Don't relax around power tools....

[Gwil]

I was talking once to an old wooden boat builder about accidents, he silently held up the three fingers of his right hand. 'Hardly know a bloke with a full set' he said.

Mind you, he also said our local fishmonger, who'd relocated to the Isle of Wight from the East End of London, had deliberately sanded off his own fingerprints....

 

[Robotstar5]

Then you get the deliberate ones, a moulder at the foundry where I did my apprenticeship would "accidentally" leave a finger on the moulding box as the pressure plate came down so he could claim compensation for industrial injury

 

[Wedg1e]

nasty, not as bad but my mate put his hand to the hot air gun to see if it was up to temperature

In my late teens I stuck a finger in a chip pan to see if it was hot enough...

 

[Wedg1e]

The power planes are the devil, they take no prisoners

Didn't someone on here post a pic a few years back where they'd cupped an electric plane in their hand and then pressed the go button...

 

[Wedg1e]

Then you get the deliberate ones, a moulder at the foundry where I did my apprenticeship would "accidentally" leave a finger on the moulding box as the pressure plate came down so he could claim compensation for industrial injury

One of the guys I work with came from a place with a similar arrangement: the staff would take it in turns to clout a finger or thumb with a 4-pound hammer in order to lose a nail. It was worth a fiver a time, which could be a night on the pop in those days!

 

[gav0994]

Whilst drilling a 35mm hole through 50x50x5 box section the other day with the mag drill it caught the edge of the first "disc" which fell through into the box as I was starting the 2nd cut. Cue mag drill doing several 360 spins and tearing the cable out . Nearly broke my wrist before I decided to let go - panicked and forgot I could've just hit the switch. The sparks had me shifting across the shop rapid style. Luckily the drill remained upright and never fell to the floor. 10 minutes later I had it 're wired and the hole finished off.

 

[gaz1]

grinder is mine rasping plastic 4" pipe with small grinder done it for years but this day i caught the blade as i turned the plastic to grind some more off

bleed liks a swine and trip to hospital i was lucky that day no sewing up the skin just a needle somewhere else

nail guns my problem at moment the amount of times ive caught the palm of hand with a nail and that bleeds like hell

stood on nails gone right through trainers a few times thats a quick lift back up and then check its bleeding

but wolf drill i dont dig it out often but ive had way too many cracks at back of hands from it being ripped out of both hands whilst drilling

 

[cumbriasteve]

My 'they won't let me forget' injury was daughter using a Stanley knife wrong:

• Here..give me that before you cut yourself, that's not how you do it, you'll end up with stitches.
• Get me a towel ...quick
• It's not dripping on the car seat.
• I know it's 30mph but perhaps just this once you could be a dare devil.
• Accident and emergency is around that corner.
• Occupation?...I am a safety trainer
• I thought you nurses were supposed to be sympathetic and not roll on the floor laughing .

One of life's horrible moments, you feel the blade slicing deep but still hope it is a scratch....then you look

 

[Dieselman 63]

Just before Christmas I put a brand new blade on my hacksaw, was gripping cast iron in my vice so I didn't want to grip too hard and decided to steady it with my hand. Slipped, boy are those blades sharp even with those tidy teeth! Took a lot longer to heal than I thought... Besides that a million and one instances with craft knives and Airfix kits, don't think I've got a finger that hasn't been touched yet... Worst thing was using an angle grinder without the guard, finger just hit the blade, cut about 5mm deep - I felt that adrenaline rush!

 

[Keith 66]

Working at the college some years ago, we were teaching a bunch of lads soldering, one of them wasnt sure if his soldering iron was working. And so to our amazement the head of department no less touched the iron to the tip of his tongue, And yes it was hot. How we laughed!

 

[the snooper]

In my late teens I stuck a finger in a chip pan to see if it was hot enough...

 

[Kent]

A retired engineer told me when I was learning "if you want to know how good a guy really isn't then count his fingers after a few years"

 

[zx9]

Working at the college some years ago, we were teaching a bunch of lads soldering, one of them wasnt sure if his soldering iron was working. And so to our amazement the head of department no less touched the iron to the tip of his tongue, And yes it was hot. How we laughed!

I used to snif soldering irons to see if they were getting hot untill the day I dabbed one right on the end of my nose, I don't know if the pain oe the smell of burnt flesh was worse.
I now have one with a LCD temperature display on the side of the iron, which tells me how hot it is when it is turned on but not by how much it has cooled when turned off because the display also turns off. I know a soldering station would solve the problem but I don't have room for one in my on site tool box which I walk around London / take on the tube etc.

 

[Woody.v8]

I used to snif soldering irons to see if they were getting hot untill the day I dabbed one right on the end of my nose, I don't know if the pain oe the smell of burnt flesh was worse.
I now have one with a LCD temperature display on the side of the iron, which tells me how hot it is when it is turned on but not by how much it has cooled when turned off because the display also turns off. I know a soldering station would solve the problem but I don't have room for one in my on site tool box which I walk around London / take on the tube etc.

What's wrong with a bit of spit on your finger?

 

[zx9]

What's wrong with a bit of spit on your finger?

The 'snif test' was just a habit I got into, I suppose I did it because it only took one hand to hold the soldering iron and I could easily do it when working inside a rack, up steps working at he back of a projector or at a floor box under a boardroom table.

 

[Exuptoy]

Bought a 110v 4 1/2 inch grinder in a car boot years ago with a broken switch which was wired out and switched on as soon as you plugged it in. Whilst cutting a section of floor from my old beetle I was fixing up I removed the used disc and replaced it with a brand new one and picked it up roughly in the same place I was holding it with the smaller used disc. Plugged it in and yep you guessed it new disc straight through the back of my index finger right down to the bone!

 

[Gwil]

How many pints of blood shed in this thread so far? Or should I say gallons......

 

[justin]

When i was was 17 I used my sleeve to wipe coolant off something in the lathe. It gripped the sleeve and gave me a good twist, No blood just bruised and battered, very lucky and very very stupid.

 

[rockweasel]

My dad used to say that it wasn't a proper job until some blood had been spilt.