Days Without An Injury: 92

[Focalor]

MAN rule #11

Bandaids!?! Fuck that shit! Duct tape is better than a bandaid.

[MadGypsy]

IMO my stupidest work boo-boo wasn't my fault at all. I was holding a joint so someone else could nail it with a framing nail gun and they sent the nail straight into my hand. I know that doesn't sound that bad but, the nails were ringshank and it tore my hand meat up nicely while trying to pull my hand off the nail. The nail also hit the bone making it hurt like holy hell. In a lot of ways this probably wasn't my nastiest boo-boo but, it was seriously the worst pain I have ever felt and it hurt for a long time (weeks and weeks). It still hurts sometimes when the weather gets cold.

[Focalor]

Exactly.

I work with stuff that can mangle you on a daily basis including saw blades. I'm also a fairly careful person in the shop. That being said, I have stuck my finger in a bandsaw blade. Fortunately I got lucky and it didn't leave lasting damage, but it was nasty. If it had been a table saw, it would not have ended so well. It would be nice to have a backup system in place.

Haha, yeah, I used to be a pipefitter. I have a couple of scars above my left hand index finger 1st joint where a portaband skipped and hopped up the threads of some all-thread rod I was cutting for pipe hangers. I needed stitches, but I wasn't gonna leave the other guy there alone for the day to work alone while I sat in a nice air conditioned hospital room getting a couple of stitches, so I just wrapped some duct tape around it and kept on chugging. You get in the habit of doing something with a tool repetitively, and without even realizing it, eventually you aren't paying full attention to it. And you only realize that you weren't when the blood starts flying, lol. And I know it's true, because I did it on at least 3 different occasions. And every time I was like, "FUCK! AGAIN!?!"

You wanna talk about stupid work boo-boo's. I was using a brazing torch to weld up some refrigerant pipe on a commercial job. It was in a really really awkward spot, and I was always made sure to weld everything right THE FIRST TIME, because leaks might not get past inspection when you pump the system up with nitrogen and pressure test it, but it's a pain in the ass to find them and takes time that could be used on ANOTHER job somewhere else. Anway, I was flat on my back outside staring up at the summer sun. I had to kinda shimmy my shoulders to get under some electrical conduit and then be able to eyeball where I was welding, which was about 5 inches from my fucking face. Not fun. But when I went to get up, my forehead bumped the piece of 2+ inch copper pipe that I just heated to a white hot glow in order to get the silver solder to melt into the joint. I ended up having a nice brown blotchy Gorbachev blister on my forehead for about 2 months. Wearing a hardhat pressed on it, and hardhats are OSHA REQUIRED on commercial jobs, no getting away with not wearing one.

Was on a job running AC units to some new dorms at Kennesaw State Univ. just NW of Atlanta. The guys doing the steel and structural shit were all Mexican dudes, and if you've ever worked around a bunch of Mexicans, you know they tend to be shorter than white dudes. So in the attic (where we were running pipe from the outside rooftop compressors to the inside units) they screwed all the horizontal steel structural hat channel pieces just about at eye level for them, which made all us white guys have to DUCK every 2 steps to get around the attic. And it was the middle of summer, we were indoors where it was HOT AS HELL, so we took our hardhats off since no one could see us to yell at us for it, and no one was gonna be dropping shit on our heads with the roof literally right above our heads. So several of us ended up slicing the tops of our heads open on the sharp edge of this god damn thin metal channel bullshit... including ME. I bled EVERY-FUCKING-WHERE! It was hot as shit, I was drinking tons of water to keep from passing out, so my blood was nice and thin, which made the bleeding worse. It looked like a murder scene. Another guy went to his truck and got me a bath towel that I wrapped around my head until the bleeding stopped. When I stopped, I tossed the towel in the floor of my truck, and went back to work. By the time I got off work, the smell of the blood all over that towel baking in the hot sun inundated the entire cab of my truck and made it smell like there was a dead body rotting in there for a week, haha! I needed stitches for it, but at that time, I was a pot smoker, so I knew going for stitches on work time meant they'd drug test me for the insurance and then I'd get fired. So I just said fuck it and left it to heal on its own. Still have a bit of a scar across the top of my skull to this day. And every day after that, all my co-workers called me by my new nickname: Crackhead. Which made me laugh even more when the exact same shit happened to them a few days later.

Came close to permanently blinding myself helping another steamfitter at a church job a couple of years before that. It was a bright sunny day. We were running some steel pipe in an outside trench from the mechanical room to the cooling tower. I had to hold the fittings and prefab pieces level while he tacked them in place with a tig welder. While he'd finish off the welds after tacking them, I'd stand there smoking a cig. Like I said, the sun was very bright, no clouds that day, so apparently I didn't notice that the light from him welding was hitting my eyeballs even though I wasn't looking directly at it. By the time qutting time rolled around, my eyeballs started burning like a MOOOOOOOOOTHERFucker. I got in my car and headed home, and by the time I got onto the expressway, I could barely hold my eyes open anymore. And I drove all the way home through rush hour traffic in downtown Atlanta like that. It's a wonder I made it home without killing anyone. The next few days, my eyes burned like hell. And by the time the burning stopped the next week, I was seeing double out of my right eye. Before that, I had perfect 20/20 vision. Ever since then,... not at all. Can't see shit that's far away or small, and I still see double out of my right eye especially when its dark. Moral of the story... you ain't gotta stare at someone welding for it to fuck you up. Even out of the corner of your eye for prolonged periods it can burn your retinas out. Welding helmets ain't used just because it's cool to look like darth vader. Them pretty sparkley lights is mean sumbitches. My cocky ass used to tack shit together with a tig welder with my eyes closed and just going by feel because it was quicker than reaching over to throw my visor on. Not after that though. I don't even trust my closed eyelids against that stuff anymore.

[foq]

Agreed, but it was the best I could come up with after seeing the image of the guy purposely stick his finger into the saw.

[Dutch]

Well, it happens even to people who don't intentionally stick their hand in the path of the blade. People use them for years and years with no issues, and ONE TIME they get distracted for a second and then KUR-CHUNK, SPURT SPURT SPURT. Like the bumper sticker says, Shit Happens.

I don't pretend to know first hand (did I just make a pun?) how well the SawStop works, but I've seen plenty of video that confirms it. Hotdogs vs circular saw blades? The saw blade should win that battle every time. But luckily for woodworkers, wood doesn't conduct electricity, which makes this invention possible. If I were working with a table saw every day, I know I'd feel a lot better knowing there was SOMETHING extra in place helping to protect me.

Exactly.

I work with stuff that can mangle you on a daily basis including saw blades. I'm also a fairly careful person in the shop. That being said, I have stuck my finger in a bandsaw blade. Fortunately I got lucky and it didn't leave lasting damage, but it was nasty. If it had been a table saw, it would not have ended so well. It would be nice to have a backup system in place.

[MadGypsy]

@good reason, crushed finger

Nope. Think about it more. That is not at all what would happen. The blade could have 2 systems... One that drops it and one that disengages the blade from the torque of the motor so it is essentially spinning like a bike tire when you stop pedaling. The dropping alone would move it completely away from your limb and disengaging the torque would seriously drop it's biting power.

@response to foq

I didn't want to get tedious but, intricate work with small pieces of wood can force you to do things you wouldn't expect. For instance the wood could actually be ejected by the blade forcing you to slip. I've had lathes pitched into my stomach from the blade ejecting it.

[Focalor]

Well, it happens even to people who don't intentionally stick their hand in the path of the blade. People use them for years and years with no issues, and ONE TIME they get distracted for a second and then KUR-CHUNK, SPURT SPURT SPURT. Like the bumper sticker says, Shit Happens.

I don't pretend to know first hand (did I just make a pun?) how well the SawStop works, but I've seen plenty of video that confirms it. Hotdogs vs circular saw blades? The saw blade should win that battle every time. But luckily for woodworkers, wood doesn't conduct electricity, which makes this invention possible. If I were working with a table saw every day, I know I'd feel a lot better knowing there was SOMETHING extra in place helping to protect me.

My old man went out and bought him an expensive assed top of the line table saw at Xmas time, can't remember the brand, but it's one of those with a full square metal base that weighs god-only-knows-what. I had to be there to help him unload it off the 18-wheel trailer it was delivered in, and then help him drag it up onto a dolly to roll it around to the back of his house to the basement door, which almost killed us both, and it wasn't even out of the box yet. Then I had to help him put it together. And after all that (which included lots and lots of dirty words and yelling on both our parts, mostly because he does EVERYTHING such a bass-ackwards way), I mentioned that it might be the best idea just to simply look at it and never use it... because I know how accident prone he is. And I honestly wish he would've spent whatever extra to buy one of these SawStop saws instead. Luckily, he's more into simply collecting this kind of stupid shit and dreaming about all the cool shit he could do with it rather than actually using it. And his stated reason for NOT buying a SawStop was "If it engages, it destroys the blade and you gotta buy whole new whatever-the-fuck-ya-call-it." And I think that totally exemplifies just how much of a dumbass he can be about certain things. Because I don't give a damn if a new blade and brake costs you 500 dollars, you can't go buy a new finger for even 10 times that amount. Once the finger is gone, IT DON'T GROW BACK!

There is a good reason for the fluted crumple-brake thingy-majigger though. If the blade simply drops, it's still spinning forwards, which would pin your digit between the blade tooth and whatever was beneath it, and you'd still get horribly injured, probably moreso than if the blade stopped immediately.

[MadGypsy]

Hah! Touche'

[foq]

On a side note, there is already an invention for not cutting you finger off.

Yeah, it's called common sense, i.e. thinking something along the lines of "maybe I shouldn't stick my finger into this very fast spinning saw blade..."

[MadGypsy]

I agree it is awesome but, it leads me to wonder why he created a design that destroys itself. Why not simply move the blade? It wouldn't have to stop at all. The blade is round so, moving downward creates distance between the blade and limb. All this crushing parts to stop the blade stuff seems overblown and unnecessary. Table saws are already designed to raise and lower the blade, and that design includes completely sinking the blade so, if it just dropped really fast it shouldn't matter if it was still spinning.

The video is misleading. He touched the side of the blade. If he would have truly stuck his finger on the business end of that blade he would have been cut. Maybe due to his system that could would have been incredibly small but cut none-the-less.

I wouldn't have wimped out. A little notch out the tip of my finger for display purposes of my awesome invention would have been worth it.

On a side note, there is already an invention for not cutting you finger off. All table saws have an adjustable guide and as long as you use it all you need to keep your fingers is a push rod/stick. Most table saws even come with a notched one so you can clear the wood without dinging the blade on the rod.

[Dutch]

That ranked table saw stop is badass!

[MadGypsy]

Oh. It's hard to tell in text. I know a number of people who really believe that stuff.

Back in the day I swept somebodys foot and they had to spit on the broom so they wouldn't go to jail... :/ Silliest shit I eva heard.

I keep getting little baby injuries that don't amount to squat but, so far, my injury-less record remains at 8ish months IMO. For instance I burned my knuckle about 10 minutes ago but, there is no mark and the pain is gone. I'm not counting superficial stuff like that.

[DeathMaster]

I know I even said in my post that now that I've said I haven't been hurt in a while I'm going to chop my hand off but, I was absolutely kidding. I don't believe in that silliness, at all.

I think you're taking me a bit too seriously there

[MadGypsy]

@ DM let me show you why I don't believe in superstition.

According to your post, due to me saying I haven't been hurt in a long time it means now I will get hurt, right?

OK, well, using that same line of thinking....

I haven't won/obtained massive wealth, happiness and an overwhelming level of being content in 42 years.

So, now I should have all of those things cause "fate is going to hunt me down". Oh, what? It only works if it's something bad?... see what I'm saying?

I know I even said in my post that now that I've said I haven't been hurt in a while I'm going to chop my hand off but, I was absolutely kidding. I don't believe in that silliness, at all.

[ijazz]

I got a part of my toe cut off in the bathroom yesterday.Good thing I had no school today,the socks would have killed me.