Adam Savage Explains His Scary Hand Injury!

My heart dropped when he said that

Same.

There is more...

Loosing fingers on the lathe is a big fear of mine. Also a sure way to spot an old machininst.

"These two pairs of spinning..." oh bother

Si Crewe yep. A few times actually

Yep. I honestly thought he was going to say he used a sanding belt inside out on a piece of work and the jaws edge grabbed the belt and yanked a finger off.

FWIW, if you absolutely MUST clean stuff while it's in a lathe or on a mill, do it with paper tissue.
It's NOT 100% safe but at least paper tissue shreds rather than getting snagged in things so you're much less likely to get dragged into a machine.
It probably isn't a ringing endorsement of humans but I think most of us still only truly learn by our mistakes so the trick is to make mistakes that are scary rather than painful.

Yep

Yep... long hair, loose clothing, etc. danger, danger!

Especially if they don't know the raptors are loose in the park.

And that's the whole problem... At some point in the day, you subconsciously start thinking your safe, and you drop your guard, and you do little things, maybe little unsafe shortcuts, and voila! You get injured.

Truth! Almost cost me my life at a traffic stop years ago.

That was actually the way a certain pirate chose his victims. "We can't take that!! They're invulnerable!!
"That's precisely why they're vulnerable."

@@comm744 I hear that.

People fuck up. It’s no big deal. I don’t see why people don’t admit it when they do

"And I am that big man"

Matthew Senneca It be a better day when we can just discus accidents and mistakes without making some silly statement about it.

You don't have to be a so called "big man" to confess mistakes or accidents, that's a part of learning and have personality!

@@noisehippo1561 pretty sure a "big personality" is exactly what they were referring to.

That feeling of "Oh, I can't believe I have been THAT STUPID."

Self-anger is like teaching yourself a lesson, which can reiterate caution and prevent future accidents. However, self-forgiveness is important as well ;)

It's like I could literally hear him saying he didn't want to talk about it.

Takes guts to tell folks what a really stupid thing you've done. And real kindness to do so in the hope that your cautionary tale may save someone else from doing their own really dumb thing. Kudos.

@Aussiebloke0001 I did that in Thailand once!

Love the tf2 and machinist collaboration.

Best comment ever.

R.I.P Rick May

Adam: You did not read mine!
Everyone: Does it say You don't want to talk about this?
Adam: Yes!

lol the bucketmeme from tf2 XD

I had an HS teacher that had a similar sang:
A stupid person cant learn from there own mistakes,
A smart person learns from there own mistakes,
A genius learns from other's mistakes.

@@kalemercer7053 Mr. Wendel?

I think there is 2 kinds of people, those who repeat their mistakes and those who come up with new ones every day

I like the saying that goes « People who never do anything don’t do much mistakes » too.

Grandpa was right

I’ve worked on industrial high speed doors for over 13 years and tried to adjust a counterweight without checking the power. Smashed the hell out of my hand and have been calling myself stupid since.

@@pyrolitic I hear you. Almost lost a thumb to a band saw once. My fault. The thing that saved me was the blade was new and the machine was in such good condition that it didn't pull. The cut was so clean.

Daniel what is a high speed door? Like a automatic door at Walmart but faster?

I have also cut myself on a bandsaw, on my knuckle down to the bone. I've gotten hurt from table saw kickback as well. My grandfather took a half inch off one thumb with a spindle sander. He walked inside ran it under the sink for awhile then wrapped it in a clean shop towel and tape.

I sure know it. Coworker was manually cranking up an electric workshop door. 10 times i tried fault finding, every time hitting the e-stop for safety.
The 11th time i forgot. Coworker forgot too. He started cranking and as the door hit its upper limit switch, the motor somehow decided to start.
The zoom of a door motor hand crank rotating at 1500rpm is interesting, and so is the 'bang' when it hits the shop wall.
Both of us kept it very quiet.

Tell us the story

@@legosans926 Well even tho I am late, it is better to say something than nothing.
I was a very young lad (about 10) and even then I was really interested in machinery and making things, the fact that nearly everything that I made didn't work or broke after 2 days makes me confused, I would've given up a long time ago if I again were in that position.
Well I was trying to make a really deep hole into a piece of pretty hard metal on a shitty drill press. I added the cooling liquid and all but the thing was that the cooling liquid was kinda pasty and shards of the hard metal got stuck on the drill, so the drill couldn't proceed.
I took the bit out of the piece and while it was still running I tried to clean the drill with a piece of loose cloth.
It gave my hand a good slap and I've cut my fingers. It wasn't something big but still an injury is an injury.
I ran back home and told my father what happened, and he responded with a simple "YOU DID WHAT?"
(I'm 16 now)

Haha the internet is a trip
"When I was young lad (10)"
:Ok this guy is like 60:
"I'm 16 now"
😂😂😂😂😂

My dad lost up to the first knuckle on his ring finger on a rotary joiner.

@@shadowhenge7118 Very painful it’s my left middle finger. Took some time to adjust my grip and finger function. Make sure your Father does his Physical Therapy and to get plenty of rest.

statistically a human being has less than 10 fingers on his hands anyway, so you are fine😀

I had an old timer teach my how to do basic lathe stuff. The first time I put a work glove on to sand a rough edge on a shaft he stopped me. Started telling me how this is how you lose body parts. That sand paper will catch at some point. Better a small cut on a rough edge than the paper catching and gripping your glove and taking your hand for a spin. At that point he poked me in the chest and I noticed that half the finger was missing. He then showed me a completely torn work glove with a matching missing digit. Said he was glad it was not a new glove.
Very good way to prevent similar injury to new guys. I've had pieces of sand paper fly off and a few minor cuts. But I did not loose a finger. I hope you use your experience to teach newbies good lessons.

I was puckering as soon as he said "this is my lathe."

my jaw dropped at "rag" and "spinning"........

isf tish There’s a safe way to do it, same way you would use a strip of sand paper pinch grip over and under.

@@isftish When it comes to spinning things which shouldn't be -- well, I've seen worse on the internet. :(

sameeeeee I felt this deep into my core as soon as he said spinning

It when you are doing boring

What the fuck is this comment

Eggy Boi ok I fixed it you want a cookie

Yup. Was assembling beehive boxes, to the oder of some many thousands. just a box joint you fit together and nail together. Easy, boring. Didn't notice the knot in the grain right where i put my hand. Fired nail gun, the nail hit the knot and strayed, shot out the side of the plank into my finger. Had to chisel the nail to free my finger..... Lots of lessons were learned that day

thats how i last my middle finger tip on my right hand in the aluminium business
sawed that sucker right off.
my 1st reaction to this was literally
aww shit there goes my drawing skill....
than i looked at my hand... and yes no pain yet at this point that started to come while i was in the hospital
and i was like.. better stick that in my mouth before i bleed al over my self
than i walked to my floor manager bleeding finger in my mouth and asked for a med kit .. and he actually panicked.. took the med kit .. than ran off to arrange a car to drive to the closest hospital
so i had to bandage my self using a towel from the canteen
luckily most of it grew back since i did not hit the bone.
took almost 10 years tho
actually it took almost 6 years before i had my touch sensation back on that fingertip.
and i still dont have a fingerprint on that finger
plus you know... its my middle finger...
so when ppl asked to show them my injury i could legit just give em te finger..

What happened after?

Asura - I researched the surgery the ophthalmologists do, and scooped the shard out with a nice twisting motion. It left a divot, with a ring of rust from the saline. The divot remained for three weeks, then got infected for a day, whereupon both the rust and depression disappeared.

@@BrandonCase Wow, that is a true statement, PPE is so important in a shop. Very unfortunate that you had this accident, brother. Hope you made a full & swift recovery!

My dad did the exact same thing

I hope you are back to 100%

Good idea. I encourage people to like this so Adam sees it.

That’s a good tip.

and most importantly no gloves

I have a memory of my dad having white shop towels when I was a kid at the machine shop where he worked. They were fairly course, but were made with short fibers. They were still quite strong (to my 5 year old self), but tore quite quickly under sudden tension.
At least i think they were white. It was just over 40 years ago! lol.
But I do remember them using that blue marking dye (I still get a little melancholy when I see someone using that), and the exact place I was standing when huge machine press was activated. And so my life has been accompanied by a near constant ring in my ears. Damn tinitus.

@@cycoholic I remember white towels, labeled for restaurant use. There is a new treatment for tinnitus, that involves playing the sound you hear through earbuds while you sleep, so your brain can learn to ignore it. I get it too, but I don't have any hearing loss.

Gideons Word this seems like good advice. I’m not sure what’s funny about it

like it!!

Although I do try...

LIES!!!

@Gideons Word No. No it is not

@theedivinefatality479 I truly hope Adam and Jaime know that they helped "raise" the millennial and gen z generations.
In a time when EVERYTHING was cracking down, and there was no more "do dangerous things, in a safe, watched environment", it was being pushed to helicopter parent and teach-- Adam and Jaime had everyone's backs.
Yes, you can blow stuff up safely; no, you don't have to rely on jobs you abhor; yes, you can still do crazy science stuff with your friends in adulthood.
The internet was new, and spending the day out with friends to come home at dark-- was turned into a witch hunt of "bad neighbors".
Media has always loved stirring up issues, how would they get you to pay them otherwise? You aren't going to buy a 50-75 cent paper that tells you everything is hunky dory.
The whole Mythbusters team and off shoots, really were such a necessary lifeline. 💖✨️

It's always cheaper (and less painful) to learn from the mistakes of others... But learning from your own mistakes burns it into your memory cells a lot better (if you survive the learning process)...

I wasn't paying any attention to his Finger, on the other Hand (no pun intended) his Allergies have me thinking Covid-19.

@@Len_M. Well pollen bloom hit, been sneezing like a horse with dry alfalfa up their nose.

Corona bloom you mean...

@@williamsideasandstuff Whatever comes first.

Len M. big difference

Same saying exists within the Motorcycle community except obviously replace 'pilots' with 'riders'

@@guitarfreak342 was gonna say, my dad was always on bikes and that is the saying I grew up with

@Dev JB U.S. Army Scout pilot and currently flying with a Sheriff's office Aviation unit day & night with NVG's sooooo yeah. Please go back to the kids table while the adults are talking.

Dev JB Facebook his name lol, he didn’t lie

Dev JB damn you’re ignorant

Yeah same and I like building stuff.....

Ha!

is cocophany a dessert of some sort?

They should do 8k VR experience of the shop. Even then, it'll look like a total clusterf*ck

@@alex0589 With all the VR-related content they do on Tested, I'm surprised that they _haven't_ done an environment capture of the cave... I would be _so_ down for that!

"My butthole ate the sofa cusion"what kind of hilarious comment is this ha ha ha

😂😂😂😂😂👍

Me HEARS: *freeze frame* "That was the moment I knew I F&^*ked up..."

A graphic but accurate description

Amazing analogy

Adam is a very hate field angry person apparently you didn't know any think about that

@@retsrow2899 Sometimes people have bouts of anger, it is something they have to deal with. It doesn't mean they are always angry, or capable of changing the behavior. 🐱‍👓🐱‍💻🐱‍🚀🐱‍👤🐱‍🏍

@@hadoukan722 apparently you haven't heard his multiple hate-filled rants

I just wish he would stop pretending it's "allergies". its ok to cry buddy :)

@@retsrow2899 I do not want to hear them. I'm sure you've said something that I do not want to hear

As someone who sells power tools like tablesaws, I basically only sell SawStop anymore. I have seen too many old woodworkers come in missing digits, and I've had quite a few who were paying razor sharp attention when they lost their fingers. Airbags are precisely the analogy I use - you don't want to ever activate them, but if you do, you'll be awfully glad you did have them.

@@deadlylaigrek SawStop never gets tired. SawStop never has a moment of inattention. Can’t say that about a person.

@dothemathright 1111 Well then people would need to petition the government to make those safety features regulation standard and have the patent lifted. I think the percentage of people who use cars is a lot higher than those who use saws and the risk of bodily harm is a lot lower, so you'd need to make a pretty good and expensive argument.

I'd rather not have air bags, not because of money, but because air bags in a car with harnesses is significantly more dangerous then not having them, that's why racecars dont have airbags

@@codeyjoseph2051 I believe that's only true in the US due to seat belts not being compulsory in all states & air bags having to cope with that.

@frailty7280 yup, my stomach hit the floor and my bodily involuntary winced. I haven't seen this till now and damn!!!!
So fcking happy Adam didn't lose a hand, much less a finger.
And then telling everyone so we have an extra reminder of "pay tf attention during the little things", that's always when we mess up and hurt ourselves.
Talk about a great man, admitting his wrongs on the entire internet so kids (and others) can see that you can be an Icon of your industry, and still eff up over the shiny toy. 😉

Ezra Cold yeah, I’ve been scrolling through the comments to find this one. The more someone doesn’t wanna talk about something, the more they need to, to emotionally and mentally process it.
Adam, you did a silly thing with the lathe. But you are doing an amazing thing talking about it to all of us, and helping us learn from your mistakes; especially in such a candid and detailed way.
And you are also doing yourself a great service by actively addressing the trauma you suffered. You really are an excellent role model, and I think we are all very glad you’re safe!!

Remember Thunderhead...?

@@ior314 aaah. Good Movie. All Adam needed to say was rag and spinning and i already a) felt the pain and b) facepalmed.

this made me laugh

god i love that reference XD so true XD

Mythbusters was the best show on the discovery Channel during that period, they were the OG makers, I tuned in from New Zealand every week 🙌

"Fingering my lathe (gone wrong)"

I gave my lathe the middle finger, and was really freaking lucky to get my middle finger back...

Epic

@@patheddles4004 "well, most of it anyway."
If I could add an image, I would show my own example...

Creepypasta titles be like

Gday from Melbourne. Currently day 244 of lockdowns. Please send help.

Really fast, just pull your fingers off.

Needs more tests to be conclusive

My grandma was on a pontoon boat back in the day. And she was pulling up the anchor. My Grandpa thought she was done and started driving home. My grandma's hand was wrapped with the rope. Well she got the twist down to the last digit on her index finger from her wrist. And "pop"! It dropped into Lake Manitou. My handicapped cousin was freaked out bad! My grandma was a super tough lady and just wrapped her hand with paper towel. And my grandpa told the story like a comedian. "I was flooring it when POP it's fish bait now! I loved my grandparents so much! They were the best ever!

Yeah, I'm gonna go with Probable.

Too soon

I still remember our machinist shouting my name through the storage area. I came saw the blood and rushed to get a first aid kit and the telephone for the ambulance.
He cleaned the cutting machine while it was running. There is even a plastic hood to prevent anyone from grabbing into the razor discs which cut the material... but he opened it to clean one of the discs... At least we could save all his fingers and the ER sew them back on.

So i started cleaning it while it was spinning... often followed by : in order to save 3 minutes.

I read this in Danny Davitos voice

@@cmd-nomad546 I'm glad surgery methods have advanced as they have. My friend and I partly cut my pinky off with a scissor, used to cut limbs from trees. It happened so fast that it didn't hurt and it didn't bleed much. They did microsurgery on it, and now it's functional.🩺

Sounds about right lol

yup i hear it to

“Well there’s your problem...”

I can practically see his mustach twitching now.

*mustache moving in judgement*

One of the water fall type used in commercial paint shops would be ideal.

Just to add to that, don't do it for yourself, do it so you can see your grand children

Build yourself an air purifier*

Devin Holland a HEPA style can last longer

He's right you know....

Caos vs Ordered Caos?

I'm so sorry about your mom! You sound like a great one by the way :)

100drth Like!!!

It was the word 'spinning' for me.

I had a older fellow operator tell me that but replaced explosives with Chlorine gas. Oh and the all famous "Dont get dead."

Best comment

I tried to keep that in mind when working with an explosive, i am kinda agreeing with you here, but also i don't. I lost two fingers because of an explosive, even though i continously kept in mind that it was dangerous. Things that are not considered dangerous normally are dangerous when working with explosives.

@@huibvanderveur3015 I'm sure there is a good story to tell there...

@@daimanmcintyre1090 ?

The part about his mom, having just seen her in one of his videos.

This cheered me up to be honest I feel the same be careful out there

I dont have a table saw, but I used a hand saw for a long time before I bought a skill saw. And I will still use the hand saw if I can. I have seen and had a skill saw kick at me and it scares me to no end.

I've been hit by kick back. Like getting kick by a horse.

There is a reason I am genuinely afraid of power tools...

@@rcmike09 About skill saws, I have used several over the years and one thing I have found is that I VASTLY prefer a worm-drive skill saw. The blade spins slower, but with more torque. It is easier to hold and control, doesn't twist nearly as much as a radial, and I find that I can easily cut straight lines with them unlike a radial skill saw. I have a Makita that I just love. Yeah they cost a bit more and are larger, but I will never use a radial skill saw ever again if I can help it. I find them to kind of like trying to control a wolverine, something just waiting to turn on you a rip you up. I am amazed that they still sell non-worm-drive skill saws. They took lawn darts off the market and every chain saw sold in the last 20 years come with an integral kick-back guard. Maybe people treat skill saws with more care just because they are so vicious?

@@JasonPurcellFilms Yep, back in high school wood shop I saw another student send a goo sized piece of wood over 30 feet across the shop and crack the cinder block wall. Ziiwip!Bang! Fortunately no one was in the way. It's amazing what a 3 to 5 HP motor can accelerate a chunk of wood up to in the blink of an eye.

My old teacher's brother lost a finger to a lathe. was apparently cleaning the inside of a hole with emery cloth while the lathe was on. it grabbed on and twisted it right off.

@JarAxe I took a shop class in college and had a fellow classmate loose a finger to a lath. scary stuff man

BoredxISxI *lose

Undo! Undo!!

To me, lathes beat out table saws as maybe the scariest machine tool. Of course Dremels can be even scarier sometimes, since all that rotational momentum is in a lightweight power tool that's just being held in place manually. But I was relieved Adam's accident was due to special circumstances: fatigue from the long repair, overconfidence due to how well it went, and semi-irrational exuberance to get the machine cleaned up all nice immediately afterwards.
I was worried he was going to say the injury came from the machine screwing up due to neglecting the bearing problem for too long. Or, due to Adam's nature in which he always wants to work as fast as possible, I thought he was maybe going to say he had a prosaic accident while using the lathe as normal, but too quickly and carelessly.

I mean... you already know that he was gonna get injured somewhere in that story so... what did you expect?

I had the same feeling

I had the same thought. I have seen Adam do some not smart things with the lathe before but Jesus.

I had the same thought.

@@mrfancypanzer549 worse is that there are ways to do it comparatively safe.

Exactly my point. Also he says "injurys DO happen for makers"... i´m a machinist and i know some people with Adams "style of work" hasty, quick´n´dirty...all of those i knew that worked like Adam had some sort of injury or a finger sewed back on (crooked) ... there are machines out there that will KILL you if you don´t pay attention, so NO, injuries DON´T always happen. You just have to be on the edge all the time. Working like Adam is ok with a Drill, Jigsaw or even Tablesaw...if those take a finger, you are unlucky but they most likely won´t harm you more...but a Lathe or a Mill can rip your hand of without even slowing down, or lock you in a position where you can die if you are alone in your shop.
STAY SAFE and don´t mess with professional tools ALONE!

That’s an old royal airforce saying that my grandad told me about. But probably predates him in some other industries too

Hence why Alex Honnald has few free solo friends

Be wary of an old man working in a career where men die young

I used to do high adventure stuff as a scout camp staff member. Almost all the climbing accidents in are experienced instructors. The kids doing the activities almost never get. Instructors get too confident and make mistakes that they know better than to

Lathe: RUN

Lathe: Come back Adam, I just wanna talk to you.

I think there are 2 types of people in this world...those that know what, "Time stops" really means..and those who are very boring.

@@Sully365 consider me the latter

This is an analogy I have never heard but so true!!! When I was 19 I was cutting a 2x4 with a circular saw. I held the board down on the bench with one hand the saw in the other. I'd probably done this hundreds of times at that point. This was the first time I ever had a circular saw kick back. The bench stood about knee height. The saw grabbed my thigh and began walking up towards my crotch. Fortunately I was wearing a thermal underwear made of wool. It wrapped up into the blade and stopped it within a fraction of a second. The blade had made a perforated line up my leg but none of the cuts were deeper than a millimeter. I didn't have to go to the hospital and stitches weren't necessary. My bucket of luck probably dumped a whole gallon in that instant. Considering where the lines were I very possibly could have died within minutes of the blade went any deeper and cut the femoral. It would've been far too high up the leg to use a tourniquet. I think of that moment every time I reach for the circular saw.

Shit, that bucket was supposed to be full of luck? I just got 2 empty buckets.

Chris Janney Congrats!

Wish I could still call my Mom. I must think that at LEAST once a week. Miss that lady. Call her even when you arent hurt.

@@jesseblanchard9609 Oh i do, i meet her on a regular basis.

Did you drill into your finger? Maaaaan,....

IlluminatorArt&Crafts
>hey mom you’ll never guess what I did...
how did you know?

it took 12 hours to drill into your finger?

Razgriz85 I am going to do this now. That’s amazing.

Razgriz85 he deserves an award for that. It’s a great learning experience

Best way to learn is through mistakes. Maybe he didnt want to forget some.of the bigger ones he made lol

I mean, not only is that a way to remind himself of his mistakes, but imagine the stories he'd tell to greenhorns who are just getting into the craft!

@@kiarakeeper2154 Yep, mistakes are one of the best teachers. One time when I was like 9 or 10, I was trying to separate 2 extension cords that were plugged into each other. They were quite stuck together and once I got them apart a little bit I stuck my thumbs between the plugs for more leverage and touched the prongs of one of them, well it was still connected to power. Got a nice shock from that and haven't done stupid crap like that with electricity since lol

Me too
DO NOT GOOGLE LATHE ACCIDENTS

I actually had to pause it and I jumped back from the screen. As if that was going to do anything to help the situation lol

@@stevematson4808 I copy and pasted lathe accidents from your words and saw some stuff. Remind me to never wear long sleeves and work on a lathe.

This is such a universal feeling in anyone who's worked with these machines! :)

Didn't realize it till he said it either.

So is complacency.

“Ruin has come to our Mythbusters.”

As well as routine.

Ambushed by foul invention!

Very very true

Anthony Mcdonald I know this isn't really comparable at all, but this somehow reminded me of when I dropped my new expensive phone.
It was just laying there, face down, so the display was not to be seen. I had to bring up the "courage" of picking it up and turning in around, well aware and fearing that what I was going to see was a shatter screen.

@@YourMJK yeah they are definitely not the same thing however the emotional feeling is definitely very similar for me having experienced both what you describe and accidents similar to Adam's where you don't know the extent of your own injury. 😜

I'm sure he's thought many times about the danger, just this time in the excitment he forgot...

@@squidben5780 I agree. That's probably the main lesson here: even if you know something is dangerous, there's always a new way to get distracted and forget... and experience and confidence can make you accidentally let your guard down.

@@thomb629 unfortunately

minecrafter0505 there are doctors that still do housecalls right now too for things like this! Definitely better to get it taken care of early on before it potentially becomes a bigger problem.

Honestly, I would done the same as Adam. Yes, logic says that you *probably* would be OK, but he has other factors. He does have much older residents in his home that are more susceptible to Covid-19, and could inadvertently become an a symptomatic carrier. Or, he could of already been a carrier and thus could of been exposing people to one more source inadvertently. And, the question of what resources would be diverted to taking care of his hand is a hard one to answer, but would weigh on my mind. I myself am a high risk because of multiple rounds of cancer and lifelong side effects from radiation poisoning. For me, losing a finger would be more ideal than contracting Coronavirus. I have seen what that does to people, and the odds are random for survival right now. I do not judge his decision

@@sonicjackalopeproductions3342 There is no space in asymptomatic.

I can usually stop the bleeding. It's the infection that worries me. Ripped out my fingernail: Wrap it up to stop bleeding. SOAK it in Hydrogen Peroxide. Change tape and repeat.

Even with some good insurance, even with some money in the bank, even if you know the doctors, it will cost you maybe 250K$ to 400K$ out of your own pocket for this kind of injury to be looked at and fixed in the US.

Is he drunk?

yep.there are really nasty ways this can play put. getting the finger ripped of is one of the better cases by the way. the worse are getting flayed alive and the arm getting spiralised.

But it's still easier to respect them when their nickname isn't One Eye Billy or Eight Finger Johnny.

Knowing what you did wrong is the only way to stop doing it.