Holy crap John! Consider yourself lucky you were only using
a "little" router bit. I want to see pics of the carnage. :-) At my
cabinet shop we've got some hella big bits for doing square joints,
there about 1 1/2" high and 2 1/2" diameter. When we first got them
one of my co-workers sent a 6 1/2 x 18 x 3/4 chuck of walnut flying,
stopped when it hit the wall 15' away...
It had almost as much velocity as the big azz table saw we have, your
workpiece will go flying way before you make that motor lock up. One
of my co-workers broke his wrist on that thing. New guy fresh out of
carprentry school, he did not know you should try not to look at the
blade the whole time, always at the fence so you can make sure the
piece stays flat against the fence. Nothing bad can happen unless
that board twists or you decide to cut your thumb off (pushsticks
people!).

Anyway, tools 101, respect your tools yo! I could go on and on, the
owner of a door store across the street from me is missing 3 fingers,
those were some gross, but cool, pictures.

Hope your diget grows back ok John, don't get scared of the tool
because of this! My boss is missing one fingertip from an encounter
with a sewer cover. I also don't know about work gloves, they are a
great idea, depending on the machine your're using. Some machines the
gloves will get sucked in and not let your hand out, resulting in
more damage than if you were not wearing any. A pedistal grinder is a
great example. when I was in metal-working school three differant
kids got their hands messed up and they were all wearing gloves,
could not pull their hands out. For the most part I do not wear
gloves, yes I have nicked my knuckles on my belt sander a few times,
but never anything else.
There is a scar on my leg from where a 9in grinder got away from me,
that was exciting. I have a 6" long scar on the same leg from a
falling rock, not tool related but still, that was REALLY exciting.
Still have all my digets though.

Stay Rad and safe everybody!
Richard Bower

--- In Boomerang_Talk@yahoogroups.com, "johnvboomerangertiltheend"
<whishhbone@...> wrote:
>
>
>
> Hi Guys,
>
>
> I've been upgrading my shop a little, trying to fine tune my
> production. I bought another trim router and also some bits from
this
> place http://tinyurl.com/394sy3 Incredible variety and prices
compared
> to what I've seen elsewhere. Really good service too. Yesterday I
was
> using some new bits and one older cove bit that I did a lousy job of
> modifying for the trailing edge cut. It works but leaves a rougher
> edge that I have to even out with the sander. I was not being
careful
> enough and received a shredded fingertip. DAMN!! I'm okay but
needed a
> trip to the emergency room for treatment. Doc says it'll grow back
and
> I feel kind of lucky but also very stupid.
>
> I've always had an instinctive fear of routers and I used to
avoid
> them. But as I've cautiously used them and seen others use them I've
> become increasingly more comfortable with them. Too comfortable
> apparently. The more I use them I see how much time they save and
how
> evenly they can shape a boom. So I'd have to say I advocate their
use.
> I just want to remind everyone to enjoy them as I do but respect the
> router and keep your fingers.
>
> I won't be doing any left handed catches for a while but I'll be
> back in the shop as soon as I can. They wrapped my finger and it'll
be
> looked at tomorrow. I'm still excited about my new router tools and
> can't wait to get back to using them again.
>
>
> John V.
>