Stupid Stuff I've done...

[Peace]

The Jake Locker story -with an injured hip and knee brought back the memory of my stupidity just a few months ago.  I thought we all might share a little laugh at ourselves.

 

Here's mine:

    We have a lot of stumps on our 1 acre property - 14, mostly mature, most cut off between 8" and 3' from ground level (thank you previous owner).  It would cost a boatload (to me) to have them ground and removed, so I thought I would just chip away at them one at a time.

 

    Stump #1 was a good candidate, only 8 or so inches high, I could chip a little each morning before my shower and be done in no time.  I started in with the pickaxe slowly and carefully - learning my technique. As I worked my way around the stump, the pieces really started coming off.  I was literally chipping away at the stump in good time.

     After making one full revolution around the stump, I turned up the heat and really started swinging... -no sooner did I do that, than a 6"x8" piece of elm came rocketing off of that stump and into the inside of my right knee.  I hit the ground like my leg had been cut off... no thought, no reaction.. just down.

   As I realized I was on the ground - rolling back and forth and groaning, I was sure I was ok - a serious injury would never hurt this bad.  - but I was looking around trying to see if anyone in the neighborhood had heard or seen me go down...   I was out of breath, dizzy, nauseous, and couldn't put weight on that leg.  Crazy pain was radiating up to my hip.    All of this pain (I could barely breathe), and my greatest concern was - how the heck was I going to get up and across the yard to the house?!  

     I grabbed the pickaxe and pulled myself up - using it as a crutch/cane to get across the yard and into the house.  I must've looked pitiful.  My 5yr old kids sprang into action - without me saying a word - ran and got the frozen peas out of the freezer and told me to lay down on the couch and prop my leg up - and put some ice on that knee (yes, I was proud - though a bit out of it).

 

     In hindsight, I could see my stupidity - that the angle of the pickaxe leveraged debris right toward my body - legs in particular - with the velocity of the projectile commensurate to the force with which I swung.  - I'm lucky I didn't break a tibia.  -if that piece had hit me in the nuts, I would've been in a coma.

 

    That stump is still there - just as I left it, and I still have the scar.  It's a "stupid" scar.

 

What about you?

[shaftbass]

This forum's database isn't large enough for me to make this thread.

[Timestepper]

This forum's database isn't large enough for me to make this thread.

Ditto... times two.

[UncleJak]

Ok...I was attempting to adjust my attic stairs and decided to try to hold the bar while under tension and have my dad undo the bolt. I figured I would ease it up...dad told me he thoughr this was a bad idea..he undid the bolt, it sheared the pin and the bar flew out of my hands and hit me strait above the eye. A stitch-worthy cut! If it had been half inch lower I would have gotten my eye. Moral of the story: sometimes your dad knows what he is talking about.

sent barefoot from the hills of Tennessee

[DaveS]

Reloaded black powder cartridges. Nuff' said.

 

DaveS

[Peace]

...dad told me he thoughr this was a bad idea..he undid the bolt, it sheared the pin and the bar flew out of my hands and hit me strait above the eye. A stitch-worthy cut! If it had been half inch lower I would have gotten my eye.

 

Holy ouch!

[VERO1]

Reloaded model rocket engines with black powder and a cannon fuse. Many police cars circling the block looking for the source of the explosion!

[vontar]

My wife tells me I should write a book.  Most of it was between the age 14 and 18, but continued until about 22.

 

(climbed a Coal Silo 210 feet up, that was still under construction.)  not once, but about 3 times over a weekend.  Up the side and along the belt line.

[Spots]

Ill get fired up a little later. I have plenty, and the scars to remind me of them. I did cut my belt in half with the chainsaw tree climbing once. Thank God for safety lines

Tapatalk ate my spelling.

[Raoul]

I shouldn't say. I'm not sure the statute of limitations has passed.

[TMF]

When you are tightening down the hot wire that came loose on the back of your dryer, make sure to unplug the cord from the wall. There's a but of voltage running through them wires, and it hurts.

[hipower]

Found a frayed or mouse chewed spot on an electrical cord to my stereo receiver on night. Thought this is no big deal. I'll just cut the end off and put on a new plug rather than splice the cord. So I went and got a plug end, screwdriver, knife to trime the line ends, and a pair of wire cutters to cut the old plug off. 

 

Now rather than move everything from the cabinet I had it sitting on, I decided to sit on the floor and do it there.

 

Got my tools in line, picked up the cord, and calmly cut it, ready to put the plug on. 

 

Melted the ends off the wire cutters, fried my receiver, and knocked my ass across the floor.

 

I forgot to unplug it.  :stunned:  :squint:  :rofl:

[Peace]

When you are tightening down the hot wire that came loose on the back of your dryer, make sure to unplug the cord from the wall. There's a but of voltage running through them wires, and it hurts.

 

-TMF

_____________________________________________________________________

:tinfoil:

Edited October 2, 2013 by Peace

[Peace]

Aaaaaaaaah!!!   

I'm reading thinking, ... no, no, no, no, no no no!  aaahhhh.

Edited October 2, 2013 by Peace

[RED333]

More thumbs hit with a hammer, did it to both thumbs in 1 min of each other, yea I can hammer with both hands, sometimes not so good.

Cutting the floor out of an old barn, chain saw kicked, good thing I had a pair of coveralls on to stop the saw before it got to me.

Trying to ride a calf, had it pined in the hall of the barn, it wanted to go out the door behind me, I tried to stop it, woke up with my

Mom standing over me asking if I was OK, I said yes, she started to beat me worse than the calf did.

I to have more story's than there is time for.

[Tncobra]

I almost jumped a cement drainage ditch on my 1978 RM 125C , that was about 40 ft wide. I hit the far inside wall and broke both my legs at the shin. I had six weeks in bed with sand bags tied to my ankles to reflect. Then some more months of casts. If I had only gave it more throttle ! I did a lot more stupid things on dirt bikes before and after, just didn't fail as bad as that one time. I would have been an internet hero in 1979.

I rode a log across a creek and hit a tree on the other side, only cracked my helmet :)

[seez52]

washing excessively dirty wheel weights before dropping them in the pot of molten lead, and thinking they were completely dry..... and not having safety glasses on. This was 30+ years ago. I've smartened up since, I hope.

[VERO1]

My wife can tell you why you don't want to ground your wedding ring to the negative post of a car battery. She did that while tightening the positive terminal with her trusty vise grips.  One trip to the emergency room to get the ring cut off. (they had to call the fire dept. for help, their cutters wouldn't go through platinum) Several trips to the doctors office for follow- ups. Still has the brand it made on her finger.  Somehow, it is still my fault even though I was at work whn she did it! 

[Wiljo05]

Trying to ride a calf, had it pined in the hall of the barn, it wanted to go out the door behind me, I tried to stop it, woke up with my
Mom standing over me asking if I was OK, I said yes, she started to beat me worse than the calf did.
I to have more story's than there is time for.

When I was younger, a buddy and I would pen the not so tame horses up in the barn, fashion a bridle out of a bucket handle and reigns out of bailing twine. Then ride as fast as they could go up and down the barn alley...

[R_Bert]

Discovered I had a open bleeder resistor on the high voltage supply to a radio amplifier.  I didn't know I could jump backwards 20'+ in the process of blowing a hole into my finger.  Fortunately, the concrete wall behind me stopped my head.

 

In another amplifier incident, I discovered how to make a bank of HV electrolytic capacitors invert themselves like very noisy sea-cucumbers. My ears still ring after 20 years.

 

My stupidity was not limited to my adult years.  When I was seven, I learned how NOT to cut a marsh-mellow stick off of a tree (hint...grip the tree *below* the hunting knife, not above).

Edited October 2, 2013 by R_Bert

[superduty]

O my God, all the things I should not mention. . ..

AKA, major learning experiences....

Sometimes, ya gotta narrowly escape to figure it out.

[mikegideon]

Discovered I had a open bleeder resistor on the high voltage supply to a radio amplifier.  I didn't know I could jump backwards 20'+ in the process of blowing a hole into my finger.  Fortunately, the concrete wall behind me stopped my head.

 

In another amplifier incident, I discovered how to make a bank of HV electrolytic capacitors invert themselves like very noisy sea-cucumbers. My ears still ring after 20 years.

 

My stupidity was not limited to my adult years.  When I was seven, I learned how NOT to cut a marsh-mellow stick off of a tree (hint...grip the tree *below* the hunting knife, not above).

 

I have an open bleeder in one of my transmitters right now. Plate voltage is 13,000, and plate current is 2.3 amps. We don't work on them hot. With that said, I've grabbed lots of high voltage over the years, just not one of the big boys. Turns your skin white.

Edited October 2, 2013 by mikegideon

[TMF]

My wife can tell you why you don't want to ground your wedding ring to the negative post of a car battery. She did that while tightening the positive terminal with her trusty vise grips. One trip to the emergency room to get the ring cut off. (they had to call the fire dept. for help, their cutters wouldn't go through platinum) Several trips to the doctors office for follow- ups. Still has the brand it made on her finger. Somehow, it is still my fault even though I was at work whn she did it!

Oh wow. I didn't even think about that when I taught my wife how to change/jump a battery.

[BigK]

Made a bench vise in a metalworking class at TTU once. Milling the base, jaws, anvil, etc went smoothly enough. After cutting threads on the spindle successfully, I was clearly over-confident in my skills with a lathe. You cut threads at a slow speed, but turning the handle requires a bit more rpms, so you have to use a lathe-dog to hold the material in place.

That's where the rule about NEVER EVER EVER making tool adjustments until the lathe comes to a complete stop comes in. Only I was way too smart for that. I had already done so a few times while cutting the threads (with no lathe dog in place). I loosened the tool holder, inserted a new one, tightened the nut and BAM! I'm seeing stars, my white sweatshirt is red, my eyes are watering, and my nose is broken. Apparently my wrench hit the lathe dog, sending it hurdling at my face at what seemed like the speed of sound, based on the pain. Edited October 2, 2013 by BigK

[tnguy]

Well, one of the latest ones... I keep bees. I was getting in the hive and I'd agitated my girls just a little too much and one of them decided to land on my thumb and give me a nice sting. So I swatted at it. With what was in my left hand. Which was a hive tool. For those that don't know, this is a 10" piece of steel with a sharp edge. And I did it twice. Another one for the scar collection.

 

And after I'd patched myself up quickly, I still had to put the hive back together.

 

Edited October 2, 2013 by tnguy