Print

Email story

Comment

Email editor

Painful tale: I came; I sawed; I suffered

By ANDREW SKERRITT
Published March 12, 2006

With the coming of warmer weather, those items on my honey-do list beckon.

It's time for outdoor painting, sawing, digging. But this season I'm approaching my work with a new sense of safety that can only come from a lesson learned the hard way.

It was a morning in late October when I was trying to make sure my wife would be impressed when she returned home from work. Forget the soffit outside, I was going to install molding. After the ritual measuring the length twice and double-checking the angles, I ventured outside on my back porch to rev up the miter saw.

The saw mechanism didn't always engage when you pressed the switch. It was an old machine borrowed from a friend who had helped me with more difficult home repairs. Those kinds of friends and those kinds of tools are indispensable when you live in an older house. The saw had cut everything we asked it to: 2 by 4 for studs, laminate for the new flooring, bead board for decorative touches and, of course, molding.

Call me a pen pusher if you will, but over the years I've done my share of home repairs. Many of my weekend days and nights are spent bent over either a miter saw or a circular saw.

That Saturday morning wasn't supposed to be any different.

For those of us whose work life is more mental than physical, home improvement is an opportunity to solve problems, think deep thoughts, argue great debates. Whether it's washing dishes, mowing the yard or painting the house, it just gives the brain the freedom to roam in a wonderful intellectual plane while your hands move on automatic pilot. And so it seemed that Saturday morning.

I pressed the switch again and again. No sound. Without thinking I moved my left hand from holding the molding in place and it drifted near the saw blade. At the same time the saw came to life, the sharp piercing whine of the motor echoed through the quiet Saturday morning. Instead of the vibration of the saw slicing the molding, I felt a jarring pain as metal encountered flesh. The blade ripped through my thumb.

Both my son and daughter heard my scream from the other end of the house and came running. A red line stained the laminate floor as I ran inside and grabbed a paper towel to staunch the bleeding. Should I call 911 or should I drive to the emergency room? I'd read too many stories of guys bleeding to death from power saw injuries.

As the blood flowed, I called for help. A quiet professional voice answered. What happened? How bad was the bleeding? Within minutes a fire engine rounded the curve and pulled into my driveway. By then the bleeding had slowed but clearly my injury would require more than a simple bandage. The paramedics recommended that I go to a walk-in clinic instead of the emergency room so I'd get faster service .

When I walked into the clinic, the male nurse on duty looked at me with a practiced calm, the resignation of someone who has seen many a bloodied weekend warrior seeking treatment.

The carnage that has accompanied the DIY (Do It Yourself) revolution is noteworthy. According to the federal Consumer Product Safety Commission, there were 14,654 visits for power saw injuries in 2004, another 5,070 visits from injuries from ladders. Portable power drills caused another 2,500 injuries.

Most of those injuries were to men between 25 and 44 - my age group. I was in the demographic for damage.

An hour after I walked into the clinic, I left with my thumb stitched up and arm aching from a tetanus shot. My son drove me home to my unfinished chores.

I have since acquired a brand new miter saw. There is no delay between when I press the switch and when the saw begins to sing. I cannot hear the whine of the motor without feeling a twinge of pain in my thumb. I hesitate each time to make sure my finger is safely out of danger.

But I've got work to do.

Careful work.

Andrew Skerritt can be reached at 813 909-4602 or toll-free at 1-800-333-7505, ext. 4602. His e-mail address is askerritt@sptimes.com

[Last modified March 12, 2006, 01:17:10]