Nice looking fender bass. That's good therapy for the hand... Sorry about your miss hap with the grinder. I'll swear on it that grinder is the most dangerous of all the power tools.

 

I broke my hand in a fit of anger while working on car. Very stupid.

 

I'll add my close call grinder and power tool story. When I went to replace the OE rear with a 9", I was cutting the U bolts with a 1/8" cutting disk on the grinder. The blade jammed up and the grinder twisted out of my grip and proceeded to climb my arm. It zipped through a heavy shirt and right on down through a heavy sweatshirt and into the meat all in a split second. Spurting blood like crazy, I couldn't make it stop. I was holding my arm high and had my cleanest dirty rag twisted around my arm, and I'm thinking " this ain't good". I called up my wife and she came roaring home from work. She say's " looks like you've been butchering....get in the car now". Needless to say, went to emergency and got many stitches. First thing the doc said to me was "power tool eh?'

Since then I have removed the 'constantly' on part of the grinder switch and now I have to just hold the switch on. That's a little inconvenient but at least I won't have to chase down a running grinder that's bouncing and jumping all over the shop like a mad Tasmanian Devil. Now, when I'm cutting or grinding or wire brushing or any other method with the grinder I make sure my face is no where near the project. I just can't imagine that out come!

By the comments on here, it looks like that really handy little tool could easily be on the most dangerous list.

 

I am extremely safety conscious, since my hands and eyes are essential to my livelyhood. I put on a safety shield and leather work gloves any time I get ready to turn on a grinder, and wear only 100% cotton clothing when working in the shop as well as leather hiking/work boots rather than sneakers. I do have a fair collection of clothing and gloves with cuts in them tho to remind me why I do it.
My brother on the other hand has occasionally cut corner that had less than the desired results of saving time. He works for the RR repairing damaged freight cars. One day he and his partner were changing a damaged coupler, and were maneuvering the new coupler into place with a forklift. The failed to safety chain the several hundred # coupler onto the forklift since they were only going to move it a couple feet. As you probably have anticipated, the coupler fell off landing on my brother's foot. The steel toe in his work boot flattened crushing 3 of his toes, 1 badly enough to require amputation.
A number of years later he was helping my other brother prepare to replace the vinyl liner in his steel in-ground pool. They were wire brushing rust off the steel casing with wire brushes on angle grinders. He wore out the last brush they had on hand so Kevin went to his house nearby to retrieve another since they had just a little more to do. Kevin had been wearing safety glasses, but when he got to his shop he took them off and laid them on his workbench since they were dusty and he hadn't turned on the lights. Of course being in a hurry he forgot to pick the glasses back up and didn't realize it until he got back to Mike's house. He decided to finish without the glasses, and a few minutes later a wire flew off the brush a make a perfect bullseye in the cornea of his eye. Michael could see it sticking there, so he grabbed a pair of pliers and pulled it out, and the iris immediately formed a cataract. Bottom line is that he's had two surgeries on that eye and will never have more than 50% vision in it.
I NEVER EVER use a wire wheel! Instead I use Abrasive embedded nylon filament wheels. The look similar to wire wheels with heavier plastic bristles instead of wires, come in wheel and cup shapes and 3 grits distinguished by their bright colors of the bristles. I buy them at ACE hardware stores. They are about 2x the price of a metal wire wheel, but the work better and last 4x longer, but the best part is they don't throw bristles! (I still wear a face shield tho!) One other tip: a rotary bristle brush, both metal and plastic work best when just the ends of the bristles contact the work, so use a light pressure, barely touching the surface. Pushing the wheel into the surface just bends the bristles so they lay the side against the surface doing less work and damaging the wheel. If your wheels are ending up looking like a very bad hair day or wearing out quickly, YOU ARE PRESSING TOO HARD! Back off the pressure and let them work the way they are supposed to.

 

Those abrasive plastic looking wheels are great and as you say Ax, they work way better than the wire type. You mentioned this way back a few years ago and that's when I switched from they wire type. And, I never touch my angle grinder or the power drill with out proper attire. Even my drill is something I don't take lightly. I was drilling 1/4" plate one time and it torqued right out of my hands when it decided to jam up and give me a good slap.

This FTE forum is a great place to relate these accidents with the tools and such that we use,...experience. This serves as a reminder to ourselves and the new comers others to use our good senses and anticipate what 'can happen if ' ?

 

I have had many forrays into the land of the misguided:

During my initial attempt at arc welding, I welded the vice jaws shut & set the instruction manual on fire from the sparks. I put out the fire before any major damage to the garage; as for the vice, I had other vices.

In my attempt to kill yellow jackets that had a hive in the ground near the garage, I filled a steel pump sprayer with gasoline and sprayed the area. I lit a match on the area and when the fire died down, I sprayed the area again. The sparks caught the gasoline stream and the fire proceeded up the stream to my hand holding the pressurized gasoline tank. I dropped the tank and ran; luckily, the tank did not explode.

I bought a new Toro lawn mower in a time before they had engine shut of controls. I read the instructions that stated not to cut grass when wet. I was eager to try the new machine and began cutting the grass when it was wet. The grass started clogging the output shoot. I stopped, lifted up the side of the shoot, and saw the clogged grass. With the engine still running, I put my hand into the shoot to remove the grass. I heard a clunk. I ran toward the house and was halfway to the water spigot before the pain hit. Blood was pouring from my hand but I got lucky; the blade ripped off my complete finger nails but not the tips of my fingers due to the angle of entry.

Now that I am older, slower, wiser, and have more time on my hands, I put safety and caution ahead of speed. Seems odd since you have less of your life to lose.

 

Diagnosing a rear main seal leak. Wiped off the bottom of bellhousing on a running motor. Didn't realize the inspection cover was removed. Flexplate pulled the shop towel and most of my hand into the bellhousing. Shop towel got hung up in the starter and killed the 460 within a revolution or two somehow. I lost some skin but somehow not four fingers.

 

This is my most recent. Last night after work I was out in the rain and dark cleaning moss off a vintage camper that I had just slid into my '59 f350. I don't have water at the shop so drove it up the steep hill to my house. By the time I was done it was a pitch black night and the truck windows were steamed up from washing. Besides, I hadn't readjusted the mirrors to see around the camper. I've lived on this mountain for 34 years, so I figured I could start rolling back and kinda judge where to make the turn and stay on the gravel. Well, I was off a bit and made the turn onto my steep, slippery wet lawn, which leads to a further drop off about 50 yards further. When I realized I was on the grass, I applied the brakes ok, I stood on them. I was now accelerating with all 4 wheels locked. Backwards. All the while wondering where I had parked my other rigs and where I was in relation to the shop and the drop-off. Total sleigh-ride. Well, I finally stopped when I hit the relatively flat area before the drop off. Good think my employee had left because that's his toyota where he parks every day. I didn't mention this incident in my post last night about cleaning the camper when I posted it in the 57-60 forum. Title? '2 beers, a bottle of kaboom and a toilet brush.' (shoulda been toilet 'paper')

 

All I can say is that a wire brush on the end of a 3' flexible drive shaft connected to a 1/2HP motor can claw its way up your pant leg and into you business in about a blink of an eye.
Its like some kind of machine or something......lol

Bobby

 

Reading these posts is starting to make my skin crawl and my stomach to start turning...
BE CAREFUL OUT THERE! Note: wire wheels are the devil's playtoy!!!

 

How do you think this guy feels??

 

Hey give that guy some credit, at least he bought a Stihl....

 

No, no one is THAT stupid, are they?!

Some of the other stories reminded me of several bad incidents with a drill press and cheap chinese bits that grab the work and spin it. Usually happens with sheet metal that can slice right thru a glove. I have since bought a couple of clamps just for the drill press.

 

I love my 4 1/2 inch grinders, have 4-5 of them but they cab hurt you. I know of several injurys and some serious. I have wire wheels for mine but seldom use them, just too dangerous.

 

A couple years back I read an article in Vintage Truck Magazine about why you need fresh gas every year in a stored truck. Seems according to the author that gas looses its volatility after a few years and will hardly burn with a match. With this 'knowledge' I poured about 5 gallons of old, old gas from my '37 ford which had been in the back of a shed for 26 years, onto a big brush pile. Knowing it was basically inert, I just walked up to it and lit a match. Kaboom! My better half was an EMT with the fire dept and works at the local medical center, so after a phone call they were waiting for me. I was wrapped up like a mummy for a couple days, just my skin on my face, but coulda been worse. Don't believe everything you read.