Looks like someone had a shocking day...

[Displaced Hokie]

...with these old Kleins! I bought these out of the $1 bin at the flea market. After Evaporust and wire wheel and I realized that the bad place on the cutter wasn't due to cutting a hard wire, it was from cutting a LIVE wire! The jaws are melted there. There was also a little melted place on the back of one of the handles.





From the date code these are from 1956, and they did not have rubber handles. Otherwise, really nice hardly used tires. I think I'm gonna plastic dip them. But wow, I bet that reall woke someone up one day! Hopefully nothing worse!

 

[Mr.Nutcase]

nice pliers

 

[Outlawmws]

I've got a pair of Crescent Lineman's with that little "arc" of shame, I put it there too, cutting a piece of Romex I was sure was off...

 

[MikeF2316]

I've got a pair of Crescent Lineman's with that little "arc" of shame, I put it there too, cutting a piece of Romex I was sure was off...

I did that to my brother's side cutters when I was wiring up a light for his new pool table in his basement. Believe it or not, there was only one circuit (including lights!) in his basement. Like idiots, we connected the whole spool of Romex to the circuit when it was off by flashlight. We then taped up the the other end at the base of the spool, then turned the power back on and unrolled the live spool. When we had enough guess who didn't remember the spool was live... No damage to anything but the side cutters. A couple of guys learned a cheap lesson that day though.

 

[jeffmoss26]

It happens! Nice pliers!

 

[fflintstone]

I nicked a piece of the old cloth covered "romex" with my sawzall once. A quick spark, ozone whiff, the breaker tripped, the saw stopped and I was in a very dark basement.
I found out the shocking way where the only feed for that side of the basement was.

 

[Kev442]

I pulled some cheap wallboard off the wall in my old garage. Found a busted up outlet underneath. Pulled it out and tapped my screwdriver across the leads "to be sure". My Stanley got the arc weld of shame that night. I was pissed that someone would cover a hot broken outlet with no cover with a flammable material. Idiots.

 

[Burgerkong]

I've done that to to my Utica pliers LOL.

 

[cnc-me]

Discharging a large capacitor, did a number on my Whia screwdriver.

 

[ChevyEFI]

I did that to a cheap ratcheting screwdriver while changing out a timer motor. Replaced the insert bit with Apex.

 

[littletoes]

I watched a sparky do it to a live feed on an elementary school in Priest River one night.....we never did find his screwdriver, and he had some nice looking flash-burns on his face, not to mention what he did to his eyes.

 

[Zelatore]

Discharging a large capacitor, did a number on my Whia screwdriver.

Back in my days going to school for an electronics degree, some buddies and me got hold of some really large caps. I can't recall the actual capacity now, but they were bigger than a 12 oz can. (now I guess such things are relatively common for the big car stereo set, but not something you saw often then)

We used to do all sorts of stupid things with them. Arced a cheap screwdriver across it and blew a good size chunk off the end. Once shorted it out against the metal around the door handle of the dorm room (it welded itself to the steel and had to be knocked free) and told the guys the door was now 'charged' and if they touched it they'd get shocked. They were scared to leave the room until I 'uncharged' it by touching the discharged cap back to the metal of the door. It would also vaporize pieces of window screen if you could get a good contact.

Later I'll tell you about the fun that comes from having a laser and campus police...

 

[srmofo]

I had a 10mm wrench slip from hand a few weeks ago. It landed directly on top of the battery and connected the 2 posts. I tried to grab it off quickly but it had heated up almost instantly to a point where it burnt the **** out of my fingers and fell right back onto the posts. I bet I did that 2 more times before I finally managed to fling it off the posts. Lol. I let that wrench sit for 15 minutes and it was still too hot to touch. First time in 15 years Ive done that. Ive sparked 1 or 2 things swinging a ratchet but never given a dead short to a battery like that.

 

[cnc-me]

Back in my days going to school for an electronics degree, some buddies and me got hold of some really large caps. I can't recall the actual capacity now, but they were bigger than a 12 oz can. (now I guess such things are relatively common for the big car stereo set, but not something you saw often then)

We used to do all sorts of stupid things with them. Arced a cheap screwdriver across it and blew a good size chunk off the end. Once shorted it out against the metal around the door handle of the dorm room (it welded itself to the steel and had to be knocked free) and told the guys the door was now 'charged' and if they touched it they'd get shocked. They were scared to leave the room until I 'uncharged' it by touching the discharged cap back to the metal of the door. It would also vaporize pieces of window screen if you could get a good contact.

Later I'll tell you about the fun that comes from having a laser and campus police...

LMAO

 

[Chuck122]

I have a Buck 119 that got that treatment when repairing an old mercury outboard motor. The nick was well worth not paddling for hours to get back to the dock

 

[PugetDude]

Cutting apart an old shed once, sliced thru a hidden 10-2 Romex (220V-30A) with a chainsaw... got my attention quick.

 

[rick carpenter]

I have one like that, but I didn't do it. I took a chainsaw file and chucked it in a drill and made the hole round. Looks like it was made that way, well kinda.

 

[LEVE]

Back in the '70's I was working at a TV repair shop. A new Tech had just been hired and was assigned to move a workbench. About 15 minutes into the move we heard him yell. Asking what happened he explained he had to cut the AC supply wires to move the bench... and proceeded to show us what happened. Again, he yelled as sparks flew. He'd not removed the voltage before he cut the wires... thinking he could cut one at a time and be "OK"... he lasted another week and then was looking for work.

As for the side cutters he was using... well, they stayed around and became wire strippers for 12ga wire.

 

[4x4gearhead]

Haha thats a really cool old pair of pliers. I love looking at old tools and thinking "where the hell has this thing been?" Its funny to find f ups like that one though. Im sure it was a lesson learned.

 

[OHMS LAW]

I was in a hurry the other day and welded my 14 mm socket when I threw my wrench down in a hurry, landed right across the batt terminals. Calmed my *** down

 

[Pumpman1968]

I worked with a couple of guys that would purposely short out a circuit with pliers or a screwdriver so it would trip the breaker to identify the circuit. The best "short circuit" story I've been present for was, in the old days, oil burner guys would test a transformer with a screwdriver to see if it would arc. Saw a guy do it with a wooden handle screwdriver..........wood is NOT a great insulator! Needless to say........10,000 volts sent him directly on his ***! The Boss bought a transformer tester shortly after that incident.

 

[Kevin54]

Hokie...That's nothing. You should have seen some of my dad's cutters. His always had more daylight showing through the cutters than not.

 

[RCStocker]

Only one question. Why would you waste your money on an old pliers like that that has damage? I toss those in the scrap bucket and don't even put them out for sale.

 

[TwoInch]

I worked with a couple of guys that would purposely short out a circuit with pliers or a screwdriver so it would trip the breaker to identify the circuit. The best "short circuit" story I've been present for was, in the old days, oil burner guys would test a transformer with a screwdriver to see if it would arc. Saw a guy do it with a wooden handle screwdriver..........wood is NOT a great insulator! Needless to say........10,000 volts sent him directly on his ***! The Boss bought a transformer tester shortly after that incident.

wood is a great insulator, as long as its dry. used to use lots of wood, ladders, tool handles, etc.. when working with power line clearance.

 

[Outlawmws]

Only one question. Why would you waste your money on an old pliers like that that has damage? I toss those in the scrap bucket and don't even put them out for sale.

He probably didn't notice it under the scunge and rust. he said he noticed it AFTER Evaorust and wire wheel...

 

[Bruce Lancaster]

I once encountered a grubby electric drill-pistol grip device that had one lump of copper with a hole and one lump of copper with no hole at the business end at an indoor fleamarket.
Guy selling it had NO idea, and we discussed possibilities for a while.
Finally he shifted into empirical gear..."lets pluggit in and try it on this wrench!"
He put an old open end on the floor, we pressed the mystery tool agains it, pulled the trigger.
Flash! Bang! Wrench leapt into the air and an acrid odor filled the area! I bought the thing, since it was capable of interesting violence. Never did find a use for it...I think it was for welding thin wire studs to something.