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Log Splitter Injury
Hi Guys,
I was splitting wood over the weekend and I had a log that did not have a smooth cut on one end. It had a kerf that was just big enough for my thumb to slide under it as I was steadying the log for splitting. Well I pulled the lever and the hammer came down and compressed that kerf, crushing my thumb with 32 tons of force.
Got me just missing the knuckle, broke the bone from the knuckle to the tip. Partially amputated the end of finger at a spot halfway between the fingernail and the knuckle. It was just dangling there.
This happened so fast, I have split many cords of wood, and it just takes one slip to have severe ramifications.
This is one painful injury, be careful out there!
Dennis
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Log Splitter Injury
Yes I am all sewn up!
Well the finger nail popped completely off from the crushing, but has been sewn back in place as a placeholder to protect the nail bed and hopefully the nail will regrow. But that is going to take a long long time.
The wire (looks more like a small diameter stainless steel drill) was drilled through the bone fragment and the wire is still sticking out the end of my finger but twisted so that it won't poke anyone 
If all goes well I will be dressing this wound for about 4 weeks.
I almost never take pain killers, but this is the exception, after all the anesthetics wore off, which took well over 14 hours, this really hurts.
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Log Splitter Injury
Harvey, mine is nothing compared to what happened to you. I was definitely glad that it had not been a quarter inch more than the 3/4 inch that it was, so that the knuckle was not demolished!
I was asked often if I was wearing a glove, as if that was a help. At least the glove gave the crushing some limits ?
The pix is my thumb with the wire drilled into the bone
Dennis
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Log Splitter Injury
Thanks for all of your well wishes!
So far other than the continual throbing pain, I am doing pretty good. I was able to wash it for the first time yesterday and redress it. I had hoped that the pain would start to go down after I was able to clean it and put some peroxide on it, but that is not the case.
Might get some of the stiches out Friday, but the rod in my finger stays in and I guess all the stiches that are holding my faux finger nail in place as well. So the thumb will continue to look like thumbelina for some weeks to come.
Dennis
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Log Splitter Injury
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Don't get hooked on pain killers!When resting or sleeping you will find that it throbs less in certain positions like laying your hand across your chest above your heart.
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I stopped taking the percocet last Thursday evening. I made it through to Saturday night, but the pain was so great that I took one percocet so that I could sleep. I had mastered sleeping with my hand in an up position, but no position was working for hours. Since then I have been doing the one percocet at bed time so that I can get a good nights rest.
Other than that I am not taking anything else, and I hope to stop that asap.
Dennis
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Log Splitter Injury
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I've also heard a few Advil will do wonders.Best of luck.
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My surgeon said to try Advil, I have Motrin home, both Advil and Motrin have 200mg of ibuprofen, so are they the same or is Advil different in some way?
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Log Splitter Injury
Go the pin pulled last Monday, don't have to tape up unless working with my hands on some project.
Still hurts though but much better, got a tiny piece of nail growing back, thankfully!
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Log Splitter Injury
Harvey,
Hope you continue to improve rapidly. Healing is a slow process but it is a miracle to watch, but much better in retrospect
Dennis
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Hello, thought to mention after reading about the injury that now there is a patented solution for all log splitters to be WEDGE LESS . Some day my engineered solution sill be on all log splitters.
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Do not know about your invention, but do not see how it would have prevented the injury.
The three problems for me were:
1) running splitter in vertical mode requires steadying the log during compression.
2) Cutting log with sloppy additional saw cuts that my thumb slipped into
3) Operator error , me too much rush...
I split wood only once a couple months after the injury. None since.
I stopped burning wood in a wood stove after my neighbors house burnt to the ground last year and I have seen several houses that have had wood stove chimney fires and significant damage as a result.
So I have a large collection of rotting split and un split log rolls.
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Log Splitter Injury
The other thing is that to make running a wood stove at all doable it is common to load the stove to the brim before going to bed, and then run it at a lower temperature to try to be able to restart in the morning with some leftover coals.
From a safety perspective this is the worst possible thing to do, as it builds up creosote. During that last load of the night the fire is really roaring embers spark as the new wood is stoked, what if you miss a stray ember and go to bed. What if you have a chimney fire or a down draft while you are asleep. So running the stove the way it should be run means starting the fire from scratch every day which in my view is too much work, so no stove for me.
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Log Splitter Injury
Hi KT,
Thanks for the reply. I have a exterior wall masonry fireplace that is very tall and is not accessible from the the top. Have a stainless steel liner and a Jotul cast iron stove. The house is on a hill and gets blasted by high winds from the North in the winter making for downdraft issues mostly to start but rarely so severe to cause concern otherwise. I have a commercial chimney pole system and brush that I used before the heating season.
My first season with this stove I had a chimney fire that ran its course with no damage. But it is like watching a jet engine go out of control,the stainless has a very high heat tolerance, but who knows how long it can sustain it or desire to test it out.
Cutting,collecting and burning wood has long been a fascination for me. I was the kid who begged his grandfather when on vacation at the Jersey shore at a rental bungalow that happened to have a masonry fireplace; please please Papa can we have a fire? What a loving man he was to set a blazing wood fire for me with 95 degrees and no AC. He loved his grandsons, the boys...
We have been burning some of my wood supply in outdoor campfires but it will take 50 years to burn all of it that way. May have to see if anyone bites on Craigs list
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