• Beware of Counterfeit Woodturning Tools (click here for details)
  • Johnathan Silwones is starting a new AAW chapter, Southern Alleghenies Woodturners, in Johnstown, PA. (click here for details)
  • Congratulations to Paul May for "Checkerboard (ver 3.0)" being selected as Turning of the Week for March 25, 2024 (click here for details)
  • Welcome new registering member. Your username must be your real First and Last name (for example: John Doe). "Screen names" and "handles" are not allowed and your registration will be deleted if you don't use your real name. Also, do not use all caps nor all lower case.

Thumb/Palm Injury

Joined
Sep 30, 2008
Messages
43
Likes
0
Location
Charlotte, NC
This past Saturday I decided to hit the lathe and rough out some bowls. Unfortunately:(, I didn't too far into the blanks when I had a painful accident.

How did it happen? Man, I don't know. The bowl gouge must have slipped past center while hollowing the middle, hit the back side and caught, followed the bowl around as it spun and somehow flew full speed into the meat of my hand where the thumb meets the palm. It swelled immediately and was very painful. I later took myself to the ER just to get it an x-ray.Luckily, no broken bones ... just some deep bruising and soar joints. I'll be away from the lathe for a while as I have no grip strength.

thumb1.jpg

thumb2.jpg

Thought I'd share as a reminder to others ... be careful out there!
 
Joined
Jan 20, 2006
Messages
2,051
Likes
352
Location
Martinsville, VA
thanks for sharing
 
Joined
May 16, 2005
Messages
3,540
Likes
15
Ouch! A dislocation or sprain can be worse than a break. Couple of things you might consider as prevention are plunging/pulling center out to rim for hogging cuts. http://s108.photobucket.com/albums/n28/MichaelMouse/?action=view&current=HollowOne001.flv

http://s108.photobucket.com/albums/n28/MichaelMouse/?action=view&current=HollowTwo001.flv

Or even leaving the pillar and using the tailstock to hold things firmly and prevent running over center until the very last. http://s108.photobucket.com/albums/n28/MichaelMouse/?action=view&current=PillarSmall.flv

This is a pretty good way to center and prepare a dry blank for re-turning even if you're a drive center/tenon guy rather than a pin jaws or pin chuck user. Two points which were center and haven't moved much to work with is nice.

Of course, having your off hand (assuming left?) in an overhand versus underhand guide position should keep things under control easier as well.
 

Bill Boehme

Administrator
Staff member
Beta Tester
TOTW Team
Joined
Jan 27, 2005
Messages
12,886
Likes
5,169
Location
Dalworthington Gardens, TX
Website
pbase.com
I can feel your pain.

An injury like that, as MM said, can sometimes be worse than a break, especially if any ligaments are torn. I had an injury that dislocated the index finger of my right hand and now it has a slightly limited range of motion. Check with an orthopedic surgeon about the need to see a hand therapist. If I had not gone through physical therapy, the range of motion on my finger would not have recovered nearly as much as it did. It took about a year before the swelling went down and the pain started to diminish. The surgeon told me that hand injuries are about the slowest healing areas of the body.
 
Joined
Feb 22, 2007
Messages
24
Likes
0
Location
Paddock Lake, WI
I concur with Bill, seek out a good hand physical therapist, and do all the range of motion and strengthening exercises they recommend, and do them religiously.

Keep in mind PT also stand for periodic torture!

Good luck.

Howard
 

odie

TOTW Team
Joined
Dec 22, 2006
Messages
7,079
Likes
9,488
Location
Panning for Montana gold, with Betsy, the mule!
This past Saturday I decided to hit the lathe and rough out some bowls. Unfortunately:(, I didn't too far into the blanks when I had a painful accident.

How did it happen? Man, I don't know. The bowl gouge must have slipped past center while hollowing the middle, hit the back side and caught, followed the bowl around as it spun and somehow flew full speed into the meat of my hand where the thumb meets the palm. It swelled immediately and was very painful. I later took myself to the ER just to get it an x-ray.Luckily, no broken bones ... just some deep bruising and soar joints. I'll be away from the lathe for a while as I have no grip strength.

View attachment 2978

View attachment 2979

Thought I'd share as a reminder to others ... be careful out there!

Jeremy.......Do you mean you were roughing the interior of a bowl from the rim to the center?

If so, are you thinking the gouge went past the center point of rotation and went beyond, where the direction of the wood is now going up, instead of down?

Is it possible the bevel may have lost contact?

How far was the "reach" of the tool from the tool rest?

What was the diameter, and depth of the bowl blank.....and rpm?

Just trying to get a mental picture of what you can remember. We all have had catches, and I get confused, or unsure of what I did wrong, too. Most of the time, I can only make a good guess as to what I did wrong, same as you.

Not sure we can pin this thing down. Just trying to feed the thread with some information you might be able to provide.

thanks

ooc



------------------------------------------------------------

About a year ago, I was using a scraper in the bottom of a bowl, walnut I think, and had a pretty good catch. The bowl broke into several pieces. After some contemplation, I decided the catch was caused by too high a speed, in conjunction with too deep a bowl, and fairly thin. It's my best guess that the bowl "resonated", causing the catch. I don't think any one factor alone was the cause, but a combination of several factors. I was lucky with that one, no injury, but the tool flipped up and put a dent in my lamp!

ooc
 
Joined
Dec 15, 2006
Messages
328
Likes
2
Location
Sierra Foothills
I wonder if everyone realizes how fortunate you were. The median nerve passes through the carpal tunnel near the base of the thumb between the thumb and ring finger, then branches out to serve four fifths of your fingers (all except the pinky) If the business end of your gouge pierces that area you risk severing the base of that branch (in the lower portion of the palm of your hand between the ring finger and the thumb) you can easily lose function in the entire hand. :eek:
Glad to see you're gonna survive this experience.
 
Last edited:
Joined
Mar 17, 2008
Messages
251
Likes
0
Location
Melbourne, Australia
If your thumb got pushed back you may have a tear in a ligament that will need professional care. If the ligaments are lax you'll get pain in the base joint and in time get arthritis. The thumb is implicated in all the hand's gripping movements so if it's off it'll really cramp your style.

Good luck with the rehab.
 
Joined
Sep 30, 2008
Messages
43
Likes
0
Location
Charlotte, NC
To give you an update and to answer some of the questions ... the thumb/joint is doing better, but still soar at the joint where thumb meets palm. The bruising is gone, and I can move it around, but still wouldn't want to grip anything too tightly. I'll have to see about seeing a specialist ...

Do you mean you were roughing the interior of a bowl from the rim to the center? Yes

If so, are you thinking the gouge went past the center point of rotation and went beyond, where the direction of the wood is now going up, instead of down? That's my best guess, the bevel stopped rubbing and it skipped over the center and landed on the up-side of the bowl with the sharp end in a position to grab it. Honestly, it was so far though, I'm not 100% sure of anything.

Is it possible the bevel may have lost contact? Yes

How far was the "reach" of the tool from the tool rest? It was a shallow bowl, mabe 2"-3" of overhand (it's a large bowl gouge ... ProPM Ellsworth grind one

What was the diameter, and depth of the bowl blank.....and rpm? 7-8" diameter, final depth would have been 3-44" I guess, and RPM was 900 on a PM3520b
 
Back
Top