[TheForge] fingers

Wed Jan 16 18:26:11 EST 2013

I have my moments. How's your record felling trees?

Jer
----- Original Message ----- 
From: "Andrew Vida" <osan at netlabs.net>
To: "Blacksmithing List Sponsored by ABANA" <theforge at mailman.qth.net>
Sent: Tuesday, January 15, 2013 8:43 AM
Subject: Re: [TheForge] fingers

> 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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