Ok here goes my attempt at an interesting ( hopefully) thread.
My most embarassing moment was when I brushed my Bostich Framing nailer against the top of my foot…Yep I had the trigger pulled and hit the trip and nailed my foot to the deck! The nail head stopped about 1 inch into my foot ( dead center) . The worst part, aside from the pain, was the new Redwing Boot was no longer waterproof.Being pinned as I was, I couldn’t reach any tools or call for help. I was in the middle of nowhere! Long story short… I used the air hose to lasso the sawzall & cut between the boot & the deck. Then used needlenose pliers to dig the nail out. VERY PAINFUL!! Lesson learned, Baby!! Respect the nailer! Sad, I know, but absolutely true! Come on guys, fess up It’s like a giant scar comparrison fest!
Miami
Replies
Not sure if this was dumb or just ignorant. When I was about 10 I was puttying a window laid across sawhorses. I leaned on the glass to reach a little farther and it broke. Nifty gash from wrist to elbow. And my dad had to go buy another piece of glass. Only about an inch and a half long scar.
3 by .131 from a Hitachi nailer through the femur, right above the kneecap.
The nail went in and the head of the nail stopped at the bone. It was a nice one month vacation from work.
tommy was in the emergency room with my wife last nite , and a fellow carpenter did the samething you discribed . they we're gonna go in as we sat there. i was just grimacing for this guy and finally stole a peak at it. this poor guy was more embarrrased thenin pain. the head of the nail was about 1/4" above the skin...........yeowza
Guy nails his foot to the floor. His buddies decide to cut out a section of the deck and take the whole thing to the emergency room and let them decide the best way to get it off. While they're working on him, one of the nurses keeps looking at him, finally blurts out, "Why did you keep hitting it?"
ROTFLMAO
"Why did you keep hitting it?"
'cause it felt so good the first time.Excellence is its own reward!
You guys see on the news about the guy who got shot in the head with a nail gun. He had it (the nail) removed and hes ok... He better say a few hail marys tonight Darkworksite4: When the job is to small for everyone else, Its just about right for me"
Y'know everyone and I mean every single one of the guys on the job I'm working on has asked "was she a blonde?" after I told them that story.Steve
S.J.MERRETTE Carpentry & Construction • Robesonia, PA
Nothing is impossible...It just hasn't been done yet.
Does getting married count?
Last summer we were making a deck smaller. My help wasn't there yet but i went ahead & made the cut on the deck boards for him to remove. I didn't put ply wood over it because I was the only one there and I sure wouldn't step through it. Guess what?
Went through so fast i couldn't even think. naturally i had 2x's on my left shoulder which pulled me that way.My left leg caught under one of the joist as I went over and I am sure it would have snapped if I hadn't caught the ground with my left arm. I really didn't want that rotator cuff to be healed any way.
mine was trying to stop a table saw blade with my thumb,...... it worked, thank God I still have my thumb. I was cutting a small piece of wood, when I got to the end of the cut the piece I was cutting was sucked down in between the blade and the insert of table saw, consequently pulling my hand with the piece. I was able to pull my hand back quick enough so as it only tore off a hunk of meat. I finished the job and the customer, who wasn't far away didn't know that It even happened. When He saw my bloody and by now bandaded hand he asked what happened. I just told him I cut my self and end of discussion.
Stitching together some little thing and holding the pieces while I nailed with my Palode trimpulse. Even as I was thinking, "I should be using shorter nails with my fingers this close" I pulled the trigger. A knot in the 2x2 frame bent the nail and it blew out the side right into my thumb.
When I was just starting in construction, I was labor on a hot roofing crew. Boss was yelling for more hot, hurry up. I grabbed the bucket without stopping to put my gloves on. I was slightly stuck to the deck and stuff slopped out, all over my hand. Lost the skin on one whole finger. See the scar right here...Excellence is its own reward!
Was on a maintenance crew when younger. Need a small piece of romex for a pigtail. Was in a rush (of course) didn't have linesmen pliers in my pocket, but i did have a knife. Score the copper, bend it a few, comes apart. I've done it a million times. That was my last. The scar runs from my wrist on down to the 2nd knuckle of my index finger. Right down to the bone too.
Can't I go 1 day without spilling my coffee?
Just some trivia for all.
My Brother (who worked for a Metabo importer) had to attend a seminar on job site safety. The statistics have shown that every part of the body has been hit with a nail from a nail gun. Yup that too!!!!!
The construction trades still don't get enough pay for what all is involved.Half of good living is staying out of bad situations.
Forget the primal scream, just Roar!
Howzabout...
Collar ties. I was putting an oak trim piece between the two (one on each side of the rafter) trying to trim it out. The trim piece was sticking up between the two so I took my finger while standing on tiptoes and pushed the trim piece down. Standing on your tiptoes to push down taking a pneumatic Bostich finish nailer to fasten it together wasn't so bright. Thankfully it just split the end of the finger causing a coupla stitches. About a 1/4 inch higher and I'd have to have cut out the collar ties in order to get my hand free. Really stupid.
Last is my buddy Fred C. He and I were landscape carpenters at 16. Built decks in 1976. He took a 2x10 and leaned it over his thigh then took the skilsaw and cross cut it. Owwwwww. 4 layers 320 total stitches. I went to see him after the event when he was at home. He looked like a Salvadore Dahli subject on the sofa. Moaning all the time. I asked about pain pills and he said thru slurred speach that asprin was what the doctor told him an hour before. He wasn't listening when he left the hospital cause he went home and thought the muscle relaxants were pain pills. His long hair covered the Lobotomy scars real well.
Edited 9/18/2002 2:24:10 PM ET by Booch
Kickback took my swearing finger on LH through the table saw blade. Thanks to a new carbide, it just took a perfect kerf, from the tip ,straight to the bone. That thing cut so clean, it took a long time to start bleeding. Still hurts in the winter some times.
Brudoggie
Dumbest move I've ever done does not involve construction, however it was still very dumb.
Next time your at the airport, look at the bar between the tractors and the aircraft when they push back.
One day we were pushing an aircraft out of the hanger in a hurry.(that was the first mistake). I wasn't wearing my steel toed boots.(second mistake). I pulled the pin on the tractor and told the driver to go forward without holding on to the towbar, (that was the last mistake. Crushed the big toe and the next one.
Spent 6 hours at the hospital and 6 weeks recovering. At my expense as workmans comp. wouldn't pay because of the lack of proper foot wear.
So far I haven't had a really serious injury, but this is a really dumb one. Pulling nails in the crawl space with a big crow bar, of course I was in one of those awkward positions where you really can't get much force onto the bar. But giving it all I got I finally got this nail to pop out --- and the end of the bar hits me square in the forehead. It shoulda been so damn obvious that that would happen.... ;-)
-- J.S.
crow bar to the forhead is better than in the mouth and losing a few chicklets. Haven't done that one yet.
I did the 3 stooges routine of a deck board to the chin. After a long day working by myself I lost my balance and stepped on a 2x6 6' which left a 10 stitch gash. Doc said I was lucky
1 1/2" longer and no teeth 1 1/2" shorter would have been in the neck, and lights out.
I highly recommend Forrest blades if flesh cutting is involved! The cut is surgically clean and reattachment is much easier! :-) Another dumb move, when I was a teen in Michigan I worked for a plaque maker to earn small $. That day I was drilling 1/8" holes in oak at the drill press when his daughter walked into the shop wearing a bikini she smiled and sashayed by. I watched her walk all the way out and then turned to see a perfect 1/8 " hole drilled about 1/8 " before my thumbnail started. Didn't really hurt or bleed much at that moment. Believe it or not when my nail grew out I watched that hole move all the way to the tip of my thumbnail eventually.
Miami
Reaching over the table saw to retrive small, ripped slices of walnut. Bang! Least that's what it sounded like. Turned the end of my LH forefinger into hamberger. Wrapped it up, applied vitamin e on it, twice daily, kept it wrapped and today that finger is a wee bit shorter, but I have complete fingernail, fingerprint.................the body's ability to heal is astounding.
The project I performed that little bit of brilliance on was a marble topped, walnut radiator cover for my Mom. She went to her grave without knowing how or on what project I hurt that finger.
Call me "Blue Balls." 5 hp Delta Table Saw kicked back a piece of wood which struck me in the groin area. They swelled up to the size of a tennis ball and were baby blue for 2 weeks. Couldn't walk for about 5 days.
Boris
"Sir, I may be drunk, but you're crazy, and I'll be sober tomorrow" -- WC Fields, "Its a Gift" 1927
squeezed in behind a fridge with my new 12 volt bosch drill undoing the 1/4" pipe nuts. Had the direction set wrong and the drill spun around and out of my grip, the batt pack punched me on the chin and had me seeing stars.
Screwing two narrow cabinets together, and for some reason I had to back out one of the screws joining the frames. As the screw backs out, so does the cordless screwgun, jambing my hand against the opposite frame. Pain. Surprise. No damage, but boy did I feel stupid. And then there was the time my big Milwaukee drill bound up and whacked me in the jaw 2 hours before Christmas dinner. Andy Engel, The Accidental Moderator
. . . and then there was the time I was sitting on the top rung of a folding step ladder using a 1/2" ship auger to drill a beam for bolts.
Everything was going great until I hit reverse.
DRC
Another pneumatic nailer stunt. Remoldeling my own basement into family room. Reached above my head (ahhhhhh, who needs a step ladder) to nail a top plate to an end stud that I was steadying with my left hand. Pushed the trigger and noticed that the gun fired twice. The bounce from the first shot sent the next shot(16d) through my little finger knuckle closest to the palm. Length of the nail went just about half way through.
1 1/2" on front side of hand, 1 1/2" on the back side. Strangest part was it didn't even hurt,I actually had to look to see where that second shot went. Imagine my surprise. To add insult to injury I had to drive myself to the ER where my wife was the nurse on duty at the time. "Hey Honey, look what I did". She wasn't amused. The surgeon said it went perfectly threw the joint with out any serious damage. Went to the OR had it removed.Now have a nice scar on each side of my hand to always remind me of what can happen when being lazy and doing something I knew was unsafe.
just outa high school I used to deliver auto parts, ( hehe, man , we used to beat the sheet outa them trucks), 55 gallon drum of laquer thinner to paint shop, dropped tailgate on pu,rolled drum and spun it around on tailgate, though tailgate would hold it, nope. Fell on ankle, not broke but injured it, hospital, cast, etc.# # # # # # # , # # #--# # # # !
Sewing machine needle through my thumbnail, jerked it towards myself in surprise, needle broke inside my thumb. My 2 year old twins were watching, so I had to calmly wrap it up, call for childcare and then drive myself to the doc.
Not once but twice I have slammed the van door shut on my thumb, and then had to fish around in my purse for my keys and unlock the door to get my thumb out. Previous poster is right - the nail bed does indeed go to the first knuckle.
"A completed home is a listed home."
Lacquer thinner - reminds me. Bout three years ago on a busy jobsite, guy is doing some welding for an exterior rail. Shoulda brought sawhorses, hmm, what can I use? Decided these steel drums looked pretty sturdy and no one was standing near to ask so he grabbed them and started doing his welds. Boom. 5 gal drums of lacquer thinner. Lost a leg.
I have a couple
Whipping through apartment remodels during college I'm one arming a sawzall through lath and plaster; the saw starts to drop so I catch it with my arm, only the blade is red hot. No pain but you could see the blade type from the blister outline for a couple months.
second, making a window bead with a table saw. 3/8 x 1/2, but needed just a little more off; well, I've got the table saw wired, so I try to put in the center of this 36" piece, rips a gash needing 8 stitches along my thumb. You have alot of nerves in those fingers
Mike Butler
Berkeley Craftsmen
buddy of mine was using a plunge router cutting out parts for something, plunged down, ran his hand under the workpiece to see if he plunged all the way thru or not.
With the router still blazing...
Two things come to mind:
1) Didn't have a router table, but decided to mount my router upside down in a vise...was being VERY careful, until I changed something and decided I had to run the piece through the opposite direction. The router grabbed it and pulled my finger into the bit, cutting off the very tip. As many others have noted, it still aches in cold weather...
2) Working at a concrete construction yard (bridge beams, box girders, etc), pulling a 5/8" cable off of a spool of cable. The end of the cable was near, so I yanked on it to get it loose. The far end of the cable flew out of the carrier and the end hit me on the chin, right below my lips. Bled for a LONG time...
Both times I ended up thinking "Boy, I am DUMB." :~)
Jamie (the "other" Jamie...)
I ran three fingers through the table saw in about 1990. I can still count to ten, but if you look at the nail of my left middle finger, you can clearly see that it grows in the shape of the circumference of a 10 in. rip blade. Anyway, I wrapped my hand in shirt, and my wife drove me to the ER, who sent to an orthopedic surgeon for repair. Somewhere along the line, I got a big shot of demoral that really improved my attitude. At the surgeon's, I remember a novocaine needle that looked like a grease cartridge, and talking with the doc about some article in FWW.
Later on, still buzzed on demoral, with my hand in a cast and my shirt bloodstained like I'd been shot, we went to the drugstore for some, as I remember it, inferior pain killers. The pharmacist looked at my shirt and my hand and said, "Man, I don't want to hear what happened to you."
Being self-employed at the time, I took the afternoon off. Andy Engel, The Accidental Moderator
Andy- I've never had a serious tool accident like that and want to keep it that way. Could you share exactly how that happened and what it was you were cutting then. ThanksHalf of good living is staying out of bad situations.
Forget the primal scream, just Roar!
> Could you share exactly how that happened ....
Excellent idea -- The real value of this thread is to learn not to do again the things that get people hurt. Perhaps a few of these case histories could be put together into an article for FHB.
-- J.S.
Well, rez, it started with being stupid. I was ripping a narrow piece, and reached behind the blade to guide it. The piece bound, kicked back and took my fingers with it.
There are a lot of lessons there, not the least of which is that one should be smarter than the wood he's working with. I wasn't that day.
Lesson 1. Use as many push sticks as you have hands. Or one of those wheeled hold downs.
Lesson 2. Never reach behind the blade.
Lesson 3. Bad things happen fast and hard. I thought I was safe with my hand behind the blade because if anything kicked back, it would just slide out of my grasp, or I'd see the situation going south and be able to get my hand out of there. Wrong and wrong.
Lesson 4. The one thing I did right. Keep a minimal amount of blade above the stock. I didn't have more than 1/4 in. showing, and I still am missing bone from three fingers. Andy Engel, The Accidental Moderator
So Andy, was the wife's cooking so bad that you had to find a way not to eat?
Milwaukee 1/2" holeshooter, 2 1/2" holesaw, unforseen nail in plywood, one handed grip, just not paying attention. Saw binds up, drill spins out of my hand, but the side handle breaks my thumb while the drill is flipping me on the top of my head. No cuts though.
Oh no -- ask Jim Blodgett about my wife's cooking. I'd have eaten Christmas dinner with my jaw wired shut.Andy Engel, The Accidental Moderator
Working in close quarters swinging a 10lbs sledge bounce off the sluggin wrench hit me above the eye went to ER got it stictched up back in and swinging the hammer again same thing now on both sides of my eyes 2 big bandages and stitches..I looked great when I got home and the GF at the time saw me... Darkworksite4: When the job is to small for everyone else, Its just about right for me"
Worked single handedly building a large deck on a remote island. Spent a whole week on the project. Decided, wisely, that since I was alone, I should take it easy and avoid stupid mistakes.
On the last day after finishing the project, I walk around under the structure admiring my work. I see one piece of support that I forgot to finish nailing off.
I grab my trusty framing hammer, a nail and my thumb as padding to avoid putting an ugly checkerboard rosette in the nail head...
Now I know why meat tenderizers have that pattern on their face.
And just last Friday, it's getting close to QT and I've just about got the wall all framed up. Everything has gone perfect. I'm at an acerage and I can park the truck right outside the back patio door which is all of 15 feet from the work and the weather is beautiful and cool for once and I've had the door open all day, zipping in and out periodically to grab one thing or another from the truck, and the radio has played nothing but good stuff all day long. It doesn't get much better. The HO gets home and stands there talking a little and sipping a Pepsi while I'm on a step ladder. I'm feelin pretty spunky since things have all panned out so well and he's a bit impressed as well. I gotta grab something, I don't even remember what, and I make a hasty retreat off the step ladder while I'm smiling and talking on with the guy and there I go out the door and *WHAM* I'm spittin blood from a gash where my incisors and my toungue just got into a fight. So now I'm sitting on the ground, dazed, surprised, probably with a priceless look on my face, blood trickling out my mouth, and the HO is laughing himself breathless and says "Thought there was a damn lot of flies in here, I just shut that door." Now I know how starlings feel.
In 1989 when the bottom dropped out of the construction market I took a part time job working for a company that made wooden childrens toys. It was late at night and I was tired. I was cutting pine panels for doors. They were almost square, 12" x 12". Always cut on the Unisaw with the ripfence, I had cut about 50 when 1 turned slighty and kicked back, hit me square in the chest, lights out. When I woke up the rescue unit people were standing over me. Still had all my parts, thank God, but was approx. 10 feet from the saw.
Dana
Salmon Falls Housewrights
How I found out that the fingernail grows all the way back to the first knuckle.
Pull starting a gen set. My flippin' fingernail hooks on the welded flange of the gas tank and tears it all the way back to the first knuckle. I believe I said a bad word.
Jim B
Cutting out old 3 inch drain pipe with sawzall in bathroom demo. Line was flushed prior to cutting. However, what I didn't realize (I was beneath the pipe on the floor below) was that the pipe was pitched wrong - slightly sloping to what should be upstream. Residents still using (what should be) downstream toilet. Upon cutting into pipe, noticed a little drip as I cut, thought was just a wee bit of moisture. Then, the pipe split apart at the cut unexpectedly - releasing a torrent of raw sewage directly into my face! Shock of crap in face and release of tension from pipe splitting sends sawzall flying across room, still reciprocating into kitchen cabinets, and me backwards off the ladder onto the floor, not to mention a mild shock from the soaked sawzall. The residents heard me cursing and yell, came running to help, but I told them under no circumstance to come in, just get me some bleach :-). Just a few bruises, and cut marks in the cabinet where the saw flew. From now on, I put a level on those suckers if I can't look at it on the same plane. . .
Knock wood, nothing serious as yet, but I`ve had my share of really dumb mishaps. Two of the funniest have little to do with construction:
1) Back in my high school days I had a summer job with my local village DPW. On this particular day I was pulling leaves and debris out of a catch basin using a long handled shovel designed for just this task. Scoop, turn, dump, scoop turn dump. All of a sudden I notice a young cutie cruisin by on her bicycle givin me the once over. I make sure I flex as I turn back towards the manhole for my next scoop. One step forward and whoops. Ive still got the scar on my shin from my plummet to the bottom of the basin.
2) Pullin outta the Micky Ds drive through I realize the super size coke isnt going to fit in the trucks cup holder. I set it between my legs and place the coffee in holder instead. After woofing down my Big Mac and fries Im only 1/3 the way through the monster coke, but Im ready for the java and take a sip just as the moron in front of me slams on the brakes. In an attempt to swerve outta the way my steamin cup of Joe spills into my lap. The pain forced me to squeeze my lags together popping the top off the soda which emptied into my now scorching crotch. From one extreme to the other in milliseconds. Once the shock subsided I laughed my balls off all the way back to the job. I havent supersized since!
J. D. Reynolds
Home Improvements
"DO IT RIGHT, DO IT ONCE"
Back in my younger days I had a 69 firebird that I had really tweaked up the engine on for some serious horsepower. It was an axle twisting machine. Anyway, the cable was stretched on the floor shift. It stalled out while I was sitting to exit a Arbys. I had a big coke setting on top of the dash panel. So I put it in neutral and fire her back up. Only thing is, the shifter is in neutral but the tranny is still in drive, and my foot is to the floor. She strarts up an goes like a.. well something totally out of control, right onto a 4 lane road at lunch time nearly over the sidewalk on the other side before I got her stopped right against the curb, cars screetching to a stop, and I didn't even notice the icy coke spilled all over my shirt and crotch for a couple minutes. Totally unscathed except for my nerves.
Well, since we're all admitting to the stuff we've spilled below the belt;
I used to work on a roofing crew in Phoenix (that was over 20 years ago -- life is better now). We stopped for coffee at 7-11, I get the 20 oz. cup. Set it on the front bumper of the dump truck, let it go carefully, looks OK, I turn away, and about a second later it falls over and hits me right in the crotch.
The passing traffic was no doubt wondering why this young roofer was standing on the sidewalk with his pants down trying not to scream.
I'm still wondering how they get the coffee that hot.
If this thread keeps going I'll tell you about the time I got a Bobcat dropped on me.
DRC
Heres one for the "You know its deep when it doesn't bleed" file.
We were renovating an old gasoline station/garage into a coffee shop. I told the boss not to bother calling a company to remove the 14' overhead doors because I had installed a few of them in my younger days. If you are unfamilliar with large overhead doors the biggest problems to contend with are the large coil springs used to counter balance the weight of the door. This particular style had six inch diameter springs with three large retaining bolts holding each in place. The first door came down without a stitch, but the second door had one of the retaining bolts in an awkward place and I decided to loosen it before bracing the spring - Big mistake - I had barely touched the wrench when the spring let go and I was wondering where the hell the wrench was when I noticed two fingers on my left hand were wider apart than normal. A thin metal inspection tag wired to the back of the spring had given me the rest of the afternoon off.
"sometimes wood, sometimes knot" - Gordsco
Edited 9/19/2002 2:26:44 AM ET by GORDSCO
Nail guns and me have a history of pain. First shot out of a new nail gun double taps and shoots nail below skin above bone behind knuckles without hitting vein or nerve goes in the full three inches I pull it out with pliers and work the rest of day.Second time I am trying to fix paslode and shoot nail in web of thumb had to put my hand around back of tree and pull nail with hammer.Third time I was nailing ceilng joists to rafters and gun bounced hit joist behind me and came back and nailed thumb and finger together.I thought I had insurance so I go to emergancy room takes three hours before they take me to room 4 doctors come and look at it without doing anything finally the fifth doctor asks if I want something for the pain.After 3 shots of morphine didnt help asks me if I want another and I told him the rush was great but it wasn't doing anything for the pain so I'll pass.12 hours after I got there they finally take me to surgery and the last thing I remember is the anathesiest telling me that they were gone just use a local. I woke up with15 stiches from where they opened up both sides of my hand.This cost me 6 thousand bucks my wifes company who I had coverage under had not been paying the insurance company so no coverage.
MUCH MORE CAREFUL
ANDYSZ2
Andy,
Another nailgun story for you. I'm at the top of a 14' ladder installing the supplied trim to an eliptical window. As usual, the supplied trim doesn't exactly conform to the window so I'm using glue, 2'' pins and am generally reefing like heck to try to make it fit. As I am applying glue, I hang the pinner on the back of my nail pouch and anyway the thing fires, and drives a 2'' pin straight into my hamstring. Funny thing was that it didn't hurt at all unless I tried to move my leg, and then I would see stars and lightning bolts and that roar would flood my ears, so I didn't move. I grabbed my sidecutters and dropped my pouch, dropped my pants and dug around a bit with the sidecutters untill I got the thing out. Then I climbed down and put the saftey back on my nailer.
''sometimes board, sometimes knot" - Gordsco
I had been thinking about getting the compressor out of storage and re-wiring it so I could use the nail gun again. But you've changed my mind about that.....
-- J.S.
My buddy was trying to disconnect a farm implement from a huge 3 pt. tractor hitch. All the pins were out except one and the implement was resting on concrete blocks. My buddy sticks his index finger in the hole to push the pin out while he wiggles the implement with the other hand. The pin popped out just about the time one of the concrete blocks tipped. Now we call him "Billy Nine Fingers".Ditch
Wasn't going to admit this, but...I've shot myself four times;once thru the skin onthe back of my left hand, didn't even hurt and walked around grossing out the rest of the crew,twice in the thumb, thru the end and in themeat at the base,those both hurt lik hell, broke the habit for years only to send a framer thru the top plate while stagger studding 2x4's to 2x6'swhile yapping and stuck thatSOB into my thumb nail, which I emmediately yanked back off the nail, proceeding to do my "oh, oh, oh, baby that hurts" dance. I'm lucky that none hit bone and I was able to pull all and return to work with that lovely black tape bandage...the definition of insanity is to do the same thing over and over expecting a different result. Stupid animal trick #2 would be having a laborer hand up truss jacks while I rested the top cords on the master and nailing the seats to the wall, running bird blocks as I went, planning on nailing the bottom cords to the pressure blocks last. Then, of course I proceed to step out on to one of the bottom cords and inthat split second before I commit I realize what I've done, and that all the jacks in the emmidiate area are in the same condition so I sort of belly flopped onto a s many as I could, which I suppose slowed my descent,but I none the less had about 5 jacks to reattach!
Well as you were so forthcoming with your multiple nailgun related wounds; I guess I can admit that I've had 8 over the span of 24 years! Got most if them in the hand nailing top plates in a careless moment(s).Worst one missed the plate & nailed the index finger to the middle one. still both hurt like mad when the weather changes to damp/cold! Just a point of interest, (no pun intended) The old index finger on my left hand is the war-wound king of my body! It's been nailed 3 times, utility knife sliced 2 times, hammered God only knows how many times, tendons cut once,broken once, and last ( i sure hope so anyway!) had the nail 1/2 ripped off twice. Last nail gun injury, I think it actually ducked and let the middle finger take the hit thru the nail! :-)
Miami
After being in the constr. buss close to 30 years I have had my share of wounds. Cut part of my little finger off on my 20" jointer, many stitches from nails to cuts in the hands, falling 12 feet onto a pipe and breaking my back. But my favorite is something that I know happened 30 years ago to a guy working on his car. He was installing speakers in the rear seat of his car through his trunk. He was using a drill with a broken switch. The switch was always in the ON position. He was working upside down when he dropped the drill. It went into his long hair and kept running! It only stopped when he crawled out of the trunk and pulled out the cord. He looked like he was scalped! Since then 30 years later I think of that story every time I work in one of my car trunks or fire up a drill! I have also learned that the word experience sometimes translates to the words stupid or very painful. Now at 52 I am glad I run my company from my office. Most of us would be very lucky to make it that long unscathed!
jim, ou just reminded of the time I helped some dude iinstall window shade valances, long time ado. The guy built them then screwed angle's on them, his plan was to screw them to the cieling with the angle's. Since he couldn't fit the drill in there, he got out his extension, while he was at it, he got out two or three of them, chucked them all on the drill, he had about 4 feet of extension on the drill, basically, he didn't need a step ladder, and holding the drill at chest height, While I held the things he would screw them up. He also had a hillbilly beard like those zztop dudes. Once he looked up, his beard stuck in the drill chuck. Not as bad as your story, but what an "OWWWWWWWWWWWWWW'''', he let out.# # # # # # # , # # #--# # # # !
I dropped mine once and caught it in time. But not before it wound up lots of chest hair right at the base of my throat. Thought I had drilled a hole in my windpipe.
The avereage construction worker has a noticeable injury requireing treatment once every five years.
I'm about average.
Let's see if we can start to change that guys.Excellence is its own reward!
Change that guys what ???
Oil ?
Brand of deodorant ?
: )Cut me some slack here
Quittin' Time
Underwear - it need's changing after some injuries.Excellence is its own reward!
Nothing to spectacular about when I shot a nail through my thumb. I was framing a wall and just wasn't paying attention and shot too close to the edge at a funny angle. Nail skipped off of the 2x and right into my thumb right at the joint where it meets the hand. It hit the bone and deflected out the side. I pulled it right out, but I have some probably permanent damage to my hand. I still can't quite grip things like normal. The funny thing is that we had been discussing work site injuries that whole day. I think I was in mid sentence about some injury when I felt the nail hit. Put some frozen peas on it and kept working.
The other really stupid self inflicted injury comes from high school painting a fence with some of my buddies. We were painting for our bible study leader, and thus took certain liberties. He had a pool, and we went swimming in it often. Once we got into a paint fight. I had oil paint all over my chest and used thinner to wash it off. We then went swimming, and I assumed that the water washed all of the thinner off. We decide to go to lunch and as I'm sitting in the car, I start to feel this burning sensation running down my body. THe thinner was still clinging to me and gravity aided byi sweat was weilding its inevitable force down my body and stomach and down my pants. My friends of course thought this was the funniest thing in the world and would not stop the car. So I'm in the back thrusting my pelvis in the air trying to keep the thinner from hitting the really sensitive parts. All I can say is that there are few fates worse than having tender areas come into close contact with harsh elemets.
Peace,
CAsey
Glad you weren't trying to light a cigarette!Excellence is its own reward!
one of us lit up his hair while lighting a pipe, can't remember who.# # # # # # # , # # #--# # # # !
First time I wacked my thumb I was five years old. We all had cap guns, but we were making too much noise, so thay were taken away, but not the caps,<g>,so,..... we started hitting the caps with hammers from the workshop, man, I got my thumb good. Then the hammers, were taken away, but still, not the caps, ... so,....we picked up stones, sharp ones, annd dragged the point along the caps, for a little fizzle and flame, then I burned my thumb. Then the caps were taken away.# # # # # # # , # # #--# # # # !
I once drilled a 1/8" hole thru my thumb with a dull but red hot drill bit. I was doing body work on a car and was using my hand to hold a patch panel in place while drilling a pop rivet hole. Drilled thru the side of my thumb out thru the thumbnail. There was no time at all where the pain hadn't set in. It set in at time zero. Unfortunately my thumb was stuck to the drill bit which was poking through about an inch since it really punched through when it finally made the hole. It was smoking hot, and tearing my thumb off that bit still makes me shiver. No permanent mark, but it was a rather horrid mess for a while since it got infected despite being cauterized by the bit. I should have known not to drill so close to my thumb, but I guess it was a good lesson since I only drilled myself once.
Watched a guy try to drill a hole in the tailgate of a pickup to mount a gate protector. Had the gate down, using a strong drill and a dull bit, so he got up close and really leaned into it. Bit broke through the metal and snagged throwing him off balance which broke the drill bit. Spinning end of the broken bit skittered across the gate right into his crotch before finally stopping. His wife, who went to emergency with him commented -"it peeled it just like a banana".
with a name like that, you must have a few more stories to hurt me and mine just by thinking about it.Excellence is its own reward!
Well, bought my third nail gun, a coil framer from a pawn shop. Worked great. Was building kids play fort (I know they come with screws, but this is faster, right?) and a knot bent the nail just enough to send it out the side and into my left index finger pad to the bone Because of violent impact, didn't hurt until about 15-20 mins later, when my 1yo son grabs and squeezes the bandaid out of curiosity. (I had taken a break to think over my building plans..)
Worst was getting burnt by an exploding radiator in the face. Senior year highschool. Looked like toast with cream cheese once properly scabby and with the white colored, silver based, anti-infective cream. Leaned over it and squeezed the hose on the '72 Buick 225 with the nice 455 4brl. My sister had been waiting in it on a hot Mississippi day and saw the "hot" light so she made sure to keep the AC on to cool it. Scars went away after about 5 years, but now I wait for an overheated vehicle to cool down before I open the hood!
Reminds me of the guy who showed up at work one monday with a big white wrap on his paw. He had been doing what guys do. Leaning in under the hood and tinkering. Unfortunately, too much beer messed up his guidance system and when he reached for something, he got too close to the fan belt and a pulley with the engine running.
I guess getting pinched there can remove digits before you know you've been pinched.Excellence is its own reward!
Hadn't really thought about something to add to this thread until you mentioned working on engines...............
while in the Army, I was working on a pickup truck. The driver had flooded the engine badly and it wouldn't start. So I took off the air cleaner, climber up, and sat on the radiator. I put one foot on each valve cover and leaned over the engine. I held the ckoke open with one hand, and the throttle with the other. Then I had the driver get in and crank the engine.
WOOSH!
The engine backfired and spewed a big fireball up out of the carb. didn't take long to figure out my hair was on fire. So I sat there beating myself on the head with my hands trying to put the fire out.
Q: Have you heard about the new supersensitive condoms? A: After you leave, they stay and talk to her.
Coupla years back a friend of a friend is working under a car in a shop. He's got his junk and tool laden cart under the car with his as he's working. The car came off the rear pads and dropped rear first behind him before the front pads jumped out and once they did, the car just folded him up like origami. That cart is the only thing that saved him. He got folded up so tight his face smashed into the concrete between his legs(and he wasn't exactly a contortionist to start with).
Of the thousands of times I've walked under a car or truck, everytime that image plays through my mind.
Mike
Oh yeah and yer not alone, a backfire from a '66 New Yorker gave me a quickie perm when I was 16 or so.
Mike -
Your story reminds me of one my Brother told me. He was working as a mechanic in a shop at a car dealership. The guy next to him had a car on a lift and was trying to drop the tranny out He had a transmission jack under the car, and had it cranked up to support the tranny while he was unbolting it. Pretty soon he noticed the car was slowly sinking.
Upon investigating, he found out that they had the power turned off to the compressor, and were relacing something. (Don't recall exactly) The hoist was an old one with air over hydraulic, and it was leaking down. Without air pressure there was no way to raise the hoist and car back up. So he yells for help and starts dropping the tranny jack as fast as he could. (It was a screw type tingy) Someone else runs over and tells the guys working on the air compressor that they need pressure, and dang quick.
The tranny jack wouldn't go down far enough to get it out from underneath the car, though. Pretty soon the car is teetering on the jack, and one end of it is off the hoist. The owner of the place had wandered in by that time to see what was happening. He calmly walked over to the overhead door behind the car and opened it. He said: "I don't care what happens to that car, it's not gonna mess up my new door."
Eventually they got the compressor hooked up before the car fell. Sounds like it woulda been fun to see.......
My parents were overprotective. Even our cotton balls had a childproof cap.
He must of been using a 2 post style(one on each end or side), those things are a hazard. They ALWAYS lower unevenly-nothing like seeing the car/truck leaning one way and then back the other way as they went down!!
Those in-ground air/hydraulic units sucked period!! They took up way too much room under the vehicle, and always bled down to some degree. Not that the above ground variety are idiot-proof, I've seen more than a couple come down.
Mike
Bro in law is the kind of guy you hope always is working for someone else. If it's on the face of the planet, he knows about it. And don't you think any different, or you're just a no good cuss who doesn't respect how much he knows. (Met this type yet?) His record for sustained employment thus far has been 6 mos. So he gets hired to work as a laborer for a home builder. After a month or so, when someone needs to jump into the bobcat, he says "heck yes I can drive that, duh!" which he can't and never has. Lasts about five minutes. He flipped the thing forward, stuck his arms out to stop his head from smacking the grillework, got his left hand under the metal and promptly stuck a metal bolt (sill anchor) sticking out of the concrete through his hand, had the weight of the bobcat to push it down nice and snug, broke every bone between ankle and fingertips.
Ever see anybody holding a coil wire when the driver turns the key?
Grown men have been known to wet their pants.
Where's Theodora, She wanted to know about working on cars...Excellence is its own reward!
YOWWWWWWSA....
that's one of the first steps trouble shooting,.... "now lets see if it got spark......."# # # # # # # , # # #--# # # # !
Um, no, uh, wouldn't know.......
I personally like grabbing the distributor for a little coercion and getting zapped, woohoo!
Ouch.. I got glued to the top of an AC duct with spray foam once... One of my rental units needed a custom window and seal around a new central AC unit. I decided that I'd use expanding foam to back up the treated wood panel I had installed. I was okay until I got glued to the top of the duct work by the spray foam drippings when the ladder went out from under me. The injury was my raked back from the nails protruding from the floor above when I yanked myself free and fell off the unit. Wan't hurt, but was pretty PO'd. My helper was in the car listening to my new stereo instead of helping me or she would have heard me yelling that the ladder was slipping... She got 'fired' after that and a few more little things she did on that one remodel.
So she went off and left you hanging, huh?
OK, you wanna talk pure dumb?
I sat on a spot of construction adhesive once. When I figured it out we scraped it all off and thought I was OK for the rest of the day.
That is, until I got home and tried to take my britches off...
Did you know that PL 200 can stick underwear to hairs?Excellence is its own reward!
Edited 9/23/2002 6:52:41 PM ET by piffin
Oh I gotta go here. In the military, we convinced one young airman one night that he had to go see the doc as soon as we got in from the field so he could get his "mobility pap smear" before deployment. Got the good doc in on it as well. So the kid goes to the hospital, the doc had him take off his boots and socks, painted his feet with some brown something, took a scraping with a (now what do you call that tonsil pusher downer stick?) and put the sample in a vial. Told Airman that he was free to go. So he puts his stuff back on, goes home, props his feet on the coffee table and cracks a sud. Later, when he thinks of taking his shoes off, they come off ok, but the socks were glued on. Some days I miss being a professional soldier.
Actually Piffin, my name doesn't have anything to do with the stories I have, more to do with my twelfth great grandfather who I was named after. But you're right about being painful to think about.
I jumped out a bunkhouse window once at a mine camp in McLeese Lake. Landed on a four foot tall piece of 5/8' rebar sticking straight out of the ground which slowly teetered and fell with me shiskabobed on it. Penetrated about two inches into my upper inner left thigh (really upper - 1" forward or back or 1/4" to the right and I would have been in serious trouble). Got shaved with a dull, dull razor and about thirty stitches total. Best thing was that I got out of camp and into a better paying city job.
Greg, sorry to use your story but, we all know about the right tool for the right job. Imagine having a piece of wood 3" long-2"wide-3/4"thick and you need a notch in the end of it (dado style). No jigsaw in sight. Tablesaw is the closest tool so the obvious choice is to free hand it. First set the correct depth, second, get that useless fence out of the way, third, kneel down to get to eye level so as to make sure you've set the correct depth, fourth,fire her up, fifth, get a firm grip on your 3" piece of wood sixth, throw caution to the wind. As soon as the blade gets a scent of that wood it projectiles it right back at you with the force of......well ,you know (and twice the accuracy)BAM!! Right between the eyes. Fortunately Greg has all of his fingers and most of his senses to not try this again.
Removing a drill bit in a Hilti hammer drill with gloves on. Accidentally hit the trigger, glove gets wrapped in bit, index finger gets broken.
The upside it was my left hand, and I'm a righty.
anyone ever cut meat? you learn to keep your knives sharp,especially while boning something, cutting towards yourself, mesh aprons were availible, but nobody wore them, I got my share of stitches.# # # # # # # , # # #--# # # # !
Good thread, let's see...
My friend and I went deer hunting (bow). He was sitting in his tree stand, and out of the corner of his eye, saw a big bug hovering near his face. He swatted it with his hand, good shot too. Too bad the "bug" was the pointy end of his arrow. Nice sharp deer head, too.
Tried to scratch my leg once while wearing shorts. Since I was holding an open utility knife in my hand, I dug a nice gouge of meat out of my leg, but it stopped itching.
'was replacing older switches 'n plugs in a kitchen with new, upgraded, Decora-style ones. In a corner of the counter, to the right of the sink, was a triple-ganged outbox with two switches and one outlet. I turned off power to the outlet branch, but not the switches (Dumb Thing #1). The original installer must have nicked the wire when stripping it, as the hot lead broke off right at the screw terminal when I pulled out the outlet. So I needed to strip off some more insulation. A little awkward, as it involves leaning over the countertop to get into the corner. And there's not much of a pigtail to work with. Not wanting to bother to go get the stripping tool, I pull out the trusty pocketknife (Dumb Thing #2). Not the best tool for the job, but it'll work, although I'm thinking I better not slip what with the angles I have to hold the knife and the wire at, which points the knife edge right at the fleshy part of my thumb. Wouldn't you know, part of one hand brushes up against one of the switches, which controls the garbage disposal (Dumb Things #3). 'startles h e l l out of me.
Emergency room doc says I was lucky; a little way in one direction and I would have gotten the nerve running up the thumb. Only 4 stitches.