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Looks like a Kevlar vest might be a good idea at the jobsite.
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Looks like a Kevlar vest might be a good idea at the jobsite.
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I was installing some kitchen cabinets one day when the boss was working on a mantel on the same job in a different room. All day I kept hearing various remarks that led me to beleive he was hurt, but everytime I checked he was okay. After lunch we went back to our spots. About ten minutes later I heard the mother of all nasty words and knew he was hurt. Sure enough when I went in he had an 2 1/2 finish nail in his thumb. We removed it on the job and he was okay but I'll never forget the look on his face.
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In 1991 I pulled one out of a guys chest. He was toe nailing fire blocking, and got too much angle. The nail skipped off the stud and into his chest. All I heard was ED!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! I ran over as he was pulling off his sweater and saw about 1/2" of the framing nail sticking out of his chest just below and to the right of his breast bone. The next thing I heard was PULL IT OUT PULL IT OUT!!!!!!!!!!!
So I did. Came out smooth as you please.
The doctor at the hospital said that pulling it out was the worst thing you could do. They could have x-rayed the thing in him to see what it hit. They thought it may have nicked his liver, so he had to spend the night getting a blood test every hour. He was back to work the next day.
Funny.......the next day he started using the cripple stud installation practice of fire blocking and never toe nailed another fire block from the side again.
Ed. Williams
*> the incident was a fluke since the nail evidently pierced a weak spot in the wood and passed through instead of sticking in the woodQuality materials in that modular housing.Rich Beckman
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One of my partners shot himself in the hand last week. I was on another job and didn't see it, but I understand he was holding a stud to the plate on the ground with his left hand and shot through the plate with the gun in his right. The nail came through the corner of the plate and into the muscle between his thumb and forefinger. He's no greenhorn, either, just wasn't thinking.
He was some bloody lucky, if you can say such a thing about any accident. A half inch either way would probably have been a permanent disability. As it was, he doesn't even need a band-aid, now.
It's got all of us here thinking. Your life can change in a hundredth of a second.
Ron
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When I was working in Wyoming a few yrs ago, there was a guy working in a pallet shop at one of the sawmills who shot himself right in back of the skull. Nailed his cap right to his head. They had the guns hanging on these bungee cord things and it seems that one of the guns had a bad safety. He raised his head right into it.
We had to drive him 60 miles to one hospital, than they airlifted him to the Casper hospital. The first thing the doc says is "anyone got a crowbar" :)
Turns out that he was very lucky, the doctor said that he couldn't have picked a better spot for it to go in and he suffered no permanent damage.
Barry
*I was going to do my own post about my accidnet this weekend. Using a finishing nailer to put some pressure treated together -- 5/4. Had to nail a bunch of strips together; was half way through and holding my left hand at what I thought was out of range and had the gun aimed right but it went through my finger. This is what happened -- the grain of the wood would twist the nail out to the side of the board. I know it might be hard to believe but I shot 3 more the next day and all three zipped out to the side -- even with the gun straight the nails could not penetrate the run of the grain---so with a close hand steadying the pieces I ran the risk of being shot. BE CAREFUL.
*We have a lot of people using nail guns constantly, and I seem to be the "designated driver" for taking them to the hospital. I've learned that you get a whole bunch better service at the ER if you take them in with the nail still sticking out of them. A puncture wound just isn't as interesting as a nail protruding from the body. One incident in particular I remember resulted from 2 guys horsing around with a staple gun. One of them got nailed almost dead center in the breastbone. The staple pulled his T-shirt back into his chest a good 1/2". The guy was totally panicked - he thought he was dying. He instantly developed shortness of breath, and said he was dizzy. A trip to the ER revealed that the staple wasn't long enough to do any real damage.
*Good grief! I just read thru these stories. Are you guys really old enough to be using these power tools? Does your mother know what you're doing?WOW! I never knew construction work was so thrilling! You must keep your guardian angels on their toes.Rose
*Rose, You bet they're on their toes. This work is dangerous. Anybody who doesn't realize that is either dumb or stupid.
*I prefer the word "ignorant" to dumb or stupid. Ignorance can be healed with a little knowledge. Personally, I never seriously considered the hazards involved with carpentry work and other building trades.Thanks for enlightening me. :-)A little less ignorant Rose
*This thread's got me wondering; Is there a construction pro on this board who hasn't been injured by a nail gun, table saw or any other power tool? Andy
*I've taken some great biopsies with miter saws, but when it comes to old fashioned gore, I prefer chisels, utility knives, and other hand tools. More pain, less collateral damage...
*pierced my nose with a screwdriver trying to pry battery cable loose under boat deck in tight quarters and ovenlike temperatures...near the stream,ajOh and made a pair of shorts out of my jeans with a chainsaw once with just a scratch on my leg!
*Table saw bit my finger - thought I'd lost the whole thing, but it was just a kerf. Late in the day, outside job, almost dark, trying to finish so I didn't have to come back the next day.......you know the rest.
*Attaboy Jack,Use hand tools! Funny you mention the chainsaw thing, I'm wearing a pair of sweatpants that has a chainsaw rip, same result, just a tiny scratch. Nothing a bunch of stitches couldn't fix.Good thing I keep that sewing kit in the truck!
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Hey Andy: I have been working construction since 1969 and thank God I have never been hurt by a nail gun or a power tool However I was morticing out for some hinges two years ago and cut my index finger to the point where I needed a bunch of stiches to put it back together again, But I have a nail gun story to share, I was putting T-G siding on a house here in Utah when I heard this awful screaming coming from inside of the house, Well it seemd that the framers were still working on the upper level of the house and one guy was nailing down some sheeting. He was probably going too fast because he nailed his foot to the floor with a 16 penny nail We couldnt get his foot off so we cut the floor joist and the sheeting around his foot and took him to the hospital with it still attached, the nurse in the emergency room looked at this unfortunate man and with a straight face asked "how many times did you hit that nail to get it so far into your foot?" The doctor didnt have a clue how to extract the nail so I suggested cutting the head off the nail with my sawzall He was mortified and said NO! after another two hours he came out and said "show me that sawzall so I did and he let me do it. All in all it took 5 hours out of my day and caused both of us much aggravation.
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I whacked myself in the forehead with my 20 oz rocket once, it was a solid shot. No, I didn't knock myself out.
The worst I ever got cut was also the most mindless. I simply reached under and stopped the sawblade with my fingers. Luckily, the saw was already almost stopped and I only got a minor scratch.
But I'm pretty sure my eyes opened so wide that they have stretch marks!
I received minor scratches from a drill bit attacked to a hole hawg once in a similar incident. Just mindless stupidity.
Other than those relatively minor incidents, I've remained injury free. I attribute it to an obsessive mentality that helps me to stay focused on all hazards. The hazards are everywhere and we have to learn to live with them. We control them, they don't control us.
Counting my blessings and 20 digits,
blue
*This thread should be called "Rites of Passage".
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I dislocated my thumb when a radial arm saw kicked back on a rip cut. The safety stuff was in place, but I don't think it even slowed that stick down. Boy, that hurt. I could have pointed west and hitchhiked east.
On the other hand.. No, I don't even want to think about the other hand. That accident was a result of my ignorance and the carelessness that came from ignorance.
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I don't seem to have problems with tools that have moving parts. It's the more difficult to operate that have troubled me, perhaps due to their complex nature! Years ago, while working for a concrete contractor.......well, I was busting up a slab with the usual assortment of demo equip. and the 5ft tall breaker bar got wedged in the slab. With the bent end stuck, I plant myself right behind it and start pulling toward me with all my might. You know....one foot in front, one in back, with both arms straight out and pulling to my chest. You'll never guess what happens when the tip breaks off at a time like that! I had pulled straight back and the thing hits me dead on top of my head. I wake up a few minutes later, and decide it might be a good time to take a day or so off! I'd given myself a concussion! I was wearing only a baseball hat, but my hair was alot longer and bushier then, and I think gave at least a little padding. The boss was nice and didn't dock my pay for beaking company equipment! Jeff
*Mainlanders. I'm not even gonna comment on the radial arm element. (coming to Caperfest?)
*My best on the job injury story took place 3 years ago. I was working by myself building security walls above the T-bar ceiling in an occupied commercial building. Part of assembling the wall was air riveting expanded sheet metal to steel studs well above the facility floor. A section i was working required a difficult ladder set-up on the VCT floor. I stretched and inserted a rivet, the ladder kicked out, i grabbed the wall i was building and stopped sliding. Just about then the air riveter fell off the rivet hitting me on the head. I hung on to conciousness and the wall for a moment. When i had a firm grip on conciousness i climbed down the ladder. While reaching to feel my head i felt blood and cursed. An older woman who worked there looked up surprised and said "I never heard you say that before". I pulled my hand down and turned my bloody palm out for her to see. She fussed over me for a minute but i packed up and drove to the Doctors's office.joe d
*Worst I can think of (luckily) was when I was fastening some blocking overhead. Was using screws: clamping piece with left hand, running drill with right. I used a little too much "oomph" in an awkward position and managed to run a torx bit under the skin of my thumb from the first to second knuckle. Other than the occasional "framers badge of courage" from the working end of a meat-head hammer that's been it.Later. LJ
*Razor knives are my nemisis. Once for a few stitches, other times just a tightly wrapped bandaid. I'm now a big believer in scissors if there is any way to use them instead. I haven't had a problem with power tools maybe because I pay more attention. Long ago on a scout trip, I got 6 stitches from an axe in my leg. The same year my mother got 20 stitches from a chainsaw. I claimed she cheated by using power tools - that's the only reason she got more stitches.
*The most memorable owie for me was when I was working in a production cabinet shop. I was ripping 1/4" ply on the cabinet saw and the tip of the sheet got caught under a dado cutout on the fence. Knowing I couldn't back it out I let go and stepped off to the side. Ohhh, not fast enough to avoid the 6"x4" plywood crotch tracking missile. Yep, square hit on Jimmy and the twins. Doubled me over and took a week for all of the swelling to go down, not too much fun to ice the nether parts. Still able to have kids though...
*I've been very lucky. Only one close call with the circular saw. It kicked back and headed for my leg. Cut the pants and just cut the skin before I got it under control. No stitches, just some alcohol (always keep a bottle in the van) and a bandage. Ever since, when I use that saw, I check to be sure no body parts are behind it.The knives are the worst, lots of alcohol use due to them!Rich Beckman
*Well, I've had a few incidents of my own, for example, the fingernail on my left middle finger grows along the radius of a 10-in. table-saw blade now. But the absolute worst story I know of belongs to my old boss, who among other things, taught me to respect belt sanders. He has an old Craftsman sander with a toggle switch. Plugged it in one day without realizing the switch was on. It jammed his fingers up where the belt heads under the motor and sanded off all of his fingernails. My stomach knots up every time I think of that one.Andy
*Okay, in the list of "probably avoidable" accidents, I once was using a cabinet saw on a jobsite to remove an 1/8" from the tops of about thirty drawers. Of course, it didn't have a blade guard, so when the last piece was pushed through, I turned off the motor. As the saw spun down, I dropped my pencil, and when I reached down to pick it up, the vibration from the saw spinning down must have caught the side of that last drawer front. There was a loud crash as it shot through the wall, and from then on, I've used a tablesaw guard, no matter what. Of course, that doesn't compare to the time I was standing next to a guy who lost fingers in a shaper. All I know is that everytime I do a set up, I always find myself looking for a little piece of wood to push my boards through with...
*This isn't exactly an accident story, but it's worth sharing.I have a friend who damaged his big toenail. It grew in funky and he went to the doc. The doc says it has to come off. So, the doc takes it off and warns that it will probably keep coming back funky and have to be removed each time.Well, my friend doesn't like going to the doctor, so when it grew in funky, he decided to take it off himself. You'll never guess how he did it.HE TOOK A HAMMER AND WHACKED HIS TOE SO HARD THAT THE NAIL FELL OFF!!!!I swear to you it's a true story. And this guy is a very intelligent, hard working guy. His wife just took a huge position at EDS and is in charge of multimillion dollar budgets.By the way, he changed his method of removing the ugly toenail now. Each year, he grabs his vicegrips and....JUST PULLS IT OFF!!!OOOOOOUUUUUUUCCCCCCCHHHHHHHH!blue
*Out here the LA fire department runs a community emergency response training program to teach us what to do to help rather than do more harm after an earthquake. The drill on any kind of impailing injury is never to pull it out unless the place is on fire or about to collapse, and you have to to get the guy out of there. If you have to, cut the impailing object loose and take it along to the ER without changing the relative position between it and the victim.Another surprising point: No tourniquets, except as an absolute last resort. Use direct pressure and elevation instead. Everything past the tourniquet usually has to be amputated, and that precludes re-attaching anything that gets severed.-- J.S.
*Well as far as nail gun stories go.....I have shot myself a few times but the most memoriable is the latest incident....I formed and poured a slab on grade foundation for a client. His plan was to saw cut and stain the concrete for the finish floor....he went into great detail about keeping the floor clean and free from stains from coke, tobacco, paint, etc. during construction.....at the end of the job the stain would be applied..........the first day my helper and i started to frame the first wall to stand up..........i was holding a stud and nailing through the bottom plate with the gun. I had just bought a new bostich gun......the nail went thru the stud and hit a blood vessel in my left hand........before i could get off the slab i had a trail of blood running everywhere......although i cleaned up ok and stopped bleeding his slab had a "blood trail" on it....i tried to tell him it gave the floor character.........he picked out a reddish stain for the finish dye........everything turned out fine and we are both happy but he will be showing my blood to everyone for years to come.........as with everything else you have to know where to look to find it
*Andy's fingernail story reminded me of this one: A friend of mine was pouring concrete for a patio in his back yard. He pushed a wheelbarrow full of cement up to the form, set it down and shuffled his feet into position to get ready to dump it. This was the old style contractor's style wheelbarrow, the kind with the horizontal bar running at ground level between the supports. He was wearing open toed sandals. When he heaved up on the handles, the bar caught both his big toenails and stood them up on end. (Picture the speed brakes on an airplane wing.) He knew what he had done, but was afraid to look. Besides, he had to finish dumping the load. Meanwhile, his 4 yr old kid, who had been playing with his toy truck in the dirt nearby, saw what had happened. Being a bright, observant child he knew right off, this just ain't right. As his dad finished dumping the load, the kid crawled over between his dad's feet pushed the toenails back down flat.
*Ron, the same thing happened too me, the nail split the meat and the bone, i pulled it out and duct taped it tight and finished the day, the recoil was the problem and i dissabled the nose safety and it has not double fired ever since, the safety i use is disconnect the air hose when not in use (not good practice) i work by myself so i dont worry about others as much. i use fire arm safety, look for others before you shoot and no finger on the trigger until your sure its safe etc.... does get time consuming though.
*That sounds way too scary for me. blue
*Duct Tape! Red Green needs to hear about this!Ron
*LOL Ron ! Doesn't Red own the Canadian rights on duct tape ?And bailing wire as well I think ?Wanting to know the answers.....By the sea
*hey Ron and Novy; don't try coming up to Sydney this weekend...there isn't a hotel room to be had. All the Newfoundlanders are in town for the Olympics (Nova Scotia inside joke there folks)
*Adrian, Is this another one of these soapy elephant,radio or was that a salty rosstaferrian quizes ?
*I learned about the difficulties in gluing teak when i was sanding the edges of a lazy susan on the lathe. I ran up the rpm's to finish a little more quickly because i had an art fair to do in three days, at which point the suzy separated and about a third of it attempted to embed in my forehead. The ER doc unfolded the skin and sewed me up nicely with thirteen black stitches. At the art fair, i had double shiners and one eye was closed. I told customers that if i did well enough at the show, i could afford to leave my husband. Did OK at that show.
*Yeah, I hear you guys were having a war with the newfs; they kept throwing handgrenades at the blue-nosers; who then removed the pins and threw them back.
*Andy, Have never been injured by a nail gun. Except the time I had a pin (18 g) enter my index finger only enough to just touch bone. Yes it hurt and yes I cried through the night ! Tiny drop of blood so it was not impressive .Table saw : One day I actually thought ( Read got stupid!!!! ) I made a tired mistake cutting squares on a unisaw and brought the workpiece back through the fence/blade OUCH ( I am Lucky )Kicked me in the belt ! Can tell many stories but the point here is ! FIRST THING MONDAY ...... HAVE A SAFETY MEETING ! It makes a difference ! It gets everyone thinking at the start of the week about being safe !!!!
*Adrian, Ya can't stop a mainlander from go'in to the Island ! We are relentless. We love the Island ! So there !!!!!! Take that #$%^&*))_)
*Blue , The first time I whacked myself with a hammer. Building a camp @ 11 yrs. old ... claw in back of head New thread I think ! It should be called the hammerhead thread !
*No...see, I'll speak slow here...I live near Sydney, Nova Scotia...with me so far? There are no hotel rooms available in Sydney, Nova Scotia now because the Newfoundlanders (God love 'em, some of the finest people anywhere) have all come over...FOR THE OLYMPICS! HAH!(Ron explained the Rosstaferian thing; he apparently has Ross Ferry (home of the world famous Ross Ferry Volunteer Fire Dept. Pork Chop Picnic) connections, and they get up to some stuff.)
*Carefull, Phill; this is one of those "It's okay for me to pick on my brother, cause I love him, but it's another thing when you try it" areas. And they're Newfoundlanders; they don't take kindly to 'newf' or 'newfy'.
*I shot myself a few times, just trim nails, but this accident will take the cake.I was working in a handicap van conversion shop, the bosses brother in law(SLOW) was drilling a piece of 3/16 flat stock. Before i go any further, you know what happen when you drill thru carpet, it get wrapped around the bit. Well he was applying alot of pressure, because the bit was dull, but it finally broke thru. Too bad he was using one leg to support the stock as the red hot bit plunged into his crotch. Back to that carpet referance, the skin of the sack wrapped around the bit, and he could not pull it free(remember its hot), he finally has to manually reverse the drill.You never catch me drill on my lapDavid
*David's story takes the prize. The boys headed north reading that one.I watch Bob Riley on Bob Vila's Home again. He always works so frantically, and missing a few phelanges. Reminds me to s l o w down and think.Did anyone see the funny thread at TOH message board a few years ago concerning how Riley lost those digits? Still makes me chuckle.
*b WBA Apprentice I give up any chance of respect around these parts with this one. About 8 years ago we were doing maintainence work on a large home, and on this day I left my brain at home. We needed to install about 300 of those 2 1/2" round aluminum vents in a beaded board soffit. The soffit was on a hip roof and was probably about 10 feet above ground. My partner and I were drilling holes with 6" long self-feeding drill bits while standing on 8' stepladders. For some reason, I wasn't satisfied with the pace, so I donned my 42" Durastilts (fully extended, of course). Now I was going to fly! Did I mention we were outside in January in Pennsylvania and it started to snow - HARD! I kept right drilling over my head with my big 1/2" Black and Decker fat boy D-handle drill that all of the spacklers use. After about another 30 minutes of this, I got a little tired and it was then when the bit hit its first nail. What I didn't realize was that the trigger switch had been locked on by my heavy winter gloves. The drill spun out of my hands and continued to spin in the hole for a second before the bit fell out of the hole and directly into the front pocket of my gonad-high canvas nail apron. Now the drill is still at full throttle, and it proceeds to shred my nail apron into confetti. It had to be God watching over me because somehow the cord on the drill was severed clean without a spark. Can you imagine my partner's sight of me standing outside on huge stilts in 4" of snow wearing my Carhartt jacket and a ten pound drill dangling from the pieces of my nail apron? I didn't have a scratch, but my underwear didn't fare so well...
*I'll make you a deal, Tim. I'll respect you, but I get to ROFLMAO@you, and more specificaly, the mental image of a drill trying to (apologies to Bart Simpson) eat your shorts.
*Allaround, I think everyone has a nail gun story. I would like to share mine. I work for a small company that provides field trainning in historic preservation. It was only last year that we purchased a pneaumatic set up. So we are all air tool green. A few weeks ago on a deck project we had a trainee nailing in blocking between the joists. I showed her how to use the gun and explained how to use it safely. My attention was drawn to administrative stuff in the house. Suddenly there was no more noise outside so I went to see, because I didn't want to miss coffee break. The trainee was talking to the trim carpenter, asking him how to remove a nail from her thumb. Apparently she held the trigger down that half second longer then you should and it double fired on the kick back of the first nail and sent a 16d through the web of her thumb and index finger. The trim carpenter pulled it out then sat down for an early coffee break.
*i a pneaumatic set upmust be referring to that Canadian band French Aire ;)))))
*Suppose I should share a few stories of my own, a funny one and a couple of not so funny. The humor first...ever use one of those Airy 18 gauge trim guns? Ever think how silly a double trigger saftey is? I was sitting on a counter talking with my boss one day and my fingers got "itchy", pulled both of the triggers and shot myself in the thigh from 2 feet with a 1 1/2 nail mid conversation. His eyes go a bit big, I just keep talking and casually pull the nail out with my fingers (only went an inch deep) and disconnect the air hose...he wasn't impressed (neither was I). My runner up for worst was shooting myself in the joint of my index finger. I was nailing up a piece of t&g pine run vertically inside this house we were doing. Had to install through an archway and had to bevel the entire piece (about 8' worth). I had just glued up the work and had my hand pinching the top of the boards together, shot the first nail, and it curled out into my hand. Hit the bone and knocked my hand free of the trim. First thing I had to do was try not to bleed all over my work and find someone to finish nailing up my allready drying pine. My all time worst was similar to another story I read above. Was nailing up a wall, top plate to studs, had my left hand holding the stud and shot through a knot...a big one. The nail kicked out and sailed through my watch band into my wrist. I then begin to bleed like a stuck pig. Turns out that I nicked the artery in my wrist. Doc says that if it wasn't for the watch I would have ended up an amputee. I LOVE YOU TIMEX :)
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This story is from The Milwaukee Journal Sentinel the week of August 28th.
>Tim Pachan's co-workers now call him "Ironman" after he was accidentally shot in the chest with a nail gun. The Owen man was working last week at Badger Homes, a Dorchester company that makes modular homes, when a nail fired by a co-worker went straight through a piece of wood and into Pachan's chest. Only the head of the 3 1/2-inch, 16-penny nail could be seen sticking out of Pachan's chest.
>"It's surprising; there was little pain. I didn't really feel it," Pachan said. "In fact, the most painful part was when nurses removed my Band-Aid -- you know, taking my chest hair with it," he said.
>X-rays were taken to make sure the nail hadn't struck any-thing vital. It hit him in the left upper chest, not near his heart, but it came close to puncturing his lung.
>"The doctors told me it bounced off a rib, and em-bedded in muscle and tissue," he said.
>The co-worker wielding the nail gun apologized profusely but Pachan said the incident was a fluke since the nail evidently pierced a weak spot in the wood and passed through instead of sticking in the wood.
>"I was only at the hospital for an hour. They told me if it hadn't happened so close to quitting time, I could have gone back to work,", Pachan said. "I kept the nail. It still has a piece of my shirt hanging on it."
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