A tale of a battery drill and a stepladder

[UserRemoved1]

Yesterday I did something really REALLY stoopid. I was up working on a 12' stepladder drilling some holes in a metal panel. I dropped the screws I had on the ladder so I put the drill down...on it's side...and climbed down....

Moved the ladder.....

BAMMO...Bounce I get Mike Tysoned. Feel like a freekin pile driver. 18 volt Milwaukee hammer drill hits me like a cement block. Goose egg, small cut/scrape. Looked like a CONEHEAD for the day.

5 minutes later I realized how truly LUCKY I was. There was a #21 drill bit in the chuck... and it missed me. If that thing went the right way I'd be lying either on a hospital bed or a morticians table right now with a drill bit and approx 8 lb battery drill hanging out of my head and a drill bit in my brain.

Go ahead laugh but remember this is the GOF forum My stoooooopidity. Don't do what I did and next time you know I will ALWAYS use the holes in the top of the ladder like I usually do.

[basswipe]

Lucky you ain't this guy!

http://www.snopes.com/horrors/techno/drillbit.asp

[crash]

Don't feel too stupid! I did the same thing a few years ago, 18v drill off a 8' step ladder. Holly concussion batman!! A 12 footer must have been really painfull. I actually know a few people who have done this, one thing we all have in common is that we only did it once.

[denport]

I did they same thing but with a gallon of paint off a 10 footer. Put a good split in my scalp too. Not to mention the mess. My own stupidity never fails to amaze me.

[hooked]

16 oz claw hammer off an 8' step ladder

It only happens once.

Welcome to the club.

[Raider Ronnie]

I had a friend who did the same thing a few years back,
But not a cordless drill, A FRAMING NAILER !!!
With the hose plugged in !!!
The nail gun bounced off the ground and shot a 3 1/2 nail through his arm.
Luckily for him, the nail went clean in & out !!!

[Striperknight]

Scott- Did you see Stars or little birdies?

[MAC]

ouch

[Flaptail]

Scott, don't think you have a monopoly on stupid. Been there done that! Glad you din't get the bit end.

[afterhours]

14v off a 8' ladder, man that hurt!

[Backbeach Jake]

My framing hammer knocked me flat on my vertical smile for that stunt. "Where's my freakin' hammer".....WAM!!! This is a pretty big club, huh?

[Nebe]

remends me of the time i built a mongo potato cannon. I shot an apple straight up into the sky and waited to see where it fell.. I waited, i waited.... and waited.... about a minute later the apple comes smashing down on the crown of my head. I almost fainted it hurt so bad.. a friggin apple from space

[afterhours]

Originally Posted by Backbeach Jake

This is a pretty big club, huh?

[Diamond Tackle]

Glad you didnt get seriously hurt. Not dumb, just absent minded for a split second, thats all it takes sometimes though. Youre lucky.

Anyone ever shoot arrows straight in the air when you were a kid, cmon fess up, or was I the only stupid one that did that. The adrenalin would really start pumpin when you lost sight of it and it was on the way back down, I would run away with my hands over my head. Couple times it came down right in front of me,buried 5 inches in the ground. THAT was some dumb arse chit. Throwing the Lawn darts AT your fiends was another potential Darwin award .

[justplugit]

Glad your OK Salty, that had ta hurt.

[Karl F]

Stupid ladder tricks... pulled a few of those myself.. uh... never think that grabbing the aluminum gutter will stop your fall, slows ya down a bit as you pull it off the house, but it don't stop ya... don't ask me how I know this

Glad your OK, and that you didn't "thru drill" yourself


Yeah Jake, it's a big club, easy to join too

[Slipknot]

OUCH !!
you won't be doing that again.
good thing ya got a hard noggin


I remember doing stupid chit as a kid like shooting my BB gun straight up and waiting for the sound of the BB as it hit the ground nearby. Timan, an arrow? that is really dumb, lucky you weren't hurt or killed.

[Raven]

hopefully you knocked some sense into yourself....

one day i was drilling through a floor joist with a big makita electric drill and i hit a snag....a knot in the wood, and the bit got stuck and the drill
started spinning! so i got out of the way fast. (apparently the stupid stupid placement of the "keep on button" was inside the grip)

anyways, i get off the ladder, on to the floor and quickly unplug it but then it spun out and came down with the spade bit spinning still and it
went right into my thigh and drilled out a nice tapered hole.

[UserRemoved1]

tinman and slip That is some funny chit. Can't say I ever tried that one

Only hurts a little today.

That was a bad day. I did that in the am, then an hour later I slipped on ice getting down from my truck and bent my foot that aggravated a arch problem I already have. So I drive out front of the building and get out to open the bay door and sure enuf I slipped on a piece of black ice that really looked like pavement..go down on my left and get so flipping soaked from my shoe to my shoulder. GRRRR I called my wife and told her I was comin home with a couple cases of beer and leave me alone

[Pete F.]

Originally Posted by Nebe

remends me of the time i built a mongo potato cannon. I shot an apple straight up into the sky and waited to see where it fell.. I waited, i waited.... and waited.... about a minute later the apple comes smashing down on the crown of my head. I almost fainted it hurt so bad.. a friggin apple from space

Maybe your screen name should have been Newton

[crash]

I also have a scar on my wrist from when i snapped a drill bit in half and the other half (still spinning in the drill) went all the way into my wrist and i couldn't feel my hand for two days. Maybe we should start being more carefull....... Naw whats the fun in that, lifes more fun when you almost die a bunch of times

[ThrowingTimber]

ouch! dude start wearin' a helmet

[UserRemoved1]

TT email me I forgot to give you the specs on that stuff you asked about.

[chris L]

Originally Posted by Tinman

Glad you didnt get seriously hurt. Not dumb, just absent minded for a split second, thats all it takes sometimes though. Youre lucky.

Anyone ever shoot arrows straight in the air when you were a kid, cmon fess up, or was I the only stupid one that did that. The adrenalin would really start pumpin when you lost sight of it and it was on the way back down, I would run away with my hands over my head. Couple times it came down right in front of me,buried 5 inches in the ground. THAT was some dumb arse chit. Throwing the Lawn darts AT your fiends was another potential Darwin award .

but if you stayed where you shot it up it would be almost impossible you have been hit . its all about trajectory .

back some years I removed the old shakes on my house and resided with new shingles . I had 2 12 foot step ladders with 2 X12 12' stretched between them . I needed a few more inches of support and moved one ladder a little too far . I dont know how long I was on the ground ( no one was home ) . but I sure had a sore head . maybe thats part of my problem .

[MAC]

Originally Posted by Tinman

Glad you didnt get seriously hurt. Not dumb, just absent minded for a split second, thats all it takes sometimes though. Youre lucky.

Anyone ever shoot arrows straight in the air when you were a kid, cmon fess up, or was I the only stupid one that did that. The adrenalin would really start pumpin when you lost sight of it and it was on the way back down, I would run away with my hands over my head. Couple times it came down right in front of me,buried 5 inches in the ground. THAT was some dumb arse chit. Throwing the Lawn darts AT your fiends was another potential Darwin award .

I'm guilty on both counts 30 some-odd years ago

[NIB]

I've been in construction my whole life.I have been pretty lucky really.Thank God. I think he has been watchin over me.I have knocked myself out when I broke a pry bar.I've knocked myself out wit a 22 once estwing when swinging up an toatlly missed the target.Without doubt the biggest lack of better judgement moment came when I closed a 16 ft garage door by putting my fingers inbetween the panels an pulled it down.My guys in the other truck never heard such a blood curtaling scream then they started laughinn an I charged em like a enraged Rhino.They are lucky my hands where f-D up.There was 2 big dent marks in the aluminum cladding were my fingers where.

[justplugit]

Oh man Nib, finger stories. End of the day, tired, and i was trimmin shrubs with a commercial two sided clipper. It slipped, and clipped the top off my left ring finger. Figured they could sew it up at emergi care. They gave me a bottle of saline,told me to find the top and take it to the hospital. Couldn't find it in all the clippings so went home to get help from my wife to look for it. Very quietly i said," no big deal, i cut the top of my finger off and need help finding it." She looked like someone threw a pail of white paint on her face. Both of us looked with no luck.
Ended up with a skin graft and you would hardly know.

[Slipknot]

NIB, you got stories too, man that musta hurt, your brain took a short nap and you paid the price.

My list is so long I could write a short book.

here's a few

Framing houses back when I had a strong back I was marking for strapping along the ceiling using a framing square in one hand and the pencil it the other walking along not even looking down since I am tall enough to reach the ceiling. Well you know what happens when I get to the fireplace hole in the floor straight down I go to the basement and I fall flat on my back with my feet sticking straight up , my legs bent at the waist. My head landed 3 inches away from a pile of rocks that had not been spread out yet. good thing the cement floor was not poured yet or I'd be dead.

another time I was crouched and reaching making a cut and the gaurd on the crappy milwaukee circular saw did not spring back because of the weak ass spring they put in those things and a little sawdust gets in there, as I went to stand up on the staging I was falling back I just set the saw at my knee as you would to help yourself stand up and it is still spinning and cuts clean thru my quadricep muscle. Good thing the saw was set at 45 degrees or I would have no knee, missed bone by 1/8". 3 months out of work, 6 weeks in a cast and many months of therapy got me 80% use back with the leg.

I broke the handle on a 22 oz framing hammer also NIB. Also broke a prybar. Reminds me of jigging with conventional and breaking off in the canal and knocking myself out.
I also chipped my tooth nailing in a tight space, the claw got me.

I never got a skin graft when I had 4 fingers kicked back on a table saw across dado blades, still missing some of the middle finger, no wonder I can't type.

Framing a small addition to my house one day with a nail gun, I had a double shot and of course the second nail skimmed the 2x4 and went thru my thumb of the hand holding the board. Lucky for me my Dad was helping me so I got to get him back for the time I had to pull an awl out of his finger when he missed while poking holes in the bottom of a can. So the 16D nail is in my thumb and it's a Bostich which has those 2 pieces of wire holding the sticks together not plastic like some brands, and naturally the wire is in the thumb. He pulled it out and we finished the job the whole time my wife is nagging me to go to the medical center. I got there before they closed and got the tetneous shot so I don't know what she was so worried about.

there's more but I'll spare you

[Slingah]

wow slip...ouch
I used to frame houses too...and roof...and sidewall
I took a couple bad falls..both due to others stupidness...once as I was on the top rung of a ladder just dropping a bundle of shingles on the roof... the kid footing the ladder walks away when he hears the bundle hit...sure nuff it kicks and I go over backwards...landed on the ladder...I had rung marks on my back for a month...the ladder looked like it got ran over by a truck...cant beilive I didnt break anything...I just layed there trying to breathe for about 10 minutes
another time we had made staging inside for an add a level...to set the ridge and strap etc....as me and another were nailing off strapping the foreman was underneath us taking the staging apart..saying "its safe...its safe...a 16 penny will hold blah blah blah"
then BOOM the whole thing came crashing down on us boxes of nails studs planks..we were lucky...me and my buddy chased that guy down when we got our wind back and tuned him up
I ve seen my share of injuries...loss of digits..nail gun mishaps ( Ive shot a couple guys..never got one)
I think almost everyone has done the something on top of the ladder thing ..once
I got out of working with the power tools..and started just painting about 15 years ago...still can be dangerous...

[Backbeach Jake]

I helped my Brother-in-Law frame his house. Man did I take a beating. Learned to work with smashed fingers . Learned a lot tho, worth every pint of blood.