Yes Even as I approach age 60....my mind seems to still have the ability to go astray..Ida thunk it woulda been trained better by now. Example... Today's last job was to begin the refinish on a redwood carved sign...easy enough...sand er down good and re varnish. But no...lets complicate it by setting up a work station right in the midst of 2 dog ropes with live animals on the ends of em.Who taught those doggies to wind around everything in sight till the rope was wound up like a rubber band on a balsa wood kiddie airplane....? Must come natcherul....cause they sure did wind emselfs up a good one...then they got messed up in the safety orange cord for the belt sander and yanked the plug on that baby slick as if theyda tried to. no problem....set the sander down on the board nice and easy....on the belt of course..and plug the thing back in.... Do we check to see if the autolock switch had been dis engaged? NOT HARDLY!!! well....this machine is setting upright on its belt and soon as the juice hits the motor...it takes off like a rail dragster on high test and launches itself right off the board like a drunken scud missle ....out in the dingweeds she flies... I love that look on a mutt's face when they cock their head to one side,tip their ears to the alert position like its biscuit time and look up as if to say..."how come ya wanna go and do that to a perfectly good sander Daddie?" Aw...it never hurts to knock the dust out of a old milwaukee sander...and then go grab a cold old milwaukee....right? Plenty of research over the last 30 years for a plenty good book...........thankyou
Posted by Dave Grundy (Member # 103) on :
Michael..I'll see yer "dragster" belt sander and raise ya one "helicopter" body grinder!!!
(bin there, dun that)
Posted by Jon Jantz (Member # 6137) on :
I've got a couple involving flip-flops and Exacto knives... why do those blades never have a tip on them until you drop one on your foot?
Posted by David Harding (Member # 108) on :
When you and your assistant pull a Granite slab upright from an A-frame to check the slab behind it and you tell your assistant to turn loose to let the slab lean back against the other, did you know it's also a good idea to relinquish your own hold on the piece of stone? I did some "digital" research and discovered this truth via flagrantly flattened fingers.
Edited 'cause flattened fingers don't type too well.
[ September 11, 2008, 12:37 AM: Message edited by: David Harding ]
Posted by goddinfla (Member # 1502) on :
I once plugged in the belt sander while it was on the ground next to my foot. I was wearing flip flops. Suddenly they were red.
Posted by Kymi Hum (Member # 2140) on :
ooh,oooh I got one, 1991 Florida Keys, I'm a brand newbie at a sign shop, gotta coat out a 4x8 with black enamel. Got one of them mixer things with blades that are suppose to attach into a drill. Got a brand new gallon of black enamel. Thinking I could be so much more effecient if I could mix it even faster, I hook up that bad boy to the hand router, (which has got to be faster since its rpms turn 8 jillion times faster than the drill), and commence to, well...lets just say as soon as i put the mixer into that black paint and hit that button, those blades gouged into the side of the paint can and propelled it thru the air like a helicopter on steroids with rotor blade wobble. Needless to say the board didn't get coated out but me and the paint room did. Took hours to get it all cleaned up.
Posted by Dale Feicke (Member # 767) on :
We used to have drag races with belt sanders across a convenience store parking lot next to our old shop, years ago. When they'd run outta extension cord, they'd stop........
Nother buddy of mine was working on the roof of his old colonial house, replacing a couple sheets of plywood. One sheet, on the edge had to be trimmed. He took his circular saw, trimmed it off, then turned around and laid the saw down behind him....not knowing the blade guard had stuck in the "up" position. As soon as it hit the roof, the blade dug in, and the saw shot up over the top of the roof...it went airborn...and sailed out an down...right thru the windshield of his brand new Toyota Supra. All he would say was "....and I hadn't had a drop to drink yet".
Posted by Jon Jantz (Member # 6137) on :
Dale, that about the saw is scary. My brother-in-law had the guard stick open on a circular saw and just grazed his leg with it. Tore his jeans up but barely nicked the skin. Scared him silly tho.... it coulda been REAL bad...
Posted by Dale Feicke (Member # 767) on :
You're so right about that, Jon. I probably shouldn't tell this, cause it'll maybe tarnish my lily-white image....but..... Many moons ago, in another dimension, we used to spend some late hours in the shop, sometimes working, sometimes trying to deplete the stockpiles of "whatever" liquid libation they had at the aforementioned convenience store next to the shop.
We always had some buddies stopping in, shooting the breeze, wanting to "paint something", or what-ever. One nite, one of my brothers buds came in and was wanting to build a birdhouse. Even brought his own wood; but wanted to use the table saw. Of course, before he started to work, he had to get "primed" for the job. About an hour later, I left and went home.
Next morning, I came in early....blood all over. As the rest of the gang came in, I found out "birdhouse guy" had gotten fairly sloshed, got to work on his project, and sliced BOTH his thumb and index finger nearly OFF. His wife called and bitched us out for letting him use the saw, and threatened to sue us for medical expenses. Sometimes, you just gotta shake your head, ya know?
But, things happen quick, especially around power tools. That saw didn't even slow up when it gobbled his fingers. And to this day, he stil doesn't have full mobility in them. We are still friends, by the way.
That's almost as bad as the moron at another shop I worked at who drilled a hole through his "winkie".....but that's another story...
Posted by David Harding (Member # 108) on :
Once, I was tapping blocks of clear 1/2" acrylic to use to put studs on the backs of letters. I put a 10-24 tap in the drill and would hold the block as I ran the tap forward and backward through my predrilled holes. I was worried about the blocks spinning in my hand, so I put on work gloves. The tap caught the gloves and wrapped my fingers up so tightly I thought they were going to snap off. The reverse switch on that drill was not easily accessible with my other hand and it took a while to extricate myself.
Posted by Terry Baird (Member # 3495) on :
When I was learning neon a few years back, the shipping guy was making some shipping pallets and put an industrial staple right through his thumb and out the other side. He came running in and asked one of the fabricators to pull it out with pliers because he didn't want the production manager to find out. I almosted passed out just watching...that was one bad stud! He eventually had to fess up because it wouldn't stop bleeding...geez! I guess I'm just a freakin' wimp.
[ September 11, 2008, 04:19 PM: Message edited by: Terry Baird ]
Posted by Stephen Deveau (Member # 1305) on :
Years ago I worked with a "Korean Gentleman"
Who always put his 'Exacto' blade in his shirt pocket with the blade UP!
One day he was bent over to tie his shoe lace and someone called his name.
As he turned his head to see who wanted "his attention" the blade crossed over his jugular vein in his neck.
Blood was spitting everywere. He was rushed to the hospital and all ended OK.
Posted by Michael Gene Adkins (Member # 882) on :
Never put an open blade in your back pocket either. When I reached for it, it got me instead, for about half the length of my thumb. OUCH! Had to leave work that day. No stitches. Just lots of tape.
Worse cut ever was when the knife jumped over the ruler and sliced about 1/3 way thru my index finger. At least my fingernail slowed it down!!! Had to stitch that one. Still have both scars. Cost of emergency room visit was exactly the cost of the sign I was building!!!
(is this the bloodiest post ever, or what?)
Posted by Jon Jantz (Member # 6137) on :
David's scenario reminded me of what one of my co-workers did on the steel-building crew. We were up in the basket about 25 feet putting gutter on a building... he was holding the lap at the top of the gutter and put a self-driller screw in... through the lap and right into his finger. Since 2 layers of 26 gauge metal doesn't take up much threads, there were plenty left to attach his finger firmly to the backside of the trim.
It's a helpless feeling watching a dude jump up and down, hollering, trying to get the screw gun into reverse, fumbling around trying to back the screw out, all the while wondering if you should laugh, knock him out of the basket, jump out of the basket yourself, or attempt to wade into the flailing and wailing and help.
Yeah, it wasn't pretty and there was blood there also...
Posted by David Harding (Member # 108) on :
In the early 1980s, I had a common sense challenged employee. Although loaded with latent artistic talent, he had the attention span of a gnat and everything he touched was a disaster not just waiting to happen, but already in the making. One day, he was opening boxes with a box cutter and also opened the backs of several fingers. Following the trip to the emergency room for stitches, he came back to work... and did it again on the same hand the very same afternoon!
Posted by Dave Grundy (Member # 103) on :
Back many years ago I was working in the machine shop of a yacht building company. Guilty of doing the drill into my hand thing, guilty of shoving my thumb into the band saw blade. Both as a result of repetitive, boring processes and talking to a co-worker instead of paying attention to what I was doing.
But the most painful, self-inflicted injury was a result of helping out a buddy. He was building a new house and the basement floor had been poured. I offered to give him a hand, power trowelling the concrete. I did have some experience using a power trowel from previous jobs.
Anyway, worked away for an hour or so and it was time to shut the machine down. Anyone who has used one knows that you just let go of the trigger on the handle and the automatic shut-off kills the engine. As a backup there is also centrifigal switch that also shuts the engine off. In this case neither did their thing and I could see the handle swinging around at full steam and doing some serious damage to ME.
I grabbed the first thing I could to try and stop being injured. Unfortunately the first thing I GRABBED onto real hard was the muffler!! A very long lasting and painful mistake on my part!!!
Posted by old paint (Member # 549) on :
MIKEY IS FULL OF THEM....wait till ya hear the one about him cuttin steel with a cutting wheel, the cut off piece hittin the floor and him WITH NO SHOES)))))) ive done a few in my day. i can relate with jon j about steel buildings and guy who work on em. and dumb stuff that goes on there.(used to build me in maine.)and built one here)))). mine was havin the cuttin torch in my left hand, LITE OF COURSE, while reaching under the flame WITH MY RIGHT HAND!!!!!!! not pretty, i actually thought i cut my thumb nail off.
[ September 11, 2008, 09:37 PM: Message edited by: old paint ]
Posted by Sheila Ferrell (Member # 3741) on :
LOL Mikey . . .
Ya know . . . I always wear steel toe boots . . . not because 6x6 & 4x4 posts and the like are so heavy and dropped upon the foot deals a crushing blow . . . nor do I wear them because trying to suspend a 4x8 in the air with two hands turns an aluminum panel into a gullitine which wishes to separate my toes from my foot . . . nope, the reason I wear steel toes is 'cause, as I'm sure you've noticed, exacto blades ALWAYS land blade-pointed-down . . . ask me how I know . . . This is not to mention the very slight danger in climbing a somewhat rickety aluminum ladder to a height of 13ft while holding a large sign panel, with a drill hanging over one shoulder, and screws in one pocket . . . . quite needless to mention how that darn GRAVITY always wins . . .
People like us is why they created OSHA . . .
Posted by Curtis hammond (Member # 2170) on :
YA,, OP,,
Tell us about your Lincoln tanning machine.. Ya know,, The one that sunburnt your man boobs because you didn't wear a shirt while you were using yer Lincoln welder....
Posted by old paint (Member # 549) on :
hey, how was i ta know a welder white light was as bad a day on a boat????))))))))
Posted by Gene Golden (Member # 3934) on :
Other than Kymi and Sheila, why is it the women aren't represented very well in this "stupid tool tricks" topic?
Are they actually safer than the males, or not quite as "adventurous"?
Posted by David Harding (Member # 108) on :
Probably smarter than males.
I saw something that said ninety percent of poisonous snakebites happen to men--that's because the women are smart enough to be running the other way. Of the ninety percent of the victims that are men, the report said an equal percentage had alcohol involved. Go figure. It didn't say what the last words before the strike were, but I imagine the dialog was similar to... "Hey guys. Watch this!"
Posted by Dawud Shaheed (Member # 5719) on :
[QUOTE]Originally posted by Sheila Ferrell: [qb]
People like us is why they created OSHA . . .
Did somebody say OSHA?
[ September 13, 2008, 05:11 PM: Message edited by: Dawud Shaheed ]
Posted by David Harding (Member # 108) on :
Occasionally Serving to Harrass Americans
Posted by Sheila Ferrell (Member # 3741) on :
LOL!! Dawud & Dave!!
I tho't it stood for:
Outrageous Standards Hardly Attainable
That picture looks like it should say:
'What happens when sign painters succumb to ordinary stress'
or how 'bout a 'news-byte' on painters . . . the scene flashes to that picture, then the newsy voice;
'After too many paint fumes have been inhaled these tragic situations are likely to occur among those in the painting community . . . clearly a goverment committee hearing and legislation should be initiated to set standards in order to maintain control of these kinds of hazardous situations in order to protect the unwary artisan . . .'
[ September 13, 2008, 06:55 PM: Message edited by: Sheila Ferrell ]
Posted by Bill Davidson (Member # 531) on :
OK, high school drafting class, 1961, needed to lower a centre screw sdjustable small wood topped drafting table. wouldn't budge, Bill you hold the table up, we will turn the screw. why someone put their weight on the top I have no idea, but i still have the thread scar on my hand where i just wrapped my hand around the 2" pedestal screw. how can you get cut with an exacto knife doing illustration paste up work, no hands? rolled off the table as i turned away, speared me in the calf. cutting a 1" square piece of plex on a 3hp table saw, tripple chip blade, 5 stitches across the pad of my left thumb, clear of the bone tho. oh, then i was helping rick sax on a visit, carving a molar for a sign, yes, i still bear the scar from a very sharp chissle, a momento of the redwoods. pulling on a wire with side cutters, straight up of course, slipped off, 4 stitches between my eyes. life can be hazerdous. what happened to spell chack???? cheers.
Posted by Adrienne Pereira (Member # 1046) on :
HAHAHA, Good one Mikey!! Had to read this one outload to the hubbie!! Thanks for the chuckle A:)
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