macbruce Posted June 4, 2011 Share Posted June 4, 2011 I can't say why I'm posting such an idiotic folly other than I like to tell ''war stories''. I can laugh about it now (30 yrs ago) without wincing, if you guys can. I once was idling about the shop and happened to spot a percussion cap on my work desk.........I picked it up, placed it it on the anvil and casually smacked it with a hammer!........Now short of putting my paw in the PH and mashing the treadle, which would be a 10, this had to be a 7 or 8 in the stupid scale.The skirt of the cap came off in one crescent shaped shard and neatly tore through my little finger, with a bloody point on either side. The height of the anvil being what it is, I was lucky It didn't get me in a sensitive area. I won't go into the details of removing it but the experience was ''religious''........................ mb Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Old N Rusty Posted June 4, 2011 Share Posted June 4, 2011 I will bet you never did that again. OUCH!!Some times my brain works, that is when i grind off the sharp rasor edge the chop saw leaves immediatly. Most time i am "in a hurry" and dont. it always bites me then, and NOBODY cusses ME like i do. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Marksnagel Posted June 4, 2011 Share Posted June 4, 2011 Now at 52 I look back at all the things that I did in haste or just out of stupidity. Stupidity is always waiting to get you, I know, we are on intimate terms at times. Haste has almost always come back and bit me in the hind quarters. Shortcuts become long cuts and sometimes cuts that require stitches. I can relate with the percussion cap only minus the blood. Scared me enough to not do it again. At least until Mr. Stupid comes to visit again. It is only by grace that I am alive today with all the dumb things I've done. The smithy is not a place to be stupid. Hold on, someone is at the door. It's Mr Stupid, should I let him in? Mark <º))>< Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Frosty Posted June 4, 2011 Share Posted June 4, 2011 Like Mark said, I'm lucky I've survived this long, TREE not counting, I did that as smart as I could. My attitude is usually what bites me, getting ticked off at someone else is a really good reason to take a walk and cool off. Getting complacent is always a BAD idea. One of my favorite bits of stupid is when I show someone a hazard by doing what I shouldn't, getting BIT by the hazard is almost guaranteed. I TRY to keep my idiot in a back room under lock and key but that isn't possible because idiots are just too clever. Frosty the Lucky Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
monstermetal Posted June 4, 2011 Share Posted June 4, 2011 I gotta say "Stimpys Invention" AKA the Happy Helmut.. And the Happy Happy Joy Joy song sung by our old Pal Stinky Wizzleteats... Pure Genius Hitting explosives on the anvil, no matter how small.... not so much Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
macbruce Posted June 5, 2011 Author Share Posted June 5, 2011 I think getting hurt cause you make a mistake in the shop has a sense of honor.....at least you were doing something of value. The brain fade was something else, I knew better than to do that, but I did. At least I was alone and didn't hurt someone else, besides the laughter would have added to the sting......... Wanna read a # 9 ? This is a tale of horseplay gone bad.........A few of us after hours in the shop were sipping beer and talking, the forge was still glowing and all seemed right with the world...........When one of the guys pulls from his pocket a handful of live .22 rounds and hucks em into the forge!!..........Three of us kissed the floor and Fadeboy stood proudly and said; they just go pop that's all.........Pop pop......a neon light exploded........pop,pop, Fadeboy gripped his hand in agony.......pppp............It was all over but for the groaning from FB. Seems the bullets don't do much at all, but the cases really zip...........fun and games in the smithy :( Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
monstermetal Posted June 5, 2011 Share Posted June 5, 2011 I have seen some really ugly play time disasters... One involving several sticks of Mr Duponts finest and home made overloaded rockets.... I once set fire to the Idaho desert shooting at exploding "targets"... The helicopters and big trucks that came to put it out where none too impressed... I was not involved but witnessed a prank where one of the yard guys thought it would be fun to fill a large pipe leaned up full of Acetylene and touch it off as a guy walked around the corner.... split the pipe and layed several guys to the ground.. About the closest call though was a pipe bomb episode in high school... At a party at a rural house the fuze was lit the bomb tossed far out into a open field... We ran back and hopped in my friends early 70's ford truck... When the bang went off a chunk of shrapnel I would guess was baseball sized came through the windshield and out the back window so fast both just exploded into itty bits of glass... right between our heads... Just so you know... dont ever put a beer can on the powerhammer die and see how flat you can make it in one blow either.... The little bit of liquid left in the bottom of the can more or less becomes its own explosive... Oh and never pour molten copper into the slack tub either... Dont ask me how I know Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
John McPherson Posted June 5, 2011 Share Posted June 5, 2011 On the safer end of the spectrum, you can put a few drops of water on the anvil, then put your forging hot flat stock just above it, then whack it with the hammer. When the steel comes in contact with the anvil, you get a steam pocket and resulting bang. A single matchhead struck on the anvil will go Pop. A whole book of matches will go Boom. Melting coffee can sized lots of scrounged range brass for casting can get exciting if even one .22 case still has live priming in the rim. A couple of twenty minute railroad flares, found along the track behind the campsite, cut open, contents powdered, wrapped up in layers of foil like a baked potato, and placed it the Boy Scout Camporee bonfire pile hours before it is lit....$0.00. The million candlepower retina-searing 3 second roaring Supernova that appears, sucks up all the oxygen in the fire, and derails the Council Executive's corny ghost story in midstream.....Priceless. Ah, memories. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
macbruce Posted June 5, 2011 Author Share Posted June 5, 2011 ''The million candlepower retina-searing 3 second roaring Supernova that appears, sucks up all the oxygen in the fire, and derails the Council Executive's corny ghost story in midstream.....Priceless. Ah, memories'' There are memories and the there are memories...........My Father, a vet told me of a campfire enhancing method the GI's would sometimes employ during WW2...................... During bitter cold weather they would add TNT to the fire (plenty of that around) and bask in the intense warm glow for a while. It was ok as long as you didn't create a shock wave, the smallest bump could do that when it's burning that hot, after a few vaporized squads the practice was stopped.......... That's a far cry from RR flares but pyro foolery always has the potential to not go as planned...........:o Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Timothy Miller Posted June 9, 2011 Share Posted June 9, 2011 Once wile just a metal working tadpole I was punching some holes on a 75 tone iron-worker. It was unhappy with the holes I was getting because the die had too much clearance. It was leaving a very large burr on the bottom of the hole that I had to grind off. So I took another die of what i thought would be better and put it on top of the other die. I stepped on the pedal the punch advances and the I hear a very loud bang. The end of the punch had snapped off and the end had hit the flour with such force that it left a small crater in the floor right between my boots. I foreman rushed over and said W.T.F. TIM!!!. I my hands were shaking for the next hour or so. I can't explain why I thought that would work to this day.:huh: Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
macbruce Posted June 10, 2011 Author Share Posted June 10, 2011 Now let me get this strait ..............You didn't remove the lower die, you just stacked the other on top of it???................I hate coming in 2nd but in this case you win... When I read yours there was a strong feeling of deja vu though........I once was switching the punch and die( 3/4 to 7/8 maybe) on a 100t hyd unit and got the things mixed up on the table. I put the Die in first, then the punch, back to work.........I decided to cycle it once to check it out, and when the two met there was the sound of a thousand fingernails raking a hundred chalkboards, and plenty of sparks too! Course I lifted my foot and it was all over. That 100 toner had no Qualms about pushing a 7/8 punch into a 3/4 hole. The blast went up mostly, If it hadn't my face would still be pockmarked .........With a neat outline of the safety glasses. Don't mix em up ;) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Timothy Miller Posted June 10, 2011 Share Posted June 10, 2011 Now let me get this strait ..............You didn't remove the lower die, you just stacked the other on top of it???................I hate coming in 2nd but in this case you win... Yea It was very dumb all I can say is I was half asleep and about 20 years old. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bryce Masuk Posted June 28, 2011 Share Posted June 28, 2011 I have seen some other people do some dumb things and done some myself. I have used some really dangerous equipment this one mechanical shear gave me enough fear of any machine to always be safe. I have forgotten about most of the times things got destroyed so they must have not been that important Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
macbruce Posted June 28, 2011 Author Share Posted June 28, 2011 Even though things can be replaced it's a bummer to lose em via the fade...........My ironworker has three stations punch, shear in the middle and notcher .........working with the notcher one day I heard a sharp BANG....Looked round to the punch side of the machine and my digital caliper had met it's end under a 3/4''punch........I don't use the punch table as a shelf anymore..:( Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Pault17 Posted July 1, 2011 Share Posted July 1, 2011 I can remember this really dumb kid taking an aluminum arrow, filling it with black powder, capping it with a .38 shell that had the bullet pulled, that was capped with a roofing nail in a cork, and shooting it at a dumpster. blew a fist sized hole through the dumpster. bo and luke lookout! didn't do it a second time. very scary. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Steve Sells Posted July 1, 2011 Share Posted July 1, 2011 I can remember this really dumb kid taking an aluminum arrow, filling it with black powder, capping it with a .38 shell that had the bullet pulled, that was capped with a roofing nail in a cork, and shooting it at a dumpster. blew a fist sized hole through the dumpster. bo and luke lookout! didn't do it a second time. very scary. doing things like that could get one a nomination for a Darwin award. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
njanvilman Posted July 1, 2011 Share Posted July 1, 2011 I can remember this really dumb kid taking an aluminum arrow, filling it with black powder, capping it with a .38 shell that had the bullet pulled, that was capped with a roofing nail in a cork, and shooting it at a dumpster. blew a fist sized hole through the dumpster. bo and luke lookout! didn't do it a second time. very scary. Sound like something McGyver would do. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ThomasPowers Posted July 5, 2011 Share Posted July 5, 2011 The day I cam to work after spending all night at the Hospital assisting with the birth of my first child I was not allowed to work with any of the tools. They just set me in the corner and told me that this one was on them! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bentiron1946 Posted July 7, 2011 Share Posted July 7, 2011 "I TRY to keep my idiot in a back room under lock and key but that isn't possible because idiots are just too clever."...............My idiot my be a close relation to Frosty's! Sometimes I wonder why I have been allowed to reach this stage of life. With all of the idiotic things I have participated in it's a wonder that I still have all of toes, fingers and other body parts. I'm not blind and only slightly deaf, I can still breath but have a slight decrease in lung capacity. I work really hard to avoid brain pharts when I'm working with tools and with fire but the odds of damage increase with age and you know I sure ain't getting any younger and I'm finding that my idiot keeps picking the lock on his cage a lot more these days. :( Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
pkrankow Posted July 7, 2011 Share Posted July 7, 2011 I almost did it today. I couldn't find the drill chuck to my lathe, and the neighbor's boy was in my garage a few weeks ago for no good reason. I put tow and two together and ALMOST marched over to talk to his dad, the police officer. It was a good thing I didn't because it turned out the chuck fell off the shelf and got wedged between the lathe leg and the wall (not easy to see or get out) Good thing I thought of this thread and looked more. On the plus side the garage is significantly cleaner and more organized. Phil Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
macbruce Posted September 10, 2011 Author Share Posted September 10, 2011 I've built a few air hammers and I tend to get a little excited nearing the end of a project, wanting to see the thing run and play with it........Multi tasking has it's place but not anywhere near a live air hammer finished or not........I was fitting the throttle rod from the base to the control and the ram was fluttering and tapping on a block of wood between the jaws. This annoyed me and I decided to remove the block and lower the ram......For whatever reason when I grabbed the block I put my thumb on top of it...and kept fiddling with the rod.....KISS..... I didn't want to remove my glove for a minute or so of denial but it was time to wrap it in a towel and go to the ER..... ...... I can't open a pocket knife or stick it in my ear anymore but I'm lucky to have it..... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Steve Shimanek Posted September 11, 2011 Share Posted September 11, 2011 Owwwww! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
macbruce Posted December 18, 2011 Author Share Posted December 18, 2011 MURPHY RULES XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX ....I really blew it this time.......I was making a special alignment tool in my Logan lathe that needed to be welded together while chucked up and in the tailstock with a live center. I tacked it together.........wanting to see if the part still ran true after welding I started the lathe.......The welder was still on with the high frequency going........Motor toasted...The gayly colored wires in the J box are now mostly black....Seppuku... Anybody got a 3ph 1hp 1740+-rpm motor w/a f66 frame? It probly has a 5/8 shaft but I can't look at again today. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Elemental Metal Creations Posted December 18, 2011 Share Posted December 18, 2011 My dad sold me a story of when he was working as a carpenter long ago. he was working on a new scoll gym and one of the guys found a stick of dynamite they were cutting thin slices off and hitting them with there hammers. someone said watch this, hit a 1/8 stick piece with a 12lb sledge. He didn't tell me how they explained the hole in the new roof to the boss:-0 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
pkrankow Posted December 18, 2011 Share Posted December 18, 2011 "HEY! WATCH THIS!" seems to mean "Find cover quick!" Phil Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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