This post is my penance for being a bonehead.
Just yesterday morning I was congratulating myself for many years of injury-free woodworking. Truth to tell, I was feeling just a touch smug and superior.
Well, yesterday afternoon I managed to nick my thumb on my tablesaw. Don’t ask me to to recount how it happened, it’s too embarassing. Suffice it to say I was doing something NOT the right way…
It’s not serious, thank God, and everything will grow back (though my thumbnail is going to be squared off for a while!). But it brought to mind two sayings my first boss in a woodshop was fond of: “Never fight with a power tool, it always wins” and “It’s always easier to take it off than to put it back on”…
Replies
Chad,
Another danger to account for: If you lose sensation in the tip of your thumb, you may not be be able to tell if you are re-injuring it.
These nerves grow back very slowly--I think the neurologist said 1mm a month--so there's no need to assume that any loss of sensation is permanent.
Glad you are almost okay!
Janet
I second Janet's post on nerve regrowth. On my injuries/operations, i count about three years before sensation returns to normal. Sometimes it's hypersensitive instead--to cold, for instance.
I've got a tiny ATB scar on my left thumb--two little parallel lines---from the Early Years. At least the blade wasn't cranked up above the wood...
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