lucky not to lose an eye today...

2x4

Well-known Member
MF rotary mower has steel pieces around the gearbox that trap water & hold it, about an inch deep. So I wanted to drill holes in these pieces which are about 1 1/2" high & 3/8ths thick so deck doesn't rust thru. I'm on the deck above the drill, drilling sideways thru the steel. Removed my safety glasses so I could see better & drilled in where I'd made the pilot hole; almost thru with the bigger bit when it caught, as they do when the bit is breaking thru. Instead of the drill stopping the bit broke & couple pieces shrapnel from the broken bit hit just below my eye. So fast I couldn't have blinked in time to save the eye from being hit. Guess the moral is to keep glasses on & don't be beside drill bit; be back of it. You never know where the next accident is coming from.
 
Glad you didn't get hurt. The one good thing about needing bifocals is I can't take off my safety glasses in order to see better anymore.
 
Now you have to remember .I had to take my Amish neighbor in to the eye doctor twice to have steel removed and both times they had to grind the rust out to .I gave him safety glasses the first time he doesn't like to use them.also his son lost half his foot when barefoot he dropped a heavy chunk of steel on them and a girl almost cut both legs off.
I always remember the saying familiarity breeds contempt and I'm probably as guilty as the next
 
glad you weren't hurt. I've got the same issue on my mower but I was thinking of just drilling through the deck in corners where the steel cross pieces sit instead of through the supports themselves.
 
It will get you by surprise, top drawer of the bottom cabinet is where my safety glasses reside, so if I am using tools, there is no excuse.

There is a local auto repair shop down the road a couple miles, I remember the owner, 15 years ago or so, had the same thing happen, drill bit broke, he did lose an eye, I forget the circumstances, glad you did not get hurt.

I know the feeling, often times forgot when pulling nails, and have one smack you right under your eye.. so many things that can fly like shrapnel and cause serious injury, 2 things I constantly use, hearing protection and eye protection, I carry a small round case with soft rubber ear plugs, for loud noises, undesirable conversations LOL ! My father, for some reason has this need to clear his throat, had him out for dinner the other night, birthday etc., he did that, thought my eardrums were going to pop, don't know what it is, good hearing, some tinnitus, but darned sensitive ears, always carry those.

Part of my safety meeting/tool talk when I supervised crews in the field included the demonstration or description of an olive with a toothpick through it, a comparison to the human eye, to get a graphic point across about the danger of not wearing eye protection.

The worst thing I would commonly see in the field was someone using a cut off saw, metal blade, cutting bundles of metal studs, no eye protection or hearing protection, the noise alone would make me cringe, not to mention the sparks and abrasive materials that spray out. Saw it on every job, just incredible the risks people take, for the sake of a few dollars worth of protection.
 
I have problems with employees I supervise not wanting to wear safety glasses. We work in a wet environment and if they're not fogging up they're getting wet. The employees complain "I can't see with them on" I reply "see my glasses I can't see with them off and I've been fighting with that for 48 years now....put your glasses on"
 
I can't see a damm thing with safety glasses on.
Work gloves are to clumsy to do anything with but stand there.I only wear them when working with rough lumber or sharp metal like steel siding
I hate steel toed boots cause i can't feel where i step on an stumble over everything with these clumsy things.
Hard hats are a pain in the azz, its like wearing a pizz pot on yer head and it is always coming off when i walk into something i would normally would have cleared without that stupid thing on.
I done without them for 65 years, never lost an eye a finger or toe or got something heavy falling on my head.
I Always work alone and i use common sense and think before i do.
I don't say i am invincible but so far so good.
 
I had a similar experience years ago with a drill press. "Only one hole to drill, won't take a minute." Applied cutting oil and was getting a nice curl off the bit when it broke off and flew into my eyebrow! From that time on, I wear glasses!
 
As an underground miner for over 40 years, I have been through so many safety meetings that it would be impossible to guess at the number. In underground mines, safety equipment is mandatory. I have seen many, many accidents happen to people that tried to work without one piece of safety equipment on another for whatever reason. Many got away with it, many others did not. Vision loss, lacerated hands and fingers, broken or smashed toes. I could go on. I have carried that practice home and taught it to my kids and grandkids. I have safety glasses all over my shop and home. I don't have the excuse that I couldn't find any. Last summer while using a twisted wire brush, I had a sliver of wire go through my upper lip and into my gum. Can you imagine what it would have don't to my eye? Do I always wear safety gear? You bet I do. Safety glasses especially. Even when it's uncomfortable or clumsy. Oh, and I don't weld or cut anything while wearing tennis shoes anymore either. Not even when" it's not much, will only take a minute." Why take a chance?
 
glad you are ok.

While I rarely use safety equipment (and I have lots of scars to prove it),
glasses, I have no choice.
I've worn glasses my whole life.
Heard all the, 'I can't see with them, they hurt my nose, they get steamed up or wet' excuses.
That is just 'life' when you wear them all the time.

I can't begin to count the number of times I've had things bounce off them, or
found a chip in the lenses that I didn't have a clue what did it.
A few days ago, had a slag/hammer fragment hit a lens hard enough that the glasses bruised my nose.
Funny...when you wear glasses, doing something like grinding,
you grab goggles to go right over them. part of my face, don't want to chip em.

bust up my hands or body, I'll adapt. Without my sight, I can't do ANY of the things I enjoy.......
 
I hated mandatory safety glasses at work as they were made of thick glass and had side shields. Constantly slid down my nose and doing the ear to hold them in place annoyed me.

Only people who really needed them were gals on the assy line where they snipped off pieces of wire.

I didn't need corrective lenses till age 40 so after the fact I was putting some siding on my house one day. So I hit a nail hard to get it to penetrate the siding and it ricocheted off the siding and right into my plastic glasses. Saved my eye and the plastic held up just fine.

Like wearing corrective lenses now but on safety glasses, don't know why they have to be so heavy. Why not in plastic.

Mark
 
My bifocal corrective lens safety glasses are plastic! You should be able to get the same! Ask your eye doctor! When I had to start wearing corrective lenses for close, and my job required safety glasses, I hated the constant changing back and forth! That's when I started with the bifocal safety glasses with no correction on top! I got in the habit of "put 'em on in the morning and take 'em back off at bedtime!" When I retired from the work force, I could have stopped with the "safety" requirement, but didn't!
Dave
 

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