What's the stupidest thing you're ever done in your shop?

Every time someone "discovers" this thread, I get at least one more good laugh out of it! NL, that sounds like something I would have done to my brother who is deathly afraid of snakes. All it takes is an appliance cord and the mention"snake" and he jumps. Good one!

 

About 30 years ago in a small town, wish I woulda' had a camera.

The local Mobil gas station owner would lend a few of us gearheads a key so we could use his hoist after hours, then lock-up. My friend Nick calls me about midnight and says hurry down to the gas station.

His truck was too far forward on the hoist and slid off nose first. The front wheels were on the steel work bench and the back end was 5 feet in the air. He's running around like a headless chicken trying to figure out what to do. I tell him "let it down"

He says "I guess I have to huh".......

 

Just finished a tune up/oil change on a customers airboat, using a open top 55gal. drum with a piece of plywood as a top for a table, boss man says here bake the paint on these froglight shells with a torch, boss' nephew was doing a custom paint job day prior and unbenounced to me the wash thinner and rags went into said drum, I finished baking the last one and was pulling away the torch to shut it off when the long oxidizing flame found the only small air gap at the edge of the drum and plywood, BOOM! Sparkplugs, wires, boots, and the 6 light shells go flying as well as the plywood. ears ringing eyebrows, lashes, hair, arm hair singed, they still call me Johnny Kaboom, 27 years later!

 

Here's a tip - If by some chance you have an old style "Whirley light" on your vehicle and it turns slowly (or not at all), try cleaning the shaft/gears that turn it. 2+2 carb cleaner works real good. MAKE SURE you let it all evaporate before you put the cover back on and turn it on. 2+2, oxygen, and spark in a confined area make big boom. It will also deafen you and throw plastic shrapnel with great force. Luckily the guy in our shop only got deafened. He's sitting on the roof of the truck, hat spun sideways, shrapnel buried in the the beam above his head, the light coasting to a halt on fire. We're all hollering "Are you OK?", his classic answer was "I can see your lips moving but I can't hear a damn thing!"
A few years later the LED lights came out and a chance at a repeat performance was eliminated but you can bet your ass we were a lot more careful until they did.

 

I had had a few incidents with my DD locking the keys inside and had gotten good at using all mannor of tools to wedge the door open at the top and reaching in with something to trigger the door opener. All this activity around the top of the door looked awful where i had been prying etc and a warm day i decided to gussy the damage up a little. I straighened the bent chrome and made it look pretty decent, while i was at it i decided to repaint the filler panel between the door - satin black - and got the stuff to do it. I'm feeling pretty good about taking care of the buick. I masked the windows off by sticking newspaper in the windows and ran the windows all the way up shut the door and....FUCK! i just locked mtself out of the car again with the keys in the ignition...the very reason i was there in the first place!

 

Hiring the first employee

 

Run myself over with 1971 IMPALA.

 

Charcoal lighter and Coleman fuel can't be that much different, can they?
I substituted Coleman fuel for charcoal lighter to light the wood stove in my garage. The resulting explosion launched the round 6" cast iron stove-top plate through the plywood floor into the attic. Knocked down the stovepipe. Sparks everywhere in the shop. My grandson said "Geez, is it supposed to do that?"
Well, this was Southern California where we don't get too much experience in lighting wood stoves. Live and learn.

 

Set my t-shirt on fire with sparks off of a grinder. I wasnt so worried about the shirt as I was the flames getting into my beard.

As an apprentice at an electric motor shop, I rebuilt, wired, and started to test a motor. I had it wired for 220 volts, but I hooked 440 to it. When I hit the switch the 250 lbs. electric motor jumped about a foot off the table.

 

Stupidest thing I ever did in my shop was to gather up a bunch of crap (that I thought I would use sometime) and load up my garage with it. Now I can't get to my projects...

 

About 16 years ago I got halfway though a coat of lacquer and realized I hadn't extinguished the pilot-light on the water heater!

 

I was working late on my cutlass one night after assembling the top end all day, trying to get it all tied up so i could fire it up and see how the enlarged valves were going to make the car sound. My buddy had just cinched up the intake and carb and I was fiddling with the throttle linkage..... without the valve covers on.... when a 1/4" nylock slipped out of my hand, rattled around the head a little before plummeting down one of the drainback holes.

Desperately I fished my flexible magnet down every drainback hole without any luck, pulled the intake off and still nothing. Got frustrated and gave up. 2 weeks later I lifted the motor up, pulled the oil pan, nope not in there. Just as I was rolling out from under the car my flashlight caught a glint of something reflecting on a ridge of the block casting. The nut was sitting there on the flange the oil pan bolts to, and I swear it was laughing at me.

Now that nylock nut hangs in my shop, a constant reminder NOT TO RUSH THINGS!

 

Bought an '88 Caddy Sedan DeVille to resell and while cleaning the car w/ my 12 year old son helping, he opens the trunk and says 'you sure could fit a lot in that trunk'. I said yeah we used to sneak guys into the drive-in that way. My son Nick says "can I get in there"? Sure go ahead see what it's like. "Close the lid dad". "Ok, how's it feel in there". "Not too bad but it's starting to get real hot in here, go ahead and let me out". "Ok, ...hey Nick are the keys in your pocket"? " Yeah dad." At that time his mom walks up and asks "Where is Nick"? Only had one set of keys and Nick had to push them from the trunk side around the rear seat to me so I could grab them. Nick came out of the trunk in just his boxers and covered in sweat. Mom was also warmed up a bit.

 

poured a quart of black chassis paint down my leg. At least I wear black jeans and shoes. Still wear them jeans alot, just exstra startched in some spots. haha

 

Thats about as dumb as it gets... You'd think we would learn the first time.

 

Ok well this one isnt shop related, but it REALLY hurts. Never, and I mean NEVER stop to take a piss while you are chopping up jalepenos. Dont ask me how I know this...

 

Um, lost my beer?

 

Probably have to go with, lit it on fire!!......By accident

 

Don't take out your reusable contact lens after you've been chopping jalapeños, either! No matter how well you've washed your hands, you will regret it the next time you put those lens in. Ask me hownI know!

 

Don't take out your reusable contact lens after you've been chopping jalapeños, either! No matter how well you've washed your hands, you will regret it the next time you put those lens in. Ask me how I know!

 

Useing gasoline to clean oil stains on the concreet,then throwing a match to burn it off....it wasn't the big "whoosh" that got my attention,but that big black cloud it produced,and that big red truck that showed up.

 

My across the street neighbor lit up his gravel driveway washing parts using gas, while smoking a cigar. After the wash pan lit up, he threw it so the fire was spread around pretty good. He's trying to put it out using a broom. I called the fire dept to add entertainment.

He's gone now but I used to call him "Wonder Boy"... to his face.

You'd always "wonder" what stupid trick he was gonna perform next. I'd yell out at Mrs. Lowkat "It's showtime" whenever I'd see his next trick in the works. When he roofed his house, I had 2 weeks of entertainment from daylight to dark. Then when winter came, I got to see him tarp the roof and retarp it after every storm.

I miss that idiot.

 

Left the chuck key in the chuck on my drill press and try to turn the light out,but hit the run switch,key goes flying at about 500mph right into my son's new paint on his 23T.
Don't know how I lived?

 

nice. they always think we do stuff just to piss them off!!!

 

Let my wife in.........

 

My buddy Boyd from Oklahoma used to have three rules to live by, #1 was "never try to tie an antenna in a knot"

 

dont mig weld with flux wire without gloves and wearing a wrist watch felt like the weld berry would burn all the way through my wrist before I could get the watch off. stinky!!!!!

 

Aint THAT the truth! And better than HALF the time, I dont even KNOW why she's pissed off!

 

not my shop, and not me...but the dumbest thing ive ever seen was this kid was gas welding while i was talking to a buddy, when all of a sudden, my buddy looks up and says to the kid (calm as anything) "hey dude...your hair's on fire"

and it was on fire. kid lost about a 3 of his hair! dumbass...course, ive set myself on fire a couple times, but who hasn't?

 

Don't ever jerk on an air hose, unless You know what it's hung up on.
nough said..........