-I was recently reminded how important taking care of your hands is, particularly for woodwind musicians. I cannot seal the G hole of my whistle or play any proper notes on my chanter because of the bandage on my finger. I cut off the very tip of my finger yesterday at work.
So…i want to hear some pipers’ stories about accidents which hindered or ended your ability to play temporaily. Im sure there are alot of stories out there.
-alex
Michael Hubbert is missing the tip of an index finger (I can’t remember which) he claims it actually make it easier to play
My owie was a trifle in comparison. I detached the tendon that connects the distal phalange from the intermediate phalange on the second finger of my left hand. So you could just go doingity-doingity-doingity with the floppy end of the finger. This happened while removing the sock from my left foot. 
I plunged the finger into a bag of frozen peas within minutes. Once again a bag of frozen vegetables saves the day 
I had to wear a splint for 8 weeks. I was able to pipe by carving away the pad area of the splint. There was some clacking in my playing during that period as I recall.
t
Tendonitis!!! 
Luckily for me there was a local physiotherapy clinic specializing in treatment for musicians.
Even better the doctor was a Highland piper! A few good stretching excercises put me right back on track. 
I had a close call yesterday. I take part in that extremely finger-friendly sport of rock climbing. I had two fingers deep in a little tiny hole, my other hand holding the mere suggestion of a rock, while both feet are more or less parallel with my two hands (much like frog, yes). I was so intent on leaping up towards a hold that I forgot to remove the fingers from the tiny hole.
Luckily, I managed to avoid breaking the finger lovingly referred to as “the bird” and it seems to more-or-less work for piping. It make a lovely cracking sound every once in awhile when I move it side-to-side.
OK, I’m off to ice it some more.
I was carrying a big die block from the grinder to the bench at work and didn’t notice a .020" shim standing on end, propped between two other blocks on said bench. While setting the block down, I caught the corner of the shim with the outside of my first finger. the inertia of the 40-50 lbs of steel helped the shim slice my hand off at the elbow. . .
Or at least slice the finger clean open almost all the way between the first two knuckles. At first I tried to just wrap it in a paper towel and tape it up… then I realized just how deep it was and how much it openned when I moved my finger. It was fascinating and ugly. I kinda couldn’t stop looking at it. My second thought was that the forthcoming stitches were gonna wreak havoc on my enthusiastic practice regimen… It’ll royally mess up my C’s, so it will.
I was actually able to pick up the chanter without any trouble again in a day or so… so it turns out to not be a very dramatic story… but it is my favorite work related scar to date. All the smaller cuts have actually had more impact… essentially paper cuts from freshly ground corners, little things you don’t notice until you get coolant or soap in them and then bother you for a week thereafter. And always on parts of the hand important to gripping things or covering the odd tonehole here and there.
I once had a nasty accident while trying to figure out and implementing (what I thought was a clever) way of getting a cask full of bricks from the ground to the roof of a 4 story building… but I won’t bore you with the details. 
I was coaching my son’s soccer team a few years ago and putting up the net on the crossbar, which was made of square steel tubing. I wasn’t using a ladder and when the net got hung up on the crossbar I just jumped up to tug it off and hung my wedding ring, and myself momentarily, on the edge of the crossbar. The ring cut into my finger to the tune of nine stitches. I had a gig that evening and just took off the bandage to play(gingerly yes, but still played.)
I knew it was only a matter of time before that ring would bite me. 
I nearly spilled a fresh bottle of Guinness,before a practice session but recovered quickly & went on…
phew..
man…
That’ll teach you to drink Mother’s Milk directly from the pint glass (or tap if the barkeep’s not watching) instead of bottles.
<high-pitched voice>Well, son, let me tell you the dangers of shaving a reed on your lap. </high-pitched voice> 
djm
Last week I burnt the side of my left point finger flat, 
so I had to play in the right position and relaxed, just to avoid contact with the damaged zone. Ooooohhooooo!!!
..boy do I* have stories! I can’t believe I can still count to 10! The worst involves an entire can of 4f black powder which happened to explode 6 inches from my right hand.
…uh Joe…that brick story…er..um…never mind… 
Ya, well this one time, (no, not at band camp) I picked up this folder at work and it gave me this really nasty paper cut…
It kind of hurt a lot, you know?
I was building a patio last year for my roommates mom, went to the rock supplier, was unloading some very large flagstones off of their pallet, the metal restraint for the stones snapped, a 250 pound monster of a piece comes crashing down on the middle of my left thumb. Long story, well, not so short my thumb needed 12 stitches below the knuckle and I severed a nerve. At least i won’t be able to feel a badly finished back D hole now. 
So…that was you, eh???
It might amuse you to know that I threatened a certain guitarist/vocalist of our fomer mutual aquaintance, with a forced reenactment of that very song.
A few weeks ago I was cutting back the tip of a reed I had just spent an hour or so on, and the most interesting cut I have ever had was soon to follow.
I had just moved, and a lot of things had gone temporarily missing, determined to get the reed made, I used what I could find: Box Cutter (New Blade), and a small random piece of wood ( for a cutting block).
I lined up for the cut, and soon as I noticed, the knife slipped off the reed and the cutting block catching my back D thumb to the table. It was on the side of the thumb, making an interesting “slice of pizza” shaped flap ( about 1/4 inch long).
The worst part of the whole situation was that as soon as I cut my self, I was more worried about the reeds well being then my own (only because I knew immediately the cut wasn’t too bad)…I picked up by the partially wrapped staple… side one) Check… thats good… Side two)…has a crack running length wise … damn!
lesson learned… cut on a hard and stable block of wood
This topic makes me cringe, but here I go anyway…
As with Misterpatrick, I always thought that years of jamming my digits into cracks and hanging full body weight off them that I would someday take a big whipper whilst leaving something precious behind, but I think now that rock climbing will never have the same potential danger to the digits as power tools.
I was machining a new back plate for a chuck on the lathe out of ductile cast iron. It was almost bed time and I was trying to put the finishing touches on it and call it a night. This stuff really wears out the tool bits, and creates a lot of nasty black dust. I had the lathe running on power feed while I was sharpening another carbide tool bit to put the final finish cut on the work. I was using the right tool for the job, my carbide face grinder, something that I used to think was pretty safe and predictable until then. I’m not sure what happened (things happen really fast at 3500 rpms), but the tool bit must have snagged when I re-positioned it on the table and wham! I yanked my finger away instictively, the tip of my finger was still there but right away I could tell it was bad. Could not feel any pain initially (a bad sign). I gingerly pryed at my finger tip to inspect the damage and blood began to gush everywhere, also getting metal dust all over the wound! Tore completely through the nail of my right index finger nd broke the tip of the bone, but did not completely severe the finger tip, otherwise I would still be looking for it amongst all the metal and wood shavings covering my shop floor.
Had to kick off the lathe power, run inside and wake the missus to take my sorry butt to the emergency room. Needless to say she was not very pleased. I looked like I stepped out of a coal mine, filthy head to toe. After a 6 hour wait (it was Saturday night in the ER so I was low on triage) the doc managed to sew it back while we both watched Blazing Saddles on the TV.
I still can not feel anything with the tip of my finger. Luckily it does not interfere with my piping (or climbing); I’m still as awful as I was before on the pipes (but I can still climb as well)! But another local piper, who shall remain anonymous, had to take the opportunity to point out that I will never be able to tell when I accidentially poke through the toilet paper (gee, thanks for pointing that one out to me).
John.
As with Misterpatrick, I always thought that years of jamming my digits into cracks and hanging full body weight off them that I would someday take a big whipper whilst leaving something precious behind, but I think now that rock climbing will never have the same potential danger to the digits as power tools.
Perhaps there should be a C&F piping climbers forum - seems you can take pipes anywhere. In this case a highland pipe but I suppose one could strap on the Uilleanns if one found a suitable ledge
That is some doc 
t