worst thing to happen while working on your project...

I was making some brackets to mount bucket seats in 50 Chevy pickup.. Using a vertical 6" wide belt sander to round the corners, and of course the table was worn out and had about a 1/2" wide gap in front of the belt. As I turned the plate to round the corner, the belt grabbed it pulling it and my hand into it. Amazingly the plate wedge in the lower housing killing the grinder.. Never broke the skin, but the machine had to be pried apart to get me out, and my fingers were about 1/4" thick for two days. Every once in a while I look at them and realize it was only through the grace of God that they are still there

 

UH running out of money.....

 

tuning a 396 in a 60 chev .I blipped the throttle at the carb; it sneezed thru the carb & a fireball rolled up the underside of the hood,I almost got moved in time. I lost about 14 inches of ZZ-top beard.

 

I too have had the flying drum brake spring thing happen. Both the pliers and the spring went flying but the not before taking a chunk out of the new paint on the bottom of the rear quarter. Otherwise I've got myself with a grinder on the shin and wrist but nothing too serious.

However at work I have put a pneumatic high speed drill press through my finger and sliced my arm open on the sharp edge of some tin guttering.

 

Same Here. C4 tranny? Mine were. 2 of 'em.

Oh, and jigs. Always put that locking pin in that jig before doin' whatever you usually do in said jig. Or bits & pieces can up & walk right thru your finger/ hand etc.

 

lost my left eye while putting in a u joint for a sweet 66 caprice i owned. i doont wanna talk about it!

 

My first car project working on a 69 Morris Pickup, I had a pretty small garage at my parents and space was tight either side of the car. Id just taken the rear axle out, which came from an A60 and was quite heavy. I dragged it out, picked it up, twisted my body to scoot past the front of the car out of the garage and felt a snap.

Thought to myself, "that's pretty weird... no pain... I'll carry on" so I did, went in for some lunch but had a sharp stomach ache. Went, sat on the toilet and stopped breathing. Couldn't work it out, panic set in, dragged myself downstairs, in between erratic gasps of breath I confessed all my sins to my parents while they rang an ambulance but thought I might die. Gradually, I started to breathe again, paramedics took me to hospital and after an xray and some tests determined that Id snapped my diaphragm.

The lactic acid in the muscle had knit the break back together but not before I lost pressure in my lungs. Will always lift things properly from then on.

 

had been stripping my truck and had taken my safety glasses off went to grab a screwdriver and when I went to remove the screw a piece metal hit me right in the eye . which resulted in a trip to the ER . Eye is all better and I keep my safety glasses on at all times when working

 

thank you for your service

 

One thing for sure is after each accident and you think to yourself how stupid it was!!!

The other thing I find is that all of these accidents happen within seconds and yet leave marks and pain that sometimes last a very long time.

I learned years ago why you do not where rings or any other metal objects when working with engines or anything electrical.

How many times I have walked into a garage and seen someone doing something and thought to myself this is an accident waiting to happen!!!!!!!

The Motto is think before you do some of these crazy things what could happen!!!

Just my opinion Jimbo

 

This is a little OT but it includes a 4WD V8 F-250 Ambulance.

This happened while we were supporting firefighters battle large Bushfires in Victoria a few years back.

0800hrs we depart in our F250 4X4 Ambulance with a change over team of 5 fire trucks for the 18 Km trip to Glencairn.
One of the switch backs along the road required a 3 point turn for the Ambulance to get around on one of the steepest roads I had ever seen, the fire trucks took even more!!
We had dropped of the trucks and were returning to our base camp.
Just as we rounded the 3-point turn switchback we got a flat! The hill was so steep that we couldn’t get the Ambo up the hill with the flat so I backed it down onto the switchback. Time for a quick change…….
My off sider grabbed the jack out and what’ya know? It’s a car jack!!
Doing the best we could with a fast moving fire coming up behind us I crawled under and put the jack under the diff housing in the only place it would fit and started jacking. Half way up the jack pops out an drops the Ambo down on me, a little squashed I let it down a had another go. I had to dig some of the rock hard dirt road surface away to get the jack under a more stable position. This time success and we get the tire changed to the awesome roar of an approaching bushfire.
It was a fast drive from there back to the forward staging area at Licola we arrived back at about 1030hrs.


Doc.

Full story - http://www.jalopyjournal.com/forum/showthread.php?p=1655989&highlight=bushfire#post1655989

 

Nuff said

 

I was young and dumb and could not find parts to fix the front end damage I had caused on the 67 Dodge Polara I had spent all of my graduation money on so I beat the car to death with a sledge so nobody else could use any parts off of it and scrapped it.....wish somebody had punched me in the face then because all these years later I still miss that car.

 

A few years ago I was welding on the front part of my model A frame ( building 31 AV8 PU). The frame was on 4 jack stands about 18" off the floor. I was leaning into the frame a bit much, jacks and frame shifted and I ended up " falling" into the frame area where the flathead was to go. My left leg became wedged between the inside frame area and my body with my right shoulder against the floor. (At the time I was getting ready for left knee replacement and after that a right shoulder replacement). My butt was looking towards the ceiling and with a back knee and shoulder I had no strength to get out of my situation. Fortunately my wife came into the shop about 10 minutes later and was able to help me out.

 

OK, what's a jig?

 

A silly little dance.

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WOW, I could write a book about hand and wrist damage from working on cars for over 40 years.
left palm pad just above the wrist- split it open 1.5 inches - hit it with a hammer while I was using a pickle fork on a tie rod.
left hand second knucle - sliced it to the bone, did not cut tendon (my hand was bent)- carrying a tire from the rear to the front and hit the edge of the front stainless steel mud flap, this took a loooong time to heal as every time I made a fist it would split open
left index finger knuckle - yesterday - shut off the 4" grinder with a cut-off wheel and laid it on the ground, reached for a screwdriver and hit the wheel, cut through the glove and skin, LOTs of blood.......
right wrist- cleaning and tightening the battery cable ends on a friends car in high school the wrench slipped and my wrist grazed across the top of his hold down bracket stud that had been cut with a hacksaw.....4 inches long small "i" scar.
tore off the tip of my right index finder - exposing the bone....while adjusting the blades on a wood chipper. I was rotating the wheel using the drive belts. It caught my gloved finger under the belt....blood every where...To hold the end of my finger in place I put on a latex glove...it filled with blood but kept the tip in place while I was driven to the Hospital.....all good now except it has no feeling and burns when it gets cold...maybe thats why I moved to Florida.
right index finder (yes the same one) I was grinding screws that were protruding out of a wooden cabinet I was making...4" grinder, caught the edge of the wood and jumped and hit my glove....about 1/2 hour later my finger started to sting....I pulled of my glvoe to discover that it had ground my knuckle to the bone...very little blood...cleaned it and dressed it, went back to work.....two weeks later I wake up to find my hand had swelled to the size of a baseball glove....gross.....I went to teh hospital....after the initial inspection the doctor quickly left the room and red lights started to flash and a nurse in a "spacesuit" came in and wheeled me into a room with a plastic bubble over the bed.....it seems I contracted a very bad staph infection and had to be isolated. They drained my hand of the brownish fluid. The Doctor, also wearing a "spacesuit" came in and explained that I had to go into surgery and may lose my hand and possible part of my wrist.....He told me he would contact another doctor that was doing experimental work with lasers. When I woke up I had all of my fingers intact. I had to take intavenous injections for 3 months, two times a day.....Now my finger works good, the knuckle has a "slant" to one side where they trimmed off some bone....
left middle arm- detailing a HD, burned my skin to a large blister on the exhaust.
left middle arm- three days later, burned the same spot on the hot exhaust on a rice burner bike, ugly scar......
shot myself in the chest with a nail gun.....yes I used a hammer to pull it out.....
Had on steel toe boots, dropped a cylinder head on my left foot- the steel toe portion bent down and cut into the top of my foot....lots of blood, no tendon damage....

 

You got a new steep driveway and a project 1950 ford with no brakes. You come onto the hamb and ask suggestions of how to get it up the driveways. 16 pages later and no response.





Just the other day i was working on putting my engine back into my truck. No one around to help and the truck is out on the street. Well unlike the above mentioned guy, i thought out my house purchase and did not go with the 2 story entrance for my house so i figured i could push my truck into the drive alone which i did. Blocked the rear wheel with a brick and started working on installing the engine. I walked around the back of the truck to where i had been working previously to collect some tools that i needed. As my hands were full i kicked the brick out from under the tire and my truck started towards the street. After dropping all the tools in the driveway i was able to slow the truck down so it would not end up in the neighbors front yard. I went back to the driveway and collected the tools and moved them so i could push the truck back in the driveway again alone. This time i properly supported the truck so it would not roll again.

 

Ha ha ha ha ha

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In the early eighties, I promised a friend that I would paint his Jeep. I got off of work on a Saturday and started to prepare my shop for some paint work. Instead of cleaning my workbench off for mixing paint, I just shoved things out of the way to make room for paint materials. I can't remember what kind of paint I was using, but I know that I dumped at least two quarts of reducer/lacquer thinner down the front of my pants. My junk started burning immediately. I was alone, so I stripped down from the waist down and started rinsing myself off. I called my girlfriend and asked her to bring me some clothes. So I am hanging around the shop, using a fender cover as a skirt, running cool water over my stuff. I heard my girlfriend coming around the corner in my Javelin, a noise not easily forgotten, so I slid into the bathroom to wait for her. She came in and I called her to the bathroom.
Here I am, leaning against the sink, my bright red stuff hanging out and in comes my sweetie with her best friend. Talk about embarrassed. I ended up with a couple of blisters and a lot of ribbing from my girlfriend.

 

15 years ago I was under my 33 chevy pulling the starter (SBC) and couldn't get it out. It was stuck between the exhaust & frame. My arms got tired so I left it wedged there. Of coarse it just decided it wanted to fall out...on my hand! Split my finger wide open meat hanging out. Got to the house to run it under cold water and the wife put a chair under my ass just as my legs gave out. Yea it hurt like hell. I stuffed the meat back in, taped it closed and called a buddy to put in the new starter. The finger is still flat on one side to this day.

 

This is from an earlier post I did, but still relevant.

Worst and best day at the same time.

I have three kids ages 2, 7 and 9. Was working on my 58 F100, and had the front end of the truck up on the jack. My 7 year old boy was hanging around checkin stuff out. I had the body up but the left front wheel was still on the ground and I decided to reposition the jack. I turned from left to right to lower the jack and as the truck settles (in like 4 seconds) I hear "OW! Dad!". I turned around faster than I've ever moved in my life and saw my boys head stuck between the tire and the fender lip!! All I can see are from his shoulders on down. HOLY SHIT! I didn't even have time to wonder if he was hurt or dead or what, when he just wiggled free with nothing more that a red ear and a bunch of tears. I lit into him with some choice words, hollered for his mom, explained to her what happened then went for a smoke too shake it off.
Ultimately he was just scared and wouldn't talk to me for about 30 minutes but everything is good now. We had a little talk about safety and what could have happened. Of course being 7 he offered about half a dozen scenarios on what could have happened to him complete with graphic sounds and facial expressions.
So yeah, it was my fault for not checking before I lowered the jack, just didn't expect him to stick his head in there.
Learned my lesson that day and hopefully he did too.

 

I ran out of argon one Sunday afternoon so had to spend the rest of the day drinking home brew and watching a baseball game.

 

I was cutting the rusted bodymount bolts off my 35 plymouth which i think there are like 38 of them. Anyway i was underneath the car with the torch and between the frame started falling out black widow spiders all over me. I turned the torch off, got off the creeper and ran to the back of the house while taking my close and and proceeded to drown myself with the hose.

And another time i was underneath my car tying up some loose wires,when i heard a noise above the gastank. Looked up and all of a sudden a huge gardner snake falls on my face and chest. i instantly lunged up hitting my forehead and leaving a huge bruise.

 

My project stalled because of an ex-wife and lack of finances, they come as a matched set.

 

I was Drilling into the windshield post of my model a coupe to remove a broken screw that holds the panel below the windshield. I was drilling with the drill facing towards me. All was good till the bit broke and I drilled into me leg. Wasn't as bad as most of the stories I read because the drill was stopped by my pants and boxers warping around them. Still have the boxers


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While taking my t-bucket apart I needed to remove the fuel line and I had a plan to put the fuel in a gas can but somewhere along the way I forgot to get the can near me and when I pulled the fuel line it sprayed fuel in my eyes so now here I am standing with my thumb on the fuel line gas in my eyes and I can't see. I can't get the line back in place and I'm in the shop yelling for my 9 year old daughter whos out playing in the yard. I have her grab the hose and turn it on, at the speed of a 9 year old that doesn't understand the situation I'm in or pain for that matter, so finally I get the hose just spray away in my face to flush my eyes. By then my wife comes home and gets me the gas can so I can dump the extra gas in it and get out from under the lift. My eyes have never hurt more. Also my arms were killing me after holding up that damn line and gas can forever.

I felt really bad too because the whole episode freaked my daughter out.

 

This is after me and the doctor both tugged on it, it slid out about an inch then the bottom barb caught in my skin. He had to cut it out.

I asked him how did he know if I hit anything major, he says ........... "well, if you start bleeding profusely and pass out when I pull it out, I'll know you hit a vein"...

Gee thanks doc.

 

Ugh, that just turned my stomach...

 

Ricks Garage shouldn't be allowed around tools, or anything sharp.

I was using a super thin cutting disc on an angle grinder and it kicked back. But my right hand was still pushing forward, so it went into my left fingers. Got 3 joints perfectly.
Six hours later emergency finally gave me 40 or 50 stitches. [after they dealt with a sore foot, someone who's sad, and drunk who fell on his face. meanwhile blood is pouring out of my hand.]



The Doctor said I almost cut the cables on my middle finger. It would have been stuck 'up' permanently. Even so the tip only straightens 80 degrees.