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First big dumb stupid decision I made for 2020.

Smitty500mag
I was replacing the soon to be expired sticker on my license plate on my truck yesterday and noticed there was some water spots or something on the stainless steel license plate frame that would not rub off. So I decided to buff it off on my bench buffer. I always wear gloves and safety glasses when using a buffer or grinder but for this little job that wouldn't take over 10 seconds I didn't bother. BIG ASS MISTAKE! I didn't much more than touch the frame to the buffing wheel when it yanked it out of my hand and cut me across 4 fingers on my left hand an one on my right. The middle finger on the left hand is the worse. Probably could have used some stitches but I just washed it out and taped it up good. It was clean stainless steel and I've had a tetanus shot a couple of years ago. I rather have a bigger scar as go to the walk in clinic and sit with a bunch of sick people.

Anyhoo, so here I sit like a big idiot with bandages all over my fingers and hardly able to type. Just a reminder guys don't forget your safety equipment even for the smallest job. Get down off that ladder and move it over a couple of feet instead of doing a reenactment of The Flying Wallendas circus act. I've done that also. I used to see guys at work using their step ladders like pogo sticks jumping them across the floor rather than get down and move them over. 
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Comments

20 comments

Date Votes
  • spasmcreeksrun
    no good deed goes unpunished.........sorry
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  • select-fire
    Ouch
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  • mogley98
    I was guilty of walking a step ladder when I was younger, I got away with it but I won't do it no more! Now buffing a license plate frame will never cause an injury for me cause I wouldn't :)
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  • drobs
    Ouch!
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  • jimdeere
    Must be Friday the thirteenth on Saturday the fifteenth. There’s a rock sticking up in my yard and I was gonna whack it with my splitting maul to see if I could break it.
    Yep, a piece of rock flew up a hit me just below the right eye. First whack. No blood but it still hurts.
    I went back to splitting wood (this time with safety glasses).
    Then...
    I grabbed my Fiskars x27 splitting axe, the one with the hollow handle. It had been left out at the wood pile in the rain. As I raised it over my head, ice and water from the hollow handle ran down the back of my neck. Brrr!
    Anyway, that’s how my Saturday started.

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  • toad67
    Great reminder Smitty. Amazing how lax we can get sometimes, especially after doing it many times.
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  • Marc1301
    jimdeere said:
    I grabbed my Fiskars x27 splitting axe, the one with the hollow handle. It had been left out at the wood pile in the rain. As I raised it over my head, ice and water from the hollow handle ran down the back of my neck. Brrr!


    Lmao! :D

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  • wundudnee
    I worked for DuPont and they were fanatical about safety and safety rules. Many times when I was working on a ladder at home and stretching out on the top step I would think, what would DuPont think of this. I'm to the place now that I try to avoid ladders at all times. 

    Oh yeah, I still send things flying out the back of my bench grinder never to be found again.
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  • BobJudy
    The bad thing is the year is still young. As I've gotten older I have become a lot more careful if not smarter. I just know before the year is out I'll be looking at a bandaged covered appendage and wondering what the hell I was thinking to cause bodily damage. last year it was finding out gloves aren't a match for a hedge trimmer while balancing to far up a step ladder. Had to buy new gloves. Bob
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  • Smitty500mag
    BobJudy said:
    last year it was finding out gloves aren't a match for a hedge trimmer while balancing to far up a step ladder. Had to buy new gloves. Bob
    My wife tried her hand at hedge trimming 2 summers ago. First thing I had do was splice the extension cord together where she cut it in half. Then a few minutes later I had to take her to the clinic to get her  hand sewed up where she tried to cut it off. She won't even walk close to the trimmers now.  :)
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  • BobJudy
    BobJudy said:
    last year it was finding out gloves aren't a match for a hedge trimmer while balancing to far up a step ladder. Had to buy new gloves. Bob
    My wife tried her hand at hedge trimming 2 summers ago. First thing I had do was splice the extension cord together where she cut it in half. Then a few minutes later I had to take her to the clinic to get her  hand sewed up where she tried to cut it off. She won't even walk close to the trimmers now.  :)
    Hah! I fixed that problem. Mine is battery powered. Now if I can get an idiot proof one, I'll be golden.😋 Bob
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  • Ditch-Runner
     sorry to hear . hope you heal up fast 
     I have more than my share of scars even a some what numb index finger from a deep cut with a utility knife 30 years ago 
    I have become a bit more careful but then again last fall ran my thumb across the table saw ( adding to the scars and another loss of feeling ) 
     I know better and most of the time at least look at what my hands are going to hit when the wrench slips and how bad its going to hurt  or how far I am going to fall leaning off the ladder center line  hurting  is a great teacher 
        like some of you I could fill pages of dumb things I have done and paid in blood or pain for doing them 

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  • Smitty500mag
    I know better and most of the time at least look at what my hands are going to hit when the wrench slips and how bad its going to hurt...

    That reminds me of things I used to write down as reminders when working on my cars in the old days. I had a '73 Corvette big block that was hard to get to the front spark plug on the drivers side underneath the A/C compressor which was the #2 plug if I remember correctly.  I had to jack up the front end of the car and use a combination of extensions and swivel and rachet to reach it through the fender weld over the tire.

    In one note in my manual I wrote in big BOLD letters  "put on a glove at this point Stupid or there will be more blood on this page when the ratchet breaks the plug freed and you cut your hand again as it hits the sharp edge of the sheet metal inner fender" I had written it down the second time I had cut my hand changing plugs and I got blood all over the page in my shop manual. It worked I never cut my hand there again.  :D
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  • montanajoe
    • Community moderator
    Don't do that no more.  
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  • KenK/84Bravo

    Yeah, well I'm sporting a nice cut to middle left finger, while cutting and slicing some carrots to go with my wings yesterday evening. Nice big sharp butcher knife. That knife is sharpened almost every time I use it on a bar. The large carrot I was cutting rolled.

    One of my best was using a dremel tool to sharpen a chains saw up N. Flicked up a little piece of metal right in to my eye. An urgent care visit, an Emergency room visit, and finally to an Opthomologist who finally got the metal shard out.

    Okay- I will give you all a laugh at my expense. In the two days prior to my seeking medical attention, I had the Genius idea of holding my eyelid open/out with one hand, and sweeping my eyelid with a qu-tip in the other hand. BIG Mistake! (Trust me, don't do/attempt this.) As soon as the qu-tip touched my eye, my eyelid slammed shut. Trapping the qu-tip under the eyelid, with my one hand trying to pull my eyelid back out. I still laugh about that sheeit, when thinking about it. WTH was I thinking? 😥

    I could go on and on, as I am sure most of you can as well. Doh.........................

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  • KenK/84Bravo

    Uh, not looking good. Removed the bloody bandaid from yesterday. About a 1/4" square, over a 1/16 deep. (Not quite 1/8th.) Over the finger nail. Pulled the dying skin off, down to the nail. Started bleeding profusely. Stitches are not an option. Anti- biotics and another band-aid on tight. Holding a nice wad of TP around it just now, direct pressure.

    Good stuff.

    Could feel it throbbing with every heartbeat last night. That's when you know its good sheeit. 😉

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  • KenK/84Bravo


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  • KenK/84Bravo

    I will say, splitting firewood, is not conducive to stopping blood flow to the finger. Just a minor "Heads Up." When blood start splattering to your adjoining fingers, you should probably stop.

    Got some wood split though. 😁

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  • Smitty500mag
    I take blood thinner and it takes it a while to quit bleeding when I cut myself. A minor cut can look like a crime scene in just a few seconds. 
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  • hillbille
    what, buddy won't clean it up for ya???????????
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