Drill Press + My Finger = Disaster
Okay Kids…
Today’s blog post is another perfect example of how *my* example… can be a *bad* example.
Sometimes you have a moment when you are nothing but pissed off at the world; brooding over everything that is going wrong at the moment, be it a philandering deceitful girlfriend, finances not being what you want, customers that make you angry… or anything that is wrong in your world. These moments happen. It’s normal it’s human… get over it.
The point here i can not stress enough here is this: While this is going on, don’t decide to operate machinery. especially not something with sharp spinning bits. Like, oh let’s say for example… a drill press… and i would further go on to state that while drilling holes for mounting brackets on seat pans with a 9/16″ bit is an even worse time to be distracted and worrying about everything else in the world.
fingermovie3 This is the beautiful thing that happens, when while you are too busy worrying about how crappy people have treated you, and the violent daydreams about what you could do to them if you had a chance… your workpiece catches on the bit and spins your finger into the very sharp almost brand new bit.
Granted… all the pictures i have are all after i got it to stop bleeding as much as i could. I bet it would have looked hilarious if someone were watching when it happened. Imagine me scrambling around a crowded shop with one arm over my head and blood running down my arm looking for some paper towels and something to use like a tourniquet (the tightly wrapped blue tape).
After i could throw a couple paper towels on it, i grabbed my trusty blue masking tape, quickly tore off a foot or so, and wrapped my finger as tightly as i could. Bleeding stopped quickly. Then i went into the house and started to clean it… which is when i thought, “i should share this with the world.” because everyone should share in my unhappiness about having a giant gash in my finger now. And so i grabbed my camera and took some pics. since i had already washed it a bit, the pics aren’t nearly as gory as i would like. You’ve been spared for now.
I was lucky, in that the little flaps of skin that had been sliced into by the sharp hardened flutes of the drill bit were still somewhat attached, and allowed me to have a sort of ‘built in’ cover to glue it all back together with. Like i said, lucky me. Of course at this point, i was no longer distracted by any outside force, and was completely focused on the task at hand. Funny how that works out? If you set off with the wrong mind-set, you end up getting into the correct frame of mind one way or another.
and if you’re wondering now, “Why Spike, you got it to stop bleeding… but how do you close a huge gash without going to the hospital for stitches?”
That’s a good question… and it’s been my experience that hospitals don’t use stitches anymore. They use Super Glue. Of course they can’t just go and *call* it super glue… because then they couldn’t charge you $100 for it. But rest assured, it’s the same cyano-acrylate glue labeled as super-glue, crazy glue, or (my favorite) loctite super-glue that you can buy at wal-mart for $2.
So, after a good couple cleanings with some antibacterial soap and douse of hydrogen peroxide, i was ready to dry and apply my glue.
Look ma… now i’m my own craft project.
And here’s the finished product. Skin flap glued back down into place. You can clearly see the ‘C’ shape of the edge of the flap in the pic. I imagine this will dry up and have to be removed soon… perhaps more pics? just because i love you so much. haha.
Just remember folks… do as i *don’t* do on this one. When approaching machinery that can potentially maim or mangle you or your precious appendages, always clear your mind. stay focused, and be alert.
Metalwork is a joy. Usually beating shapes into sheetmetal, making gastanks, frames, seatpans and the like puts me into a zen-like state of meditation, where i am centered mentally and unhindered by the world outside of my little shop. Obviously not the case this time.
Later,
SPiKE
4 comments to “Drill Press + My Finger = Disaster”
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