I took a serious finger-pinch when the second bent was going up. "Stop" had been called about 4/5ths of the way up, and "stop" had happened; there was a piece of exterior wall framing in the way. The obstruction was right in front of me, so I leaned in to check on how much room was needed to clear it—and in doing that, carelessly put my hand where I shouldn't have. So, when the frame suddenly shifted, as sometimes happens in the dynamic environment of a timber-frame raising, my right ring finger got pinched. It hurt like a good pinch hurts; nothing too terrible. It wasn't until about ten minutes later when I took off my glove that I realized there was a problem. Basically, my fingertip (from about mid-fingerprint to high behind the fingernail) had been about 90% ripped off; my fingertip was a flap of flesh hinged by a small bit of skin on one side. It was a surprisingly clean wound, more like it had been cut with a knife than pinched by tons of wood. As I write, it's the third day since my trip to the emergency room. The stitches come out in about ten days. It's healing remarkably fast, and hurts much less than it probably ought to. Still, I wouldn't recommend the experience to anyone, if for no other reason than that doctors ain't cheap... and it looks really gross.

This is the first bad injury I've had on a worksite, and I've been on a good few of 'em. I say this as much for me as for you: Be careful.