Pulled a Good Stunt Today

Rushing around trying to finish up the catapult for my kids Boy Scout "pumpkin smash" event today and I zinged myself with a cutoff wheel on a 4 1/2" angle grinder.

Cut the tendon and went into the bone which now is slightly fractured.

Luckily, one of the best hand/plastic surgeons agreed to come in on his day off. He said he was just doing paper work and was glad to have an excuse to get away.

He rooted around in my thumb a bit and was able to sew the tendon back together. I should be good to go in about three weeks.

Now excuse me, I think the pain killer injections are wearing off. Time to hit the Percoset.

Wow, hope everything heals quickly! Good thing that surgeon was there!!! Will the wife be tending the stoves while you recover?

Those have to be the most dangerous tools known to man. I've been using tools my entire life and I've had more close calls with the dam grinder than everything else combined, chain saws, circular saws, table saw, radial arm saws.... not even close. The worse was the time I was using a wire wheel and it got hold of my t-shirt, wrapped it up into a knot and left some giant brush burns on my chest. T shirt was hanging around my kneck like a necklace and the grinder was the gem.

lsayre wrote:Wow, hope everything heals quickly! Good thing that surgeon was there!!! Will the wife be tending the stoves while you recover?

Nah. I'll have one of the boys shovel the coal and I can do the rest.

I have piece of aluminum wrapped around my thumb so I can't flex it but otherwise I'm OK.

Funny thing about the doctor and how small RI is. He did my wife's breast reduction 20 years ago and I've cursed his name ever since.

But, he's a nice guy and one of the best from what I understand.

A friend of mine after hearing what I did immediately said to call that doctor without even knowing who my doctor was. I guess my friend has worse luck than me because he's had 3 surgeries from him. Two tendons and a nerve!

Glad your Ok Jeff..

But now I have this one seen from the movie Jaws in my head right now... The one where they show off there scars...

Rob R. wrote:

Richard S. wrote:Those have to be the most dangerous tools known to man. I've been using tools my entire life and I've had more close calls with the dam grinder than everything else combined, chain saws, circular saws, table saw, radial arm saws.... not even close. The worse was the time I was using a wire wheel and it got hold of my t-shirt, wrapped it up into a knot and left some giant brush burns on my chest. T shirt was hanging around my kneck like a necklace and the grinder was the gem.

Same here. I had a wire wheel on a 6" grinder self distruct and hit me with shrapnel.

Always worry about that when I'm using my 10" cut-off wheel. I've gone thru one tendon reattachment. Did everything the rehab lady told me to an no more and 7 weeks later it bound up with scar tissue.

Hope you have a speedy recovery. Bites from cut off wheels hurt. Matt

Rob R. wrote:

Richard S. wrote:Those have to be the most dangerous tools known to man. I've been using tools my entire life and I've had more close calls with the dam grinder than everything else combined, chain saws, circular saws, table saw, radial arm saws.... not even close. The worse was the time I was using a wire wheel and it got hold of my t-shirt, wrapped it up into a knot and left some giant brush burns on my chest. T shirt was hanging around my kneck like a necklace and the grinder was the gem.

Same here. I had a wire wheel on a 6" grinder self distruct and hit me with shrapnel.

The doctor asked me if it was a Norton wheel because he has seen several people with chunks of them stuck in their bodies.

Not as bad as the rest of you, but the angle grinder with a wire wheel ripped into my thigh. No time to go into the house and tend to it, just wrapped a paper towel on it with duct tape, save it for later. 2 weeks later looked liked a dead caterpillar on my thigh, went to the DR. they cleaned it up and gave me antibiotics and mentioned to be more cautious next time. They still laugh because I was the guy that had the moth fly into his ear and die while tending an outdoor burn, they flushed out that one day and did taps for the poor moth

You no die from that !

Once as a teenager I was riding my dirt bike, I crashed, my helmet came off just as I hit the pavement of a new subdivision about to be built. I'll never really know what happened but I think I ran into a fire hydrant, I went off the dirt over the handle bars and crashed into the street face first, If it were not for the scott's face mask I would not have a nose today..

My hands were out and when I landed I pretty much took off the back of my hands, broke both my elbows and tore off the right side of my face, plastic surgery fixed that.

A week later they were going to change the bandage on my hands, the nurse said do you ride dirt bikes, I said yes, she said I do too and proceeded to RIP the bandage off my hand, OUCH !! then she said I wear gloves when I ride.. That was 35 years ago.. stay safe folks....

i opened this thread and the ad that popped up between posts was for grinder wheels!

Glad I have ad blocking. That's just insult to injury!