• Welcome to the new SAOCA website. Already a member? Simply click Log In/Sign Up up and to the right and use your same username and password from the old site. If you've forgotten your password, please send an email to membership@sunbeamalpine.org for assistance.

    If you're new here, click Log In/Sign Up and enter your information. We'll approve your account as quickly as possible, typically in about 24 hours. If it takes longer, you were probably caught in our spam/scam filter.

    Enjoy.

I Fought the Saw and the Saw Won

Silver Creek Sunbeam

Gold Level Sponsor
I’ve been pretty absent from the forum lately and man…have I missed it.

About three weeks ago, I was on task in “Santa’s Workshop” building a Christmas gift for a friend. I was working with a table saw and there it was…the loud ‘crack’. In the same second I heard the noise I was looking down at my damaged fingers with the realization that it was time to go to the hospital.

To make a long story short, after surgery three days later, some healing, and some therapy left to go…I still have ten fingers, length wise anyway, and will still have full function, less the top knuckle on my middle finger, which now has a pin holding it together. Oh…and I won’t be getting any gigs as a hand model, as I have a couple of fingers that aren’t as ‘handsome’ as they once were. I was blessed because it could have been much worse. I’ll never play piano again but I never played piano before either.

To make things worse, a few days after the injury I contracted what I suspect was COVID, followed by my wife doing the same. I didn’t test but had the same symptoms and she tested positive.

Finally today, I feel kind of like myself again.

In any case, I made a discovery during my Alpine absence and I understand the first step to recovery is admitting that you have a problem. Hi…my name is Tod and I’m addicted to Sunbeams.

It’s depressed me to not be able to just walk into my warehouse, start my little Alpine up, and listen to it run for a while and I didn’t feel much like even getting online to look at the forum or social media BUT my Alpine therapy is on the way! The last time I drove it before the accident, I developed an oil cooler line leak. My dad remedied that for me while I’ve been incapacitated, so now it’s on to other projects. Santa brought me a British Starters, hi torque unit and I used some Christmas cash I received and ordered a Pertronix distributor. The distributor wasn’t a necessity but the rest of my ignition system is Pertronix, so I thought I’d make it complete, partially based on the thought that consistency in the make may provide some level of increased performance AND probably more based on some quirkiness of my OCD.
My dad has had good luck with Pertronix for over thirty years (one failed coil) and I have as well since becoming a Sunbeamer myself. Whether correct or not, this isn’t a technical post anyway and the projects allow me (in probably a couple more weeks) to get my hands greasy again but even more than that, I’m back here to interact with, learn from, and enjoy the banter of my fellow Sunbeamers.

A belated Happy New Year to all. I’ve missed you and it’s GREAT to be back!

Here’s a pic of my car…just because. 991E0102-3103-43F2-AAB2-7FB18F2192D4.jpeg
 

sunalp

Diamond Level Sponsor
Tod,
So sorry to hear of your recent stint with bad luck, but very happy that you're on the mend and have a great
outlook for the future, especially with Sunbeams!

Once I get the head for my new engine back from the machinist ( it just had an anniversary!) I plan on getting
a gear reduction high torque starter as well, just because. Have to say that my Alpine with the standard (stock)
starter fired up after sitting outside yesterday ( high temps at 18 degrees) and ran well. Cranked really slowly
though and I'm sure was quite a drain on the battery.

Glad you're ok and also glad you're back!
Cheers!
Steve
 

Bill Blue

Platinum Level Sponsor
Glad to read that you still have 10 fingers and thumbs. I got pretty deep into woodworking, making kitchen cabinets and furniture. Boss work boss (not my life boss) was doing the same. Every Monday morning we would share our close and some not close calls. It was at this time I decided to boot the wood working for metal working. After all, I was a high school machine shop major. I still have all fingers and thumbs I was issued 80 years ago, but no more close calls. The difference between holding the work in you hand as you run it past a saw rotating at 10,000 f/p/m and holding the work in a vice as it runs past a cutter running 100 ft/min is almost calming enough to put you to sleep. But not quite. Got to say alert in order to deal with chips that go zinging to who know where.

Just call me "No more wood chips, just wish I could weld, Bill"
 

DanR

Diamond Level Sponsor
Tod, I was missing you, but did not know why....Now I know how close you came to possibly losing use of your hand.

Sure glad to hear some happy results.

Back earlier this summer I bought a new Zero Turn 46" mower. It has a self cleaner/washer where you can hook up a water hose, fire up the engine and turn on the mower blades. I did all of what I was supposed to and was enjoying watching the discharge of the water and residue from inside the belly pan....

Then, I decided to lift the discharge shield and wipe away some loose grass along it edge, Yep! I stuck my right hand a bit too close to where the blades were whirling at a hight rate of RPMs.

The force of the blade actually knocked my hand out and away from before too much damage could be done.

I nearly lost a couple fingers... they were cut pretty badly, with the little finger on the tight hand recceiving the most damage. 9 stitches and a finger nail removal was the end result. My Doctor (a good friend) did a fantastic patch job.

Being unfamilar with something can lead to a mishap like mine, but being very familar can also lead to what happened to you, I know because I have done likewise:)

Glad to hear you are getting back to the Sunbeam...Keep'em-on-the-Road,
 

Silver Creek Sunbeam

Gold Level Sponsor
Tod,
So sorry to hear of your recent stint with bad luck, but very happy that you're on the mend and have a great
outlook for the future, especially with Sunbeams!

Once I get the head for my new engine back from the machinist ( it just had an anniversary!) I plan on getting
a gear reduction high torque starter as well, just because. Have to say that my Alpine with the standard (stock)
starter fired up after sitting outside yesterday ( high temps at 18 degrees) and ran well. Cranked really slowly
though and I'm sure was quite a drain on the battery.

Glad you're ok and also glad you're back!
Cheers!
Steve
Thanks Steve...send me some pics of the progress on your projects!

I hope to get the starter on in a couple of weeks. I'm sure you'll have an easier time, since there's nothing in the way. Lol
 

Silver Creek Sunbeam

Gold Level Sponsor
I hope you mend fully and quickly. Your story reminded me of this:

That is some crazy 'cutting edge' technology.
What actually got me was the wood kicking back at about 1000mph...at least it seemed like it. We don't know for sure if the wood did the damage or if it caused me to lunge my hand to the blade. It was literally a split second.
 

Silver Creek Sunbeam

Gold Level Sponsor
Glad to read that you still have 10 fingers and thumbs. I got pretty deep into woodworking, making kitchen cabinets and furniture. Boss work boss (not my life boss) was doing the same. Every Monday morning we would share our close and some not close calls. It was at this time I decided to boot the wood working for metal working. After all, I was a high school machine shop major. I still have all fingers and thumbs I was issued 80 years ago, but no more close calls. The difference between holding the work in you hand as you run it past a saw rotating at 10,000 f/p/m and holding the work in a vice as it runs past a cutter running 100 ft/min is almost calming enough to put you to sleep. But not quite. Got to say alert in order to deal with chips that go zinging to who know where.

Just call me "No more wood chips, just wish I could weld, Bill"
Maybe metal working should be my future...;)
 

Silver Creek Sunbeam

Gold Level Sponsor
Tod, I was missing you, but did not know why....Now I know how close you came to possibly losing use of your hand.

Sure glad to hear some happy results.

Back earlier this summer I bought a new Zero Turn 46" mower. It has a self cleaner/washer where you can hook up a water hose, fire up the engine and turn on the mower blades. I did all of what I was supposed to and was enjoying watching the discharge of the water and residue from inside the belly pan....

Then, I decided to lift the discharge shield and wipe away some loose grass along it edge, Yep! I stuck my right hand a bit too close to where the blades were whirling at a hight rate of RPMs.

The force of the blade actually knocked my hand out and away from before too much damage could be done.

I nearly lost a couple fingers... they were cut pretty badly, with the little finger on the tight hand recceiving the most damage. 9 stitches and a finger nail removal was the end result. My Doctor (a good friend) did a fantastic patch job.

Being unfamilar with something can lead to a mishap like mine, but being very familar can also lead to what happened to you, I know because I have done likewise:)

Glad to hear you are getting back to the Sunbeam...Keep'em-on-the-Road,
Thanks Dan...it's nice to be missed.
Sorry to hear about your injury. Good doctors can make all of the difference. A friend of mine is over the ER doctors at the hospital and he got an orthopedic surgeon involved within hours of the injury, which I was told is uncommon, and the surgeon got me scheduled earlier than the surgery center normally opens up, so I wouldn't have to wait through the Christmas holiday. I'm probably a week or more ahead of where I could have been with the holidays.

Yep...let's Keep 'em on the road my friend.
 

Bill Blue

Platinum Level Sponsor
Kickback is a largely underappreciated way to get hurt in the wood shop. One of my projects was to make the interior wood trim for our new house. Had a 5/8" X 3" X 7' oak board to kickback. Luckily, it zipped past me, flew about 10 ft and penetrated the sheetrock. Stuck out of the wall like a spear. That was a very sober, soul searching moment.

Bill
 

Silver Creek Sunbeam

Gold Level Sponsor
Kickback is a largely underappreciated way to get hurt in the wood shop. One of my projects was to make the interior wood trim for our new house. Had a 5/8" X 3" X 7' oak board to kickback. Luckily, it zipped past me, flew about 10 ft and penetrated the sheetrock. Stuck out of the wall like a spear. That was a very sober, soul searching moment.

Bill
Mine was a very similar situation. I was cutting a 5/8” x 6” x 6’ oak board. I also took a shot to the gut when it happened and immediately had a pink and purple bruise.
It definitely has been cause to pause and reflect…
 

jdoclogan

Platinum Level Sponsor
Mine was a very similar situation. I was cutting a 5/8” x 6” x 6’ oak board. I also took a shot to the gut when it happened and immediately had a pink and purple bruise.
It definitely has been cause to pause and reflect…

This brings back a lasting memory from 9th grade wood shop. The instructor showed a safety movie about kickback. It was really gruesome and I never forgot all of the safety protocols when working with a table saw. Thanks for sharing as it reestablishes the care we all must take. May your recovery be effective and productive.
 
Top