Injured by Hand Tools

[BryanMD]

Those pesky razor knifes...

before I started doing electrical work I spent many years in restaurants and delis and in sheetmetal work.

I was managing a deli-restaurant. One evening the deli guys got slammed with a big carryout order for sandwiches so I jumped in to help. Everyone knows that when you set a knife down you face the blade away from you right? I did too.

But so did the left handed guy I was working next to.
Made a beautiful sandwich (I do good work), grab the knife next to me to slice it in half...

As an apprentice I worked with a great JM. But one day we were doing some feeds and had some extra help. The apprentice on the other crew was gaga to cut the 500's with the "oh wow, way cool dude, it's a ratchet, huh" cable cutter.

I was left to try to make the just barely long enough end of wire land on the disconnect mounted on the outside under the eave in the rain. In the mud. In the not yet finish level graded mud.

While gaga boy is running back and forth to the other panel ferrying OUR FREAKING ratchet cutter between crews... reaching upward, holding a 500 in left hand, rain in my face, razor knife in my right hand, trimming the last skin off carefully, almost done when he one more time and running out of breath he comes BANG! out the door.

Doc said it was a good thing the blade was as sharp as it was or he wouldn't have been able to close the thumb as well as he did.
1/500" deeper and it would have cut the tendon through.

It's till a bit stiff sometimes.

 

[frizbeedog]

I was managing a deli-restaurant. One evening the deli guys got slammed with a big carryout order for sandwiches so I jumped in to help. Everyone knows that when you set a knife down you face the blade away from you right? I did too.

But so did the left handed guy I was working next to.
Made a beautiful sandwich (I do good work), grab the knife next to me to slice it in half...

Your hand or the samich?

 

[ceb58]

I have done the same as some of you the cuts,pinches and blows. But the best comes from a guy I worked with, and I am sure most of you have seen people like this, he is so smart and intelligent he's crazy, but a real great guy. His story goes like this, when his son was around 4 his wife bought the kid a kite and as he said "her being the smart one of the family" forgot to buy string. His son is ecstatic about flying the kite "daddy lets fly the kite" over and over. So he goes to his shop where he just happens to have some motor winding wire (see where this is going?) He gets the kite up with the wire and kid is having a ball when a gust of wind takes the kite toward the house, in the process of snatching the wire away from the kid he pulls the kite which makes the kite turn and go over house and fall across the primaries. In his words all I remember is waking up and opening my eyes and thinking wow, hell is green. Then he realised he was face down in the grass, now his wife is running over to him asking him if he is dead, no, but you will be when I get up. Then his son ask, daddy why are your shoes smoking? The hit left him with 3ed degree burns to his hands, blew out chunks from both of the heels of his feet and ruined a good pair of work boots.

 

[LarryFine]

The hit left him with 3ed degree burns to his hands, blew out chunks from both of the heels of his feet and ruined a good pair of work boots.

Oh, those poor boots!

 

[76nemo]

No work tonight,...

No work tonight,...

On a night off with all chores done, I felt lonesome and bored. After re-reading this thread, I am in tears At least we are still alive to laugh about it:smile:
WAY TOO DARN FUNNY!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

 

[76nemo]

I have done the same as some of you the cuts,pinches and blows. But the best comes from a guy I worked with, and I am sure most of you have seen people like this, he is so smart and intelligent he's crazy, but a real great guy. His story goes like this, when his son was around 4 his wife bought the kid a kite and as he said "her being the smart one of the family" forgot to buy string. His son is ecstatic about flying the kite "daddy lets fly the kite" over and over. So he goes to his shop where he just happens to have some motor winding wire (see where this is going?) He gets the kite up with the wire and kid is having a ball when a gust of wind takes the kite toward the house, in the process of snatching the wire away from the kid he pulls the kite which makes the kite turn and go over house and fall across the primaries. In his words all I remember is waking up and opening my eyes and thinking wow, hell is green. Then he realised he was face down in the grass, now his wife is running over to him asking him if he is dead, no, but you will be when I get up. Then his son ask, daddy why are your shoes smoking? The hit left him with 3ed degree burns to his hands, blew out chunks from both of the heels of his feet and ruined a good pair of work boots.

"Are you dead?" You ain't THAT lucky honey!!!!!! ROTFLMAO!!!!!!!

 

[buddhakii]

Used to think I was kind of an intelligent person with a liitle common sense, but in the past two weeks I sliced my forearm open (9 stitches), and about cut the end of my finger off in a blender. Yes it was running, and yes I stuck my finger in it to push down the food. Felt like I bashed it with a sledge hammer. And no, I wasn't drinking. So much for common sense.

 

[LarryFine]

"Are you dead?" You ain't THAT lucky honey!!!!!! ROTFLMAO!!!!!!!

Derice: Sanka, you dead?
Sanka: Ya man. ~ Cool Runnings

 

[DUCKMAN]

When new to the trade

When new to the trade

I was drilling through a stud, and reached into a hole in the wall to hold back some NM so that I would not nick it with the bit. The drill (which was dull, and I was pushing to hard on) popped through, and ran the 1/4 inch bit through my hand. That hurt... but not as much as having to back it out!

 

[electricalperson]

i was opening a large wooden crate with a hammer and doing it the wrong way. i was hammering the crate apart toward my face and i missed and smashed myself on the bridge of my nose with the hammer. i seen stars for a few minutes then blood

 

[ozee]

Those pesky razor knifes......

We should outlaw them if they only weren't so crucial....

Journeyman I know stabbed himself in the chest strpping conductors on a ladder. Strip in a motion away from the body I think.

A friend of mine once told me there were 2 secrets in life:

1) Never cut with a knife toward you.

 

[RUWired]

I used to stab myself in the stomach with a screw driver because when i was replacing switches hot i would turn the screw driver around in my hand then pull the switch out.With out being carefull, i would touch the hot lead and flinch.I put a hole in my shirt and my gut.I did that twice.
Rick

 

[76nemo]

I used to stab myself in the stomach with a screw driver because when i was replacing switches hot i would turn the screw driver around in my hand then pull the switch out.With out being carefull, i would touch the hot lead and flinch.I put a hole in my shirt and my gut.I did that twice.
Rick

No gloves or shoes?????

 

[frizbeedog]

A friend of mine once told me there were 2 secrets in life:

1) Never cut with a knife toward you.

You've got to be kidding.

So, you're going to leave us wondering what the second secret is? It might the they key that unlocks all of life's mysteries, and here we are stumbling around in the dark. Pleeeeaasse....tell us. :-?

Edit.....Sorry, I see iwire edited your post so the secret must be safe.

 

[POWER_PIG]

Cut a piece of 500 with bypass type shears (non ratchet, so I needed both hands on the tool) and had the cut end of the 500 whip up and smack me in the face and give me a fat lip. Not so many hand tool injuries, though. Had a pair of needle-nose break while I was (mis)using them, and I pinched my fingers. A couple nice knife snafu's too, and that's about it.

What is it that allows 500kcmil to hone right in on the tender parts of the anatomy?? I swear, If I was using a pair of cutters with 10ft handles one end or the other would find a way to smack me in the chops!

 

[LarryFine]

One of my friends wanted to replace an aluminum threshold strip in his basement, at the sliding glass door. He pulled the strip from the nails (if that's what they were - I wasn't there to watch), but couldn't get the nails out of the slab.

He ended up lying on his belly with a pair of pliers gripping a nailhead, pulling with all of his might with his elbows on the floor. Naturally, the pliers slipped off the nailhead.

He had the most beautiful pitchers' mound of a bump on his forehead for about a month.

 

[tmbrk]

Cut a piece of 500 with bypass type shears (non ratchet, so I needed both hands on the tool) and had the cut end of the 500 whip up and smack me in the face and give me a fat lip. Not so many hand tool injuries, though. Had a pair of needle-nose break while I was (mis)using them, and I pinched my fingers. A couple nice knife snafu's too, and that's about it.

I've done that and I've seen it done.

I got an electrician buddy that buried a circular saw in his thigh.

Using my hatchet to split a piece of wood to use as a shim I came down on the tips of my ring finger and little finger of my left hand. I didn't chop them off but like Quogueelectric I lost the feeling in my fingertips for a few years and it is slowly coming back.

Why do fingers bleed so much?

 

[tmbrk]

Another buddy of mine that works concrete was twisting tie wire to connect rebar together. He had a pair of kleins and he was pulling it tight while twisting. The kleins slipped off the wire and came up and knocked his two front teeth out.

 

[LarryFine]

I got a nice 3/4" static-electricity spark from a plastic 16-gallon shop vac yesterday. Does that count?

The kleins slipped off the wire and came up and knocked his two front teeth out.

"All I want for Chrithmath ith my two front teeth, my two front teeth, my two front teeth . . . "

 

[busman]

Impact driver slipped with a #2 phillips bit. Went about 3/4 inch (full depth of the bit) into the webbing between my forefinger and thumb. It didn't really start to bleed for about five minutes and it looked like I had a little tunnel into my hand. No stitches. X-ray (make sure I didn't hit the bone) and Antibiotics. Not the dumbest, just the most recent.

Mark