Oopps I did it again. cut my finger again that is

   I had a little production line going making 3/8 inch quarter round.  I needed about 30 feet of that stuff to hold the 12 stained glass window panes in the door for our down stairs bathroom.  This door project has been on going for a few months but now the glass is ready and the door and frame painted, all that remained was for me to make a bunch of 1/4 round to hold the panes in place.

   A job like making wee pieces of trim is why I keep off cuts.  I had a pile of 18-36 inch pieces of poplar, 2 inches wide (more or less) and 1/2 inch think.  The process was assembly line perfect.  
First, the planer.

   I make an effort to be careful with the planer so I only plan pieces at least 12 inches long and usually 18 inches and up.  Aside from the safety aspect short pieces suffer from snipe big time.  I planed half a dozen boards and then went to work on the router table and table saw.

  First I cut a round over profile on the boards at the router table, at all times showing that whirring blade the total respect that it deserves.   I never let my fingers get close to the blade, never, the router table sort of scares me.

   After cutting the profile I went to the table saw and ripped off a thin piece.

    Then I would go back to the router and cut another profile, and then rip off another thin strip.  

    I was  very careful with the planer, and super careful with the router table and well, I've used a table saw for years.

    Years of experience can just lead to carelessness.  I cut the tip of my left index finger really well trying to get one more thin strip of trim, one too many it seems.  I lost about half of the finger nail and have a serious slice in the ol' digit.  Lots of blood and lots of feeling stupid.  

    This afternoon I  made  a splint to protect the tip from being bumped, which was happening every few minutes.  The splint is a good idea, bumping, not so much.   Another good idea is I put the guard back on the table saw, and it is staying there.  If I can't make the cut with the guard on, I am not making the cut.  I have a router table, a band saw, a jig saw, a circular saw, a reciprocal saw, several hand saws etc. etc.  there will be a way for me to do a job with out getting bitten, again.  This is the worst injury from a table saw and the second in four years, that is a message to smarten up. I guess I was just too obtuse to get the message four years ago.