Powertool Safety....make no compromises!

[Blacklab467]

Just talked to my neighbour today, I hadn't seen him in over a week. He'd had an unfortunate accident while pruning his trees in the backyard 2 weeks ago and has been healing and recovering indoors. What follows are the details of one of the most hazardous practices I've ever heard of with common power tools that we all probably have in our garages. Worth noting, my neighbour is 91 years old and very capable and able bodied......even after this accident.
Dan was setting up to prune several large poplars in the backyard. He had a large ladder to reach the highest branches but fortunately decided to start on the low ones first. Dan had decided that the best tool for the job would be his 7 inch Black and Decker angle grinder fitted with a Skilsaw blade........read that again! Needless to say the guard had been removed decades ago.
After successfully removing many of the lower branches which reportedly went quite well despite the branches being very green and gumming up the blade, Dan went up a few rungs on his old ladder to attack some of the higher branches, this is when things went sideways! Whilst trying to wield his angle Skilsaw assemblage against a particularly large branch, a hornet stung him on the neck causing him to flinch away, twisting the rotating blade in the cut bore and throwing him off the ladder onto the ground. In one hand, the angle grinder with an open Skilsaw blade rotating at at least 8000 RPM. When he fell on the ground the tool landed on his calf muscle ran down his leg to his foot before continuing across the lawn and stopping only when it hit a concrete abutment.
Fortunately his wife was home and called the ambulance. In summary Dan received 142 stitches to close the wound an was fortunate to have not severed any arteries or tendons or anything more serious, literally just a flesh wound! He's back to his normal routine now and working around the house as he always does, he was extremely fortunate.
We all take shortcuts and calculated risks when doing things as varied as driving to the store or working under a car. Take a few minutes to assess the hazards before doing things that seem sketchy or have the potential for danger.

[matthew1]

Whoa! Good lesson, vicariously. Glad he's ok.

[volvolugnut]

I tried a fine saw blade in my Dremel tool to cut out soffit panels for replacement. Far too much grip by the saw blade for the grip on the tool. I stopped before injury.
I also tried a fine tooth saw blade in a weed wacker. Same kick back problem.
Don't try these things at home.
volvolugnut