[TheForge] fingers

Tue Jan 15 12:43:24 EST 2013

Damn Jerry, you're almost as stupid as I.

On 1/12/2013 5:03 PM, Jerry Frost wrote:
> Okay, that counts as a "dumb stunt" worth getting 86'd for in my shop
> too. I'll let hars words slide unless you do it again though.
>
> Why? Here's ONE of my disk grinder misadventures. One of the semi-rare
> jobs we did drilling was auger through pavement to do a centerline
> investigation on bridge approaches. The auger really screws up asphalt
> pavement by lifting the surrounding soil up to a foot around the hole.
> Think BIG zit looking thing that's really hard to smooth out so folk
> aren't hitting a big weird speed bump as they're entering a bridge deck.
>
>
> Well, I'd come up with an idea to simply cookie cut the asphalt around
> the hole before augering. That way the pavement would be relatively in
> tact and the base soils are easy to shovel in, level and compact. The
> drill uses a hex to drive the rotating steel, auger in this case as well
> as connect flights of auger, the bit, etc. I found a piece of reasonably
> heavy steel pipe, welded a hex coupler, centered to the top and started
> notching the cutting edge for carbide bits.
>
> Here's where my STUPID shone brightly, I just stood the soon to be bit
> on the bench, the coupler socketed into a female coupler welded into the
> bench's top. You could really reef on stuff but it wasn't solid by any
> definition, plenty of rattle room. <sigh> So, there I was using a 9"
> Millwauki (sp?) right angle grinder to cut notches to braze the carbide
> bits into. Use a cutting disk? NAW, not me!
>
> So, there I was on maybe my 4-5th slot and the whole pipe shifts, jams
> the disk and launches the grinder across the shop. My right arm goes
> numb to the shoulder from the blow and not seeing blood I walk over to
> pick up the disk grinder. No surprise the disk is toast, about 1/3 is in
> a few pieces around the shop and the rest is looking like abused penut
> brittle. Then I pick the grinder up by the handle and the handle is
> floppy. Floppy handle? What THE! Darn, the trigger is ripped almost all
> the way off, hanging by one frayed wire and the rest of the handle is
> pretty smooshed up.
>
> I carry it back to the bench doing a quick mental survey listing a quick
> parts list to repair it. When I set it down I finally think about the
> fack I was holding onto the handle with my finger on the trigger! Yikes,
> there's a hole in the ring finger of the glove and it's getting soggy
> and red. Oh yeah, the numb is starting to wear off my arm to not happy
> reports from the nerve endings. One quick look and I give the office a
> call, lock the shop up and drive to the local doc in a box to get
> stitched up.
>
> An evulsion isn't a fun thing but better than ripping a finger off the
> hard way. I took about 10 stitches, 5 deep to reconnect tissues from the
> bone up and another 4-5 to put the closer to the surface tissues and
> skin in close proximity. Darned thing was numb for a couple years, then
> as feeling started to return it was kind of weird feeling, not like my
> other fingers. I still have a fat spot on the ring finger of my right
> hand but I've either gotten used to the feeling or it's returned to as
> normal as anything about me is.
>
> I think that's more than enough confesson of dumbness for one day. Jer
> ----- Original Message ----- From: "Andy Gladish" <anjgladish at gmail.com>
> To: <theforge at mailman.qth.net>
> Sent: Friday, January 11, 2013 3:04 PM
> Subject: [TheForge] fingers
>
>
>> Jer, I already feel like the world's biggest idiot, so have at it!
>> I went out to the shop a week ago intending to get busy again after a
>> for-the=record=books busy holiday season, and thought I'd begin by
>> repairing a knife handle by enlarging the slot with a hand held grinder.
>>
>> The operation is similar to one I used to do when knocking these out
>> by the
>> dozen, from surplus bandsaw blade- it's my biggest seller in the knife
>> department...but first, I don't do it that way anymore (it's so quick to
>> just blast a hole for the handle rivet with the OA) and also, I did it on
>> unsharpened steel with a board backing. Can you imagine? Holding it
>> down on
>> the table with one hand and running a grinder with the other? I'd have
>> come
>> running over and hit anyone on the head with the damn grinder if I'd seen
>> em doing this in my shop...
>> So it caught on the wheel and whipped around.
>>
>> Yeah, I know- this is the kind of thing I spend all day NOT
>> doing...but one
>> bad day I did everything wrong and wasn't lucky.
>>
>> My buddy was telling me a few days later about temporarily losing a
>> thumb-
>> he leaned over a table saw and put his hand down...."shudder"...now this
>> guy is a top notch cabinetmaker with decades of experience. Why would
>> he do
>> it?
>>
>> The angle grinder is the "table saw" of the metalworking shop, just
>> waiting
>> for a chance to get ya.
>>
>> --
>> Andy Gladish, Element Fe Metal Studio
>> Blacksmithing and Blades
>>
>> Talent develops in tranquillity, character in the full current of human
>> life. -Johann Wolfgang von Goethe
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>
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