Finger amputation

[LBrown59]

Lots of stubbies on the site . I was a meat cutter for years and have been to the ER ( or even stitched at home after work) several times.
We used to get 60 lbs cases of bull meat to mix with lean trimmings to make ground beef. They came in frozen and you'd cut them into strips on the band saw so you could feed it thru the grinder. I was talking to my buddy one day while I was zipping strips off...zing, zing, zing and my right hand slipped off the side of a frozen block and straight towards the blade. I jumped back and threw my hands up in the air and started laughing and yelled "Hey Wayne, did you see that? I almost cut my freaking hand off!!
Well, Ol Wayne was standing there looking at me like I had lost my mind with his mouth wide open. I knew something was wrong and I looked up at my right hand...now with the end of my thumb hanging by skin. Didn't even feel it. A fast/sharp cutting instrument is almost painless, even thru bone. In fact, it didn't start hurting for probably 10-15 minutes. Middle finger on left hand is fused from being reattached at middle joint. A sharp boning knife will separate a joint with ease.
I've worked in corrections for 11 years now and I will tell you, supervising 100 inmates by yourself is easier and safer than what I used to do.

A guy I know lost all his fingers and almost all his thumb on his right hand back in the late 50 or early sixtes .
He was a teanager working in a grocery store and got his hand caught in a meat grinder at work there one day..
Another older fellow I know lost all 4 fingers on one hand back in the late 40 or early 50s in a corn picker .

Lost to the first joint of these two fingers in a double tripping press brake when I was 17 working after school. (all boys technical high school) Not long after a friend lost everything on one hand except his thumb in a similar machine at a different company. As a former tool and die maker/machinist I've seen a lot of injuries. I didn't pass out but my stomach did a couple of slow rolls. The company was indifferent to employee safety and many men there had lost several fingers. Companies should lookout for those that labor in their fields. Workmen's comp keeps you from suing them.
Yes, I still miss those fingers but I'm convinced the loss saved my life. I was 4F'd because of them when called up for the Vietnam draft.

We had a plant here that made fire proof safes from back in the thirties to about 2002 when it closed down..
It had all kinds of punch and brake presses in the machine room department.
It was almost common practice for people to loose fingers even hands working in that dept.
I went to work there in 1967. I worked in that dept for about 3 to 6 months till I got a job in another dept.
I left the plant in 1973.
I still have all 10 fingers and thumbs.
I was one of the lucky ones.
During that 5 years there were lots of fingers lost .
and many many more than that before then.
My brother worked there from 1968 to 1998.
He got out with all his fingers and thumbs but a lot of others weren't so fortunately as there were lots of accidents during that 30 years.
I can remember walking in the plant and seeing drops of blood trailing along the floor occasionally which always meant somebody had gotten one or both hands in a press.

 

[Ductape]

I'm in the club too......

 

[Kernopelli]

We called those cases shank meat. I cut meat for 15 years and never cut myself on the bandsaw. With a knife is a different story. One good thing about cutting yourself while cutting meat is your hands are usually really cold and they don't bleed much.

Terry

We used a lot of shank meat too. I would hate to even speculate how many tons through the years. We had a small local packer that sold shank meat that we used quite a bit but also sold 90% lean bull meat...literally slaughtered bulls they bought. I just always remember it was a case of bull I was cutting when I did that. 19 years and that was the only time I cut myself on the saw. The finger happened boning whole fresh hams. We would bone and tie 15 hams every Monday afternoon and put them on the smoker the next morning. One quick slip in exactly the right place is all it takes.

 

[czechsonofagun]

Yes, I am a club member also. Cut a kerf in my middle finger on table saw (left hand) and lost half an inch of my pinkie (also left hand) in a jointer.

Curiously, all is healed, but the kerf hurts more in cold than the pinkie.

I can only second the pain killer need. Nothing hurts like whats missing.

 

[edkinct]

Sorry to hear about your finger,
I am in the club also, just a different limb, see my pic to the left.

 

[Kfbeal]

Man, I'm sorry to hear about everyone else's misfortunes with power tools and other objects. It's amazing how fast these things happen.

edkinct, I like your signature. Pretty much sums it all up.

 

[Ductape]

Sorry to hear about your finger,
I am in the club also, just a different limb, see my pic to the left.

Looks like you have out-done most of us !

 

[Nomoregears]

I've got all my digits but not all of them bend correctly. I was polishing a gun barrel on a lathe when the emery cloth caught the dovetail and wrapped my pinky backwards. It's fused in a crook now. Broke another finger coaching little league. That finger is crooked and very arthritic now. So, I'm blessed and I feel for you guys who lost digits or part of your leg.
Please be safe ya'll.

 

[JB4310]

I'm blessed and I feel for you guys who lost digits or part of your leg.
Please be safe ya'll.

Yes that's an exclusive club I hope I never get to join!!!

Good Luck,
JB.

 

[czechsonofagun]

Didn't loose a finger, but went to doctor this Tuesday to get my hand stitched. Our great pyrenese likes to walk the neighborhood from time to time and when she gets back, the younger airedale (female, of course) tends to punish her for it.

It is 7 in the morning, my oldest goes to wait for the school bus and comes back in: the dogs are fighting. I have done it plenty of times in my life, I go out, reach for the scruff of the neck to get the airedale of the pyrenese. They moved, I missed and the pyrenese got me this gash on the back of right hand next to the middle finger knuckle about 2 inches long.
Long story short - 4 stitches from a doctor and antibiotics for infection I am taking little rest from all my projects, it is complicated enough to drive stickshift and type on a keyboard Doc said I am lucky, she didn't get any muscles, it was deep but only skin to heal.

AFAIK the best way to deal with dogs is to pull them out of the fight by rear legs, never to touch the biting end, but it takes two to do it.