alinwa the safety geek broke the rules tonite.....

A

alinwa

oft dis'd member
Alinwa was stupid........ he has a lathe and he broke the rules.......

Alinwa was stupid........he has a lathe and he got schooled.........

Here's what happened.


I elected to contour a barrel tonite from a long-shanked 1.350 Palma contour to a lightweight pre-63 style reverse sweep contour. DUMB, but not unsafe, yet.

I started off a liddle rocky by forgetting to disengage the DRO pickup while contouring the long barrel so I busted a 350.00 glass pickup scale, destroyed the scale and the track :) LOTS of material to take off, kinda' forgot where I was. Wasn't even going to be working down the length but just one teensy cleanup pass.....BOOM......But meanwhile back at the chamber end I was taking such heavy cuts that I put on some fitted mechanics gloves to protect the backs of my hands from the steel.

Rule #1 broken.....I don't wear gloves on the lathe.

I free-banged the contours, the inside-out sweep, draw-filed it all in, was kinda' happy I had the gloves on....DUMB!!

Rule #1 broken again....

So then comes rule #2 broken...... I wanted to check out a file-mark, see would it sand out easy...

I DON'T SAND BARRELS IN THE FREAKIN' LATHE!!!!!


But I DID!! Right then and there I DID.....

Ohh I din't just willy-nilly it....covered the ways all up nicely, "just gonna check them toolmarks." I've got the lathe in reverse now, spinning "away from me" over the top.....Nice and easy now......but alla' sudden I was hand on top of the spinning barrel with a 2" wide strip of sanding belt. Friggin' SANDING BELT!!! With GLOVES ON!!!!!!! ((((....."Ohhh, I'm only going 220rpm"......"My hand is open...."))))

I juust got carried away.


Now please note that this is a guy who recently bought an old Shopsmith off craigslist FOR POLISHING BARRELS and for the kids to play with the wood lathe...... we're home-schooling again so it's a chance to teach some shop safety and make some cool bowls and bats and stuff. But the Shopsmith doesn't have a chuck on it yet.....it's 30ft away and not ready yet....

So I'm touching up this barrel, in the lathe....

DUMB!!




NEXT thing I know I'm looking down at my thumb, that free thumb (open hand, remember) coming up from under the barrel,

I'm in slo-mo-mode waiting for it to pop off,

KNOWING it's gonna' pop off but HOPING it'll be clean enough to reattach, HOPING it doesn't just strip the bone......HOPING it pulls out by the roots.......stuff is snapping and crackling.....and my hand comes free.





0120142113.jpg






look closely........








there's no thumb in there.





Turns out ol' fatboy was tougher than that chicom mechanix glove.


And luckier.....


I got the hand back and looked down to see a canyon around the base of me thumb with white tendons sliding back and forth inside. I closed the hand and the thumb moved.....I tucked the thumb down over a clean paper towel, wrapped the fingers around it, wrapped a rag around that, shut down the lathe and headed for the house.


Weaving some.....


I'm a religious man, and a very THANKFUL man tonite. I just got back from emergency room where they pulled everything together at one go, sewed 2/3 of the way around my thumb and MY WHOLE HAND WORKS!!!


Hallelujah


The anaesthetic is wearing off while I struggle to type and I can move everything, and feel everything in my right hand.

((((Rule #3, and this one goes 'wayyyy back. "YA' DON'T PUT YER GOOD HAND IN ya' stupid putz!!!"))))

I dunno what the stitching up job is going to cost me, that barreling job just got wikkid costly, but I consider this to be another FREE ONE.

I've still got dual opposable thumbs,

Thank God

al
 
Sometimes we only pay a little bit for stupid.

Glad you did this time, al.

John
(the one who trimmed his finger nail with a 1" core bit in a router)
 
I'm happy for you...

I'm glad that's the worst you got. I suppose we all need reminders occasionally not to break the rules. Thanks for providing somebody else's for me. I'm glad you weren't making a video...I could barely read that all the way through.

Jim
 
John Kielly said:
Sometimes we only pay a little bit for stupid.

Glad you did this time, al.

John
(the one who trimmed his finger nail with a 1" core bit in a router)
Click to expand...

I thought of you :)

I think of you again as I watch my two-fingered club peck at the keys.... And I can feel the end of my thumb!!! Yippeeeee!!!!

al
 
IndianaJames said:
I'm glad that's the worst you got. I suppose we all need reminders occasionally not to break the rules. Thanks for providing somebody else's for me. I'm glad you weren't making a video...I could barely read that all the way through.

Jim
Click to expand...

thank you :)
 
Al,
I have had some close calls in my life, but never quite like that. If you are like me, from here on out, every time that you step up to the machine, you will remember this, which will be a good thing. I am sorry that you got hurt, and glad that you will recover. If you telling this keeps one person from an accident, that will be a very good thing. Get well quick. In the past, when I have hurt myself, I was pushing beyond when I should have hung it up for the day and the combination of fatigue and being in too big of a rush reached out and bit me.
Boyd
PS If I can remember to take my camera with me, a friend has really slick barrel polishing machine, that takes abrasive belts, that are pretty wide, and are tensioned between wheels that do not have a platen behind the belt. It is a tall machine with big sturdy parts that that he fabricated himself. Starting with a coarse belt, he is able to do quite a bit of shaping, and get rid of all of the tool marks, and then going to progressively finer grits, produce any finish that he wants. If you like, I can post some pictures. Chad Dixon makes parts for a barrel spinner that is intended to be used with one of these machines. Scroll down the page.
http://www.longriflesinc.com/products.html
 
My hand hurts just reading your post, it also reminds me of a lot of stuff I have done either in a hurry or not thinking.
Hope you get better soon, I always enjoy your posts even when they are correcting me.
 
I remember sage advice given by an artillery turret instructor when working around things that wouldn't even hiccup when encountering flesh and bone.... Never stick your fingers where you wouldn't stick your face.... I think it had some other meanings along with the obvious, but this has kept me out of trouble for over 20 years of playing on equipment that can hurt you. All in all, you know how lucky you were, and that's worth its weight right there. Thanks for sharing as it's good info to keep aware of!
 
stool said:
i did not do lathe dumb, but did manage to crack a shoulder bone and dislocate my shoulder last night...volleyball
yes my rifle shooting arm,
and yes i too am typing the one handed peck this am.
got out of er at 3am..have to see the ortho docs today.
Click to expand...

The ortho docs can do amazing things with shoulders these days, I have had my shooting arm shoulder rebuilt (that's what they call the surgery) three times over 25 years and still shoot rifles at least once a week. The shoulder rebuilds were not due to shooting but other activities so if you give yourself time to heal you will probably not notice the shoulder injury after a day of competition.
 
Al glad your alright, I thought once about buying a lathe, but when I seen the picture someone posted on here of the man that got wound up in one, That changed my mind! So remember if you're going to be Stupid, you've got to be Tuff.

Joe Salt
 
Al,

Very sorry to hear about your accident. Thank you for explaining how it happened so the rest of us can hopefully avoid such. Injuries like this serve to remind us that the lathes, mills, drill presses and other power tools we use and enjoy are very dangerous and unforgiving of any carelessness or misuse.

I'm not afraid of my machines but certainly very respectful and cautious when working around them. Among the items that I absolutely will not use and will not have near my machines are:

1. Gloves

2. Rags (Paper shop towels are okay if used with care)

3. Sleeves


When polishing barrels and other shafts NEVER grab hold of it in such a way that your hand could be sucked into it as yours was. Use a LONG strip of abrasive and stay well back from the shaft holding the ends lightly so if it gets hung up it can't jerk you into the work.

My thoughts and prayers are with you for a speedy and complete recovery.

Best regards

Gene Beggs
 
And no necktie...

unless it's a bowtie, but, heck, who wears a tie in the shop these days?
Glad you're not badly hurt.

mhb - Mike

Gene Beggs said:
Al,

Very sorry to hear about your accident. Thank you for explaining how it happened so the rest of us can hopefully avoid such. Injuries like this serve to remind us that the lathes, mills, drill presses and other power tools we use and enjoy are very dangerous and unforgiving of any carelessness or misuse.

I'm not afraid of my machines but certainly very respectful and cautious when working around them. Among the items that I absolutely will not use and will not have near my machines are:

1. Gloves

2. Rags (Paper shop towels are okay if used with care)

3. Sleeves


When polishing barrels and other shafts NEVER grab hold of it in such a way that your hand could be sucked into it as yours was. Use a LONG strip of abrasive and stay well back from the shaft holding the ends lightly so if it gets hung up it can't jerk you into the work.

My thoughts and prayers are with you for a speedy and complete recovery.

Best regards

Gene Beggs
Click to expand...
 
Hand Injuries

Al,
Glad to hear it wasn't any worse than it was................the biggest hurt is most likely to your pride. Cabinetmaker / finish carpenter for 42 years and by the grace of God, still have all ten! Had a couple of minor nicks over the years, but nothing like what could have been considering my earlier crazy life-style!
Al, be sure to see the post re- the stolen rifle....................you probably remember Cody who used to help run the Tri-County 600 yard shoots. It's his gorgeous rifle that was stolen. Damn thieving bastards! Keep on the look-out!
Mark
 
Here's mine. Good luck al.

IMG_0446.jpg

IMG_0427.jpg

trigger finger to top it all off!!

Reality check and a reminder everyday!!!!

Med.
 
Last edited:
That necktie thing is kinda' funny, now....but back when machinists ruled the working world THEY DID WEAR TIES TO WORK! My father-in-law was from that generation. He went from king of the world to selling machinery for scrap in his lifetime. A lifetime of machines hauled away for weight...

I own books, thousands of them (another out-phasing idiosyncrasy!) and included are several older manuals and machinists handbooks.....my Bridgeport manual..... guys in ties, working on production/assembly.

Well, my hand is right where it should be today....stitches are wet and the various aches and pains from carpus to elbus apparent but I CAN FEEL IT ALL :)

Happy, Happy, Happy.
al
 
My worst "Mitake" with Machines

was when I first began using a Bridgeport "unsupervised". I let my 6" adjustable on the drawbar, forgot it and turned the machine on. Still have a nice little scar where the sharp triangular tip at the end of the adjustment screw on the wrench engaged my forehead. DANG! embarrassing? UH HA

Pete
 
And, never try to cut small branches for kindling with a chainsaw while holding the branch in your left hand. Just nicked my left index finger, went in to put a bandaid on, and found out the finger didn't straighten up anymore...wifey drove me to the ER, grumbling about stupid men.....those phys. therapy guys are sadists! But it's working now.
 
Al,
Hope you're feeling better.

Many yrs ago in the chem lab, I had a piece of glassware break in my left hand. It didn't hurt until I saw something white (bone) in the cut. The thing that did hurt was the lidocaine injections before they stitched up my hand!

My wife had a similar accident, but she can no longer bend her left index finger. Once the ligaments are severed, recovery of full function is iffy.

Regards,
Ron
 
OK..... so I'm back to work :)

Very thankful, very more careful.... spent several enjoyable hours on the lathe today,

day 5,

20140125_213624.jpg

looks like brand new.

Don't think my hand has ever been this clean!

LOL
al
 
Al
I may rib you about this, but I had a lathe "bite" me once as well. Cut middle through little across the inside of the middle joints to the tendons on all 3 on my left hand. Got in a hurry and tried to just pluck the curly chip out of the way...at about the same time it wrapped around the chuck. Looking back, I'm lucky I still have those fingers in working order too.

David
 
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