worst thing to happen while working on your project...

For those who missed it a few years back, hit in the face with runaway angle grinder, yes it hurt!




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Ive got several belly laughs and at the same time learned from others mistakes reading this thread....heres my story

When I was a teenager I was ditching the clutch fan for a lightweight aluminum flex fan on my '70 Roadrunner,getting the old fan off was no problem,but I couldnt start the 4 bolts thru the new fan.The longer I worked at it the madder I got.There was not enough room between the radiator and the bolt head to even get it started by hand,my knuckles were getting skinned up on the radiator fins,plus it was about 3000 deg outside,sweat dripping down in my eyes....so with a sudden fit of anger I jerked the fan out and proceeded to kick it across my front yard like a football.

Once I kicked thru the goalpost I looked down at my lh index finger and it was layed wide open to the bone,I had drug it across one of the fan blades when I jerked it out of the car.I figured on the way to the hospital,Id get it sewed up and be home by dinner time-WRONG.The doctor probes around and says...you've completely severed 2 tendons a nerve and an artery-straight to surgery

All healed well except the nerve...23 yrs later the left half of my finger is dead,cant feel a thing,but at least I can make a fist,so Im grateful,and have learned to walk away instead of throwing a fit when things don't fit like they should

 

Dropped a grinder in my lap, luckily missed the important stuff.

 

I was helpin a buddy put new brake shoes on his car. I was standing behind him drinking a beer handing him tools. . Heard a pop and a Oh shit. He turned around with a brake spring lodged in his forehead. Man wish I had a camera !

 

When i opened this thread,i thought maybe a one or two guys.Damn! I'm not alone in this boat!

 

my dog ran away.....

 

gas gutting a floorpan out...cut clean through a plastic fuel line(english ford escort)..as flames leapt up to say hello to my hair the boss (watching his half baked and unaware apprentice out corner of eye) leant over my shoulder and fizzzed it with extinguisher! Another time...rat-tail filing a hole in a hood using LOTS of pressure really makin that file work... pulled file back to far ...popped out hole and straight into my eye..didn't lose my eye but it was dark blood red for weeks...

 

my wife decided it was time to buy a house

 

been there,done that...still breathing!

 

Here lately...the stove broke, then the furnace broke....now the washing machine is broke and I've got two doors and a window I need to fix and oh yeah, a small leak in the roof I have to patch.

If that damned old house and everything in it ever stops falling apart for long enough, I just MIGHT find some time to get back to my project

 

while I sustained a pile of scars working on my old cars nothing compares to the injury my wife sustained while helping me move the cab on my 32 chevy. We were moving it as we had a hundred time before, this time the cabs weight shifted and she bent her knees the wrong way and fell into the cab. She seprated the ACL in her right knee and tore her PCL. She now has a cadaver ACL and I no longer have the 32....

 

Stumble across another project...

 

If you get a Sawzall blade pinched in say a frame or something and it breaks off from the saw, take the time to remove it. I caught my thumb on the broken end of one reaching for something beyond it. The broken edge of the saw blade gutted my thumb to the bone from one knuckle to the other.
Also remember - after explaining to your wife how sharp edges of sheemetal are inside a clothes dryer, don't run your knuckles across the edge of the sheetmetal while turning the drum to watch the belt alignment.

 

Dropped a socket wrench into my rad ,And sprung a leak ,Welders flash a few times ,I think the flash out beats all the stupid stuff Ive done ,

 

Amen bro

 

My Scout pretty much lives on a drive up hoist. Once with the hoist about a foot off the ground and with me working in the back of the truck I decided to jump down onto the hoist frame, which is just a 4inch beam at the end. Of course I missed. It became one of the slow motion falls where you see it all happening and start clutching at everything to keep the damage to a minimum. After cutting the hell out of my fingers in the truck bed I ultimately landed on the frame and the corner of the hoist. I took a big chunk out of the palm of my left hand. The bruising on my legs and back were quite colorful. It could have been much worse.

Gave myself welder's flash. That ranks right up there for stupid things to do and painful lessons as a result.

My Brother brought a farm truck into the shop that was less then clean. In the end we both got staff infections on our hands. My brother's was so bad his little and ring finger were splitting from the swelling. It took months for that to heal

 

In high school in 1963 I was woking on my '30 chopped coupe (bought it for $100.00) got pissed at something and thru my hammer down, it hit the tire that was off the front, bounced up right straight thru the chopped windshield. Very painfull to the wallet, even back then

 

Okay so after months of bodywork and block sanding my 61' Impala bubbletop is finally ready for paint. Things are moving along nicely until after the second coat i start to see a couple fisheyes than more and more (many hundreds). It seems that one of the rings in the compressor decided to break at the same time that i start to paint. Oil in the paint, SUPER. I spend the next couple weeks re-sanding and prepping again not to mention getting the head of the compressor fixed. Now I'm ready for round 2. I get the 3 coats of base on and start to shoot the clear. In the middle of the second coat ( must be something about coat #2 !!! ) the main support for the roof joists snaps due to a really big wind gust. Old building and the ceiling is tongue & groove. Everthing shifted enough that all the crap that was in the ceiling grooves now looks like some heavy duty pepper in the clear coat. I pretty much layed the spray gun on the ground closed up shop and didn't return for three weeks. I learned never to ask " What Next " after this. Only took 3 months to paint the damn thing. Funny now but not back then.

 

Here`s some we have all lived at one time or another.....

DRILL PRESS; a tall upright machine useful for suddenly snatching flat metal bar stock out of your hands so that it smacks you in the chest and flings your drink across the room splattering it against that freshly painted car part

WIRE WHEEL; cleans paint and rust off of bolts and then throws them some place under the workbench at the speed of light, Also removes, finger prints, band-aids, and deposits small sharp wires in your shirt.

HAND DRILL; Normally used for spinning pop rivets in their holes until you die of old age.

PLIERS; used to round bolt heads off. Also useful for giving your palm blood blisters.

HACKSAW: Part of a entire group of tools built on the chaos theory. It transforms human energy into a crooked,unpredictable motion. The more you attempt to influence its course the more dismal the cut becomes.

VISE GRIPS; used to round off bolts heads. Can be used to hold objects while welding, transferring the intense heat to your palm.

OXY/ACETYLENE TORCH; Used for cutting metal that is always 1/8" thicker then the tip you have. Very good tool for lighting everything in your shop on fire. Well known for the magic characteristics of the oxygen bottle always being empty no matter how much you re-fill it.

METRIC SOCKETS; used for beating onto the heads of the bolts you rounded off with the pliers and vise grips

FLOOR JACK: A 4 foot long metal pipe on wheels that is used for removing the skin from you shins. Also can be can be used for raising your car 1 inch lower then the height of the transmission your removing.

HOSE CUTTER: A tool used to cut fuel and vacuum line 1" shorter then needed. Used in conjunction with the tape measure to confirm that the line is 1" to short.

HAMMER; Originally used as a weapon of war, now known for the ability of its handle to stop the tool box drawer from opening. Also useful for making blood squirt form under you fingernail.

ENGINE HOIST; A basic lever on wheels known for its ability to travel in the direct opposite direction of where you are pushing it. Employs divining rod characteristics to find the edge of the floor where the stone driveway starts.

QUARTZ LIGHT; Very useful tool for keeping you feet warm in the winter. Known for its ability to melt anything that comes in contact with it in less then a second, including your forehead. Will always shine the light into your eyes, but will keep the working area dark.

IMPACT WRENCH; Uses compressed air to twist off any bolt that you need to keep, and change the temperature of a junk nut from 68 degrees to 500 degrees in 1/2" distance of thread, burning your fingers as you attempt to throw it in the trash.

PRY BAR; Comes in many different shapes, sizes and lengths. Most are straight blade but occasionally they come in Phillips also.

OIL DRAIN PAN; A container used to collect oil drainings. No matter what size you buy it will always be 1" shorter then the distance between the drain plug and the oil filter.

 

had a 7" grinder catch my shirt and twist the shirt and my hand all up in itself where I could not let go of the trigger. lucky for me I was using a friends harbor freight piece of shit grinder rather than my Milwaukee and the shirt was able to stop the motor even with the trigger depressed. got a little scar on my chest, another inch higher and I would have ground off my nipple. ouch.

grinding the hell out of a part with a 4" grinder in an odd position and caught my coveralls on fire right next to my ''junk''. lucky they were heavy duty Carharts and did not burn through.

I like to think my 4 years of woodshop in high school has made me a safer person in the shop even though that was 32 years ago.

I had a buddy who polished big rig wheels with a giant polisher. he was changing the polishing wheels and hit the go button with the wrench on the nut. BAM! broke all the little bones on the top of his hand.

 

a buddy in high school did a burn out in the school parking lot with a carload of us guys along and blew the drive tire he slowly drove on the flat to the nearest service station .. 4 blocks .. bought a cheap used tire- 3 bucks -1 buck for mounting and balance- he removed and replaced it himself.. save a buck fifty .. while using the stations jack and large four way wrench
we were impressed with his ability to spin the wrench and loosen/tighten the lugs quickly thats all fine until doing the last uppermost lug nut
he spun the wrench and it hit him in the face
we all laughed until he turned to us and all of his front teeth were knocked out or broken about 10 of em .. top and bottom
then we went to the dentist a block away then hours later drove him home ...
we let him expain the days events to his folks .. all funny now sorta

 

I was grinding the valves for my 64 impala with a Sioux grinding machine..while I was chucking up the next valve while it was still running someone walked in the door...looked over my shoulder and the grinding stone pulled my pinky in to the second knuckle. Cut the fingernail into and actually v'd the bones in a couple of places


John Mc

 

I got deployed to Afghanistan again. One day I'll retire and acctually get to spend more than 12 months in the US workin on my trucks/cars.

 

thanks

worst thing; jack and jill baby shower. just shoot me!

 

4 1/2" cut offs to the bone done that.
lifting a winch from of a box too small to fit out, pulled the tendons from the elbow. 1 year before surgery 1 year to recover.
Best one Drilling a hole through the ceiling for a fan's wiring, hole went easy except for a small piece of wood that didn't cut; tried to break it off with my finger. Finger gets stuck in the hole like a Chinese trap standing flat footed. Wife laughing asking where the camera is! I am standing buy the fire place (HOT) twisting turning pulling and bleeding, still stuck just got tighter and tighter I'm thinking 911 but know the access to that spot could take hours. After about 5 minutes with all her help (none) and looking at her red at the face from laughing so hard I have sweat rolling, blood dripping thinking I am going to pass out, I finally figured I knew where the piece was stabbing me and at least I had somebody there and had her get a piece of wire and I was able to force it through the hole next to my finger. Oh that hurt, but was able to push the wedgie up and pull my finger out. Oh yea its funny now......

 

I was using a ratchet strap to seat the bead on a tractor tire.

I put air pressure on the tire and i had to take the strap off.

I still don't know exactly what happened, but i had a tire spoon that i was using to release the ratchet and the ratchet sent the spoon past my ear at a HIGH rate of speed. Another inch and it would have been bad.

 

Not mine but still worth noting, at least from an instructional standpoint:

A cousin of mine had his project on a trailer hitched to his truck. Musta been too much weight on the back of the rig. 'Cause when he stooped down over the tongue and released the lock the trailer jumped up and banged him square in the face. Jacked him up BAD. He's never been the same since. Even looks completely different.

dka

 

Working on a customers early 50's Volvo drag car and ran out of "good" grinding wheels, so I grabbed one I knew was dropped and had a chunk broken off of it and went to town. Made it about 3 min before the thing blew apart at 50,000rpm (not sure how fast it was going). A 4in piece tore open my gut resulting is an ambulance ride and 15 stiches, and another 5 stiches on my bicept for a smaller piece that stuck in my arm. Sure glad I did have a face shield on though, weird gringing ange with sparks coming back in my face, or it could have been worse.

 

Damn cutoff wheel on a electric grinder came apart hit me in the junk scariest thing ever. Im O.K.

 

Sorry, was laughing so hard I got lightheaded and almost fell off my tall shop stool. Wasn't funny when I tried a few of these mishaps myself. Had many bad experiences drilling sheet metal parts in a drill press - I punch holes in sheetmetal parts now.

Learned the hard way never use a cheap chain saw with no chain brake. Set one down with the chain still moving, darn thing jumped up, grabbed my gloved fingers and pulled them right into the sprocket cover with the chain. ER sewed the tip of my index finger back on, but it still feels funny when I type.

Had the engine for the Model A sitting on a milk crate next to the wall - what could go wrong? Just finished the bodywork on the F1 cab and rolled it into the shop for the night, parked it next to the engine sitting on the crate. Next morning I go out and see the crate collapsed during the night, engine rolled into the side of the F1, lots more bodywork. I put engines on proper stands now.