Kids, tools and accidents.

[8squared]

A few days ago I was watching Paul Sellers Christmas ideas on YouTube.... Using a spokeshave and small piece of wood he made a propeller on a stick which was great.

I had a go and as expected it was a simple 5 minute thing anyone can do... So...

I asked my lad (11) did he want to make one to which he said yes.

Now this wasn't the first time he's made anything and anytime he's wanted to make things I've explained, showed and gone through all the safety aspects.

So he made one with my supervision and was happy with it... Untill the other kids threw it and broke it.


Last night the kids were going to bed and as he goes to bed later he asked could he go make another... To which I said ok but be careful and remember how I showed you.


Sometime later...


I'm upstairs with the missus, our daughter and her mate and we're putting the youngest in bed





WHEN........






We hear my lad screaming... Then he appears at the top of stairs....





BLOOD EVERYWHERE face and top covered in it all dripping through the house too... thankfully there's only two drops in my workshed.

The girls disappeared and the missus was just screaming do something... She doesn't like blood.


In the kitchen trying to stop it bleeding I noticed a dent in the side of his nose... Nothing too bad I thought to myself he's only caught himself a little and cut a big vein.

Fifteen minutes later the bleeding has stopped enough to have a look....


SHOCK.....


He has a good sized slice that's goes deep enough to know straight away that we were going to A&E.


He had a meeting with a plastic surgeon early this morning as he needs an operation on Monday to fix it.


During all this I asked him what happened, eventually he told us...

He was using a chisel (a new one that I sharpened) when he pushed a little hard and it somehow came up and caught him in the nose.

Accidents happen just hope he learns from it.


On a lighter note.... He asked after the surgery what will he look like.

 

[Zeddedhed]

Fortunately nothing too serious.
Probably more useful for him in terms of tool safety than 100 lessons or lectures.

Hope the little guy isn't too traumatised and gets back in the saddle - get well soon young master 8squared.

 

[NickWelford]

A scar always looks great. Tell him it's a babe magnet.

 

[Monkey Mark]

A scar always looks great. Tell him it's a babe magnet.

As opposed to a chisel magnet?

Hope he ok and surgery goes well.

 

[Bodgers]

Nasty. Not sure about an 11 year old unsupervised in a workshop though...


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[gregmcateer]

Yikes!
Glad he's OK. Hopefully, as said above, he'll learn a valuable lesson.

 

[8squared]

Excuse the bad photo as it just looks like a bad graze when in fact it's quite a big flap and you can see through his nose.

Surgery isn't anything to worry about, it just needs stitching from inside and he should only be left with a little scar.


As for being left unsupervised he has been left many times after many demonstrations of shop safety and me watching quietly while he made stuff to ensure he was doing things safely.


I had him back in the workshed today to see what exactly happened....


After using a spokeshave he then tilted the workpiece in the vice but nowhere near enough to prevent any slip of a chisel coming upwards rather than away from the body... His second mistake was using a 24mm chisel rather than a 8mm... All he was doing was taking the sharp corners off the work piece.


He knows what he done wrong so I'm sure like me he won't be repeating the same mistake twice.

 

[CHJ]

Frightening thought is that could so easily have been an Eye.

Hope all goes well with the surgery and that experience helps prevent similar occurrences.

 

[deema]

At 9, I was wondering with all my mates to the local woods, climbing trees, fishing, camping, messing about with pen knives that are now bannef for their blade size. Playing with my fathers tools in the garage when he wasn't looking. Like everyone else had my share of cuts a bruises.....blinking marvellous.

An 11 year old unsupervised having had instruction sounds perfectly safe to me. After all every male of the species seeks danger and testing themselves as you go through childhood with small toys to childhood with really big toys.

Oh, and at 5 I along with everyone else walked to school on our own!! Anyone walking with mum was seriously ridiculed and ostracised.

How the world has changed........for the worse!

 

[bugbear]

He knows what he done wrong so I'm sure like me he won't be repeating the same mistake twice.

Ouch. You can thank your $DEITY that it wasn't worse.

BugBear

 

[mouppe]

Glad he's going to be fine. You have to have your own rules that work for you. And the benefits to the boy of being in a workshop instead of on an iPad are well worth it imo.

My own rule with my kids who are 7 and 9 is they can use saws, planes, spokeshaves, drills, small axes, but not chisels without a mallet. And I let them use sloyd knives but I've shown them how to push the blade away from the body when carving.

I basically try to cut out all the ways I've injured myself!

 

[Bodgers]

No matter how much you think a 7, 9 or 11 year old is OK in a workshop full of potentially dangerous tools, most of us have to answer to our spouses/partners, and I'm not sure 'no supervision at all' would go down as a part of a reasonable explanation in our house if somebody got hurt.

Going back 20+ years ago to my school days (between 11-13), I can't remember at any point being unsupervised in any CDT/woodwork class - but I suppose we all do what we thought was appropriate at the time...

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[n0legs]

Let's not be hard on 8squared, remember we don't know this child.
I had an 8x6 shed as a combined Xmas and birthday present when I was 12. No supervision, learned the hard way and sometimes learned the easy way. Great, great times.
I'll add, the most dangerous accidents I've had was whilst under supervision.

The boy will be fine. I hope it doesn't put him off.

 

[deema]

A very unfortunate accident, and although giving everyone a real scare no harm done. I'm sure the little chap will now have a far more healthy respect for the tools. It's important to get him back in the shop to boost his confidence again.

Personally it's my humble opinion that there is far too much concern for H&S with kids, hence I believe the demise of all the wood working and metal working shops in schools. Yes accidents do occur and on unfortunate occasions they are very serious. However, kids in my youth did not 'plank' or do other equally far more dangerous stuff to fulfill their need to test themselves. I'm sure many will disagree, but then again I'm one of those who morned the passing of the slipper, cane, thrown chalk and board rubber and the clip around the back of the head for misbehaving. Having lived through it as a youth, I can hand on heart say that we were all better off for it, and had a more civilised, polite society. Sorry, getting off the point, which is IMO he acted as a responsible parent.

 

[Zeddedhed]

A very unfortunate accident, and although giving everyone a real scare no harm done. I'm sure the little chap will now have a far more healthy respect for the tools. It's important to get him back in the shop to boost his confidence again.

Personally it's my humble opinion that there is far too much concern for H&S with kids, hence I believe the demise of all the wood working and metal working shops in schools. Yes accidents do occur and on unfortunate occasions they are very serious. However, kids in my youth did not 'plank' or do other equally far more dangerous stuff to fulfill their need to test themselves. I'm sure many will disagree, but then again I'm one of those who morned the passing of the slipper, cane, thrown chalk and board rubber and the clip around the back of the head for misbehaving. Having lived through it as a youth, I can hand on heart say that we were all better off for it, and had a more civilised, polite society. Sorry, getting off the point, which is IMO he acted as a responsible parent.

I'm with you all the way on this one.
I have two young kids, 7 (going on 17) year old daughter and 10 year old son, and whilst I hate the thought of them coming to any harm I also feel they need to be allowed to experience certain things - accidents if you will. I see so many parents these days who are terrified of their kids getting a scratch and subsequently don't ever let them climb a tree, swing on a rope across a stream, whittle a twig with a penknife, ride a skateboard etc etc. What a miserable childhood that must be.

I fully understand that a workshop environment is potentially lethal (not just to kids) and that common sense should prevail. My kids are welcome in my workshop anytime and are welcome to use my tools. They've been shown how to use knives and chisels, and they fully understand what can happen if they get it wrong (an unfortunate incident where Dad nearly cut off two fingers with a circular saw!!) So they use the tools carefully. If I catch them mucking about they are banned for a week or two - it breaks their hearts to be refused entry.

Personal choice I guess, but lets not get too carried away with the fear of an accident.

 

[mind_the_goat]

Given the risks of serious injury we all subject ourselves to when we enter our workshops one could make a very valid argument that none of us should ever work alone. I don't think an 11 year old who has had a good mentor is any less able to asses risk than an adult, in fact I'm sure many adults with no real training and access to sharp tools (and some with training) would be far far more likely to injure themselves. It's also often the case that risk is not fully understood until the possible consequences are seen, or, as in this case, experienced. This incident will teach him more than hours of lectures on H&S.
Hope it heals well.

 

[Sheffield Tony]

I don't think an 11 year old who has had a good mentor is any less able to asses risk than an adult.

I think it varies very wildly with the particular child. I sometimes let children "have a go" with a drawknife and shavehorse, or on the pole lathe. I've also supervised scouts whittling (once, and never again - one to one, or at most one to two; never a bigger group !). Some children are amazing - listen, take care, concentrate and have good control of what they are doing. Others just handling a sharp tool wave it about in such an uncoordinated way you want to take a smartish step backward !

The other thing is that as well as whether they are able to assess risk, they actually routinely do. When I was a kid/youth, you felt immortal ! stuff like that happened to other people. I had access from a very early age to a garage full of tools - I was certainly using hand tools unsupervised at 8. Don't think I got to use the welder and angle grinder until early teens But too much of my risk assessment I learned the hard way - I think where a knife cut will stop now, after the one that stopped in the bone of my index finger having gone through a nerve and nicked a tendon. I think about whether an angle grinder might snatch after the time I ran one into my shin. I would definitely want to spare any youngster those sort of learning experiences !

Poking your nose with a chisel is quite an achievement - I hope it all heals nicely.

 

[8squared]

I don't see any issues with having children in a workshop if rules are made and abided by then after sometime the trust should be there that if of the right age they should be fine to work unsupervised.

In this case my lad is 11 and does a fair bit in mine, he follows the rules and doesn't mess about if he gets stuck on anything he will ask so I felt safe in the fact he was unsupervised.

What happened was because he had a slight error of judgment by not tilting his workpiece away from himself enough... It would be a whole different matter if it happened because he was being wreckless and stupid.


What happens from here is I think another reminder of safe use of tools and to think about what he's doing and what might happen if he gets it wrong.


As for him... He's doing fine, nose is feeling no better than before but he had a few good days off school but now he's going back will be the hard part... Trying to play with friends and not knocking it.

 

[Claymore]

wait until Santa brings him a Chainsaw for chrimbo! 9-) beats a Wayne Rooney Shirt and a One Direction album anyday

 

[Mark-numbers]

An unfortunate accident, one that will make him stronger - good on you for encouraging it - Why do we insist on molly coddling children these days?

My old man had a butchers shop, I was boning out half sides of beef when I was 10!!