Ouch!!!

R

R.C.Reichert

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Jul 26, 2008
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:eek::o

Back in my earlier (not-so-brilliant) days of making knives, I was working on trying to straighten a bend in one my blades. Stupid me tried hitting it with a hammer, totally not expecting anything, so I didn't grab my safety glasses. When I struck the metal, it came flying straight up and the tip of the knife hit me right in the bridge between my eyes.:eek: Thank god I didn't lose an eye!
After that incident, I always wear safety glasses or a face shield. I wanted to share this with (especially new guys) the importance of safety first. I was wondering if any of you guys have had any close calls in the shop and if you would care to share them. Maybe understanding the consequences of poor shop safety can help save someone from serious injury in the future. Thanks for anything you have to share.:)

Maybe this type of thread has been brought up a million times before, ad nauseum....but is that a bad thing?
 
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A few instances with super glue come to mind that could have been really bad rather than just funny. If the tube or bottle is stopped up don't try to squeeze it harder to make it come out. The bottle will bust. When it does don't put your hand on anything that is heavy or bolted to a table like a vice. While you are standing there trying to figure out how to turn loose the vise, be thankful you had on safety glasses and it didn't get in your eyes.
 
The metal cutting band saw only LOOKS like it's going slow. It's only slow compared to a wood cutting band saw. Always use a push stick and take your time.

The buffer WILL grab that knife from your hand and fling it across the room with amazing speed. The blade will either stick in something (YOU) or bounce off of every hard object in your shop causing irreparable damage to the blade.

Cuts always happen in the worst places (knuckles)
Acetone in cuts burns
Electrical tape and paper towels make a passable bandage to slow bleeding

By the way, does anyone else have a little 12 year old girl hiding in their shop?? I swear every time I cut myself or grind off a knuckle I hear that little girl screaming. I'm sure it's not me!

SDS
 
I wear a 3M 7000 series respirator when grinding pretty much everything. Was rocking the plain jane safety glasses with no side curtains or whatever. Grit and metal dust would bounce off the front of the respirator and directly into my eyes cause there was no real seal between the bottom of the glasses and the top of the respirator. Solution? full face shield. I don't fog up cause the respirator directs my breath down instead of straight out. Wife is happy cause she has not had to play amateur surgeon removing stuff from my eyes every other day. That gets old.

Those of you rocking the 6000 series respirator, you should check out the 7000. The downward exhaust is nice, and the bottom neckstraps are set up so you can take off the top strap and have the respirator hang down out of the way, and goes back on easy too.
 
Instant glue ROCKS at closing up cuts. I once sliced my hand open right before spearfishing, and I was like HELL NO! I glued up said cut, and dove all day with no failures.
 
Always use proper tongs or a handle for making damascus, I had a piece miss my face by less than 2 inches and only because my reflexes were good...

When liquid metal drips onto water it tends to splatter, mostly on you.

Take your time when your grinding, 40 grit belts chew though fingertips and knuckles a lot faster than they go though steel.

SDS I think I have a pirate hiding in my shop, every time I hurt myself the language used becomes quite colorful. :rolleyes:
 
Part of the reason why what happened to me did, is that I was momentarily distracted. Kids....aren't they a wonderful thing? Not so great to have around the shop though.

One other thing that has happened to me before was with the drill press. This was before I got myself a drill press vise. I was trying to drill some holes out on a tang of my knife. Suffice it to say, a drill press can easily be transformed into an efficient lawnmower for flesh.

Also, trying to grind too small of a metal piece on a large belt sander can be dangerous if you don't have a means to hold onto it well.

No :jerkit: around in the shop!:D
 
""By the way, does anyone else have a little 12 year old girl hiding in their shop?? I swear every time I cut myself or grind off a knuckle I hear that little girl screaming. I'm sure it's not me! SDS ''''
that cracked me up!!!!!
does that little girl cuss abunch when the intial screams are over like the one in my shop???
 
Cadillacforge, that's her!! Foul mouthed little girl ain't she?!
 
I got this one at the Blade Show. Never let a person hold two knives at the same time. Most people have difficulty watching out for one and nobody at a show can handle two safely. It is a great way to see someone cut or knives damaged.

When working with someone in the shop, as Charlie and I do every day, watch out for the other guy. If you see him doing something stupid, say something. Safety glasses, respirator, push sticks, shop aprons, face shields all have their place in a shop and it is not on the hook on the wall.

When your shop partner walks up holding his hand with blood dripping out from between his fingers and says "let’s go to the hospital", never ask the second time if you can take a look at the cut.
 
Hmathews said:
When your shop partner walks up holding his hand with blood dripping out from between his fingers and says "let’s go to the hospital", never ask the second time if you can take a look at the cut.
Click to expand...

Laughed out loud at that one. Question though, was the lesson not to ask the second time to look at the cut because of (a: it made you ill at your stomach (b: you got some blood squirted on you or (c: your friend punched you out with a facial expression. :D

--nathan
 
Pretty much facial expression and full frontal verbal assault, which from prior experience I knew was going to lead shortly to a South Georgia butt kicking at best. I wasn't sure which way I would come out worse, beating up my twin brother, him with his cut hand or getting beat up by my twin brother with a cut hand. Either way I was going to lose.
 
I second the push stick with the band saw. I was cutting a block of wood...and cut a chunk that I thought would make a good push stick...as I thought that, I tossed it in the trash ...next cut I ran my thumb right into the blade!
Also...toss the old belts!!!
I had my grinder for a year or so and decided to weed out some old belts but decided to be frugal and get every bit I could out of some old 36 grit ones before I tossed em. I was doing some profiles and running full speed then BAM!!! Belt exploded! Whaped me REAL good on the back of my hand and across my chest...sent the blade flying to the floor....man, it was one of those pains that hurt so bad I couldn't even scream like a little girl for at least 10 seconds! Man. Hurts just thinking about it.
Mace
 
Haha, I hear you, Mace. I've been slapped by those worn out belts on several occasions. Mostly it just scares the bejeeze out of you.....BAM!!!!

I was sharpening a blade once, edge down on a fairly dull 800 grit belt and lost track of where the tip was. I pulled it a littler further into the belt than I intended and next thing you know, I'm standing there empty handed with my hands still in the grinding posture getting slapped by a partially torn-in-two 800 grit belt and wondering where my knife is.

Luckily it bounced off my foot on the way to the floor and there was no damage! :D Thankfully no gore story involved there. Needless to say I'm a bit more careful in all aspects of grinding now, especially the mundane ones.

Before I figured out how awesome a sanding jig and stick setup can be, I did all my finishing with a hand held knife and a hand held micarta block with sandpaper. Once when refinishing a knife I had made for my cousin (he sent it to me for a different sheath, and I thought I'd be nice and re work the blade a bit...) I sanded a little too late into the evening. As I was working the block back and forth, it slid just past the already sharpened tip and grazed my index finger holding the block. Some superglue and a cuss word or two later, I was back at it. Not 10 seconds after starting to sand again, the same thing happened, except this time I went fully off the tip and started the back stroke before I could stop. JAMMED the tip into my index finger right beside the first cut. A lot more cuss words, some deep, dark veinous bleeding, more superglue, and a tight tape wrap later, I decided just to go to bed and bleed another day.

--nathan
 
Don't forge in a cold night without a sweater, you'll get cold. It is not an ouch but I'm in bed now, drinking soup and coughing. All other shop accidents didn't throw me to bed...
 
Harry, that super glue thing was a knee slapper!

I'm sure glad you guys are only talking shop stuff. Now, if you were talking about wayward farm tales I could make blood curdle just in the telling.

Good idea to stimulate safety consciousness...and downright entertaining too.
 
Funny that this thread showed up. Just last week I ran the tip of my thumb through the band saw. Went deep enough to break off the end of the bone. I was wearing safety glasses using a push stick etc. My problem was that I was trying to make the saw cut faster by pushing harder. Push stick slipped and pushed my thumb into the blade. A wonderful lesson in patience. Let the blade do the work.
 
R.C.Reichert said:
Back in my earlier (not-so-brilliant) days of making knives, I was working on trying to straighten a bend in one my blades. Stupid me tried hitting it with a hammer, totally not expecting anything, so I didn't grab my safety glasses.
Click to expand...

Newton's fourth law. When one hard object is used to strike another hard object, one of them is going to fly. And it's going to be the sharp one.

The ability of sand paper to cut through skin depends more on the grit than whether it's on a belt sander or a block. 100 grit does not need a motor to bite you.
 
Something I do to the push stick on bandsaw (because the things cut so fast and deep) is put a steel cross pin in the puch stick. It sticks out a couple of inches on each side. Then you keep your hand behind the cross pin if something slips the blade has to deal with the steel pin before it gets to to you fingers. It just gives you a few seconds of reaction time before the meat meets the steel.
 
another plug for getting rid of worn out belts! if the belt is not cutting good I tend to push harder. when pushing harder you generate more friction and the blade heats up a lot faster! if you are not ready for the heat you may drop the blade, and jump or slip, driving nuckles into the belt. this is especially true when doing heavy profiling on the wheel! and trust me a dull belt on steel is still a very sharp belt on flesh and fingernails!! so replace the belt and dont push so hard!! Let the belt do the work.

and oh yea beer and belt sanders dont mix too well! you will screw up your blade or your hand, pretty much guaranteed!
 
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