Planers are in my opinion the most serious part of shaping. These can make or break your shape. Mow too much and your in trouble or can make your blank all funky wobbly etc.
They can also be a dangerous tool…
One of my good buddies was in my shop recently getting his build on, and had a nice little accident with my planer. I might have jinxed him when a few minutes earlier I gave him the run down on the tool and told him to absolutely not touch those spinning blades on the bottom. So I show him a few passes and let him start going at it. Hes cruising right along and I turned around just in time to see him finish a pass where he somehow pressed the trigger lock which must have freaked him out. for whatever reason he kind of reached up to grab the planer knob or something and touched the bottom of the shoe. Well his facial expression went from smiling to serious pretty quickly. “did you just get yourself?”
Hes like “i think so” as he looks down at his index and middle fingers.
They look like hamburger meat and then the blood starts all over the place.
Ran down to rinse it out and hes freaking out! I could tell right away there is nothing stitches could do for this thing. So he wraps it up and heads off to the hospital. Luckily we were only taking like a 1/8 off the blank so he only took about an 1/8 off the palm of his fingers.
I was pretty bummed for the kid, but he was fully warned on the dangers and also signed off a release waiver.
He’s already been back to finish up his shape… but with bandaged fingers.
Anyone else have any planer horror stories they can share where anyone took off too much foam or skin?
Yes, but I’m not going to give details on how I screwed up. Suffice to say; I got the end of my fickle flying finger of fate. Don’t set your planer upside down or on it’s side.
I still have all my digits. About 10 years ago I sharpened my blades and put them back in the planer. Not sure what happened but I think I got distracted. Somehow one of the blades was not tight enough. On the 4th or 5th pass down the blank the planer literally exploded in my hands when the blade slid forward, caught the frame and instantly locked it up. A chunk of the blade went right through the blank. Knowing how sharp I had the blades and how fast they go I actually checked myself over real good thinking if the blade had gotten me it might be so sharp I wouldn’t feel it. The planer was toast. Cracked the aluminum housing between the drum and motor. Learned a big lesson that day.
On a gruesome note a few weeks ago I saw a picture on the web of a construction worker who had been killed by an angle grinder disk. Nearly cut his head in half when he got the blade jammed while cutting a steel I-beam. Blade separated from the grinder and the big chunk got him right through his face. One of the most gruesome things I’ve ever seen.
Moral of the story is power tools are dangerous. Be careful.
Well you beat me! You got two to my one. I remember telling a couple of guys; “Don’t tell anybody I did that”. Stayed pretty damned sore for quite awhile. And-- Since I also glass; every time I got into Acetone, I was reminded how sloppy I was. Not to mention the fact that I was getting blood all over the blank I was trying to finish. Nasty Jim. Lowel
I’ve had many planers come in jammed up with various clothing. Mostly shirts, but also pants even one with a sock in it. I’ve never been cut by a planer, but table saws are always after me. I either get cut or they send a piece of wood or plastic at light speed to my eyes or mouth. This happened a few years ago, fortunately there was a really good plastic surgeon working at the ER (boob jobs and cosmetic stuff were down) and no scars today. No sensation in those fingers either so they’ll probably be going back into the saw again.
Frick that’s nasty, Jim. Thanks for showing that again. For me that’s a huge wake up call for carefulness and respect for the tools. If it can to Jim Phillips, it can happen to anyone. Mike
