craft while reclining

IR status; day-to-day

[Short visit to the ER today. I’m fine. Minor wound. I’ll lead with that information before getting into things. Also, there’s nothing overly graphic or too intense below. I don’t enjoy “battle scar” stories. This isn’t one.]

I was listening to Anthony Bourdain’s Kitchen Confidential (copyright: 2000) through my earmuff headset while milling cherry this afternoon. Good looking, flatsawn cherry stock; clear, consistent, and hardly any sapwood. This material will become wooden carriers during a class at Lost Art Press next month.

It happened on the first pass through the planer. I took a light pass on the stack during their first run through the machine. Somewhere near the middle of the stack, the planer threw a piece out the front end. A piece came off the board and came back to me. It struck my hand. Hard but not overwhelming. More of a glancing blow. After a moment, I noticed it left a significant splinter on the back of my index finger. Enough wood that I could have been charged with shoplifting had I tried to sneak this splinter from a lumber yard without first paying.

I called a friend and laid myself down on my back on the shop floor (for the inevitable dizzyiness…something similar to this happened once before, about 8 years ago, and I know enough to be seated or reclining after an incident). My friend came over, provided his medical opinions (he’s a carpenter…he’s seen some things), and took me to the ER. The medics took it from there. I was out within an hour.