I used to do a fair amount of woodworking, I have the tablesaw, several routers, mortiser, planer, jigsaw and pneumatic nailers and staple guns.I built the medicine chest and cabinet for the bathroom. also the complete upper and lower kitchen cabinets. Our compost bin was falling apart so one weekend when my wife and daughter were out of town I cut cedar 2x4s to length on the tablesaw using my sliding sled, They were butt nailed with my pneumatic nailer and the screening attached with my pneumatic stapler. I was quite proud of my accomplishments. However my wife saw it differently as a complete lack of higher reasoning. In her defense she had recently seen me sneeze at the kitchen table during supper and sweep the plate and glass from the table with my left arm, breaking them. Her reasoning being that woodshops produce dust, dust causes sneezing, and cutting off the non-functioning hand is not a good idea. I however reasoned that only doing crosscuts and doing them with a sled would keep my left arm at least two feet away from the blade at all times. The end result was that I was banned from the workshop. She did the next year give me a gift of a beginning woodturning course at the North House Folk School in Grand Marais, MN and the next Christmas got me a lathe. She thinks that because no sharp objects are spinning it is safer. When I relate this idea to woodturners I have met they invariably mention how many holes are in their walls from chunks of wood flying off the lathe. And then there was the story from the woodturning association I joined. It seemed that during a demo the month prior to me joining that there was an individual standing behind the demonstrator. The demonstrator had on the apron and full face shield, his turning gouge caught on the wood and was thrown over his shoulder. The bystanders eye was put out. I do wear safety gear when turning but I haven't related any of these horror stories to her yet.
My hope with this as rehab is first that the vibrations of the gouges on the left hand will wake them up proprioceptively and then start on the motor control.
Don't even think of doing anything as stupid as this. Remember your doctor has to ok all your rehab and check with your spouse also.
My daughter worked as a cashier for a lumber store for over a year and it took her a while to get used to handing change to soooo many customers with missing fingers and parts of their hands.
ReplyDeleteDean... be careful in your shop, and I suggest that you better make your wife something pretty nice with your lathe after posting this. I am glad you are doing something you enjoy again.
Linda
http://leadingahealthylife.blogspot.com/