Official Luthiers Forum!

I just sanded half of my index fingernail off. Man what a bloody mess. Did it on the new spindle sander. The learning curve inforced with pain.

Typing is slow with many mistakes as I try a new indexing position.

Ouch John

Hope that soon gets better I hope you don't really mean half of your finger, or else thats some serious sandpaper or you sanded it for a long time

Seriously hope that soon heals.

Oops just realised you said fingernail not finger

Still an owwie tho, I've done it before and it smarts! Tough luck man...heal fast!

_________________
http://www.presnallguitars.com

Got any pics?   
Seriously, sorry to hear about it. I did something like that with my thumb a few months ago on my drum sander. Gotta build that power feed...

Been there, done that. Try it on an edge sander, it's even more fun!

_________________
"I want to know what kind of pickups Vince Gill uses in his Tele, because if I had those, as good of a player as I am, I'm sure I could make it sound like that.
Only badly."

OUCH, that'll slow you down a bit. Like Russel I thought I read finger as well. But that'll hurt real good, I can almost feel that if I let my mind wander a bit. I tried to cut my finger in half just after I got my bandsaw years ago. Bob will want to see pictures of that John as he was requested when he cut his finger up.

_________________
Tickle your guitar daily, and it'll tickle you back.

Ouch, Yeah I've been there done that too, hurts like a mongrel, but I guess you've figured that out.

Got mine pulled down between a disk sander and the table thingy that butts up against the disk. Thought I was going to pass out . The nail grew back eventually.

Wow! whaddya do-get it caught between the throat plate and spindle?

[QUOTE=Terry Stowell] Wow! whaddya do-get it caught between the throat plate and spindle? [/QUOTE]

That is pretty muxh how it happened.

[QUOTE=Don Williams] Been there, done that. Try it on an edge sander, it's even more fun![/QUOTE]

I will second that. I have done that 3 or 4 times and it sucks....

_________________
Brock Poling
Columbus, Ohio
http://www.polingguitars.com

Yep, nicked mine with a Wagner Safe-T-planer last week and fingers seem to always bleed alot. When I came into the house my wife thought I'd cut the whole thing off.

I haven't sanded my fingernail (yet) and hope I don't. I have gotten a few knuckles and one or two fingerprints quickly polished off with a belt sander. I hate it when that happens.

Wow, bro, sounds like that was a major league pain.
Neither index finger would be good, but was it perhaps your left index finger?

I think you showed amazing restraint with your subject title!

KBW

_________________
From Nacogdoches...the oldest town in Texas.

http://www.stephenkinnaird.com

I hate it when that happens!! About 20 years ago I got mine stuck on a big belt sander when I was sanding some edges of some stainless steel plate for a boat I was working on. It is burn and hurt for a LONG time. Use what ever you can to keep it lubricated, treat it like a burn and it should heal faster and hurt less.

Brock...3 or 4 times? Try a different approach my friend!

Shane

_________________
Canada

ouch, sorry to here about your injury, it not only slows your typing down but your building and playing too. what a pain, hope it heals fast.
done my hand on a belt sander, it ripped a peice of skin the size of a penny clean off my parm and sanded the rest pretty nice, not as good as planing 5mm off the ends of two of my fingers and nails with a electric plane, still numb now two years latter. had too play a wedding for a friend two days latter, that smarted abit! lucky it was bass playing were I can use the pads of my fingers instead of the tips, no fancy runs that day.
don't you just love power tools, a little nick every now and then is good for you it makes you remember how much damage they realy can do, you treat um with a bit more respect after don't you.Heath38671.7375925926

I haven't sanded a fingernail yet, but I once caught my tee-shirt in an electric drill and almost skewered myself.
Hope your finger feels better soon.

If it's a picking finger (strings!) fibreglass tissue and CA build a great replacement. Maybe Stew Mac could come up with some steel fingertip covers to protect the nails when sanding, just a minute, my wife's got loads, they're called thimbles!

Colin

_________________
I don't believe in anything, I simply make use of a set of reasonable working hypotheses.

Thanks everyone for your kind words. I am feeling better.

Yes Bro it was the left index finger. The sander grabbed a neck shaft and drug it into the spindle. I didn't turn loose fast enough. It grabbed the neck shaft because it is tapered and Stupidly I moved it the neck the wrong way so that the thickness of the neck increased as it got closer to the spindle.

Shane I believe you are right. I put some burn ointment on the nail, (under the bandage) and it feels a lot better.   

There will be building today but no picking.

OUCH! John - that sucks - but serves as a great reminder to all of us how quickly we can be injured.

There is not a lot you can do to prevent those sort of injures from happening, except to stay focused on the task.
Eye injuries on the other hand can be prevented. I have a set of safety glasses setting on every single power tool station in my shop. It just burns my butt when I see some one operating a tool with out them! I feel the same way when i see some idiot riding a ATV or Dirt bike with out a helmet! AARRrr~ !!
I raced ATVs for 10 years and NEVER set foot on one with out a helmet. I once seen a sign in a shop that read "If you have a 10.00 head, buy a 10.00 helmet.

Sorry to run off on a tangent
Lance

_________________
Support the OLF! Bookmark our STEWMAC link Today!
Lance@LuthiersForum.com

Like Lance said - "staying focused"...

I haven't been building guitars very long, but I have been working with power tools for over 30 years and I have noticed something specific to lutherie. (At least for me!) Many tasks in building an instrument put me in this sort of euphoric, trance-like, state. I am SO into doing this, I just kind of get absorbed! NOT a good thing with power tools! Of course there are tools that just scream at you to pay attention (Table saw), but others are easy to become complacent with, especially after we have performed a task hundreds of times!
The one I have to personally concentrate REALLY hard on is the bandsaw. When I am preparing bracing stock, I get so into it, that I have to remind myself on every cut - "Where are my hands?", "Where is the blade?", "Do I need a push stick for this piece?"

I can see a spindle sander invoking the same kind of state - doesn't seem that dangerous - then it sands a body part off!

Heal fast John!

-Mark

_________________
Pullman, WA

The more I know, the more I know I don't know.

trippguitars.com
OR
Find me on Facebook

Ouch! I fell for you my friend. So where's the pic's?

_________________
Beautiful and unusual tone woods at a reasonable price.
http://www.rctonewoods.com/RCT_Store
The Zootman
1109 Military Rd.
Kenmore, NY 14217
(716) 874-1498

Been there and done that! With a belt sander.(middle finger,right hand) Mine required a hand specialist , a graft and considerable funds that could have been better employed elsewhere! I play banjo and had a gig the next week. I taught the ring finger to do what the middle finger did and played it leaving out most of the fancy stuff. There was a pic in the paper the next week and (use your imagination!)my right hand position looked quiet suspect with that middle finger in a stall and sticking out like , I think you get the idea! I`m much more careful with sanders now. Curiously in all the years I`ve worked with tools the only injuries I`ve had were with sanders and screwdrivers!