You know how you always read warnings about wearing gloves around machinery? Apparently, I didn't think the warnings applied to me. Christmas Eve, right before driving out of town for a 10-day vacation, I was enlarging a hole (with a Forstner bit) on a last-minute gift, and wearing a glove to help hold the piece. One of those "this will just take a minute" accidents waiting to happen.
I was pretty much done, and as I withdrew the bit from the hole, the piece of wood moved slightly and in a split second the glove, my hand, and my sleeve were caught up in the Forstner bit. The belts on the drill press started slipping, and the bit stopped turning before I could hit the off switch, which was right in front of my face.
My left hand got pretty chewed up. I got a few shallow cuts from the base of my index finger to the inside of my wrist, and and one deep V-shaped cut (more of a tear) in the meaty part of the hand between the thumb and index finger. The deep cut resulted in a a flap of skin that is (so far) doing a great job of growing back into place. (The cut went pretty much to the bone, so the flap is more than just the outer layer of skin.) I've been meticulous about keeping it all clean and protected. The bandages get changed twice daily after I flush things with peroxide and apply Neosporin to the cuts. I'm being very liberal with the sterile pads and surgical wrap to keep things out of it. (I think I probably own now stock in Walgreens.) I'm also allowing it to get some air for 15 to 30 minutes each time I change the bandages. On a scale of 1 to 10, the pain level is at about a 1.1.
LOML wanted me to go to the ER at 11:30 PM on Christmas Eve, but on the deep cut it didn't look like stitches would help, so I just cleaned it good immediately and bandaged it up. I've keep a close eye on it and I firmly believe I'm doing the exact same thing my doctor would be telling me to do. It's all going to be fine, although it'll still be a little while before I'm ready to put the hand to work in the shop.
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as of a few days ago. (It's a bit graphic -- not horrible -- so consider yourself warned.)
Just figured I'd post this in hopes it makes you all think twice about wearing gloves around running machinery.