Did something dumb today.

[SawyerTed]

This is an awesome thread and it puts things in perspective.  We don't need to lose sight of that.  :D :D

[doc henderson]

and 80% is Howard, Tom and...   oh should we not mention names?   :D :D :D

[SawyerTed]

 :D :D :D :D

[Old Greenhorn]

Now just hold on there a cotten' pickin' second! Neither Howard, nor I, nor several other 'regular contributors' here constitute 80% of the 'alleged incidents' or anywhere approaching that. You don't even mention MM, who has performed epically in this particular set of 'skills' with very graphic documentation even. I just went back several pages to do a quick study and a simple check reveals that Howard and I both run around a 6 week MBTF (Mean Time Between Failures) rate (worst case) and the rest is carried by many others who may (or may not) have a longer MTBF themselves. There is also the question of who is confident enough to admit their 'mis-thoughts' and who keeps them to themselves. While I admit that Howard's situations tend to be more colorful and involve either more expense or physical pain then mine, which are usually very minor and of little consequence, we are by no means THE major contributors here.

 Let he who is without sin cast the first stone. ;D :D

 I mean really. Why, I haven't been treated for an injury (besides chiro work) by a medical professional since 1988, and even that is not worth mentioning. I challenge somebody to read all 66 pages here and made a spreadsheet of incidents and lets all see who the winners(?) are.

[bigblockyeti]

The only two dumb things I did this year that didn't result in serious injury but certainly could have were falling off the tongue of my trailer, with one leg on each side of the frame rail and later, felling the remaining ~16' of a standing cherry tree with little to no escape route.

The trailer incident, I was alone in the woods and didn't think twice about stepping on the dry rail as I have thousands of times but for some reason I went down.  Luckily I was off the gravel and in the grass/brush but the first thing I did was make sure I could reach my phone as I was certain I broke my arm, leg or both.  By the grace of God, I was only a little beaten up and not even very sore the next day but I could have easily bonked my head on the side of the trailer and would have been found cold several hours later.

The cherry broke off ~16' up from wind and had been weakened by bug damage, most of the surrounding branches had been cut into firewood & hauled off or throw onto ground where they'd decompose faster.  I started cut in a humboldt to give me a couple extra inches on the log when it would be milled, that went fine but I couldn't see the far side of my felling cut and it was off by a little.  Turns out it was off by enough, both my wedges were being swallowed as I pounded them resulting in almost no movement of the trunk.  I undershot my face cut by almost 2" on the far side (should have taken pictures to remind me what not to do) so I had to cut almost 6" deeper than I should have to get it down.  I also had no where to go except diving into the bottom of the rocky creek bottom of which I was already standing on the very slick & steep bank.  The trunk likely wouldn't have rolled slighly uphill to slide down on top of me, but there was plenty of other trees/crap that could have possibly directed it my way.

[firefighter ontheside]

Well, I took a turn this afternoon.  Sadly, its not the first or second time I've done it.  I stapled and glued the cabinet back panel onto the front of the cabinet.  Dad was helping me and we did the first 3 just right.  The fourth one I had to do something to the front first and then forgot to flip it over.  The only saving grace was that I only put about 5' worth of staples in before I realized my folly.  I was able to knock it off from the inside with minor damage to the plywood.  Of course I had to clean all of the glue off of the whole front and then flip the cabinet over and do it right.  I will be happy when this project is done.  I need a break and to do some smaller projects for a while.

[Big_eddy]

A few weeks back, I welded the wings on my splitter 4 way with a perfect 5 degree upwards angle. Except I had the vertical wedge clamped in the vise upside down at the time. I noticed it after the final welding pass on the second wing.

I moved on to other things that day. It's still sitting there. Ive been putting off cutting them off to repair. I seriously considered leaving it that way, except the back hits the frame first so there's about a 1/2" gap under the wing in the fully lowered position that will make all kinds of trash. What really ticks me off is I knew enough that I only tacked it first then double checked the angle before welding it solid. So I had two chances to get it right, and I blew both of them.

[Hilltop366]

Could you weld a ramp in front of the wings on the beam?

[doc henderson]

Tom if you divide Magic mans "Mistakes" by his age, he hardly ever make a mistake! 

[doc henderson]

Maybe Jeff will make the number of incidents the way to win the Christmas contest.  Tom remember it is not a contest! (but if it was, you might win!)   ;D

[Magicman]

Actually for now I have healed and scared over and actually am not presently wearing a Bandaid.  ;D

That plus I have not left a toe board up since last Wednesday.   :

[Resonator]

Was worried about this thread running out of material and not being able to keep going so... :D

...speaking of toeboards, I'm really good about lowering them as a rule, however...
On my mill they are manual, meaning there is a removable hand crank you use to raise and lower them. Turns out if you leave the crank engaged in the toeboard, it will stick out and the mill will hit it and abruptly stop while sawing... (twice in the last two days.) :D

[Old Greenhorn]

See, these posts following my last make my point, we all do dumb stuff. Some causes pain, some incurs extra costs, some are just frustrating or embarrassing, and some cause serious injury or the possibility of such.
 The purpose is to learn from others and be reminded that we are all one brain fart away from getting hurt.
 You're right Doc, it's not a contest, but if we had a blizzard come in and I had nothing to do, I would go through the over 3200 posts in this thread and make a scorecard to see who is leading the race. It would be interesting, but I need to make some money first.
 Personally I have my own guesses and Howard did not make the cut, nor did I. MM usually does it in a big way that deserves it's own thread so they don't count here. Yeah if we figured it averaged out by age. MM, Howard, and myself are probably all low runners, with MM at the bottom.
 For the record I have not left up a toeboard ruining even one board since April because I changed my habits, learning from others here. 8)

[sawguy21]

@Resonator I really don't think you have a lot to worry about, this bunch can be quite creative.

[GAB]

Was worried about this thread running out of material and not being able to keep going so... :D

...speaking of toeboards, I'm really good about lowering them as a rule, however...
On my mill they are manual, meaning there is a removable hand crank you use to raise and lower them. Turns out if you leave the crank engaged in the toeboard, it will stick out and the mill will hit it and abruptly stop while sawing... (twice in the last two days.) :D

Glad to see that I am not the only sllooowwww learner!
GAB

[doc henderson]

  :D :D :D

[dougtrr2]

@Resonator I really don't think you have a lot to worry about, this bunch can be quite creative.

Reminds me of a poster I made in college print class:
"It is impossible to make anything foolproof, because idiots are so ingenious"
Doug in SW IA (and I do resemble that remark)

[Resonator]

And some see the claim "foolproof" as a challenge...  :D

Also remember in the entertainment business great comedy is often a series of mistakes done in a funny way. ;D

[doc henderson]

a comedy of errors!

[rusticretreater]

Shakespearian!

[WV Sawmiller]

   Remember - The Titanic was touted as unsinkable!

    (As to other comments above, at least I still have all my body parts even if some have been stitched back together and grown back together in a couple of - okay, a few - cases.)

[aigheadish]

I wouldn't worry too much fellas. I'm convinced that the only reason some of you wrack up more dumb things is that you are doing more than most of us.

My dumb things are almost entirely based on ignorance and poor planning. Thusly, I waste a lot of time, effort, and materials making something that could've been made much better.

[SawyerTed]

  Remember - The Titanic was touted as unsinkable!

   (As to other comments above, at least I still have all my body parts even if some have been stitched back together and grown back together in a couple of - okay, a few - cases.)

But the H-4 Hercules wasn't supposed to fly.... BTW, the Spruce Goose was made of birch.

[firefighter ontheside]

Birch goose doesn't rhyme.

[K-Guy]

Spruce Goose was made of birch

I bet you were careful on the spelling of that last word!! :D smiley_jester