I was using a cut off wheel to get a frozen shock mount nut off, the wheel caught on something and threw the grinder across my chest and into my left arm. I had the guard on it so the damage was limited to my arm, but it was bad enough. As I was home alone I had to take myself to get stitched up, so I went in washed the heaviest if the dirt/grease, blood off me, changed my t shirt and went to my truck to go, the truck had a dead battery. Had to climb up to the second story of the barn to get my battery charger to give the battery a boost. Drove to the hospital in the next town, took 40 stitches. Nurse commented on my t shirt, had not even realized I grabbed one from the red cross, said give blood. Last time I used a grinder without two hands on it.
For those that were curious I was attempting to get the last body bushing out from under the 2011 F350 daily driver. There are 8 under the cab and nose and it seems Ford made them out of such shitty foamy type material they turn to dust in about 8 years from when they are new. Truck just turned 120k. The weird thing is they put 2 in the center of the cab which are made from the old style hard rubber stuff which lasted forever? Go figure. I was trying to get the last hard rubber mount out and it wouldn't come so I tried to cut it free and that is when I got injured. Ford wants $500 to $700 for the parts and another $1k to install this stuff. They should be embarrassed to even say the word Super Duty!! Some of the comments you guys are leaving have cracked me up! That in itself has made me feel a lot better! Thanks guys!
Around here,, The 4” grinder with a cut off wheel is nick named the “ampu-tool”. Useful and versatile as can possibly be (if the guard is off and of course the guard being present reduces its usefulness and versatility by 80 % or more in most cases if not 100%) That tool needs as much respect as a loaded gun if not more because it makes good things happen where you point it and bad things happen where you don’t point it.
Some way too common repairs on the Diesel engines require lifting the cab off the frame to do it. Lots of luck in the rust zone states
Something similar but could have been much worse. Working with a 9" angle grinder with a coarse cup brush cleaning up the edge of a sheet of 1" steel when the brush caught the lip of the steel and flipped directly into the button fly of my Levi's. It tore the front of the Levi's out and removed my skivvies and did NOT touch anything else. The plant manager's comments about how lucky I was, while all the time he was laughing his ass off, and my wife's comments after I called her to bring me some more clothes, inspired me to be much more careful from then on.
Going for the Herman Munster look ;-). Glad your OK and it wasn’t worse. Sent from my iPad using The H.A.M.B. mobile app
I did something similar a couple of years back, on the back of my left hand, I was just showing someone the scar yesterday. I did split my head open back in 2012, stood up under a shelf at home and the wall bracket sliced a 2.5" furrow in my scalp. They glued and taped it closed. Bled like a bastard, but those kinds of wounds get you instant ER admission...
The Jalopy Journal
