While resting on the table in urgent care yesterday, I realized that it has been about 20 years since the last time I had to get an injury stitched up for doing something stupid. Last time, while a freshman in high school, I managed to cut open a gash in the back of my leg when I fell off my bicycle. This time I was playing in the garage with power tools.

Joy was sleeping on the couch, so I planned on going to the Sun Dragon fighter practice by myself on the motorcycle. The motorcycle was covered in sawdust from random projects, so I decided to do a quick cleaning with the shop vac. At this point I decided I needed an accessories rack to organize the attachments for the shop vac. After pulling the motorcycle out of the garage, I got to work looking for suitable materials.

I found a board I had salvaged from an old couch, and some dowel that could be cut into pegs, and came up with a plan. I would cut some 45 degree holes in the board, put pegs in the middle of them, then mount the board to the wall. This sounded like a quick half hour project, so I might as well get started.

I marked the general location for all the holes, then got started on making the jig to help with drilling all the holes. I determined that a 1.5” forstner bit would be perfect, so I chucked it up in the drill press. I grabbed a scrap 2x4 and used the band saw to rip one corner to 45 degrees, and clamped it to the drill press, along with another short block to hold the board in place. Everything was looking good. All I had to do was drill out all the 1.5” holes, switch bits, then drill the holes for the pegs.

The first hole went in fairly well, being careful not to make too aggressive of a cut. The second hole was causing problems right from the start. Due to the angle of the cut, and the bit I was using, it wanted to move the board more than just cut into it. I was using the first hole to help hold the board in place, so when the drill bit really caught the wood, it pulled the board (and my fingers) sideways.

I knew something had smacked my finger, but didn't know exactly what had happened. I somehow instinctively shut off the drill press and headed inside. My hand was clenched into a fist, but I was happy to note that I didn't see any blood, and everything I could see looked fine. I headed into the bathroom to rinse off my hand and see what (if any) damage had occurred. As the warm water cascaded over my hand, I slowly opened my fist and watched as the water turned pink. I slowly turned my hand over and looked at the jagged cut going across the tip of my left index finger, and it didn't look pretty.

I called Joy and asked her to get some gauze and tape to wrap my finger, and that I should probably have it looked at. We got the finger dried and taped up before the shock set in and then I had to sit down on the floor for a few minutes so I wouldn't end out falling and causing more injuries. A few minutes later, I was back up and grabbing the keys to the motorcycle in order to pull it back in the garage before we left.

Eventually we ended out at the urgent care facility where they poured iodine over a very open wound, and eventually set to work putting a few very loose stitches in my finger to hold it in approximately the right shape. Apparently there is some flesh missing, so the doctor couldn't just stitch it up normally.

Three hours after the initial act of stupidity that started all this, I was back home and preparing to go out and visit with friends for the evening.

Unfortunately, that quick little "half hour" project will have to wait for a while until I can get back to completing it. My guess is that I might be able to hold out till next weekend before going back to the drill press and try again.