# Miter saw suicide **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [July 31, 2014, 4:59am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/miter-saw-suicide/694467 "2014-07-31T04:59:05Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 16\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Artemis\_Tardis](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/4bbf92/32.png) [@Artemis\_Tardis](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Artemis_Tardis)\ **Post date:** [July 31, 2014, 4:59am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/miter-saw-suicide/694467/1 "2014-07-31T04:59:05Z")
Let’s say a woodworker see his wife with the neighbour. Heart aching, he positions his neck under his mighty Miter Saw, turns it on and pulls it down with all his might. Would he be able to chop his own head off with the saw? Maybe if he tied a weight to push the saw down? I read on the news about a guy who tried that and just passed out (probably because he didn’t got the angle right…). Could a more (un)lucky person achieve his objective of separating body and head? ---
**Author:** ![Joey\_P](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/919ad9/32.png) [@Joey\_P](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Joey_P)\ **Post date:** [July 31, 2014, 5:03am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/miter-saw-suicide/694467/2 "2014-07-31T05:03:05Z")
If he locked (or taped) the trigger and put a weight on it, I can’t see any reason why it wouldn’t work as long as he made sure his shoulders and head didn’t get in the way of anything (like the motor housing or safety guards. Even if something did get in the way, I’d think the blade would get awfully deep. Probably deep enough to kill him, especially if he did if laying on his back (so it slit his throat and/or carotid arteries) or laying on his front (so it cut his spinal cord). ---
**Author:** ![chacoguy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/50afbb/32.png) [@chacoguy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/chacoguy)\ **Post date:** [July 31, 2014, 5:16am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/miter-saw-suicide/694467/3 "2014-07-31T05:16:56Z")
[With enough determination, lots of thing will work.](http://www.guns.com/2014/02/10/ceo-commits-suicide-shoots-head-nail-gun-eight-times/) ---
**Author:** ![Artemis\_Tardis](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/4bbf92/32.png) [@Artemis\_Tardis](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Artemis_Tardis)\ **Post date:** [July 31, 2014, 5:25am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/miter-saw-suicide/694467/4 "2014-07-31T05:25:07Z")
I always thought that [this scene](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LObi6gE-fOo) was really impossible… ---
**Author:** ![ducati](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/cc9497/32.png) [@ducati](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ducati)\ **Post date:** [July 31, 2014, 10:01am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/miter-saw-suicide/694467/5 "2014-07-31T10:01:43Z")
Courtesy of my old Faces Of Death tapes, there is included photos and video of a suicide scene where a despondent worker managed to cut himself in half with a large bandsaw. That’s determination. ---
**Author:** ![Zeldar](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/z/b77776/32.png) [@Zeldar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Zeldar)\ **Post date:** [July 31, 2014, 11:58am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/miter-saw-suicide/694467/6 "2014-07-31T11:58:32Z")
Please don’t take this as a complaint or a nitpick, but my first reaction to the title was “Might have seen suicide.” (Which would have also been enough to click on it!) 😃 ---
**Author:** ![SpeedwayRyan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/ce7236/32.png) [@SpeedwayRyan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SpeedwayRyan)\ **Post date:** [July 31, 2014, 12:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/miter-saw-suicide/694467/7 "2014-07-31T12:52:35Z")
> [@ducati](#): > > Courtesy of my old Faces Of Death tapes, there is included photos and video of a suicide scene where a despondent worker managed to cut himself in half with a large bandsaw. > > That’s determination. And we all know there was nothing fake in the Faces of Death movies! 😉 ---
**Author:** ![Machine\_Elf](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/82dd89/32.png) [@Machine\_Elf](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Machine_Elf)\ **Post date:** [July 31, 2014, 3:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/miter-saw-suicide/694467/8 "2014-07-31T15:00:38Z")
[Article here](http://news.excite.com/odd/article/id/43351%7Coddlyenough%7C05-07-2003::09:25%7Creuters.html) about a guy in South Africa who committed suicide by cutting halfway through his neck with the bandsaw in a grocery store’s meat department. ---
**Author:** ![Cognoscant](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/bbe5ce/32.png) [@Cognoscant](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cognoscant)\ **Post date:** [August 2, 2014, 2:26am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/miter-saw-suicide/694467/9 "2014-08-02T02:26:12Z")
There used to be this site called rotten dot com, and…yeah. Photographic evidence and everything. ---
**Author:** ![Zeldar](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/z/b77776/32.png) [@Zeldar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Zeldar)\ **Post date:** [August 2, 2014, 2:34am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/miter-saw-suicide/694467/10 "2014-08-02T02:34:52Z")
> [@Cognoscant](#): > > There used to be this site called rotten dot com, and…yeah. Photographic evidence and everything. One of those places where what they show cannot be unseen. Grisly would be the term for their milder stuff. PS: the site is still there but just inactive for years. Proceed at your own risk; no links from me. ---
**Author:** ![ducati](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/cc9497/32.png) [@ducati](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ducati)\ **Post date:** [August 3, 2014, 12:51am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/miter-saw-suicide/694467/11 "2014-08-03T00:51:19Z")
> [@Cognoscant](#): > > There used to be this site called rotten dot com, and…yeah. Photographic evidence and everything. I have been there. I wish I hadn’t. ---
**Author:** ![EmAnJ](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/d2c977/32.png) [@EmAnJ](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/EmAnJ)\ **Post date:** [August 3, 2014, 1:38am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/miter-saw-suicide/694467/12 "2014-08-03T01:38:59Z")
There was a call a few years ago that my husband thankfully didn’t respond to of a guy who committed suicide via chainsaw. He positioned it at the right height, taped the throttle down, and ran at it. It worked. ---
**Author:** ![Hail\_Ants](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/dc4da7/32.png) [@Hail\_Ants](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hail_Ants)\ **Post date:** [August 3, 2014, 2:17am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/miter-saw-suicide/694467/13 "2014-08-03T02:17:35Z")
> [@Zeldar](#): > > One of those places where what they show cannot be unseen. Grisly would be the term for their milder stuff. > > PS: the site is still there but just inactive for years. Proceed at your own risk; no links from me. There’s an active site even worse. Not good or better gore, but, well, you figure it out. Or don’t, cause you’ll regret it (its stuff is definitely NOT fake)… ---
**Author:** ![Chefguy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chefguy/32/138_2.png) [@Chefguy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chefguy)\ **Post date:** [August 3, 2014, 3:23am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/miter-saw-suicide/694467/14 "2014-08-03T03:23:51Z")
I’d have to wonder what the guy’s angle was. ---
**Author:** ![Elendil\_s\_Heir](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/7cd45c/32.png) [@Elendil\_s\_Heir](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Elendil_s_Heir)\ **Post date:** [August 3, 2014, 3:28am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/miter-saw-suicide/694467/15 "2014-08-03T03:28:35Z")
Measure twice, cut once. _Once_. ---
**Author:** ![Zeldar](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/z/b77776/32.png) [@Zeldar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Zeldar)\ **Post date:** [August 3, 2014, 3:35am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/miter-saw-suicide/694467/16 "2014-08-03T03:35:54Z")
> [@Chefguy](#): > > I’d have to wonder what the guy’s angle was. Thinking of improving his cut? 😃