Donnie Posted March 20, 2016 Share Posted March 20, 2016 I decided to make an anvil stump like some I've seen. Connect a stack of 2x12's, with threaded rod. Band of iron around it top and bottom. Simple enough. Not quite. I was drilling 1/8" holes through flat bar with a dull bit. Putting a little weight on the drill and bit began to wobble. I told myself to move my left thumb before the bit broke. Didn't listen. Bit snapped, and the broke part still in the drill went through my thumb. Went to ER, thumb bone shattered. One big horse pill, one tetanus shot and three bags of antibiotics on an IV drip, two prescriptions, and an appointment with an orthopedic doc, finally home. Pay attention to what you're doing folks! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Frosty Posted March 20, 2016 Share Posted March 20, 2016 Ouch! Normally I'd have a snappy biting admonishment to lay on you but that sounds just too darned painful for anything I could add and make it more memorable. So you DON'T DO THAT AGAIN!! What part of your thumb? Think it'll cost you any mobility? Long term that is I'll bet it's pretty immobile right now. You DO realize it's now a grade A bump magnet yes? Take care brother. Frosty The Lucky. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Donnie Posted March 20, 2016 Author Share Posted March 20, 2016 Don't think mobility will be a problem, after it heals up. It went through at the base of the thumb nail and out the other side. I was surprised when the x-ray showed the bone shattered in a BUNCH of tiny pieces. Sometimes I'm just not as smart as I would like to be. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
notownkid Posted March 20, 2016 Share Posted March 20, 2016 3 minutes ago, Donnie said: . Sometimes I'm just not as smart as I would like to be. You are not alone in that leaky boat my friend. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Frosty Posted March 20, 2016 Share Posted March 20, 2016 8 minutes ago, Donnie said: Sometimes I'm just not as smart as I would like to be. I live on that street. Frosty The Lucky. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Daswulf Posted March 20, 2016 Share Posted March 20, 2016 Ouch! dont you hate when you dont listen to that little voice in the back of your head? I've done almost similar trying to drive longer screws in with a bit in a drill where it wobbled and popped the screw out and i smashed my thumb with the bit but never did more then a blood blister. have had bits snap while i was being careless. now I'm way more careful about such things and buy new bits or sharpen them and keep myself out of the way. Unfortunately lesson learned and I hope you heal up quickly. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Frosty Posted March 20, 2016 Share Posted March 20, 2016 When you mention screws and drill drivers it brigs to mind a day when we were still building the house. We bought a connex to help keep valuables from walking off when we weren't around and once we'd moved into the house I converted it to shop storage and put up a tarp tent over the front to keep my smithing gear under cover. Well, I was hanging a bit of plywood on a bottom chord of the "trusses" supporting the roof. The plywood was just a little thing I was turning into a forge hood. I was balanced on a ladder on dirt, holding the top of the plywood even with the top of the bottom chord 2"x6" gauging it with my finger and ran the screw in with my drill driver. Well surprise SURPRISE the screw was longer than the thickness of the plywood and 2x" and went into my middle finger to the bone. I yelped and let go of the trigger. Thank GOD I didn't drop the drill driver, I didn't have a screw driver in my belt and even though I reflexively tried I couldn't pull my finger off that screw. It HAD ME! The ladder is wobbly but I'm only maybe 7" up but had I fallen my feet wouldn't have reached the ground and I would've hung there till Deb came looking for me. I managed to get the drill reversed myself unscrewed and down for some 1st. aid. I SURE wish the little voice would shout and scream. Frosty The Lucky. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Donnie Posted March 20, 2016 Author Share Posted March 20, 2016 At least I didn't have to reverse the drill. I yanked the bit back through my thumb instantly, reflex I reckon. If I had screwed my finger to anything higher than I could reach, I would no longer have that finger! I doubt it would hold 275lbs...............I sure do know that thumb is there this morning. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Daswulf Posted March 20, 2016 Share Posted March 20, 2016 When i stuck a wood carving knife through two of my fingers while trying to carve a wooden chain out of a single piece of wood. I was trying to pop the link, and I KNEW BETTER then to hold the piece how i was holding it with the force i was using but the voice in the back of my head was silent and POP. The link broke and the little blade went through the bottom half of the second joint in my pointer finger just under the bone and through and into my middle finger. happened so fast and i pulled it back out instantly. I grabbed a clean shop rag real quick and held pressure on it. when i checked it and couldnt wiggle the tip i knew i cut the tendon and needed to get to the ER so i called my brother for a ride. that was the last time i did any wood carving. Fortunately they sent me to a good hand specialist surgeon who patched up the nerve tendon and blood vessel. got the motion back and even some feeling but it took a while. At the time i was in a band playing guitar. It ended that but months later i could play again. Tho not as fast or good as i was getting. That thumb will remind you to be a bit more careful next time Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JHCC Posted March 20, 2016 Share Posted March 20, 2016 Working last night, I started to get that nagging feeling that I was pushing myself too hard. Guess what happened next... I listened to it, shut the forge down, and came inside! AND NOBODY GOT HURT! (Sorry to hear about your thumb, though.) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Frosty Posted March 21, 2016 Share Posted March 21, 2016 2 hours ago, JHCC said: Working last night, I started to get that nagging feeling that I was pushing myself too hard. Guess what happened next... I listened to it, shut the forge down, and came inside! AND NOBODY GOT HURT! (Sorry to hear about your thumb, though.) You listened to the voice of caution!? What kind of blacksmith are you? . . . A smart one evidently. Frosty The Lucky. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JHCC Posted March 21, 2016 Share Posted March 21, 2016 First time for everything! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ThomasPowers Posted March 21, 2016 Share Posted March 21, 2016 One of the things I tell my students is to *STOP* BEFORE YOU MAKE THE UNCORRECTABLE MISTAKE! Realizing that you are approaching that point is an important part of your experience in smithing. Quite a few of us can show you scars from were we learned this the painful way; some of us several times... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Donnie Posted March 21, 2016 Author Share Posted March 21, 2016 Very true, Mr. Powers. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Frosty Posted March 21, 2016 Share Posted March 21, 2016 Ditto Thomas. The factors that make me most careless are: Over confidence, anger, Fatigue and rushing. Of all those I do my stupidest things when I'm over confident or angry. Don't work angry, well there are good things to work on to take the angry off you but some things are just too dangerous to be distracted and nothing is as distracting as being mad at someone. Things don't make me angry but people sure can and most things were designed by people sooo . . . Frosty The Lucky. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ThomasPowers Posted March 21, 2016 Share Posted March 21, 2016 I call it "pushing" == working when you know you shouldn't be; like the time I was recovering from being sick and thought I could work on a blade that was coming due by sitting at the grinder cause I was still not stable on my feet... Wrapped the injury up with the proverbial dirty shop rag and climbed the basement stairs and asked my wife to drive me to our HMO's urgent care. Didn't help getting that blade done at all!!! Burning up a piece in the coal forge because the fire is dirty and overdue to be cleaned out and restarted; but you only need a couple more heats... And one I am really very very good about avoiding (now)---not taking time to fasten down a piece you are drilling (drill press or hand drill). I have no stitches from this one but have had a number of friends who have quite a few...(and I have read a number of posts on an armour site about drilling through sheetmetal into your thigh...) Got some new students lately and I've noticed that one has a max period of focus of 2 hours and so have started making sure the "class" is shorter than that. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Frosty Posted March 21, 2016 Share Posted March 21, 2016 Pushing is a good general term. Drill presses are good tools for instructing folk about properly securing their work. I'll 86 a person for hand holding something on my drill press a second time. Drilling through INTO their leg?! Holy Crimeny I'd have to limit them to soft tools and padded rooms. Then again there was one fellow at work who was having trouble getting a new roll up window in a State pickup so he used a hammer. It wasn't my shop so I couldn't ban him but he got pretty good at asking me to help (Keep an eagle eye on) him. He wasn't actually dumb he just did everything faster than he thought. Seriously it was a State pickup, take it to the light duty shop, it's what they do. Frosty The Lucky. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ThomasPowers Posted March 21, 2016 Share Posted March 21, 2016 My drill press has a 2hp dayton motor on it and I don't want to play cuisinart with it and my hands...in general I have a good sized vise mounted on it's table as I like the crank up/down table to position the vise for filing...(Drill press was cheaper than an HF one nowadays during the sell off when the oil field crashed in the early 1980's. I have never regretted buying good equipment used over buying poor equipment new!) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Charles R. Stevens Posted March 22, 2016 Share Posted March 22, 2016 I just had a very Warners Brothers visual involving leaderhosen, a red hat and a large drill press... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Frosty Posted March 22, 2016 Share Posted March 22, 2016 I WISH I had a drill press that nice, not that mine won't treat you like a meat slicer but it's not going to spin the vise too if you don't get the clamps or hold down bolts right. I'll take the Warner Bros visual over the Fatalgram pics of someone who got long hair tangled in a powerful drill press. That pic showed the victim didn't get his scalp ripped off entirely it was still attached on the back of his skull. He would've been a lot better off having the emergency room reattach his scalp than getting his skull split when the drill slammed it between the bit and the post. Ugly photos Fatalgrams but it gives one pause when one SHOULD pause. Frosty The Lucky. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Charles R. Stevens Posted March 22, 2016 Share Posted March 22, 2016 Bad visual frosty, bad visual! where did I put my brain floss?! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ThomasPowers Posted March 22, 2016 Share Posted March 22, 2016 maybe we can all wish peasant dreams to Frosty! (little food, backbreaking work, inadequate shelter and then the armies roll through...) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Frosty Posted March 22, 2016 Share Posted March 22, 2016 16 hours ago, Charles R. Stevens said: Bad visual frosty, bad visual! where did I put my brain floss?! Worse than one of Thomas' lederhosen being stripped off the hard way? Don't you have a bottle of mental floss within reach of your keyboard? 3 hours ago, ThomasPowers said: maybe we can all wish peasant dreams to Frosty! (little food, backbreaking work, inadequate shelter and then the armies roll through...) Joining the army is a viable option to a ville livelihood. Can I have a real sword? Frosty The Lucky. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Charles R. Stevens Posted March 22, 2016 Share Posted March 22, 2016 I was envisioning him being spun around by his lederhosen, not stripped of them! Another visual seared on my brain, Bad Frosty, bad! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Frosty Posted March 22, 2016 Share Posted March 22, 2016 1 hour ago, Charles R. Stevens said: I was envisioning him being spun around by his lederhosen, not stripped of them! Another visual seared on my brain, Bad Frosty, bad! Aah then I have fulfilled my purpose for the day. Moved the mental floss closer to the keyboard yet? Lets see you opened with lederhosen, I raised with scalping . . . Hmmm, going to call raise or fold? I can describe an earth auger type Fatalgram if you'd like to play on. Bad Frosty Bad. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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