet i had just pulled free.

There i am,...12 years old,. and having my own muzzle loading "pistol". A slight tap on the primer with a hammer,
and the bullet ended up deep in the wooden rafters of the garage. Only problem, after about 10 shots the cast iron
pipe became fatigued. It blew up like a granade with my hand wrapped around it!

I was really lucky no shrapnel ended up in my eyes (or face anywhere). But the web of my left hand opened up
completely, and i could see the muscles and tendons. My left index finger was also broken at the knuckle. It was
a friday night, and as kids do my 1st thought was "who was going to deliver my paper route, AND collect that night!" lol

I immediately wrapped it up and went in and told my mom i needed to go to the hospital. She asked to see the injury,
but i didn't want to alarm her so she called my uncle over and he took a look. (my mom didn't drive)
As soon as he saw the muscles,...he said "lets go!!!

Anyway,...the older heavyset surgeon gave me a local, but kept pushing my head away so i couldn't see him picking
out the bits of steel from deep within my hand. I was really interested and intreagued, and he finally let me watch!

Anyway,...he did a great job and unless you look REALLY close can hardly tell i was injured. The webbing is a little
tighter on my left hand due to scar tissue probably, but it never hinders my playing like the missing fingertip does.
Sometimes a bit of stiffness in the 2nd finger joint from it being broken,.....but very infrequent.

By the way,.....at just 12 years old i realized my dad might have gotten in trouble for storing some reloading stuff
in the garage,.....so i told the police that i found a shotgun shell in the ice covered yard and was trying to pick it
out of the ground when it went off. Nothing ever came of it,.....wonder why though? Bits of steel coming out of
my hand are far different than round lead shot from a shotshell! No Sherlock Holmes there!!!


Anyway,.....here my right hand index finger in all it's glory. (changed to a link for the faint of heart)
(and yes, after i took the pics i touched up my other nails with a file! lol)

http://i204.photobucket.com/albums/...x Finger Injury/7-21-11IndexFingerDamage2.jpg

http://i204.photobucket.com/albums/...nger Injury/7-21-11IndexFingerDamageClose.jpg

http://i204.photobucket.com/albums/...x Finger Injury/7-21-11IndexFingerDamage3.jpg

All right guys,....when am "I" gonna learn? I post a few pics of my nub and the thread goes dead!

Then Tony took off the pic of his injured finger, so i'll go back and delete the direct pics.
(but will add links for you brave souls)

What i should have said is "see what happens when you strum your ukuleles too much!"

My injury is long healed (sort of),....but Tony's is still fresh and hurting. So don't neglect him!!!

Ouch, I hope you will get well soon.

I also had an accident in February, when I cut off a little part of my left index finger. It sliced, not so deep, but was not enough to be reattached and didn't even find the missing tip.
It has grown bit of flesh and skin again, but half year later, I still can feel some very minimal pain when I am fretting chords for a long period of time.

Well, at least I am much more careful now regarding sharp things...

Actually, I didn't take the picture down. I assume the mods did.. <shrug>

The pic is still there Tudorp! At least it is showing for me anyway!

Feel better soon!

Aloha Joe,
Time to order some plastic finger picks for your index finger.....

mm stan said:

Aloha Joe,
Time to order some plastic finger picks for your index finger.....

Click to expand...

Or, just some plastic fingers.. lol

Tudorp said:

Actually, I didn't take the picture down. I assume the mods did.. <shrug>

Click to expand...

OK,.....not that it was all "that" graphic! (and you did put a graphic warning in)

Yeah,....i have tried finger picks over the years, but on both cassical guitar, and now ukulele,....it just sounds
a bit clangy.

I prefer the lighter volumn but nicer tone of just "nubbing" it when i really need to get an extra finger involved.

Years ago i thought of having a real prosthetic made to get a more mellow sound for that finger, just never
got around to it. Might eventually try to make one myself out of a dense epoxy-like mold to my finger that
would allow replaceable pieces of ping pong balls as the "nail" part.