OT: the wrong tool

[lightningfingers]

I know theres a lounge for OT topics now but I figured more people would read this here.

We're all guilty of using the wrong tool for the wrong job now and again. To spare you of the whole story, basically iwas drilling a plastic Hammond enclosure yesterday, after putting my drill away i found out one of the holes was too tight and rather than get my drill and its bench back out, i thought i would be quicker to finish it w/ a craft knife. Those plastic boxes are tougher than they look ( or maybe i'm weak i can't decide :roll:  :oops:  :roll: ) ANYWAY, i ended up aplying that much pressure that the long blade snapped in two, one half ruining my box, and the other making a nice deep cut across across the palm of my left hand; (consequently i can't make effects OR play guitar for at least two weeks while it heals)

There is a point to this post, and i'm gonna get to it right now: cutting corners ALWAYS has consequences. You may have gotten away with it a million times, but you will get hurt if keep doing it.
So think about it now. Don't wait till they're stitching you fretting hand back together

[MartyB]

I can relate. (:cry:)
Heal quickly.  If the skin around that cut gets angry red and spreading, get to a doc ASAP.  (yes I am one.)

[Lonestarjohnny]

I know what you feel like, 2 mon's ago i was in a hurry, and i run a 1/4 in. drill bit clean through my left hand, i had to play the next night, so an old military trick helped me play the next night, Super Glue did keep me from bleeding on my guitar, but did not stop the pain,
same for me,. no more short cut's,
Johnny

[Mark F]

Whenever I'm doing something potentially dangerous with my hands I move Verry Slowwly and deliberately and NEVER go on autopilot or let my mind wander. Also, if it looks like or feels like I may slip I stop immediately, think about it , and then usually try a different, less hazardous, way or in your case the proper way with the proper tool. This after many mishaps trying to "cut corners". Sorry I couldn't resist. :lol: Anyway I hope you heal quickly and are more careful in the future.

[afranks]

yep... last september I was fitting some french doors, and slipped
while I was planing one down with a dewalt power planer.  I took
the end off of my left index finger.  Not enough left to sew back on, but
I had a great hand specialist @ Duke who patched it up nicely.  I'm
back to playing guitar, but it still hurts when I play.  I'm a righty, so
you get the idea...

Always use the *right* tool for the job, and then take your time.  Don't
work with dangerous tools when you're tired.  It doesn't take much of
a screw up to disfigure/cripple yourself for life.

-alan

[Hal]

I know what you feel like, 2 mon's ago i was in a hurry, and i run a 1/4 in. drill bit clean through my left hand, i had to play the next night, so an old military trick helped me play the next night, Super Glue did keep me from bleeding on my guitar, but did not stop the pain,
same for me,. no more short cut's,
Johnny

oh MAN that sucks

as they say "a misused scredriver isn't a can opener, its a vein opener" but then, what _is_ a can opener...like, a paint can type can, that is.  How are you _supposed_ to open those, if not a screwdriver.

OK my story i was drilling out a RACO box for the switch, and i realized I didnt have a scredriver bit the _right_ size, and my hole was a tiny bit small, so i was drilling around with my hand drill, like moving it around the sides....and it got stuck and the top went flying at it hit me in the chest, and didn't really hurt that much, but it could have been a _lot_ worse.  I need a unitbit lol.

[thomas2]

knife cut my forefinger to the bone, a chisel cut my forefinger to the bone, a belt sander ripped all the skin off from my right hand knuckles once.. all because of not having the right tools for the job  :lol:

[Somicide]

lets see... are we talking stompbox accidents or just shop types?  Well lemme see... for stompboxes, i have these:
"Oh, I don't need something to set my iron on, this can will work fine..."
"I can hold this as good as a vice..."
"A multi-spur bit can make that hole bigger..."

Shop type:
"That old soldering iron'd be good to melt that plastic..."
"I can bend that with my teeth..."
"a Wire wheel is a fine way clean this..."

And honorable mentions:
"It cant be that hot, I got done welding it like 3 minutes ago..."
"It's ok to wear pants with fringe while using a plasma cutter..."

Sorry to hear it, and lets hope it never happens again!  I'd hate to lose one of my fellows!  Peace, Love, and quick recovery!

Jeff

[ErikMiller]

yep... last september I was fitting some french doors, and slipped
while I was planing one down with a dewalt power planer.  I took
the end off of my left index finger....

Hey, welcome to another member of the "shorthand" club. I did the same thing with a stationary planer about a year and change ago.

They closed the tip with sutures. I still have the nail there, and it could have been a lot worse, but I still can't fret with my fingertip. Have to use the pad. My barre chords get a lot of use.

When I was 5, my mother took off the tip of my left pinky in a car door, so now my index finger and pinky kind of match.

When working with hand tools, and many power tools, my mantra is "if it slips, where's it going to go?" "It" being the knife, screwdriver, drill, whatever, or the hand that's pushing something.

[lightningfingers]

Thanks for all the sympathy

Yeah NO more shortcuts.

[niftydog]

wrong tool for the wrong job you say?

[Fret Wire]

LOL! Never said how it got there in the first place. :idea:

I've been doing metal and woodworking since my early teens, so I made most of the those painful mistakes at an early age. Wrong tool for the job. What's kept me from repeating most of those again, is knowing that the other reason you get hurt is complacency. Lack of knowledge, and using the wrong tool for the job hurts the beginners. Complacency usually hurts the experienced workman.

Like I always say, treat firearms, power tools, and pets over 150 lbs with respect, or they'll teach you a painful lesson.

[Gilles C]

I'm (kind of) lucky...

My father showed me pretty early what to do... by doing these wrong things.  

Like installing a low speed grinding wheel on a high speed motor to make himself a cheap grinder.

The wheel exploded in many pieces, hit my father's knee and made a dent in his car parked closed by.

I saw him do so many things like that , it made me aware of what it can do.

[Fret Wire]

Cut off wheels are the worst. The smaller and thinner, the more evil. Those little cut off's for the Dremel are bad. Just like small drill bits, any side pressure, and it's all over. 25,000 rpm shrapnel.

[smoguzbenjamin]

I was cutting up a PC casing once for some metal I could use, and I blew 6 wheel cutters then with my Dremel knock-off doing 30,000 revs. I still haven't found all the bits :mrgreen:
Well I've burned myself with a soldering iron because I stood it against my guitar, and when I finished wiring the effect I enthusiastically grabbed my guitar and burnt my wrist :x That hurt.

[Ansil]

after seeing me solder ie in her words melt metal and fuse it to other metal parts. i asked my girlfriend then to hold my soldering iron.  [keep in mind she is not stupid and has seen me do this and burn myself before so she knows that it is a tool that has great heat] so anyway i hand it to her and she literly grabs the hot end and it takes her a few seconds. to realize hey this is a 40watt iron thats been on for two hours, burning my hand. to which she imieadiatly dropped it and set my carpet on fire.  yeah she was a winner. lol

on the brighter side there lightning  just drop some super glue on it.  its been used for years by doctors and hospitals. and well not sure how true it is but there was an article in a magazine that was published some time ago and it said it was originally developed in the vietnam war as a liquid stitch.  

not sure on the truth of it however but my uncle said he had some stuff like super glue as a liquid type stitch and he was a medic.

anyway i use it all the time so i can get back to work.  i have had many cuts that i have been told by my family. [lots of medical people in my family.] that needed stitches and i haven't had any of those in 15 years easy.

[Paul Perry (Frostwave)]

http://www.fensende.com/Users/swnymph/refs/glue.html
A friend found a lot of "medical grade" superglue in a rubbish dump. Dont know whether it was outdated or not.. he found a radioactive source as well (still in the can fortunately) but that's another story :shock:

[Lonestarjohnny]

Ansil, for sure the SuperGlue was invented and used on many occasion to hold the Ripped wound together until you could get the G.I. back to a field hospital, It saved a lotta guy's live's i'm sure, and it's helped a few Guitar player's through the year's get through a gig when the cut they had would'a stopped them from playing.
Johnny

[niftydog]

who's seen Flea from the Chili Peppers dripping super glue into a hole in his thumb moments before stepping out on stage and slapping his arse off for 90 minutes??