Author Topic: Worst power tool accidents !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! (Read 3692 times)

DalesCarpentry · « **on:** March 29, 2007, 03:47:06 PM »

I am bringing this up because it only takes a fraction of a second of not thinking to cost you your life or a limb. I have been a carpenter for about 23 years and in that time I have seen very many accidents. I would like to fill you in on a few. Back in about 1983 a guy I worked with on Kings Bay Naval base was cutting stakes that we would drive into the ground to support the forms for the concrete. He had a bad habit of droping the circular saw against his leg after a cut. Well when he was cutting these stakes a piece of wood got wedged in the guard of the saw witch held the guard back on the saw and when he dropped it to his leg it layed it wide open. The saw cut his leg to the bone. It bled like nothing i have ever seen. I pulled the shirt off my back and stuffed it in the gap the saw made. This cut was at least a couple inches deep. I held it tight till the ambulance got there. There was another time when I ran a carpenter shop on the same naval base and a guy that worked under me wacked off three fingers on our 16'' Dewalt radial arm saw. I have seen alot of bad things happen over the years and I would hope that before you make that cut you would think for one second. Is this material stable. Can the saw grab it. If it does grab the materal will my hand be pulled in with it. Like I said please think about the cuts you are about to make. I can go on and on about mistakes made about other people that have lost their fingres or lives.

stimpylu32 · « **Reply #1 on:** March 30, 2007, 05:14:50 AM »

I have been very lucky as the only bad thing to happen to me was many years ago , i was running a power saw with NO safety glasses and hit a nail . a peice of it flew up and hit me in the eye . it took the doctor about 45 min. to remove the metal and i walked away with no permanate vison loss .

To this day even my sunglasses are safety glasses . will wake you up in a hurry !

stimpy

jpsmith1 · « **Reply #2 on:** March 30, 2007, 02:05:36 PM »

I've been VERY fortunate with power tools. Have only done minor things like poking a 1/16 drill bit into my finger or pinning my finger with a spinning phillips bit. Both hurt, but not life altering.

The worst thing that ever happened to me was, of course, my own dumb fault. I was using my knife blade to leverage a piece of plastic trim back into place. The knife blade slipped. Did I mention that I was pulling up, towards myself. I stabbed myself in the eye. Fortunately, the blade slipped between my eyelid and eyeball. I only cut the underside of my eyelid slightly. As with stimpy, even my sunglasses are safety glasses.

quickdtoo · « **Reply #3 on:** March 30, 2007, 02:28:34 PM »

The old adage, "Measure twice, cut once", should be "measure twice, think twice, cut once"!!

Tim

stimpylu32 · « **Reply #4 on:** March 30, 2007, 03:02:15 PM »

You suer got that right !!

stimpy

GRIMJIM · « **Reply #5 on:** March 30, 2007, 03:19:41 PM »

No major ones (knock on wood), threw a sash off the back of the truck at the dump, had a 16 penny nail sticking out of it, cut my arm like a knife, 6 stitches. 7/8 inch spade bit kicked out of a counter top into my left palm, tore up the meat pretty good, compression bandage, nothing solid enough to stitch. The worst one was sticking my finger into a tilt base laminate trimmer, tore the whole finger nail off my middle finger. Surprisingly though it grew back pretty well, a little different than the rest of them but at least I didn't have to get a toenail grafted like they were talking. While these seem pretty gruesome, I have been a cabinetmaker for 23 years and consider myself lucky.

I have never seen nor do I want to see anyone get severely hurt. I think the worst injury I've seen was a guy holding the trigger of a framing gun and nailing his boot to his ankle with a 12 penny screw shank nail. It pulled the leather so tight to his skin they had to cut it just to get something under the head to pry it out. After it was all said and done and he was okay I got him a set of shoelaces and said the next time you put on your boots use these instead. I can picture it now and it still make me shudder.

KN · « **Reply #6 on:** March 30, 2007, 03:34:19 PM »

I have worked for a couple of major manufacturing companies over the years and have seen a couple of really nasty ones. One guy got his arm pulled into a horizontal milling machine. Basically ran his arm in like you would an old ringer washer. That was a nasty sight. When I was in college the machine shop had night classes that basically allowed you to use the machines for personal use. It wasn't really a class. Any way a guy in the night class was running a lathe and got a little careless. He was your typical Harley rider, no offense, with the ZZ Top beard and all. He leaned over too far and caught his beard in the lead screw. Pulled his head down until he hit the ways and then yanked the beard out. You can imagne how that smarts. KN

DalesCarpentry · « **Reply #7 on:** March 30, 2007, 04:50:31 PM »

well the worst that has ever happened to me is a couple nail gun accidents. About 6 years ago I was building a deck and I shot a 3'' nail into my wrist. It was buried to the head. I pulled it out on my own but it was 6 or 8 months before my wrist was back to normal. That does not compare to what I had done this past December. I shot a 3'' ring shank nail through my ring finger. It went through the bone also. Well after it happened I yelled for Dave ( the guy working with me ) for about 5 minutes before he ever heard me. He was working on the other side of the house and could not hear me yelling for him seeing as I was in the garage with the door closed. This nail had me nailed to the wall. The head was sunk into my finger. When he finally came I asked him to get a pair of linesman cutters and cut the head off. He came back with a crow bar. He tried to gently pull the nail depressing the claw into my finger to get a hold of the head. The thing is it was a ring shank and it would not budge. This is one of those times where you have to bite the bullet. For him to remove the nail he had to jerk very hard crushing my finger by the back end of the crow bar. I can not even put into words how bad it hurt. So off to the hospital we go. I have a 3'' nail sticking through my finger. On the way there I called my wife and assured her I would not die from this but it really hurt. When we got to the hospital they did take me right back. They did the normal things like take x rays to see what it went through. Seeing as it went through the bone they had to consult a sergion. I sat there for at least 2 1/2 hours with this nail through my finger with unbarible pain before they finaly took it out.This is a day I would never want to relive.

DalesCarpentry · « **Reply #8 on:** March 31, 2007, 11:09:24 AM »

I have a couple more to tell you guys about. This happened about 15 years ago in Florida. A guy I was working with was ripping down plywood with a circular saw and as he was cutting he took his other hand to check and see if the blade was cutting through the plywood all the way. well you can guess what happened. He lost a couple of fingers. To this day I still don't know what was going through his head when he did this. Then there was another time when a guy I was working with used to carry a hammer with a hatchet on the end where the claw should be. We used to call him hatchet Bob and he kept it sharp. Well he came in one morning after a night of drinking probably still a little drunk. He went to drive a nail and had the hammer turned the wrong way and cut off his index finger and thumb. Both of these cases were people not thinking.

GRIMJIM · « **Reply #9 on:** March 31, 2007, 04:27:34 PM »

Reason 4,896 not to drink on a school night. Drinking and or drugs and work should never be mixed. I have worked on job sites especially setting up booths at trade shows where after morning break you can smell the liquor or the weed the guy just smoked. I try to keep as far away as possible.

I don't personally care what you do, you're an adult, but there will be hell to pay if I get hurt because you're buzzed. The way I look at it if you can't go eight hours without a drink or whatever it is you're doing you have a problem.

Dee · « **Reply #10 on:** March 31, 2007, 04:47:31 PM »

I once got up off the ground while holding the trigger back on a framing gun. I bumped the safety with my left thumb. It went back toward my wrist, pinning the thumb to the Palm of my hand, and stopping in the big bone of my wrist AFTER going thru the joint. Four nurses held me down what the doctor pulled it out with a pair of 16 inch channel locks. Did I mention that it was wire belted, and the wire went in with the nail? Talking about a waker upper.

GRIMJIM · « **Reply #11 on:** March 31, 2007, 04:50:21 PM »

This is a bad idea for a thread. Every post makes me wince.
But I can't stop reading them.

DalesCarpentry · « **Reply #12 on:** March 31, 2007, 05:42:51 PM »

Kind of like watching Nascar. You watch it for the wrecks.

Quote from: GRIMJIM on March 31, 2007, 04:50:21 PM

This is a bad idea for a thread. Every post makes me wince.
But I can't stop reading them.

EVOC ONE · « **Reply #13 on:** April 06, 2007, 01:43:01 AM »

This is not a power tool incident, but involving a hand tool. However, it left a lasting impression that I'll never forget. Before I retired from law enforcement, I was once dispatched to assist the fire department with setting up a landing area for a medivac transport. When I arrived at the scene, rescue units were tending to a contractor who had fallen from a scaffold while working on a two story home. The worker landed on his hammer and it was suspected that he fractured his tail bone. What made the lasting impression was the amount of pain this poor fellow was in. No matter where on his body a paramedic touched him, it was pain full. Today, when I work with a hammer, I'm sure to place it out of harms way when I put it down.

Joe

Hairtrigger · « **Reply #14 on:** April 06, 2007, 03:02:39 AM »

In high school a kid put a light cutting torch tip up to his thigh. not a big burn but deep. His jeans were burnt to his thigh as well

SDS-GEN · « **Reply #15 on:** April 06, 2007, 07:59:24 AM »

Nothing major has happened to me, minor cuts and burns, beat up fingers (I'm a jeweler) the worst thing was putting a prong pusher through my thumb nail. A prong pusher is steel, the end is 4-5mm long and 2-3mm wide with a grove cut in it.

My wife is a nurse who spent several years in the operating room, every single guy(there were several) who scalped himself with a chainsaw did so while cutting above his head.

oldandslow · « **Reply #16 on:** April 07, 2007, 09:41:08 AM »

After retiring I restored a '72 Chevy pickup for my oldest grandson. I was peeling old bondo off with my 9" 6000 rpm HD grinder with a wire wheel. Of course I was wearing regular leather gloves instead of ones with long cuffs. I let the wire wheel grab and it flipped around and took a chunk out of my left arm. I didn't know I had as much blood as ran out of that furrow it cut out. Dr. said it didn't completely cut the muscle or my hand would have been useless.

winfan · « **Reply #17 on:** April 10, 2007, 02:31:44 PM »

Been pretty fortunate in the accidents dept. Had a few incidences, but still have all appendages. Nailed two fingers together with a three inch framing nail, was able to pull it out myself. Another time I got a pretty nasty cut with a 12" miter saw. Ripped up my finger pretty good, but it healed nicely. The most important thing is that in each case, I know what I did wrong and hopefully won't do it again.

Mike

Dee · « **Reply #18 on:** April 10, 2007, 02:38:19 PM »

I need to stay away from the thread. When I read the posts, I grind my teeth, and am afraid to go to work.

Awf Hand · « **Reply #19 on:** April 11, 2007, 04:36:53 AM »

"...total body fragmentation"

Worst I've ever heard about....

http://www.cdc.gov/niosh/face/stateface/ca/00ca010.html

Those machines give me the creeps.

DalesCarpentry · « **Reply #20 on:** April 11, 2007, 10:41:00 AM »

When I was working in south Miami after hurricane Andrew there was guy also killed that way. That would be a terrible way to go.

Dee · « **Reply #21 on:** April 11, 2007, 11:33:23 AM »

This thread just gets worse!

DalesCarpentry · « **Reply #22 on:** April 11, 2007, 01:34:59 PM »

Have you guys heard about the tree trimmer that cut the branch he was tied off to. Killed him to. It's not the falling that hurts it's that sudden stop that gets you.

GRIMJIM · « **Reply #23 on:** April 14, 2007, 03:25:35 PM »

I didn't hear that one. I did hear about the tree trimmer that fell on his running chainsaw and it cut off almost the whole left side of his body. He lived, and he's all right now,

WolfBrother · « **Reply #24 on:** April 20, 2007, 02:30:35 AM »

My Freshman Year In High School in VoAg class.

Me, a jointer/planer, a short piece of wood, and NO push stick.

Result - left pinky finger cut in 3 places from tip to mid-knuckle and left ring finger cut 1 place at the tip.
left pinky finger - no bone damage but was flayed about 1 1/2 inches wide.

End Result - Left ring finger - 3 stitches. Left pinky finger - no stitches - no where to sew. They wrapped the finger back together with furasin gauze and sent me home with some pain and antibiotic pills.

While going to the hospital, Mr. Oakes taught everyone else how to safely use the jointer/planer.

bobg · « **Reply #25 on:** April 20, 2007, 05:08:18 AM »

WolfBrother, I did the same thing on the first job i ever had. Took a piece out of the end of my left ring finger. Learned alot that day about short boards and push sticks. I also was useing a cut off wheel on a hand grinder. The wheel wasn't rated for the rpms of the grinder. The wheel broke and stuck in my leg. By the time my boss decided whose car he would take to get me to the hospital you could pour the blood out of my boot. Sure did bleed a lot.
bobg

GRIMJIM · « **Reply #26 on:** April 20, 2007, 11:45:15 AM »

I used to work with a guy missing the tips of his first three fingers from the knuckle up. He did the same thing, The first day of his new cabinet making job. He is ready to retire soon. I think I would have tried something else.

wncchester · « **Reply #27 on:** April 20, 2007, 12:45:50 PM »

20 years ago my neighbor, from NY via Fla, built a kit log home up here in NC. He didn't have a lot of money so he did the work himself on vacations and long week-ends. Thought he knew everything of course. It took him about four years but he got it done. At a really high price.

First, he bought a yard-sale Sears 10" radial arm saw he didn't quite know how to use properly. One day he was cutting long 3/4" wide x 1/4" deep grooves with a wobble dado head, fed THE WRONG WAY! Of course the saw soon grabbed the board, jerked it through and pulled his poorly positioned right hand into the blade. He lost the entire trigger finger, 2/3s of the second and 1/3 of the third finger. He was a right handed electronic tech/TV repairman, left basically with a thumb and little finger on that hand.

Couple of years later he was working again with his 35 year old pilot son on the second floor. The son knew less than his dad about carpentry and he removed the braces holding up the poorly stacked-log gable end. A couple of tons of logs immediately toppled over on him. He was standing beside a 10" stack of plywood flooring and was folded into a 10" diameter 180 bend at the hips. His head and one arm was free and between his feet but it killed him of course. Left a sad dad and mom.

Moral: We all can get hurt with building projects but those who don't know what they are doing should avoid big DIY projects and power tools.

gwindrider1 · « **Reply #28 on:** April 23, 2007, 09:40:32 AM »

Geez! Reading these stories just makes me cringe.

As a carpenter/remodeler/installer, I work with every sort of power tool, and have suffered a few minor mishaps, but nothing on this magnitude.

Power tools are totally unforgiving. You get no second chances here folks. Think BEFORE you work!

Be safe out there!

DalesCarpentry · « **Reply #29 on:** April 23, 2007, 11:23:10 AM »

That is very true. Power tools have no feeling and will hurt you in less than a second.