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Where is the blood? (stories of hurting yourself)

fpgt72

Old Salt
Full Member
Minuteman
Mar 26, 2019
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I was working on my race car. I had welded in the brackets with bolts to hold the seat belts in. And darn if I did not screw up the nut when I welded it in. Too hard to see behind the seat, some splatter or something got in there and the bolt WOULD NOT GO. So instead of cutting it all out and re doing it all over I decide to cut the nut off and just weld a new one in its place.....much more easy.

Grinding away and the cutting disks grabs and bounces off my knuckle. Gloves, no those are for pansies. Well crap that hurt but not bad, stop and decide I better wash it out, all that metal dust and all and stick something over it.

I look at my hand and my knuckle has a very sharp cut right down the middle, no blood. Almost looks like it is burned but that black could be metal or disc dust. I am standing there next to the car and my wife was there with me putting on stickers. I am standing there looking at my finger and you can pull on the sides of the cut and open it up....cool no blood and no real pain. Hay hon look at this, do you think this is my knuckle bone? She freaks a bit but with no blood not that bad.....yea I think it is. Hay look at this you can pull on the sides and see inside real well.....don't do that.....why it is not doing anyth.........the damn broke and the blood started to really flow.

never went to hospital, you can't sew up a knuckle. Still have a good scar on my index finger some 30 years later.

Lets hear 'em.
 
I was grinding down a horrid weld on my VW. I can't weld very well, more of a farmer welder, it will hold but not be pretty. I also have an issue at just under arms length and don't wear my glasses for any close up work....In grinding this I have on "safety glasses", you know the kind with little "blinders" on the side. And I am grinding away thinking I am safe.

I actually felt a flake hit me in the cheek then bounce into my eye......holy hell that hurt, and all work stopped then and there. I try like hell to wash it out but nothing, this thing is killing me. Nothing to do, it is Sunday and I am not going to trust some ER jackoff in my eyeball, I will wait till morning and go to my "real" eye dr.

I can't tell you how much this hurt, it was insane, but some adult drinks and I made it through the night. Get to the Dr and the first thing they do is put numbing drops in my eye.....relief so much better. The dr. comes in and starts to look at my eye, yup see it it is right on the edge of my field of vision. He says your eye is already building layers over the flake of metal....did not know that was a thing. Should not screw with my vision after he gets it out. He starts to work on me and there is no discomfort, but the world is doing some really funny things while he digs the flake out, you can see the world "push in" Real strange. Gets it out, itty bitty little splinter, and it has already started to rust. No lasting effects past a little fuzzy spot if I look for it.
 
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Pro life tip: When you are working on any machinery or with any tools and you suddenly get this feeling that you should stop and put on a pair of heavy duty work gloves before proceeding again, trust your instincts, and put them on. You will not regret doing so.
smiley_smartass.gif
 
I was grinding down a horrid weld on my VW. I can't weld very well, more of a farmer welder, it will hold but not be pretty. I also have an issue at just under arms length and don't wear my glasses for any close up work....In grinding this I have on "safety glasses", you know the kind with little "blinders" on the side. And I am grinding away thinking I am safe.

I actually felt a flake hit me in the cheek then bounce into my eye......holy hell that hurt, and all work stopped then and there. I try like hell to wash it out but nothing, this thing is killing me. Nothing to do, it is Sunday and I am not going to trust some ER jackoff in my eyeball, I will wait till morning and go to my "real" eye dr.

I can't tell you how much this hurt, it was insane, but some adult drinks and I made it through the night. Get to the Dr and the first thing they do is put numbing drops in my eye.....relief so much better. The dr. comes in and starts to look at my eye, yup see it it is right on the edge of my field of vision. He says your eye is already building layers over the flake of metal....did not know that was a thing. Should not screw with my vision after he gets it out. He starts to work on me and there is no discomfort, but the world is doing some really funny things while he digs the flake out, you can see the world "push in" Real strange. Gets it out, itty bitty little splinter, and it has already started to rust. No lasting effects past a little fuzzy spot if I look for it.
That happened to me on a Saturday morning, Was Monday before I could get to the eye guy. He say's You should have called me at home, now I have to GRIND it out! And he did. Lesson learned.
 
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When I first broke out as a pumper, my foreman, leads, and rover (extra guys that are around to help out) we're going through an impromptu training my replacing the rubbers in a stuffing box on a pumping unit. Middle of summer out in the middle of no where. They were walking me through it as it was one of my units and I needed to learn how to do this as I would be doing it regularly in the future.

Anyways, I got the first two bolts undone and got the top piece up and slide up the rod. There's a special clamp that is made to hold the piece up on the rod and out of the way with out marring the spray metal on the polished rod. We didn't have that and the bridle was too high to run wire over it so we used the next best thing, a pipe wrench. For those of you that don't know, spray metal is extremely slick. So we prop the top piece up about 2 ft above the rest of the stuffing box and I go to town getting the next two bolts off the middle portion of the stuffing box and I was just about done getting the last bolt undone and that pipe wrench let's loose and comes crashing down on my finger.

I wasn't wearing gloves, and 18" pipe wrenches arent the lightest of things. It came down on my left ring finger pretty hard. At first it just hurt, said some choice words and laughed it off shaking my hand. Foreman and the other guys all ask if I'm ok, I said yeah. Well when I shook my hand again, I seen blood spatter on one of the gauges and my foreman must have too because he wanted to look at it. I made the mistake of looking at it and my finger was split open on the pad and shit was busting out of it. Mind you I was contracting for a large E&P company and injuries that require any sort of medical attention at an urgent care/ ER has to be reported/ recorded ie a recordable. He asked if i needed stitches. I declined and wrapped it up in a rag, some ice, and sat in the truck per his orders.

That's that worst I've been hurt on the job so far. 0/10 hand injuries suck, even on your non dominant hand. After that, we got the proper clamps to hold the parts in place while working on those stuffing boxes to avoid that from happening in the future. I'm glad it wasn't a bigger wrench as it probably would have broken my finger.
 
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My worst was boring a 6" ram for a cylinder. I was chasing chips to keep the bore pretty and the lathe grabbed me. Burned all the hide off my knuckles and took 13 stitches to close up the slice from the edge of the rod. Second worst was drilling a tube and when I slid it off the channel iron guide the whole mess flipped up and drove a 1/2" drill bit (not turning and new) thru my hand just above the wrist. Missed all the important stuff so it was just cleaning it out and wrapping it up.
 
No phots because it was 50 years ago but I was cutting timber up north of Missoula. Started the day pissed off, a bad idea to begin with. Worked about an hour then lit into a doty (hollow and part rotten) Douglas Fir. Rather than a clean cut the hollow part snapped and split. Managed to dodge the butt hitting my face, pivoted and threw the saw out of the way but my boots slipped on some gravel and fell. What was left of the tree landed on my ankle and broke it pretty bad. I walked b ak up the mountain to my Jeep and drove to the hospital. I was lucky that an orthopedic specialist was there that day and put i all back together with a big stainless pin.

Years later they took the pin (local anesthetic I was awake and felt it) out gristle had filled the head of the screw so the Dr. had to chisel the gristle out. Every time he hit the scalpel with a mallet I could feel it to the top of my head, but he got it out.
 
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Grew up playing hockey from about age five through two years of college. This was before face protection was required and lost count of the number of stitches in my face as well as multiple broken noses which later required reconstructive surgery. During one game I was on the post next to the goalie when a teammate took a slapshot which ricocheted off the goalie's mask and impacted my right eye at the orbital ridge. Knocked me flat on my ass and when I finally collected my senses there was blood all over me on the ice. Went to the bench, they closed the gash over my eye with butterflies and managed to finish the game. By the time I got to the hospital to get stitched up eye was nearly swollen shut and x-rays revealed a fractured orbital ridge. Mom hated me playing hockey and never saw one of my games.
 
Grew up playing hockey from about age five through two years of college. This was before face protection was required and lost count of the number of stitches in my face as well as multiple broken noses which later required reconstructive surgery. During one game I was on the post next to the goalie when a teammate took a slapshot which ricocheted off the goalie's mask and impacted my right eye at the orbital ridge. Knocked me flat on my ass and when I finally collected my senses there was blood all over me on the ice. Went to the bench, they closed the gash over my eye with butterflies and managed to finish the game. By the time I got to the hospital to get stitched up eye was nearly swollen shut and x-rays revealed a fractured orbital ridge. Mom hated me playing hockey and never saw one of my games.
Sounds lik you got pucked. :whistle:
 
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Pro life tip: When you are working on any machinery or with any tools and you suddenly get this feeling that you should stop and put on a pair of heavy duty work gloves before proceeding again, trust your instincts, and put them on. You will not regret doing so.
smiley_smartass.gif
A friend of mine refers to gloves as "bitch mittens".
 
How I got my Thumbnail-les
 
Got shot in the knee by a crossbow when I was like 7. I'll never forget the pain of being held down in the hospital while getting the shot of procaine directly into the wound before stitching. The amount of cuss words I was screaming would've made all Hide members proud. :D
 
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Got shot in the knee by a crossbow when I was like 7. I'll never forget the pain of being held down in the hospital while getting the shot of procaine directly into the wound before stitching. The amount of cuss words I was screaming would've made all Hide members proud. :D
1673034657874.gif
 
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I put
No phots because it was 50 years ago but I was cutting timber up north of Missoula. Started the day pissed off, a bad idea to begin with. Worked about an hour then lit into a doty (hollow and part rotten) Douglas Fir. Rather than a clean cut the hollow part snapped and split. Managed to dodge the butt hitting my face, pivoted and threw the saw out of the way but my boots slipped on some gravel and fell. What was left of the tree landed on my ankle and broke it pretty bad. I walked b ak up the mountain to my Jeep and drove to the hospital. I was lucky that an orthopedic specialist was there that day and put i all back together with a big stainless pin.

Years later they took the pin (local anesthetic I was awake and felt it) out gristle had filled the head of the screw so the Dr. had to chisel the gristle out. Every time he hit the scalpel with a mallet I could feel it to the top of my head, but he got it out.

Glad you made it out. You got lucky. Broken limbs are no joke in the wilderness.
 
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i need to sit at a computer to type it out. ill do it tomorrow morning. it was a work injury, thankfully not on my watch.

edit to ad:
i can't figure out how to multi quote everyone. you'll just have to follow the thread i guess.
 
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I put


Glad you made it out. You got lucky. Broken limbs are no joke in the wilderness.
Really. Young and really stupid, I was living in a tent near the job site in the middle of Griz country with no gun. "Insert massive facepalm' I figure the only reason I survived was the two Weimaraner's scent kept them away.

Later on I did here a buddy say "The good Lord takes care of children and damn fools."
 
Friday before Xmas, trying to get the horn button off the steering wheel on my HMMWV. 19 degrees windy as hell, it's outside of course and I'm determined to get it off for some stupid ass reason. Got the retaining clip out and the center button plate is supposed to come right out.... It's fighting like crazy. Fuck this I get my Zero Tolerance folder out and start prying with the tip.... I just sharpened it earlier that day. The tip slips, goes down a 1/2" and hits bottom... My now numb hand slides down the handle onto the blade...into my right index finger between the first and second knuckle.... No sensation for about 30 seconds, but plenty of blood... Band-Aid ain't gonna fix this... Off to ER and three hours later get back home with seven stitches.... Almost to the bone. The next day I got that god damn horn button and steering wheel off though... Never give in!!!!
 
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How I got my Thumbnail-les
Realized I never updated that thread with a current pic.
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i need to sit at a computer to type it out. ill do it tomorrow morning. it was a work injury, thankfully not on my watch.

edit to ad:
i can't figure out how to multi quote everyone. you'll just have to follow the thread i guess.
Just click on the quote button for each post you want to quote. Then when you click insert quote to respond it will stack them all up.
 
Ouch, story?
A friend gave me a pancake compressor that didn't run. Checked the pressure switch and setting but still wouldn't run. Pulled the motor out of it and wire nutted a power cord to it. Motor had an aluminum frame with a cooling fan, put it in my bench vise just snug. Plugged the power cord in and the motor went to a bazillion RPM's, jumped out of the vise, chased me around the shop coming straight at my face. I put my hand out to stop it and the cooling fan augured into my palm. Four hours in the local emergency room and 14 stitches later I went home and beat that motor to a pulp.
 
I’ll play.
We are restoring a log home. Working on top of scaffolding. I built a platform (2x6, 16” on center, 3/4 plywood) that the scaffolding rolled on.
I needed to move the scaffolding which required I remove the outriggers that keep the scaffolding from tipping. While I was moving it, the extension cord was hung up so I quick like climbed up the side of the scaffolding and wouldn’t you know it tipped over like a felled tree.
The scaffolding STOPPED abruptly when it the girls playhouse and threw me down to the ground. On my way down, I ran my wrist on to a hook that we ran the clothes line to. In my wrist, out my palm. Hurts worse than it sounds.
Highly recommend no one try this at home.
 

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A friend gave me a pancake compressor that didn't run. Checked the pressure switch and setting but still wouldn't run. Pulled the motor out of it and wire nutted a power cord to it. Motor had an aluminum frame with a cooling fan, put it in my bench vise just snug. Plugged the power cord in and the motor went to a bazillion RPM's, jumped out of the vise, chased me around the shop coming straight at my face. I put my hand out to stop it and the cooling fan augured into my palm. Four hours in the local emergency room and 14 stitches later I went home and beat that motor to a pulp.
Good job. You've got to let those machines know who's boss. Teach it a less it will never forget is my motto.
 
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Altercation with a table saw. The Saw won on a “split” decision.

Brenda and I built a bike shop several years ago. We put major efforts in making sure it was square, straight and painted nice. However, I made the design mistake of not having any overhang on the front. The semi tropical weather of North Louisiana caused some of the siding to rot. So, We both decided the little building looked too nice and in fact was too nice to let the damage remain or get worse

Well, I still had some partial pieces of the siding and all’s it needed was to be cut to size. I was getting those pieces cut without any issue. However, one cut piece had a tiny nub that had broken off, so I pushed it through to get a clean cut.

The saw kicked it back, the edge of the board hit my left hand, removing all of the skin to the bone. (At the moment I wondered if it was broken, it was not) The board continued on to land solidly in my abdomen with such force that I really expected to have internal damage. (Just a bruise, good stomach muscles because I have to do crunches)

Brenda pretty much freaked out (Normally she is a very calm person.) Lots of blood, but I am a cycling Time Trialist and pain is what we do so , I told Brenda I am going to wash it off and finish the cutting. She would have none of it. So, I relented and let her clean it and bandage it. She was still demanding we go to the emergency room. But heck, what’s a little blood or a touch of pain. I’m an Time Trialist. Pain is what we do. The Pain Cave is where we live and common folk fear to tread. That’s why we win.

Well, with the hand now bandaged up, I could not operated the saw or hammer, so I called it the day. Well, the bandages kept pulling the scab off getting it all back to the beginning. Brenda kept on my case so the next morning, I gave in and we went to the urgent care center in Ruston. They gave us some no stick bandages which really do work. I also got a tetnus shot which I really kind a needed anyway. We also had a nice visit with a teacher who was at Quitman when I was there. She and her daughter, (whom we knew through the daughters interest in exhibiting horses). We had a nice time. Not much of a scar, but it’s permanent.
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40 years ago my cousin, Brandi, was playing on an elementary school playground. We were going down one.of those old metal slides. A railing broke off, ran up through her leg on the underside, straight up through her butt and out her lower back. They had to saw the metal off in order to take her to the hospital. It was gruesome as !@@#

She made a full recovery and is still living on the payoff
 
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Realized I never updated that thread with a current pic.
View attachment 8040237
Some of you may remember last May I posted a "Darwin visits my house" thread about almost taking my toe off. This is 8 months later. Nail seems to be fucked for good. Looks like I need to get out the nail clippers as well. Feet are so far from face I forget them.

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Well, shoot, it depends on what day it is. Just this afternoon, locking to door to the office, I forgot and backed out and did not see the traffic cones I left there (to reserve our parking spaces.) High-centered on my taint and went backwards and down. Our neighbor was outside and helped me up. A small rash on my elbow, not worth a pic.

Probably the stupidest thing I did was 30 years ago, I was doing electrical wiring of some apartments. The framers used nail guns that use .22 charges. And sometimes, they pull out a spent strip and there are a few good ones left. So, I grab one, place it on the floor and smack it with my 16 oz hammer to startle my co-workers. Instead, a piece of shrapnel went through my left index finger tip. So, I packed it with toilet paper, taped it with electrical tape and finished working the 8 hour shift to 3:30 pm.

Then, I went to a Primacare and paid out of my own pocket for stitches. The doctor helped me to feel extra foolish. "Let me get this straight. You took a 16 ounce claw hammer to a live round of ammunition just laying on the floor."

It did not seem so clever when he stated it. To make matters worse, I play guitar and my left hand is my fingering hand. All I could do is look in the mirror and tell myself what a dumbass I was.
 
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Well, shoot, it depends on what day it is. Just this afternoon, locking to door to the office, I forgot and backed out and did not see the traffic cones I left there (to reserve our parking spaces.) High-centered on my taint and went backwards and down. Our neighbor was outside and helped me up. A small rash on my elbow, not worth a pic.

Probably the stupidest thing I did was 30 years ago, I was doing electrical wiring of some apartments. The framers used nail guns that use .22 charges. And sometimes, they pull out a spent strip and there are a few good ones left. So, I grab one, place it on the floor and smack it with my 16 oz hammer to startle my co-workers. Instead, a piece of shrapnel went through my left index finger tip. So, I packed it with toilet paper, taped it with electrical tape and finished working the 8 hour shift to 3:30 pm.

Then, I went to a Primacare and paid out of my own pocket for stitches. The doctor helped me to feel extra foolish. "Let me get this straight. You took a 16 ounce claw hammer to a live round of ammunition just laying on the floor."

It did not seem so clever when he stated it. To make matters worse, I play guitar and my left hand is my fingering hand. All I could do is look in the mirror and tell myself what a dumbass I was.
I bet your wife was mad too…..
 
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Walking to my tree stand and the arrow fell out of the quiver. I thought a twig or something was pushing against my thigh. Not! The arrow was about four or so inches into my thigh. Thinking that you just cut your own femoral artery and you are about three quarters of a mile from the farm house kinda sucks.