Joel vs grinder - 0/1

Joel

Joel

Well-Known Member
Joined
Mar 20, 2005
Location
Winston-Salem, NC
I joined the club today.

Yesterday Shane brought me up 10' of 3/16" wall 2" square tube so I could make a hitch mounted bike rack for the Heep. Today I got full into it but only managed about 10 minutes of work. I was cutting my second piece of steel for the vertical bar when the angle grinder kicked back and jumped out of my sweaty hands. It then hit the concrete, spun around a few times with the trigger locked and partially destroyed the cut off wheel. The partially destroyed cutoff wheel grabbed hold of the concrete and launched itself into my left leg where it shredded my flesh spattering my other leg with blood and tissue. All that happened in a blink of an eye. From there the blood began to pour out of the huge gash to my leg. I walked (funnily I might add) through the garage and into the kitchen, grabbed a clean shop towel and applied pressure to the wound on my calf leaving a trail of blood behind me. Luckily Maya was close to home and took me to the emergency room. 6 hours later I have a couple of prescriptions (including vicodin) stitches inside and outside on my leg and a neat story to share with y'all. Walking is kind of painful now and luckily I didn't do any serious damage. I did manage to cut deep enough that I hit the outside of the muscle and the doctor wasn't able to get all of the pieces out so they hooked me up to an antibiotic IV. We also found out it was more than just a single cut. Closer to a dozen actually before it was all said and done. Kinda looked like burger when he was cleaning it out. Enough with the story, here are the pics:

The area around the wound was cleaned out a bit. You can still see all the dried blood on my foot.

ATT00016.jpg


Notice all the blood spatter on my other leg:

ATT00022.jpg


Those aren't growths. Those are chunks of flesh and tissue from my other leg.

ATT00019.jpg


Cleaned out and ready to stitch:

ATT00013.jpg


Stitched, dressed and finally ready to go home:

ATT00007.jpg


Luckily I am still below the price of a new bike rack. We will see if this project ends up paying off or not.

Cost of steel: $30
Co-pay for ER: $75

Total so far: $105

Now to be a little serious. This could have turned out much worse. If Maya had not been near home there would have been no way for me to get myself to the hospital. I couldn't drive the Jeep with my leg in that condition. I also should have wiped the sweat off my hands and had a better grip on the angle grinder. Learn from my foolishness if you can.
 
Dude, I hate that for you. I for one have been in the same situation the last few days, working with sweat dripping. I have never given much thought to not being able to hold on to the grinder or what ever, but thanks to you, I will.Hope you recover fast. And it will help to keep it as up in the air as you can.
 
Wow, congrat on yer luck, and sorry for the ideal.

One thing I wonder about. You mention the grinder kept going b/c the trigger was locked. i often wonder if it's a good idea for power tools to have this feature. I have a jigsaw that has a "trigger lock" on it, once flipped it'll keep going indefinitely until you unflip it. I never use it, but sometimes it'll accidentally get engaged and it takes me a sec to figure out what's going on.
Yes, it's a really convenient feature for many occasions, but I just wonder if safety is worth it.
 
I think his pics have a good message. They tell how quickly a situation can go bad. If thru his misfortune, someone else can be spared an injury, then its a good thing.
 
Holy crap...

I was down at the driveshaft shop on Friday, and I couldn't believe how he's not blind.. Just a pair of regular glasses like mine.. operating the lathe, hot metal chips flying.. then the buffs the part on a wire wheel bench grinder, no safety shields on it..

It's very common to see especially around old equipment, but damn, I was a little freaked out.
 
Rich, you woul dbe surprised to what instructors tell folks about safety in classes and working with big tool ( lathes, drill presses, etc)

I hear stuff like do not wear gloves because they can get caught and rip your fingers off etc.., do not wear masks cause then you can not see your surroundings clearing..

I thnk it is all Bullshit..

I say wear as much protection as possible..
If you have a good clear sheild or portective glasses they wil lnot affect your sight.. if you wear gloves they will protect your hands

You can ask Scott roberts about my time with a fight against = grinder, 1x1 steel.. lets just say if I did not have a protective sheild, gloves, long sleeve sweat shirt, and pants on I would not look as good asI do know :)
 
BRUISER said:
lets just say if I did not have a protective sheild, gloves, long sleeve sweat shirt, and pants on I would not look as good asI do know :)
Click to expand...

Crap, that coulda been REALLY bad! :fuck-you:
 
Rich said:
Holy crap...
I was down at the driveshaft shop on Friday, and I couldn't believe how he's not blind.. Just a pair of regular glasses like mine.. operating the lathe, hot metal chips flying.. then the buffs the part on a wire wheel bench grinder, no safety shields on it..
It's very common to see especially around old equipment, but damn, I was a little freaked out.
Click to expand...

This is exactly why, whenever we are screening people to have an MRI here at the med center, one of the first questions is "do you or have you ever worked with metal for an extended period of time".
Soem really grousome cases of old-school metal workers going into the machine and all those years worth of steel accumulation in their face/arms/eyes getting wiggled/heated from the magnet...

Moral is: If you EVER want to be able to have an MRI done on yer body, ALWAYS WEAR PROTECTION. I didn't care less until I was working in this lab... now I wear glasses, gloves, etc all the time.
 
I hear stuff like do not wear gloves because they can get caught and rip your fingers off etc.., do not wear masks cause then you can not see your surroundings clearing..

I thnk it is all Bullshit..
Click to expand...

Only speaking on gloves... Twice in my memory it sticks out, and another time on another shift. Someone wearing a glove on a drill press/ mill got mangled. Once the sharp edge of a mill bit catches your glove, you are at the mercy of the motor. I was in the area once, it stopped mangling his hand once the motor stopped on its own. It grabbed a piece of skin/meat and wound it up a few times. I think our equiptment have E-brakes, but I have never had to use it. I have used gloves before (because the parts were hot) on a press, but you can never let your hands close to the bit while the bit is in motion...

I wear wraparound style glasses, they have saved my ass numerous times. Nothing gets you attention more than the big PINK sound on your glasses.
 
i was working with the grinder today, in shorts, flip flops and a t shirt. No safety gear at all. When the grinder caught an edge, jerked and damn near hit my face, i remembered this thread. Promtly went and got my coveralls, steel toe boots, and safety glasses. If nothing else, this thread may have saved me from joining you guys with pictures from the ER
 
joel if you don't mind im gonna split off your 'damage' to a new thread, i appreciate you sharing your story, and i think it deserve its own thread...

the older i get the more funny i am about how i work, i find myself stoping 1/2 way through doing somthing that ive done 1000 times and doing it a safer way based on seeing someone elses injuries.. I find i go slower, stop until i find safty glasses etc.. and force everyone to wear them or send em home, pissed off at me :) ANd my favorite slogan...

Safty is no accident...
 
Back
Top