Did something dumb today.

[Rhodemont]

Almost hung myself!  Ash, my English Cocker, sticks real close with me all the time.  When I am running  the sawmill or a chainsaw I hook him up with a 10ft dog chain to a nearby tree to keep him out of trouble.  It was raw and very windy yesterday so I decided to do some thinning of EWP in a couple acres near the horse pasture.  When I ran out of fuel and started to head back I took his chain and put it over my head on my shoulders.  It was flapping around some so I through the end up over my shoulder like a scarf.  Well, you have probably guessed, I slipped on some ice and fell forward.  The chain hooked on the branch of a small Beech tree.  I did not fall since I was hanging.  Luckily the tree was just small enough that it bent over as I squirmed about. If it had been bigger I might still be out there.

[WV Sawmiller]

Rhody,

   I can see the police and medical examiner report "Strangest suicide we've seen all year." Glad your okay.

[aigheadish]

Uhg, the freak accidents! 

[Old Greenhorn]

Off harvesting mushroom logs this morning. Halfway through and I notice the snow took on a strange hue. Took me a few seconds to figure out what the heck was going on.

[SawyerTed]

Tom, we've got to hear the rest of the story!  

Hope YOU are okay. 

[Old Greenhorn]

Well I have to admit at first I thought maybe I had sprung a leak and for a millisecond I got a tad excited. But it turned out the cap popped off the bar oil tank on my saw. I have no idea how that happened, never happened before. Remember I said I was 'halfway done"? so that cap stayed on for a good while. Oil on my pants and the snow.  It just felt stupid.

[Resonator]

Now Tom, if you had read what I wrote in reply #5051, this might not have happened.
I ended up replacing the flip top twist cap on my Stihl saw, guess I got 5 years before the original started to leak.

[SwampDonkey]

I find them to be pretty tough caps on the 555 xp, plus they get a layer of balsam pitch on there for extra strength. Same with the old splitting maul, pretty much a solid layer of hardened fir pitch on the handle, preserved for the duration.  Guarantee she won't slip from your hands.

[Old Greenhorn]

Well, this was on my 350 and it has an older style two prong plug, not a flippy and it has never leaked. Didn't leak this time either, just fell out. I must have had it cross thread jammed, but not a drop came out until it all came out.
 And Res, that was post #5052 and you just warned about gas caps and I took that advice and have no issues with my gas caps, on any saw.
 Swamp, I don't cut enough to notice an issue, and never cut balsam. I did once mill up some fresh cut EWP and the pants I was wearing remind me of that day every time I put them on. Never got the sap out. The gloves and t-shirt I was wearing just got thrown in the next campfire. Burned pretty good too.

[WV Sawmiller]

   Boy am I glad I never did anything like that.  BTW - that oil can be hard to get out (Or at least that is what I heard. )

    On a serious note at a chainsaw safety class I sat in on at a Paul Bunyan show one time the presenter said that if you get gas or oil on those special chainsaw chaps it will negate the fibers stopping the saw because it cause the fibers to clump into a solid sheet the saw just cuts through - on the way to your leg - so if you were wearing chaps they may not work any more where the oil soaked in.

[Old Greenhorn]

Yeah, no, I don't wear chaps when harvesting these small trees. Maybe it's folly on my part, but I kneel down to drop the tree and all the bucking cuts are straight forward. Branch clearing is another matter and I am just very careful. When I do bigger trees, then I wear chaps.
 Petroleum products are death to any critical synthetic fibers, be it chaps or ropes (the two most common for us guys). When I was in the FD and we checked, cleaned and reset gear after rescue calls, we NEVER laid out any of our ropes on the bay floors for fear they might contact some oil or diesel residue. We laid those out out side either on the grass or snow and re-coiled them. A $500. static rescue line becomes garbage if a few drops of diesel hits it.

[SwampDonkey]

Swamp, I don't cut enough to notice an issue, and never cut balsam. I did once mill up some fresh cut EWP and the pants I was wearing remind me of that day every time I put them on. Never got the sap out. The gloves and t-shirt I was wearing just got thrown in the next campfire. Burned pretty good too.

My chaps are getting pretty black with fir pitch now to. Pretty soon they will stand alone. 

When that fir dries the bark falls off easy. You don't then see the pitch bubbles. But throw a piece of that bark in the fire and watch the pitch rise to the surface of that bark and roll down the sides. :D

I boiled some fir pitch one time in an old barrel in water. Just through in green sticks and small limbs. When it cooled it was a chunk of black glass. :D

[Old Greenhorn]

Well today I DID do something dumb. The last couple of weeks I had been getting chips in my eyes when sawing up logs so I am being very diligent about putting the safety glasses on. I took several trees today and was a good boy.
 On my way out of the woods with a load I got to a tree across the path we had been driving over but I promised Bill I would cut it out to make for a smoother run. I jumped out grabbing the saw and started to hack it up when a chip went right into my eye. You guessed it, my glasses were right on top of my head. Stupid. I think I got the chip out after getting the log out. I can't wait until my new glasses get here.

[WV Sawmiller]

Tom,

   If you think wood chips in the eye hurt try some toothpaste. Yeah, I know - how do you get toothpaste in your eye? I rinsed my toothbrush the other night then started squeezing a dab of toothpaste on the brush and one of the bristles flicked a tiny spec of toothpaste right into my eye. Boy did that stuff sting!

[Old Greenhorn]

I have to hand it to you Howard, that is pretty inventive! I've had a lot of stuff in my eyes, but never did I ever get into it with toothpaste.

[Big_eddy]

I think I've been hanging out with this gang too long. Cutting blocks yesterday and the saw ran out of gas. Grabbed the gas can and poured the last bit into the saw and started cutting again. There wasn't much left in the can, so two logs later, I ran out again. Back home to mix up another gallon. Might as well sharpen while I'm at the bench. Back to the log pile again.
DanG saw won't start. What on earth? Always starts with 1 or 2 pulls, but I'm at 8-10 now and not even a sputter. So I press the primer button a few times and it doesn't fill? What gives?
 
Sure enough, I'd  mixed up a new gallon of gas, but I never put any in the saw!

[SwampDonkey]

Oh well that's happened more than once. Usually on the clearing saw though. Once  a tank is burnt out I usually fill up and file before break. Well sometimes something messes with the program, I have my break then try to start an empty saw. 

[aigheadish]

I posted it on the Teakwood Project page but I guess I should add it here for the masses and as an unneeded reminder...

I didn't check to make sure my passport wasn't expired until 12 hours before we were supposed to go to Costa Rica. It was, we didn't go. I've never felt dumber in my life and it appears that we missed an excellent trip.

[WV Sawmiller]

I have to hand it to you Howard, that is pretty inventive! I've had a lot of stuff in my eyes, but never did I ever get into it with toothpaste.

Looking back I now wonder why it never happened before because the bristle naturally bend and flip back straight when you apply the pressure to squeeze the toothpaste on it. It was truly the tiniest amount but it sure did burn. I don't know if it had peroxide in it or just the natural abrasives to clean your teeth (or tooth - I could see another WV joke coming).

[rusticretreater]

You guys are definitely making me feel less dumb!

[SawyerTed]

Sure enough, I'd  mixed up a new gallon of gas, but I never put any in the saw!

A few months ago, I was preparing a food plot on the farm.  I noticed the tractor was low on fuel so I headed for the shop.

Got back to the shop and did 3 or 4 little jobs including greasing the tractor and checking the 6 foot rotary tiller. 

Got on the tractor, drove back to the food plot, checked the fuel level, it was still low, I had to head back to the shop for fuel.

[JD Guy]

Sure enough, I'd  mixed up a new gallon of gas, but I never put any in the saw!

A few month ago, I was preparing a food plot on the farm.  I noticed the tractor was low on fuel so I headed for the shop.

Got back to the shop and did 3 or 4 little jobs including greasing the tractor and checking the 6 foot rotary tiller. 

Got on the tractor, drove back to the food plot, checked the fuel level, it was still low, I had to head back to the shop for fuel.

Well, I can only add that it's great to have company in the "dumb things" category 

[Old Greenhorn]

Misery loves company and it takes a little bit of confidence to admit to your peers that you did something dumb. Sometimes I do stuff like what appears in this thread and even though I may be alone I just laugh out loud at myself. Of course if there is pain involved, I laugh later, sometimes MUCH later.  (Some things I am still waiting to laugh at.)
If we are being honest, making mistakes are part of life and if you are not making mistakes, you sure ain't doing much. (But I still reserve judgement on the toothpaste thing.) 

It's raining here today and so far I haven't done anything dumb.

[Resonator]

And to add to that, remember some good may come out of posting on here. Meaning it may just help someone prevent making the same mistake. Austin's situation reminded I haven't used my passport since before covid, I should look what the expiration date is on it.

[jpassardi]

I think the key is that we learn from our mistakes or better yet - when possible learn from other's mistakes!

In addition: if you do nothing, you will do nothing wrong.