What's the worst thing that's happened to you in the workshop?

[kbalch]

I bet that we've nearly all had mishaps while working on our various projects. Injuries, mistakes, etc.

What's the worst thing that's happened to you in the workshop?

Ken

[Workshopshed]

Technically it was in a bedroom not a workshop but I electrocuted myself whilst making a lighting dimmer. Probably the worst thing that's happened to me, I was literally shaking for the following 2 hours.

[kbalch]

Wow - scary. It doesn't take much amperage to stop one's heart. Glad you're OK.

Ken

[Jon]

I electrocuted myself whilst making a lighting dimmer. Probably the worst thing that's happened to me, I was literally shaking for the following 2 hours.

I had a very similar experience. Electrocuted myself on a standard household 110V circuit.

The electrical shock was less than a second long, but I was psychologically "shocked" for hours. You can actually get PTSD from electric shocks. Here's an example case report: Post Traumatic Stress Disorder Following an Electric Shock.

[Workshopshed]

A story they told when I was an apprentice at Dowty was of two chaps running a very large lathe that machines aircraft undercarriages. The decided to go for lunch before tightening up the bolts on the counterweight. When they came back they started up the lathe without checking. The weight went through the roof, across a walkway and back down thorough the roof of the adjacent building. That was where they did etching so it had large baths of dangerous chemicals. Luckily no-one got hurt that day.

Also at Dowty whilst we were learning to machine, I smashed up quite a few ceramic tools but my fellow students managed to smash a 4 in diameter face cutter from a horizontal mill. One also implanted a cutter into the top of their work and to make things worse proceeded to wind down the knee if the mill so that it was literally hanging by the cutter, work and vice. An instructor stopped them before they wound it off the bottom.

[kbalch]

OK, that's two for electrocutions. I'm so paranoid about electricity, that I've (thus far) managed to avoid getting zapped.

When I was building my airplane, I did manage to cut myself rather severely one day while smoothing the edge of a hole I'd just made in an aluminum panel with a holesaw. I was using a red Scotch-brite pad (great stuff, BTW) and foolishly wasn't wearing my heavy leather gloves. The edge cut right through the pad and a good way into my fingertip. In retrospect, it's clear that I should've gone in for stitches, but I just washed it out thoroughly, taped it up, and got back to smoothing that hole.

Every time I go down the line at an airshow or car show, I'm always thinking of how interesting it would be to examine the cars and planes with Luminol. Every project is covered in blood, but only the owner knows where!

Ken

[Wood Butcher]

I was living in Texas at the time (Dallas area), and it was during one of the hottest and driest part of the summer. I was outside the garage doing some fabrication work (cutting, welding and grinding) since I wanted to keep the grit away from my machine tools.

It was a bright, windless summer day (over 90°F) and it hadn't rained in weeks. What was once a nice lush, green lawn between the garage and house had long since turned to a dry, crunchy carpet that barely covered the sandy soil.

While I was attempting to be mindful of my surroundings as I worked, a few stray sparks from the angle grinder got into the tinder box formerly known as the lawn. I wasn't aware of it until the dog started barking very excitedly and I picked up the smell of dry vegetation burning. As soon as I turned around, I saw this huge patch of charred ground, edged by a few wisps of smoke, growing ever larger and racing toward the house. Yep, a grass fire.

I managed to safely put my tools down, grab the garden hose, and douse the flames before they reached the house. The patch of charred ground was within a few feet of the house...major pucker factor on that one. Needless to say, there were some words of admonishment spoken when SWMBO arrived home shortly after.

There were a couple of upsides to this:

- There were no sand burrs to be found in that area for the rest of the year. The dog was constantly picking them up on her paws and tracking them into the house. A rather nasty thing to find with your bare feet.

- The lawn in the charred area came back even thicker and greener the next year.

Lesson learned...when doing any kind of spark-generating work around dry vegetation, thoroughly water down any place where you think a spark has even a remote chance of landing. And keep the hose close.

[Hotz]

Well I had an accident with my left arm, my shirt arrested in the lathe plate. My luck was in high gear, and the engine locked.

In short I have a scar with suture 32 points.

[Nadogail]

I was cutting a small (1" cube) piece of wood on my table saw, from a very short piece of 2 X 4, too small to hold. Wound up slicing the edge of my left thumb.

Wrapped it up with a clean rag and drove myself to the Emergency Room.

The surgeon complimented me on making a very smooth cut on the bone. I said that's what happens with a sharp 12" carbide toothed blade..

[Workshopshed]

No fires yet but I often set off the smoke alarm whilst welding. There's a great video of The Salvager (Rico Daniels) setting fire to his trousers with a grinder