I grew up in a small town and there was a guy who cut off parts of both hands (for insurance money people say) and he looked like the Penguin when he takes off his gloves in Batman Returns. Oswald Cobblepot was what all the kids ended up calling him.
Thankfully I haven't severed any digits before. Overall, I've had very few construction related injuries. My worst one was probably running one of these over my foot.
Didn't break any bones, but I had a mean limp for a week or two.
What happens if the piece of wood you are cutting happens to be a bit wet, does it still trigger the brake?
It depends how wet it is. If it's sopping wet it'll trigger the brake, but anything that's been inside for any length of time would probably be fine.
Regardless, there's a bypass switch on the saw which deactivates the brake system. If you're about to cut something that you think might trigger the brake then you can just shut the safety system off for those cuts. The same applies if you're cutting some aluminum or anything else that's conductive.
I watched my grandad take the tip of his middle finger on a jointer. He just said 'woops'! I was young and I'm not very good with blood. I ran back to the house yelling 'gross'! And my grandma thought I was saying 'grouse'. Took forever for everyone to figure out what had happened.
He was trying to make cribbage pegs with the jointer, which in retrospect doesn't make too much sense because his hands are massive.
I cut into my ring finger on my left hand with a miter saw, and my thumb on a band saw when I was about 6. Didn't lose them, but it was close.
The company who makes these came out to the shop a while ago. Pretty cool idea. Problem is I don't think they sell a single table saw that comes close to the Altendorf, which is what we have.
When I use my table saw, I'm less scared of losing a finger than I am having the hunk of wood catching and flying back at me. Took a piece of hardwood @ 40mph to the gut couple years back, learned my lesson to never stand behind the wood.
Likely has something to do with my inability to get the fence set up properly
Did the same thing in high school shop, only it hit a little lower than my gut.
