What's your latest garage related injury?

dittle fart around · Jul 9, 2011

This is the third time my grinder has gotten away from me. Had the wire cup brush on and caught an edge. It wrapped up my t-shirt and stalled the motor. View media item 10378At the shop I worked at our boss was a great guy with lots of stories. At the Monday safety meetings he would always have a new wound. The story always started with "I had a couple of beers and went out to the garage" and they almost always ended with "then I pissed my pants."
Here's a place to tell your best garage injury story.

Steevo · Jul 9, 2011

I sliced the end of my thumb nearly off on the sharp edge of a piece of stainless sheet metal last week. The top 1/2" was flopping back, held in place by the thumbnail.

Wrapped a rag around it and wound electrical tape around that to hold it together while I finished the job I was doing, then bled all over the kitchen counter while I cleaned it off and taped the end of my thumb on with fabric band-aids.

Stitches? We don't need no steenking stitches.

madstat · Jul 9, 2011

Crushed my finger in some concrete forms last Monday, I'll be growing a new fingernail here in a bit. If you are interested

here is the photo

paullie · Jul 9, 2011

i have a stiff neck from falling asleep in "my chair" while watchin tv in the shop last night

Outlander · Jul 9, 2011

paullie said:
i have a stiff neck from falling asleep in "my chair" while watchin tv in the shop last night

That's why I sleep in my wife's swing in the gazebo

My last injury was slipping on the stairs and twisting my ankle. My wife heard my feeble plea for help and said "just like a kid, I can tell the difference between your 'I whacked my thumb with a hammer again' and a real injury".

<sigh> back to the gazebo with me.

dittle fart around · Jul 11, 2011

I've learned over time the quickest way through an emergency room is to bring a bucket of blood in with you. You will go right to the front of the line. Works every time.
A couple of years ago I was working on a concession stand for my son's soccer club. We use it to offset the cost of year round traveling soccer. I had my kevlar gloves on and using the cutting wheel on my grinder. It kicked back and cut a little more than half way through my thumb. I packed my thumb in ice and left the glove on. In the emergency room they went thru 2 pairs of scissors cutting the glove off. Many stitches and 2 years later I have a numb thumb, but the concession stand is done and making money.
View media item 10405

nate379 · Jul 11, 2011

Fractured 2 vertebrae and trashed all but 3 discs while roofing my shed this winter. Been a while, but I couldn't make it from the bedroom to the living room if I don't take my meds.

little fart around... damn son... took alot of beers to build that belly!

PCO6 · Jul 11, 2011

dittle fart around said:
I've learned over time the quickest way through an emergency room is to bring a bucket of blood in with you. You will go right to the front of the line. Works every time.
A couple of years ago I was working on a concession stand for my son's soccer club. We use it to offset the cost of year round traveling soccer. I had my kevlar gloves on and using the cutting wheel on my grinder. It kicked back and cut a little more than half way through my thumb. I packed my thumb in ice and left the glove on. In the emergency room they went thru 2 pairs of scissors cutting the glove off. Many stitches and 2 years later I have a numb thumb, but the concession stand is done and making money.

Soccer is rough game. You gotta be careful.

I fell down some stairs on my way to a lacrosse meeting a few years ago. I claimed it was a legitimate sports injury!

Snowbound · Jul 11, 2011

Shot a 1.5" finish nail into my index finger. Missed the bone luckily.

My bleeding wallet is most often the main injury with anything I do in the garage.

NASTYZEN · Jul 11, 2011

LoL Diddle! Been there a couple of times when using paper disks on the angle grinder. I have a pile of disks now accumulating dust since I switched to the ******* type disks witch are much safer.
But last winter my little dotco air angle grinder got me.Still a little numb. :bounce:

Kick backs are a *****!

taterdog · Jul 11, 2011

My 3/8" roundover bit on my router got hungry and nibbled on my finger.

http://i288.photobucket.com/albums/ll161/taterthedog/mobile uploads/2011-05-13_15-14-25_893.jpg

Click the link if your that curious.

dittle fart around · Jul 11, 2011

taterdog said:
My 3/8" roundover bit on my router got hungry and nibbled on my finger.

http://i288.photobucket.com/albums/ll161/taterthedog/mobile uploads/2011-05-13_15-14-25_893.jpg

Click the link if your that curious.

This hurts to look at.

69f100 · Jul 11, 2011

i didnt get hurt this time, but i have in the past. i was grinding the paint off a hinge yesterday and all of a sudden saw smoke. my shirt lit on fire. quick pat, and it was out. for some odd reason i kept on grinding, did it again! shirt has a hole big enough to put my hand through, and have a blister on my stomach. i tried to light a cotton t on fire (science experiment) and nothing, but this shirt was lightin up in flame just by an occasional spark.

Kevin54 · Jul 11, 2011

NASTYZEN said:
LoL Diddle! Been there a couple of times when using paper disks on the angle grinder. I have a pile of disks now accumulating dust since I switched to the ******* type disks witch are much safer.
But last winter my little dotco air angle grinder got me.Still a little numb.

Kick backs are a *****!

I have a finger that looks almost like that, or at least did. Once it heals below the nail and scars over, the two pieces never grow right. I always have one spot that when I trim my fingernail it separates from the scar real easy. Then it always takes a few days to heal back over.

shopnut · Jul 11, 2011

I lost my mind in the shop :eyecrazy:

I think that's considered an injury anyway, depending how much you actually rely on it :dunno:

^^^^ Disregard what I wrote above.

EDIT 11/11/11 -- UNFORTUNATELY, I HAVE A REAL INJURY NOW...

I had a little tumble off of a step ladder at the Asylum and broke my right heal as a result. Surgery was needed to make it resemble a human bone again, or so the doctor said.

Man, surgery is really going to leave a nasty scar!

Here is an X-ray showing the piece of titanium now married to my heel bone. 7 screws hold it in place.

In the following really gross picture, you will notice the screw pattern doesn’t match my X-ray and this is because it isn’t my actual foot; I lifted this picture from the internet. But I think it helps to show the titanium plate in there nicely (well maybe not so nicely, if you are vomiting about now

).

(The above picture even made me a bit queasy.)

People are starting to call me the 6-million dollar man with all the extra metal in me from this and a prior motorcycle accident. I laugh at the silly reference to the old TV show, but it may be the sobering truth - I haven’t seen and the hospital/doctor’s bills yet :eyecrazy:

Here are some images of the foot CT scan (I guess I need a little rust remover, eh?)

dittle fart around · Jul 11, 2011

69f100 said:
i didnt get hurt this time, but i have in the past. i was grinding the paint off a hinge yesterday and all of a sudden saw smoke. my shirt lit on fire. quick pat, and it was out. for some odd reason i kept on grinding, did it again! shirt has a hole big enough to put my hand through, and have a blister on my stomach. i tried to light a cotton t on fire (science experiment) and nothing, but this shirt was lightin up in flame just by an occasional spark.

When the welding job smells more like burning flesh than molten metal, I know it's time to stop. I've heard of leather welding shirts but I'm to cheap to buy one.

santagary · Jul 11, 2011

dropped a 4 x 8 sheet of peg board from the 1/2" ledge of OSB on my big toe and guess what??? I broke the big toe. My doctor and his two assistants (friends) laughed a lot...I was not amused.

taterdog · Jul 11, 2011

my parents left for a cross country road trip and i was at home alone building a speaker box. an hour after they left i hurt my finger, so i called my sister up to take me to the med stop place (like a small hospital). on the form it asked what symptoms you were experiencing which i thought was pretty stupid so i put "Finger hurts". left there, went to CVS got some drugs, went back home with 5 stitches in my finger and kept building my box...just avoided the use of the router.

PCO6 · Jul 12, 2011

I spilled some lacquer thinners on my bench one time. I leaned across the bench to get some paper towels to clean it up with and ended up with lacquered knackers. :shocking:

Man that hurt!

rocketmac · Jul 12, 2011

PCO6 said:
I spilled some lacquer thinners on my bench one time. I leaned across the bench to get some paper towels to clean it up with and ended up with lacquered knackers. Man that hurt!

What were you naked in the garage??? :rocker:

Walterchang · Jul 12, 2011

When I was learning to tig weld I touched the electrode to the metal and I immediately tried to pull it off. Well in my haste, my project tipped over and a piece of spatter landed in my lap. Burned a hole through my jeans, through my underwear, and burned my nut sack. Ever since then I will put something over my lap to prevent that type of accident again.

TOOL MASTER · Jul 12, 2011

standing a wee bit to long

69f100 · Jul 12, 2011

^^^ i was eating.

PCO6 · Jul 12, 2011

rocketmac said:
What were you naked in the garage???

I probably would have been better off if I had been. It soaked right through my pants and underwear. It dried quickly but I was dancing the funky chicken for a while.

TOOL MASTER · Jul 12, 2011

had a red hot weld ball burn through the top of my shoe then stick to my foot....now it looks like a bullet wound

dittle fart around · Jul 19, 2011

Got through the weekend without any major injuries. The only thing that really hurt was watching my son's soccer team lose three matches. Got home just in time to watch the women's team lose the world cup. They missed a dozen shots in the first 10 minutes.

ArkTinkerer · Jul 19, 2011

Chronic injury to my wallet. Its a kind of wasting disease....

ArkTinkerer

A**holes Garage · Jul 19, 2011

Had the 4 1/2 angle grinder locked on, it kicked back in a tight corner.
jerked out of my hand, ripped down my forearm, dropped down my shin, ground all the way down.
Shop towels and duct tape, work goes on.

mjeff87 · Jul 19, 2011

not a recent injury, but happened last year.....dropped a TJ half door on my foot whilst wearing flipflops. Cut half of the second toe off and crushed the base of the big toe, this is the next day after spending about 4 hours in the ER getting the toe sewn back on :Homer:

Jeff

Old Moparz · Jul 19, 2011

Worst injury in my garage is my ego. It's always when I start another project thinking I'll save money & end up spending 3 or 4 times more than if I had paid someone to do it for me. :spit:

I'm always careful, & depending on what I am doing, I never wear shorts or sandals, & will wear gloves, long sleeves, eye protection & dust mask.

quick60 · Jul 19, 2011

Before every race I jack the Jr Dragster up on the stand, put the clutch belt on, lock my legs onto the tire while my daughter starts it. This puts a little heat in the motor and allows me to adjust idle air mixture to get the exhaust temp close to what I want. This past Saturday at MIR the motor immediately went to 5600 rpm engaged the clutch and shredded my legs (wearing shorts) FORGOT that I installed a new clutch belt last week, usually I can hold the tire just fine. Looks like a belt sander got both legs.

Mad40er · Jul 19, 2011

TOOL MASTER said:
standing a wee bit to long

That is disturbing. more details please. :bounce:

Boiler · Jul 19, 2011

Wire wheel on the grinder caught and cleaned the skin off the back of the base of my thumb. Still have a nice 1" square scar a year later.

dittle fart around · Jul 21, 2011

mjeff87 said:
not a recent injury, but happened last year.....dropped a TJ half door on my foot whilst wearing flipflops. Cut half of the second toe off and crushed the base of the big toe, this is the next day after spending about 4 hours in the ER getting the toe sewn back on

Jeff

I might be considered a wuss but steel toed boots are all I wear in the garage. I always wear gloves and make sure someone is home to take me to the emergency room.

78Bird · Jul 21, 2011

If steel toes = wuss, then sign me up...

was building my ghetto welding cart and when testing the size of the little platform for my gas bottle it slipped off. It's a 160cf bottle, so it's no little thing... landed square on my right big toe in sneakers, crunched it pretty good.

MAN that hurt like hell, I was hopping around cussing up a storm. I impressed myself with my newfound vocabulary.

I soaked it in ice water till it went totally numb (ahhhh relief) and when exploring it a bit the huge blood blister under the nail burst at the back of the nail and puked out a nice gout of blood. Ew.

Still not quite right, 2 years later. get ingrown nails on it a lot now where the nail isn't growing 100% correct.

back2class · Jul 21, 2011

Nothing too bad as of late. I get in trouble when I have been not doing anything for a while. You loose those reflexes and that minset and get hurt alot when getting back into a big project. Few years ago framing nailer jumped and I shot a 4" framing nail straight through the middle of my index finger about 3/4" from the tip (the real sensitive part) and partly into the side of the next finger. More or less nailing them together! Must have skipped off the bone. I imagine a mm more and it would just have gone right through the bone. Pulled it out and got back to what I was doing. I am very focused like that, when I am really into a project I sometimes forget to breathe. Best thing to do is get back to work if possible for me bacause I don't feel pain from nasties like that when I am focused working. Another time I was using the back of a claw hammer to beat on something I was holding and ended up putting it through a big chunk of my palm and into the wood. That left a nasty scar! Only time an injury kept me from getting right back to work was when I just hopped off the last 2 steps of a ladder and landed with my ankle turned. Nasty sound and next thing I knew ankle was numb and foot flopping around like it was dead. Amazingly I did no break because the foot pushed out of the way and impact was to the base of the leg bone. More than enough force to shatter it, but the angle saved me and it helped that I am not heavy. I was off it for about a week. Did have a finger cut/smashed off when I was a kid. Lucky I was right near one of the nations biggest hospitals and a hand surgeon was right there to rebuild it and sew it back on. Still pretty ugly though and of course that was not a shop injury.

I think the real scary ones are the times I poisoned myself using chemicals of one sort or another. One time my blood vessels were bulgy after using something (dont remmember) for a few days and had a massive headache and another time I painted a car as a teenager in a garage with no mask. nakes me ill thinking of those stupid things I did now that I am older.

tcianci · Jul 21, 2011

I busted my *** out there last night

canuckian · Jul 21, 2011

was changing the handle on a ratchet and stabbed myself in the bottom lip with a small prybar. Stupid mistake. I had the handle almost to a point where I could grab it with 2 hands and yank it up off the shaft. Forgot to put the prybar down first...whammo!! I consider myself VERY lucky that it didn't make contact 3 inches higher or I'd likely be wearing a patch where my eye used to be!! I put down my tools more often now!

Okie Pete · Jul 21, 2011

Dropped a steering cylinder on my left pinkie and peeled off some hide today.

dittle fart around · Jul 22, 2011

Another weekend, another soccer tournament. I'm hoping to get some work in this weekend. I've got to use the cutting wheel on the grinder again. Wish me luck.

What's your latest garage related injury?

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