Big Casualty!

You should note, the pictures at right might be a bit graphic for squeamish folks when enlarged - you've been warned. And yes, that is "bits of me" on the router and guide. Told you it was nasty!

I've been hurt lots of times doing home improvement projects. This one, though, takes the cake (I hope)! I was building an arbor with 4x4 cedar posts and cedar lattice work. The posts needed a channel cut in them to hold the lattice sheets in place. A router was required to cut out those channels. About my third post in, the router slipped in my hand as I was picking it up and I inadvertently hit the power rocker-switch which, of course, turned the router on. Since I wasn't ready for it, the router then torqued out of my hand, spun around and fell to the ground.

I was fairly certain it did not hit my legs or feet on the way down but I was less certain about my hands. Upon closer inspection, it was immediately evident that the router "got me." Off to the emergency room we went. According to the wife, I was frighteningly calm. Until the pain, cold-sweats and nausea kicked in anyway. As it turns out, for a guy who took out a chunk of his hand with a 3/4" router bit set 3/4" deep, I was extraordinarily lucky that I did not hit any bones, tendons, muscles, ligaments, nerves, or arteries. Wouldn't a lucky guy have not gotten "bit" by the router at all, though?