Stupid things that happen in your shop.

K

Kim Breed

Joined
Mar 1, 2005
Messages
388
I don't know if this has been discussed on a single threador not so I will start.
I was playing around(stupid already) grinding throwing knives. I have an old dart board hung just for this purpose. 9 times out of 10 I will stick the 1 1/2 flips to the board. Getting into the grove I would finish the rough grind and stick the knife into the board. after seeing 5 knives buried in the board I was getting that I'm bad syndrome. All it took was a little extra heat on the knife blade to make me miss. The bad part was I made a perfect flip but my sight alignment was off and the knife sailed cleanly thru my side door window. DAMN IT. All that glass. :mad: :D
 
Oops! Could've been worse... like, someone's head as they're walking past the window!
 
I take my supervisor with me to the shop everyday ( the one in my avatar)....I'll be dammed if he didn't crap a big pile on the floor and I stepped in it :barf:
Needless to say..he's been demoted.

Sean
 
Man,
Stuff do happen in the shop...don't it!?!

Ask me sumtime about the time I invented, "Shop Hockey".

Really like your stuff Kim.

Shane
 
I finished up a nice little ivory handled Ark. toothpick 1 1/2" long (that's right a miniature). There was a piece of foam board by the garage door so I gave it a flick. Nice stick, so I did it again, and again, and...........4th or 5th time.....right out the door into the dark in that grass I hate to cut so much. 2 hours later (read that late at night) flashlight and speaker magnet on a string, I was to the point of starting to pull one blade of grass out at a time when I found it.
I don't do that anymore no matter how "Bad" I think I am. Lesson learned, old dog -new trick, all that stuff. Just glad I found it, had more hours in it than a full sized one. had already scrimshawed to matching ivory/silver sheath.
CRex
 
Almost became a eunuch today. I was grinding the edge onto a knife, and it was torn out of my hands straight into my manhood. Thank God it wasn't sharp.
 
Now I'm starting to get worried... nothing bad has happened to me in my shop [knocking on wood], so now I've got the "when's it gonna happen" syndrome! Doh!
 
shane justice said:
Ask me about the time I knocked myself out with a fire extinguisher...

SHane
Click to expand...
Really? Tell us about that, and about the shop hockey! You ought to sell tickets!
 
Shop Hockey's roots can be traced to a rather odd incident in my shop last year...

I was doing break tests on some steel...small pieces...maybe 3/16th by 3 inches long....I didn't bother to temper them...cause I wanted them to break...see pretty smart of me huh? I figured leave them super brittle...I really just wanted to see what normalizing was doing after each cycle....

Anyway...at the time all I had for a vise in the shop was a cheapie 4 incher mounted on a post...the whole thing was bolted to the floor...

I put the 1st one in my vise...and it snapped just fine...The next one...gave me some more trouble......dang I strained again it...finally got it to budge some...but not break...I pulled out the third sample...snugged her up...and commenced to bending...she wouldn't go...so I really heaved...it was so tough it cracked the oak 4x4 that I was using as a cheater bar...(couldn't find the blessed pipe)

So like any good smith with a brain will do...I got pissed and went to the hammer rack...got my my ten pound sledge...and by God it would break this time!.... (Did I mention I wasn't wearing safety glasses)

SO I'm taking my Great Swing pose and wind up and throw my best inside fast ball at the blade....and all Hell broke lose...at once...

The vise breaks loose from the three inch steel post it is /was bolted to and begins to fly acroos the shop...The blade explodes with a high pitched pinging sound...while a steel needle goes zipping past my face...

The broken sample bounces off the floor...the steel needle is stuck in the wall...and the vise...still holding the rest of the steel slides across the shop floor...between my two steel garbage cans...

GOOOOOOAAAAAAAALLLLLLLLLLLL!

WARNING! SHOP HOCKEY SHOULD ONLY BE PLAYED BY TRAINED PROFESSIONALS WITH APPROPRIATELY BIG HAMMERS! DO NOT TRY THIS AT HOME!

Shane
 
The more I read, the more I am wondering why TLC or whoever has all these motorcycle and car shows when, really, they should be doing "Knifemaker Build-Off" or something. God, that'd be cool!
 
Many years ago...when I was setting up a shop in two bay garage...I decided it would be a good idea to build a bench for my grinder between two 4x4 posts that had been toenailed in to hold up the roof.

Previously I had mounted some hooks to hang what-nots and stuff on each of these posts...including a ten pound ABC fire extinguisher....

The idea was to notch each end of a rough sawn 3 x 12 plank so's it would wedge in between the two posts...imagine a sort of "H" shaped arrangement with my grinder on the cross support...got it?

Everything was going ok...Notched the plank with no problem...had it all measured out and stuff...ahead of time...all perfessional like...

When I went to wedge the plank in between the two 4x's I noticed that one had a kind of a twist that didn't allow it to be plumb...(straight up and down)
so I backed off...and give it a bit of thought....it were'nt fastend no how...to the ceiling or the floor...just sort of toenailed in there...so I figured one good whap...and she's all straight true....so like any good smith with a brain I go to the hammer rack...and select the nimble eight pounder with a hickory handle...call it my 3 Iron...hehehehe....

(My wife is watching the whole time...she's backing away...which is what she normally does when I go for a bigger hammer...smart lady.)

Any how...I gotta bend at the waist to reach the post nearest the floor...and I address the post..."Hellllo Post!"(ala Art Carney) and give it a bump...Nothing...nother bump...nothing...so's I up and give it a BUMP!

And then every thing went all funny and dark....

Turns out that firre extinguisher had been above me on the post...but I never put on the little strap do-hickey that holds it to the post (I wanted it to be ready for the quick draw in case of fire or flood)

That last bump jarred it loose enough to allow gravity to do it's thing....

Next I knew I was lying in the dust on the shop floor...watching the breath from my mouth make little dust devils around my nose and mouth....I was thinking ..."Look at the little tornadoes...cutsie little things ain't they...!" And there was goose egg rising on my crown!

My wife was standing over me...asking if I was ok?!? AND she were trying not to giggle....When I finally got it together...I got up off the floor...there was perfect dust outline of my none too lean body on the shop floor...looked too much like a chalk outline to be seriously funny....we laugh about it now...

Had I been a truly safety oriented guy....it might have been a twenty pounder and then you guys would never have got to hear this story...

Shane
 
Sweany said:
Shane, I dunno was there a prize for this post but you got my VOTE

LOL :D :D :D :D :D LOL
Click to expand...
I gotta agree with Sweany, that was funny! You should be writing comedy, fella. Keep making knives, though!
 
Thanks for the kind words guys...

Kim Sorry if I hijacked this thread....just don't get much of a chance to actually talk to other knife people...kinda like jawing...

Those were both true stories...

Did I ever tell you about the time....ah...no...nother time maybe :D

Shane
 
one time i was grinding a hickory handle, just to clean it up a little before i mounted it on the knife, to save work later. my dad walked in behind me, and i had the sander going, and hearing protection on. he came around to see what i was working on and i jumped 10'! i also let go of the block of hickory and got smacked in the forehead with it! i was bleeding from the head and had a severe headache.
 
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