Did something dumb today.

[beenthere]

Had a situation a couple weeks ago that was wake up call. Needed one more tree for a lumber order, found a 20' tall "totem pole" (top broken clean off laying on the ground) white pine about 14" across in my woods. Easy right? Cut my notch low, was cutting the back cut, and got ambitious with a thin hinge to leave a cleaner butt log. Well, instead of going west, the hinge snapped, (brittle pine) it went north, right where I was holding the saw cutting. I dived out off the way and it missed me barely, but here's the dumb part. I hesitated by pulling the saw back trying to get it out and not get smashed, when I should have been making sure I got out and didn't get smashed. Safety pep talk, saws are easier to replace than sawyers, be safe.

They say "an inch is as good as a mile". 
Glad it missed you. 

[firefighter ontheside]

My dad worked fulltime for a longtime as a carpenter and he was always smashing his fingers.  He would use a very small drill bit and just twist it back and forth with his other hand until he had drilled a hole thru the nail.

[trimguy]

The drill bit is the way I have done it.

[aigheadish]

I've never tried poking a hole through a fingernail and every time I read of one of you guys mentioning it it makes me queasy. 

[SawyerTed]

The hot paperclip/needle/pin is much quicker and more sterile than the drill bit.  
I had a doctor use the hot paperclip method but I've also had to resort to drilling a hole with my pocket knife 

[doc henderson]

your finger and toe nails are made from the same stuff as hair.  so it does not hurt to cut or drill or melt it.  the raw skin under is another story.  so you can make the hole any way you like.  the key is to not hit the skin underneath,  so you go till blood come squirting out.  so the key is to be sure there is a layer of blood lifting up the nail between the nail and the skin.  you can push and see if it goes down a bit,  and if not it will not make it feel better, and it may hurt worse.  I use a battery operated cautery.  have to be fast so the 16 y/o girls do not chicken out.    the wire turns bright red hot, and tends to scare the faint of heart.  

[fluidpowerpro]

 

 

 Although no blood was involved, sure felt stupid. I had my saw off of the bed for the winter so could I add my homemade setworks and do a few other mods. Figured it's time to get it back on the bed so put it on with my skid steer. Once it was on tried to put some pins in that secure the saw for travel, and they wouldn't fit anymore. What! How can this be? Did the bed tweak somehow over the winter? Dang near started modifying to fix the issue when I finally realized what was wrong. I had set the saw on facing the wrong way! Idiot! After taking back off and turning around, started greasing up for this season. Still a fair amount of snow in the woods here so it will be a few more weeks.
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[Crusarius]

I love those little skidsteer things.

[fluidpowerpro]

Really a great tool. I use it all the time and can't imagine not having it. I've got lots of attachments to go with.

[Crusarius]

I keep thinking about starting a downed tree removal service and one of those is on my list to buy. Unfortunately, I really like Vermeer. Pretty sure you can get a stump grinder attachment for those as well.

[fluidpowerpro]

Mine is one of a kind. Made it myself. I also made all of my attachments. Backhoe, grapple, snow blower, snow plow, brush cutter, forks and bucket.

[Crusarius]

thats funny, all the things I have thought about making that was never on my list. It is pretty simple though. I can see how that would be worth making instead of a $60k vermeer.

[hersnsh#590]

Quite a few years ago, I had the blood under the fingernail issue.  I had heard the drill bit to release pressure solution but failed to grasp the finger twist aspect of the procedure.  I discovered that a power drill, however carefully used, will quickly penetrate the fingernail and also the very tender skin under the fingernail.  A lesson I will never forget.

Dale

[firefighter ontheside]

Oh man.  That's unfortunate.

[Crossroads]

Oh man, I had a visual of the drill bit going through the nail and threading right on into the finger. 

[WV Sawmiller]

   Some days I just feel snakebit. 

   I decided to replace the muffler on my Sthil 440. It fell off weeks ago and I ordered the parts and today it was raining and seemed like a good time to get some shop works done. Then when I got everything ready to replace I found the screws Sthil provided are too big and would not fit the holes in the saw itself so I need to take the saw to my local hardware and see if we can find the right size. 

  Then decided to put a new boat seat on and found the screws from the old ones don't fit the new one and need 4- 1-3/4"X4X20 bolts so I'll get them at the same time.

   Then went to put a new blade in my debarker and broke a 1/8" Allen wrench tip off in the set screw. I should have used the one in my 3/8" drill which I am sure is stronger.

[Crusarius]

Some days it just pays to stay in and play video games

[SawyerTed]

Howard, sounds like Murphy reminded you of his presence all day!  

[Old Greenhorn]

Some days it just pays to stay in and play video games

Well I get that Howard did not have a super productive day (actually sounds fairly typical for one of my days), but for myself I would rather do just about anything instead of playing video games. Not on my radar in any way at all... ever. :D Those things have not been allowed in our house since the kids were born and have yet to show up here. 
 Howard, what exactly is a 1-3/4"x4x20 bolt? I am not familiar with that terminology.

[WV Sawmiller]

   Well what I really need are 4 each, 1/4" dia, 20 thread hex head bolts 1-3/4" long.

   The only thing that worked for me all day was a 3 lb baby sledge hammer. I was able to straighten out the hood on my mower (which is going to the shop tomorrow too) which I'd bent in lifting to work on the blades and spindles and such in the past.

[Old Greenhorn]

  Well what I really need are 4 each, 1/4" dia, 20 thread hex head bolts 1-3/4" long.

  The only thing that worked for me all day was a 3 lb baby sledge hammer. I was able to straighten out the hood on my mower (which is going to the shop tomorrow too) which I'd bent in lifting to work on the blades and spindles and such in the past.

AH, so it was just a translation issue between WV speak and what us northerners use. I get it now. I could probably did some up in 2" long to send you, but I suspect your local supplier will be quicker.
 Those lump hammers usually don't fail. They are pretty bullet proof. I keep about 3 of them handy around the shop areas. Good wedge drivers too.

[Crusarius]

Tom, thats because you are old

I mean this in the nicest possible way  

Actually, I figured someone would say something. I know I am one of the younger members here, so I expected it

[Ljohnsaw]

Well what I really need are 4 each, 1/4" dia, 20 thread hex head bolts 1-3/4" long.

I got a jar of them in Stainless as well as Zinc plated.  But you could probably get them faster locally then from my warehouse.  These are old pictures.  There is even more stuff/selection to choose from.


 

 

[WV Sawmiller]

   I am confident our local hardware store has them. I had several about 2" long  but they would interfere with the swivel on the seat so in this case shorter would be better if it came to that.

[Old Greenhorn]

Tom, thats because you are old

I mean this in the nicest possible way

Actually, I figured someone would say something. I know I am one of the younger members here, so I expected it

YUP, thats me! Old.
 But I saw early on those dang things were KILLING kids creativity. They sat on the couch ALL day long. I felt this was a lot like what television had done to my generation and I wasn't going to have it in my house. My son hated me for it and there were a lot of fights and arguments. When he was about 20, he saw the light and thanked me for it because he saw a lot of his friends never had learned how to fix anything, use tools, or even change a tire. My son taught himself how to weld when he was 14 (poorly, but he did it), he built forts in the woods and took lawnmowers apart and learned how engines worked. I thought I had won, but I didn't. All of his kids have tablets and spend too much time on them, one is non-stop. It just too easy as a parent to let the kids play those games to 'keep busy'. 
 Sorry, it's just the way an old guy thinks. Some call it 'old ways', some call it 'perspective'.