Be careful when working with power tools!

[Solo2driver]

A few days ago a racing buddy of mine was using a 4" angle grinder while doing some metal fabrication, and it hung up and bounced back...onto his FACE. Only his glasses saved him. It's pretty bad and there was a lot of metal in his face and shards were cauterized into the wound from the heat of the grinder. It basically cut from the bridge of his nose into his face horizontally, about 2-1/2" deep.

I have a link where his wife posts her blog entry, with photos and a quick video but I won't post them unless I get enough interest to risk a time-out (it's graphic, but actually more medically interesting than "gory").

Anyway, we've discussed cars falling on people while performing maintenance and IIRC we even lost a BITOG member from something to that effect, always a solemn reminder to BE SAFE, have your phone or someone nearby to help you, and have a plan in place. I know I don't have a good First Aid kit in the garage, and our nearest hospitals are jokes at best.

My twin brother was working with a Skil saw a few years ago cutting up junk furniture in his girlfriend's dad's garage (who had recently passed, they were clearing out junk) and the saw kicked and he buried it into his thigh right down to the bone. Used a belt as a tournequet and rushed to the hospital, scary stuff. That was 2 years ago. Side note, at the moment he had the saw in his leg I had a horrible feeling in the pit of my stomach, and I turned to my wife and said "Something is wrong"...an hour later I got the phone call from my mom. 1600 miles away. Crazy stuff. Twin bond is real stuff.


Cliff Notes-- be safe with tools!

 

[Tempest]

I managed to drill about 1/8" into my finger once. That's about the worst I've had.

I used to work at a millwork shop and there were a few there. I think the worst was a guy getting his finger torn up by a router. Not pretty.

Yes, be careful.

 

[musicmanbass]

Excellent reminder and warning. I'm not the strongest stomach around whne it comes to blood and guts, so I presonally don't have an interest in seeing the pics, but I think a link with warning would be ok as long as the mods agree.

 

[mopar_monkey]

wow that's harsh,a friend of one of my friends on facebook just had their 3 yr old get a hold of a nail gun and sent a nail into his chest, hit his heart and now he's in critical condition at the hospital, how dumb are these parents? leave an air powered nail gun hooked up to compressed air while a 3 yr old is around then don't keep an eagle eye on them.

 

[Solo2driver]

Originally Posted By: mopar_monkey
wow that's harsh,a friend of one of my friends on facebook just had their 3 yr old get a hold of a nail gun and sent a nail into his chest, hit his heart and now he's in critical condition at the hospital, how dumb are these parents? leave an air powered nail gun hooked up to compressed air while a 3 yr old is around then don't keep an eagle eye on them.


3-year-olds can get into nearly anything and can operate almost anything they observe adults do. My daughter is 3.5 years old and she can open/close doors, operate locks, knows what buttons to push on the TV's, can operate the stove/oven for (supervised) cooking, etc. It's very scary that the child is hurt in that nailgun situation, I feel deep sympathy for the parents and child for having to go through such an accident.

 

[HTSS_TR]

The only power tool I have is a corded drill. I always careful when I use it, I took my time using it on anything slowly and make sure that nothing was around to interfere with the cord. Better be safe than sorry.

 

[oilboy123]

Wow that's some heavy stuff happening. I have had a few gory things happen over the years. Thankfully they were not as severe as the things you guys mention.

All it takes is one speck of metal in your eye or a momentary laps in judgment. That's amazing that you knew something was amiss with your twin Brother.......

 

[Bill in Utah]

PM him for the link.

For most the description is enough.

Bill

 

[Shannow]

We've banned 9"angle grinders form our workssites. Too many injuries. Had a former manager of mine cutting roof tiles with one...on his roof.

Slipped and sliced through his achilles tendon.

To this day, everyone is amazed that he managed to stay on the roof and get down safely.

I know a couple of guys who have nailed themselves to joinery work.

 

[crinkles]

BIL did something similar, bricksaw jumped back on him and darn near cut his fore arm off... can't use his hand now and can't grip with his finger anything smaller than a tennis ball. he was drunk on the job BTW.

 

[demarpaint]

Best wishes for a speedy recovery.

Worst powertool accident I had was as a kid working in a paint hardware store. I was putting together a metal display that used tubular steel. A hole was missing and I decided to use a 1/8" bit on a pretty heavy dremil drill, this was in the 1970's. Anyway I didn't put an indentation in the tubular steel, instead I held my hand behind where I was drilling. I was young and foolish. The bit slipped, at a very high rpm, and I drilled through the knucke of my index finger and slightly into my middle finger. Pulling the bit out was a real trip, and the prep job the hospital had to do to clean it up was sickening. I'll never forget.

 

[JHZR2]

Great reminder. Dangerous stuff - this equipment is powerful enough to do real damage. Even with PPE, damage can be severe.

Good practices and extreme care must be taken at all times...

Ill add my experience, as it just happened this weekend - was weedwacking without safety glasses, and got a small white stone kicked up. It came fast but reflexes were good enough to clamp down, though I think the eye was still hit. Things were quite scratchy in the eye for the rest of the day on Saturday... fortunately no apparent real damage, but still, scary,painful and could have been really bad.

 

[Kestas]

Eye injuries from weedwacking are all too common.

I had two incidents that I'd like to pass onto everyone here. In one incident I hurt myself - the other was a close call.

Without going into any detail, the moral of my story is to avoid dangerous work when tired or in a bad mood.

 

[jimbeamalki]

Closest I've come is using a wire brush on a drill and it grabs the edge of my t-shirt, winds it up and tries to rip it off me.

 

[IndyIan]

Two hands on power equipment is my strategy. I've cut all sorts of dumb stuff with circular saws but with two hands on it, kick back is a non issue then. Same with the angle grinder, with two hands kick back is a minor annoyance.
Chainsaw work has taught me to always examine a situation for the potential dangers and analyze what is going to happen when you make a cut.
2 feet of sharp teeth going 70 mph driven by 5 hp, cutting wood supporting 1000's of pounds 40-60' above your head... I always take my time and have a good think before I cut something tricky.

 

[sciphi]

Thanks for the timely warning!

I nicked myself on my 4.5" angle grinder after cutting metal. Fortunately the grinder was spinning down, otherwise it would have been more than a slight bloodless cut on my finger. The safety shield was on, and I was wearing a facemask, safety glasses and earplugs.

Agreed, don't work with power tools when under the influence, in a hurry, or otherwise emotionally agitated.

 

[ToyotaNSaturn]

ouch. double OUCH.

Years ago my uncle was working with a circular saw, the saw hit a knot in the wood, lost control, bounced back on gashed his leg. 48 stitches later he has a story to tell. And part of that story is how lucky he is that nothing else happened.

 

[Mr_Incredible]

Too many scars to remember all the owies I've done to myself.

Worst is permanent eye damage from a weld berry that got on my eyeball. It was right over the pupil and was black, so impossible to see even with a flashlight close up in the mirror. It was several days before the infection clouded things up, along with another angle with the flashlight, before I could see it. Now my left eye always seems like I'm looking through the wrong prescription glasses or contact, and lights at night all have a big halo around them. Huge price to pay for a three second lack of attention.

 

[beanoil]

Originally Posted By: Mr_Incredible
Now my left eye always seems like I'm looking through the wrong prescription glasses or contact, and lights at night all have a big halo around them. Huge price to pay for a three second lack of attention.

Just a reminder that it doesn't have to be powered to hurt. I had Lasik back in 02, and have (had) 20/20 vision as a result. About two months ago, I placed a drop of Loctite on the tip of a screw. It was a 4 oz bottle of tite with a snap close top. Setting the bottle on the workbench, I pushed the top closed, and a healthy spurt of Loctite made it's way right into my eye. Repeated flushes did nothing. The eye doc says nothing is wrong, but I have flashes and halo's constantly in that eye now. I wasn't using any power tools, so I didn't see any need for PPE. I know better now, maybe someone else will learn from my mistake.

 

[saberz]

Yeah I got a bit queezy reading about it. No needs for pics, I hope everything is ok. Using power tools I always go slow and steady, always worried about stuff like that happening