In my plastics workshop, from time to time we need our saw
blades sharpened.
A sales rep from the
sharpening company comes a few times a year, takes the blades away and brings
them back sharpened in a week or so.
One visit, out of idle curiosity, I asked the saw blade man
if any of his customers ever lost a finger.
"Oh, yes,” he answered rather matter of factly. “Probably about a digit a week." I was
floored. I had never expected that rate... and uncompassionately calling them “digits”...
He went on to the story of an oldtimer customer of his. The old guy had run a lumber yard full of
probably very dangerous saws without accident. Retired for many years, he was using
his table saw at his home shop and did the classic stupid thing. After a saw cut, he tried to remove a little
cutoff sliver and it dragged his finger into the blade, cutting it off.
"Did you get it
sewn back on?" asked the saw blade man.
The oldtimer replied "I'm 92 years old. Why would I bother?"
The point is, there are stages in life that you haven’t even
considered. I'm still at the stage where the finger would get sewn back on.
