Never enough protection

37chief

Well-known Member
Location
California
I was sharping my mower blades, with my 4 in. grinder. I had my goggles, my herinng protection. my dust mask. It's a small grinding job, I don't gloves. Here I sit looking at my thum with a grinding wheel cut. Pushing 71 you would think I would have learned by now. Keep your selves safe out there. Stan
 
No guard on the grinder? It's a lot worse when guys put a 7" disc on a 5" grinder with no guard. You could cut your thumb right off before you knew what happened.
 
I'm in same shape; big chunk of skin gone off my little finger knuckle. Tool slipped finger caught the edge of a metal plate. This is gonna hurt for about a week if I get off that light. 70 yrs old & still stupid.
 
Stan,
I've got a nice scar on my left leg from a runaway disc grinder and a nasty one on my left wrist from a grinder with a brush wheel. Maybe we should post pictures of our best scars.
Ron
 
Way back when I worked for a short time in a factory as a welder there was a guy there used to brag about how he always ground without the guard even tho it was against company safety policy. That is til it kicked back and caught his privates. He walked funny for a couple a weeks afterwords.
 
Had a cutoff blade come apart on a 4 1/2" grinder a while back one piece went out the door of the shop one went straight up and busted a light. But one piece hit me in the chest tore my shirt and stuck in me about a 1/4". I put the guard back on it right after that!!! And I'm not going to use one without one again.
 
Kind of feels like a burn and a regular cut at the same time. I hope it's not located on a part of your hand that you use a lot. Jim
 
Funny.... I just happen to be sporting a half inch gash on my fore finger where I hit myself with a grinder Tuesday afternoon.
 
My only recent stupidity was trying to use a drill press with a bi-fluted bit for too big of a hole, and inevitably it "caught" what I was working with and spun it around into my thumb. Hurt pretty bad but the nail never turned black at least.
 
the angle grinder is one tool I don't let my son touch.

I've seen more serious bodily damage done by those stupid little things than any other tool I know of.

It may always be related to user error and letting one's guard down - but that's the problem, it's so easy to do that when using one.

In fact - that reminds me - I've got an old Milwaukee that has a little flip tab lockout to protect the on button from being pressed accidentally.

A friend of mine just bought a newer version of mine - and instead of the tab, it's got a button that protects it - but ALSO works like a lock to hold it powered ON.

Am I crazy in thinking that's the worst feature EVER for an angle grinder???

Or is that common on them? I've had mine for so long I can't remember how others have worked.

(maybe his is broken?)

I won't touch the thing. I like mine where you just loosen your grip and it's off. Even THAT isn't always quick enough.
 
I bought 6 Dewalt 6" angle grinders from a big fab shop a few years ago. All of them had switches that locked in the on position they had a total power failure in the shop one day and when the power came back on a few went running across the fab tables. One hit one of the guys and cut him. They got rid of every power tool with a locking switch after that. We take for granted how easy it is to get hurt with the tools we use every day
 
I was in a hog pen a couple of days ago unloading the mixer grinder. The way I had it parked against the shed it was hard to get to the feeder. I was really close to stepping over the PTO until I remembered the lashing you all gave someone a few weeks back. I walked around. I guess I could be sharing a story if I had done it. It would probably end with less family jewels.
 
I was under the mower, while the mower was on my trailer. The mower was not lifted up, so I was kind of squatting on the ground. I still have enough sence left, not go under something lifted up by power. Stan
 
I've done the lay under the mower to sharpen the blades thing too. It works good on the belly mower under the B Farmall if I don't have any power tools handy to take the blades off. Seems to me I'm always in the position where the sparks come at me. Three weeks ago I posted about the gash in the meat of the outside of my hand. Well it was ugly and took 11 stitches. Doc said to leave them in for ten days. I pulled out five of them after nine days and it started bleeding. Oops! A couple of days later I pulled out the remaining six. When I pulled them I used a toenail clipper. Marilyn got all excited and said I should use her special kit with a tweezers and other special stuff. By the time she found the kit I had the stitches pulled. Stitches were in my right hand and my left hand, the one I did the work with is clutzy as all get out, but I got the job done. It's healing shut now and doesn't throb anymore but using a hammer is a little dicey yet. I guess all carpenters/mechanics have their war stories. Jim
 
JR Back in the mid seventies my father didn't have a lot of power tools but one was a huge aluminum case angle grinder that someone gave him. This thing had the switch that looked like a rod sticking up in the handle push it down for on and up for off. I went to use it one day and sat it on top of a brand new chest freezer my dad had bought from Sears. Plugged an extension cord into the grinder and then walked across the garage to plug it in and off the grinder went chewing the top'm of that freezer up kinda running around in a half circle. I panic and run across the garage to try and shut it off instead of just pulling the cord out of the socket. Freezer now has at least 20 nice gouges ground into the top of it. My dad never cussed but he came close that day. The grinder disappeared the next week replaced with one with a trigger switch.Some years back the old freezer quit and my brother and I went to help Dad unload the new one my Dad looked at the old one and said to me. Boy you remember tearing up my new freezer and started laughing. Made me turn red in the face 30 years later. It's funny now sure as heck wasn't funny then
 
Ya got to watch a right angle grinder with a wire cup brush installed. I have a ripped and torn sweat shirt and work shirt from a fight with the wire brush. Yea, the brush won. Brush burns hurt!
 
I did the same thing to my thumb last weekend, dang things been bleeding all week on and off!
 

Knee replacement surgery has kept me safe from injury for the last four months but it looks like that time is pretty well up.
 

I tried to take of the end of my little finger 2 weeks ago with my also with a grinder. Amazing how quick it happens. Mine bled very little, figure it must have been cut enough to cauterize it, still hurt like a big dog.
 
I think we have all been bit by an angle grinder, the funny part is that you where so SAFETY conscious except for gloves BTDT>CHUCK
 

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