PSA: Think out projects.......

[MacGyver]

Hey..... today I made a mistake, so I am just passing this along.... it was pretty dumb of me.

I was redrilling the holes in the thru deck connector for the mast connection. The thing was drilling pretty horribly, so I tried the other side. It left a small amount to drill, so holding the drill in one hand firmly and the piece in the other I tried to ream it out......

Doing so I ended up drilling into my hand a 11/64ths hole, 1/2 inch deep...... Thank god only in the skin, but it was inside my hand. That was the first time I have ever done that.....
Realizing my mistake I pulled it out slowly, to which is barely bled... so I tried to force some blood checking my movement and etc.

All is well thank the good lord above. Inside my wife doctored my up, and the stress of the situation kinda overwhelmed me.

Before I made the decision to do that....... I thought that I should put a rag in some channel locks and hold the piece.... thinking that "nah, this will only take a moment" and I am in a hurry, 2 things that never turn out well. I figured after the first hole I would fix up a ragged aparatus an d use that for the last 2.

Please everyone think your projects through, and then ask yourself "Is this safe?" because we all want to A) Go home at night (B) In one piece and (C) with everything in tact.
That extra moment would have kept this from happening and my night now cut short to baby my hand now keeps me from finishing a few projects......... Tomorrow is also going to be a baby day..... want to be sure it heals good before putting it back into service.

Take care with what you do, thanks for reading, and keep up the safe, good work.
Mac

[Craig]

Amen! Been there, done that! Be very careful. Only takes an instant to really hurt yourself!

[HeaveToo]

I second that!  Ouch!  I hope that you are okay and  it is kept clean.

[crazycarl]

jason,

take it from a guy who has drilled into his hand and leg, ran his finger between an end mill and a fence on a bridgeport, 
cut the top 1/2" of his thumb off on a bandsaw, put a crowbar into his own skull, and had a finishing nail shot into his elbow, (not my fault on that one), your hand is going to hurt a lot more tomorrow than tonight.  it will probably swell up.  ice it now. 

this guy at work won't go near me because of all the "accidents" that happen to me. he once moved his car across the lot just so he didn't have to walk near me on the way in or out of work.

as for the drilling, the most important and most used piece of equipment in my shop is the drill press.

i have suggested to many friends to pick one up, even if it's a little tabletop model.

carl

[skip1930]

Me and the crew were taking an old paint line out of Simpson Wheel in New Market, Ontario, Canada around 1985 ??
Plant has been shut down for years, "all utilities were shut off long ago."

Yea- Right! First the 660-3-50 was still hot in a few of the boxes. Felt the tingle through the cutting torch flame before blowing the fuse somewhere on the other side of the 8 acre building.

And as I chopped sawed through a 2-1/2 inch black iron natural gas line atop one of the smelting furnaces [difference between a furnace and an oven ... ovens stop at 650 F.] with ear muffs on and gloves I really was not paying a lot of attention to why the sparks were shooting away from the saw ... when I shut down I heard the roar of natural gas leaving the pipe. In Canada gas pressure is about 80 to 110 lb. Opps! I called for Jeff to find a flashlight and follow that line to the nearest shut off valve as I straddled the pipe and pulled my gloved hands over the cut off pipe. That's like peeing in the ocean to make it over flow. Ain't gonna happen. She was still blowing gas.  Jeff found the valve alright. Outside the building in a little 'outhouse' but with no handle to force rotating valve closed.  Looking around in the tall grass he found the handle, turned off the gas, and we manually opened every door in the place and went o lunch for four hours. All in a day's work. No big deal. You die when you die.

skip.

[Bob23]

   Wow, Mac. Glad to hear you're ok. But as to your comment "pretty dumb of me", has any one of us ever made a smart mistake? Or at the right time?
   I can't match Carl's number of accidents but in each one of them, hurried-ness played a factor. I once read an ariticle in Fine Homebuilding about construction related injuires. There are 2 groups of us that get hurt the most: The greenhorns, because they just don't know what they're doing. And the veterans, because we are too over confident. Just yesterday, I almost took the tip of my left index finger off with a Stanley knife. Yeah, dumb. With all the power and pneumatic tools I use, the dang Stanley knife has gotten me more times than I care to remember. 
   Stay safe, men.
Bob23

[brackish]

Mac, I'm glad it wasn't worse and hope it heals up ok.  Hey with a career manufacturing woodworking machinery, and having a hobby using those machines, the only time I've ever been hurt was when I said " it's only one cut, I can sneak it by that way",  late at night when I was tired but knew better.  This was trapping a bevel cut on a large table saw instead of taking the three minutes to reset the fence to make the cut open.  Learned my lesson.  Bodily damage from the kickback was fortunately only temporary. 

Be careful, and listen when your head says this may not be the best way.

[Koinonia]

Always gotta think safety!  We are on safety all the time at work.  Whenever a mistake is made I am sure to never repeat what I did, or didnt to do prevent it.