Maybe some of you have had close calls that you would like to share so nobody gets hurt. My background is cabinetmaking. They always say unplug the tool before you change anything bits,blades,belts whatever. In all honesty it seemed a practice I did not do. Till one day while changing a router bit and heard a click (funny how that click seemded to take forever). The router turned on,kicked around and grabbed my pants at the waist. Tore open my zipper and caught my T-shirt. Before I new it I was holding the the router at my neck with both hands. It had wrapped my T-shirt around me so tight that it left burns and a bruise around my waist. Really had no injury just a good scare. So if any of you think you don't need to unplug a tool before changing anything on it think twice. I got lucky that I wasn't hurt. Hope none of you do it. Maybe you guys have a similiar experience that would prenvent an injury to anther member or anybody they may tell.

 

Damn! I almost passed out reading that.

Tore open your zipper? That's too close for comfort.

 

Ouch!

My husband uses a big handheld body sander to help finish some swordblades with after hammering them out. One day, while sanding, it hit wrong and nearly got away from him. Only his great strength held it from doing more than rip his t shirt over his stomach and getting a bad scratch. Right after that, he made a thick leather apron to wear while using it.

It also keeps his stomach from getting blistered through the t shirt while tempering a blade in the hottest part of Summer. That happened once back in 1981, while living up on the mine. The day temps in the canyon were over 130 degrees and who knows how much next to a coalfired forge. He came away with some blistering from the intense heat. The only time that happened.

 

My boss had just brazed the refigerant lines on an evaporator coil, I didn't know it and when I was making a final attacthment of a piece of ductwork I hit the line with the side of my wrist and had an instant 3rd degree burn.


I was once driving a u-joint out of a driveshaft, we had to heat it up to get it out and anyway a piece of the bearing cup went flying apart like shrapnel and I had a piece fly into my gut. It seared itself in too since it was so hot.

I was mowing near a fenceline, there was a piece of barb wire loose from the fence and laying in the grass, it got caught in the blades of the bushhog and wipped around and ended up slicing the rear tire of the tractor so badly that it had to be replaced. It had so many gashes and each of them went through the rubber and just ripped it open.

Glad it wasn't the back of my head!

 

Don't trust your father on a backhoe.My brother almost found that out the hard way.Also a guy from our church,his son-in-law almost completly cut his fingers off on his table saw, which is why I always tell my dad to use extra piece of wood instead of his hand.And don't use a hammer or axe unless your sure the head wont come off.Thankfully my brother was also luckly enough to get out of the way again.Don't be under a car on ramps or jacked up, unless someone else is going to be out their with you,had some relation die that way.Don't use a chainsaw alone either,some one else in my family died that way.

 

Too late, I don't have anything left that hasn't been injured

 

But Dennis, doesn't all that scar tissue just make your skin tougher?! Not to mention adding character... -TD

 

Out of all of the power hand tools, the router seems to scare me the most.

It's that high pitch screaming bit turning at 30,000 rpm.

I can't imagine a finger or part of your hand looking like something you put inside of a bun with lettuce, catsup and a pickle.

I always un-plug before I change bits or do adjustments.

 

Can't say I have had any major injuries. A lot of sliecs with knives, razor blades, and glass. A punctured foot, in the bottom, out the top, from a nail. Drilled thru the web of my hand between thumb and trigger finger. Stepped on a lit piece of charcoal in my stocking feet that stuck and had to scrape it off. Nothing major.
As far as power tools, I always unplug.

 

This also seems to be the 'I made a dumb mistake...and lived to tell about it thread'. Might as well add my dumbness to it.

Several years ago I was moving a gun safe. 1100lbs worth empty.

I had successfully moved it by myself with no problems in the past. I would remove it from the mounting bolts, then rock it backwards just enough to put some oak dowel rods or steel pipe under it and it moves like it is on butter. Once to the garage door, I put it on a 1500lb appliance dolly to get it over the hump. Putting it up on the car trailer was fairly easy since the trailer had a dovetail...tilt it backwards on end of the trailer then roll it on the dowel rods to a spot just above the axles, bolt it down and all was good.

The one time I did not take proper precautions almost cost me my health. USN had just moved me to Nevada. I had successfully unloaded the safe from the trailer and put it into temp storage. The storage unit was a bit crowded....As I was using the appliance dolly to re-position it, I was backing up and tripped. As I was falling down, I could see my future flash before my eyes....no lower legs at all and, maybe trapped there until the storage compound closed. As dumb luck would have it, there were two 20mm ammo cans to break the fall. As I was lying there on the floor I could feel the safe touching the hairs on my kneecap, the entire weight supported by the ammo cans. I crawled out from under it and locked the storage unit.

 

In shop class back in 1980 we had a teacher who was showing us how to use a timing light while leaning over the car his tie got caught in the fan he was bracing himself on the radiator support with both arms, barely had enough strength to keep his face out of the fan untill someone turned the car off . After that he reminded us not to wear loose fitting clothing while working on a car. he ended up with bruses around his neck.lucky it did not strangle him.

 

When looking at lawnmowers I always wondered "What idiot made these mandatory" as far as safety devices. Well........................We brought my grandpas old rider down to work on it for him, and the battery, solenoid, ect. was junk. After messing around with it for a day, the seat, blade, and in-gear starting safety features were unplugged. Trying to work and start being on the seat just wasn't working. We figured it was time to start it, so we just hooked the battery charger to the starter terminal and it fired, but it happened to be in gear with the blade running, yeah, stupid. So I grab the back of the mower and man handle it around the shop while it is running, front wheels up towards my mustang in the shop, while I am trying to pull this mower in high gear down, I think to myself when I was at the dealership thinking "What idiot made these mandatory" the blade safety switch, in gear safety switch, and the seat safety switch. Finally someone was able to grab the key and silence the roaring monster. Moral of the story, the safety features on your riding lawn mower are there for a reason, don't bypass them, don't try to jump straight on the starter, especially inside when it is pointed straight for limited production vehicles.

 

When I was younger (and immortal) I did soooooo many stupid things, I dare not say what half of them are.
Thank goodness, I lived through my childhood. I now know that I am a mortal.

Suffice it to say, my former boss used to say that, "I was an accident looking for a place to happen."

Unplug power tools. Wear safety glasses. Never point a firearm at anything you don't intend to "yortsed". (Backwards is beautiful. Just like me!)
No, I haven't done that. Just thought it was a good place to insert that.
BUT. . . I have seen others do stupid gun tricks.

When your mother tells you to not stick your finger into that light socket. . . for goodness sake . . . LISTEN to her!!!

 

"Never put anything smaller than your elbow into your ear." Old Wise Grandmother

 

Never drool, ogle or otherwise think out loud over other women (like Jessica Simpson) on screen in a movie theater with fiance next to you, while she is wearing her engagement ring.


That things hurts the side of my head in situations like that, but like the wise jeff Foxworthy once said, "let him stick his finger in that outlet, he'll learn...................... yeah hurts like hell dont it....."