Always...always..remember it's hot...after you have welded it...after you have ground it,after you cut it, after you forged it...IT'S
HOT!!!!!
I don't usually burn myself in the studio but always in the kitchen....(ask Rob , I lit a match + flambed my face last Sat.) anyway....
I was working on a sculptural table and me and my assitant had just finihed welding the top to the base. We were discussing something and.....
I DID NOT EVEN TOUCH THE TABLE TOP...Iwent to put my hand down felt the heat ...pulled away , but not before I had a major burn on my palm.....
Did I seek medical attention...not!....but I did sleep with my hand in a bucket of ice that night...Ouch!
Now when someone is working with me ...I always remind them ...That's hot!!!!(and I'm not talking about their body or anything) SteelyJan

What do you mean by 'john merrick post'? I would love to hear more about what others have found as the dangers of the wire cup brush.........is it getting caught on an edge and jerking in your hand?

When I was teaching 'welding for fun and creativity' classes at our local community college I saw a woman (not one of my students thankfully) who was using an angle grinder that was too big for her (the huge size) and it got caught in her shirt......was forced very quickly into her body. Somehow she managed to get it turned off before it sliced completely through her stomach.......just leaving a red line across it.

When I use that thing, especially when I have the cut-off wheel on it, I move in slow motion at ALL times and bring ALL of my attention to exactly what I am doing. I have actually trained myself to slow down when I feel in a rush. It's a good opportunity to practice 'presence meditation'!

Hi all, besides boots, goggles, and the appropriate garb, I always tell people that help in my shop to make sure to hang on to their tools. Especially the electric ones. When I was first starting out I always used a light touch/grip with grinders and such so as to excercise my "artistic abilities" better. One day, while using an electric die grinder with a three inch cut off wheel, the wheel got caught up and the grinder flipped up into the air. It just hung in the air for a moment, conveniently posed for me to catch it, which, as any idiot may do, I tried, catching the still spinning cut off wheel in my palm. I now had two examples of my "artistic abilities" bleeding profusely on my right hand. Probably should have had stitches, but I made it through without. Thank god I followed the first rules and had gloves on, otherwise I'd never be able to try hitchhiking. I've got two nice deep scars below my right thumb to remind me every day to hang on to the tools, and if they come loose, let them drop.

Jake Balcom
Mettle Design
Lincoln, NE

SOMEWHERE I read an article...probably in a street rod magazine, that showed if you take snips and cut scallops into the edge of a sanding disk it would not dig into the panel as you were removing paint.

Sounds good right?

Until one of the scallops caught on the edge of the door I was stripping. At that point things got exciting very quickly. The scallop pulled the 7" grinder into the edge of the panel, shattering as it went and throwing pieces that departed at whatever the speed of a 8" sanding disk spinning at 6000 rpm is. About this time the backing pad hit the side of the door and being a bit old and hard it shattered and followed approximate the same trajectory as the disk. A rather large piece struck in a very sensitive place south of my belt. About this point in the time line, I realized that a 'BAD THING' had happened and I should let go of the trigger.

I got hit really hard and was truly afraid to look but other than some bruising I was OK.

No more scalloped sanding disks for me...yet another piece of bad advice from as street rod magazine.

I was at a buddies last summer when a 7" grinding disk exploded and hit him in the same tender place.

WW Grainger sells a really nice leather apron that I try and remember to wear when I'm grinding these days. Saves clothes too. I've caught myself on fire a few times with grinding sparks. The leather apron also makes a nice cover for things I don't want MIG splatter on.

I'm old enough that it doesn't take much to get the old heart racing.

Kerry Pinkerton
Metalshaper

I was forging a piece of 60mm square under the power hammer, i was rushing to get the job done and didn`t pay attention to keeping the work flat to the pallets. So as the hammer hit, it jerked the hot metal out of my tongs, out of my hands , hit me unde the chin and then landed across my fingers, causing a burn under the chin, and a line of blisters across all my fingers!! Every time i moved my hand it caused the blisters to open! lovely image!!!
Adrian

Ok, here's my stupid move... I was using a powerful electric screw driver driving in a long phillips head screw. I was pushing hard to keep the driver from slipping in the screw head. Well, it slipped out and screwed into my thumb bone.
Oh, I did the same thing again and got the same spot on my thumb. Two's enough, I keep my thumb well clear now, DUH. I use square drive screws whenever possible now.
Frank

HI all, I had to respond because this one is really silly. Recieved a load of big iron, 1x6x6 angle for a job. grabed it with the shop crane in middle with nylon sling. then I was setting it down on 2x4s with angle leg up. Didnt get 2x4 under far enough so as weight came off the crane, the load tiped to side pinning my ankle to a wide flange beam already on floor, and very nicely unhooking itself from the crane, with sling just out of reach. No real pain, but I was stuck and no getting out. After fishing for about two hours to hook sling and no luck, wife gets home from store and saves me. Ofcourse she had to laugh for 5 min. point a water hose at me, and ask how much it was worth not to get wet. 50 bucks. It was really cold that day. jay

Jason,
When you look in the dictionary under klutz, well see the picture to the right on this screen?
Anyway, I could write a Mini series for all the idiotic crap I've done over the years.
Here are just a few:
1. Welding underneath a Machine on your back and having splatter get in your ear! (Snap crackle and Pop!)
2. Hitting a vise handle with a hammer and missing but following thru so it hit me, well let's say where it counts.
3. Running a Lathe and taking heavy cuts and having a chip fly up go under my Glasses. Then it's a cut and burn (BRAND) in an instant. Then it goes down my shirt and into my pants. (Roast CHUCK!)
4. One More, Helping a guy weld all day WITHOUT a Mask!
Woke up the next day eyes sealed shut! (MY Wifes Favorite)
18 hours in the ER.

Safety Safety Safety....
Think and try and be smaerted then what your working on!
Chuck

My hubby has told me to make sure i wear gloves while running the torch......had a job where there were lots of leaves and i was 'tweaking' the leaves with the torch, without gloves. was so focused on the leaf that i ran my hand in front of the torch....did you know that skin melts really similar to plastic melting....huh, i didn't know that!...slack tubs are good for many things, like holding burned hands in cold water...... dumb dumb, yes, i use gloves now while running the torch....

Paula
Guthrie, MN