Woodworking dangerous? Try gardening!

[Aquachiefofficer]

At 6pm this evening I received a phone call from an old friend I've worked with for many years. He was air-lifted from Stornaway to Glasgow for surgery last week due to a gardening accident. He lost the tips of all 8 fingers cutting the grass. He foolishly (by his own admission) left his petrol mower running and then tried to pick it up!
He doesn't expect to return to sea after over 40 years of service. Be careful out there friends.
Paul

 

[Trevanion]

That's genuinely horrific! Did they manage to save any?

 

[Aquachiefofficer]

Hi Trevanion,
Sadly I don't think so, rotary mowers don't take prisoners. He's a tough and resilient man but I've never heard him depondent before.
Paul

 

[Garno]

Oh my word,
That sounds awful.
Do you know how far down his fingers he has lost? I lost the tip of one of mine a couple of months ago and am amazed at how it has grown back, although the end of the finger is flat you would never know. I also did not require surgery. It will probably be the open fractures that require the operation and not the open wound.
I wish him luck and a speedy recovery.

 

[sammy.se]

Poor guy :-(

Hope he feels better soon.

 

[Steve Maskery]

As a teenager I once put a garden fork through my hand. Not right through, but more than far enough thank you very much.
I was tending a bonfire with a garden fork, something got stuck, I went to pick it up, it was hot, I recoiled, the fork was in the way.
The nurse said she'd seen many a fork through a foot, but never through a hand.

 

[samhay]

"The nurse said she'd seen many a fork through a foot,..."
Yep, I managed to do that in my youth. Made a right mess of my wellies.

To the OP, hoping your mate hasn't taking too much of his fingers. Either way, it's going to be a bit awkward for a while without the use of either hand.

 

[Phil Pascoe]

I knew personally three people who'd lopped the toes of one foot with a Flymo.

 

[transatlantic]

I knew personally three people who'd lopped the toes of one foot with a Flymo.

How?

I don't ... how?

The mower is a few feet away due to the handle.

How?

 

[Aquachiefofficer]

I've spoken to the captain of the dive ship the guy works on and he thinks he may be able to return to work once healed. He's a second officer and dynamic system operator so most of the time he is pushing buttons on a computer. The company will keep him on full pay for 6 months which should be enough time to recover.
It may not be as bleak as first feared. Thanks to all who replied to this post.
Paul

 

[flying haggis]

every time i see some one cutting the grass with a rotary mower,and especially flymos, wearing trainers or worse flip flop style shoes I cringe. i never use my mower without safety shoes on, wet grass one slip and your foot could be under the rim of the machine

 

[Trainee neophyte]

I knew personally three people who'd lopped the toes of one foot with a Flymo.

Add me to the list. The only way to get a flymo to cut grass is to kick the bloody thing. Eventually it will flip up just as you go to kick it, and you will put your foot through the blade instead. It seems to be a design feature. I kept my toe - just lopped the top off, like on a boiled egg. Went through my work boots like butter - only steel toe-caps ever since.

Lesson learned: never cut grass for other people as a favour, and NEVER use their cheap, nasty flymo.

 

[Suffolkboy]

The lesson you learned wasn't not to propel lawnmowers by kicking them?

 

[Alder]

This thread has evolved slightly so here are two offerings from me.
Whilst loading straw bales onto a small lorry my pitchfork spike went through the lorry drivers hand, his name i seem to recall was Les Pike!
A pocket knife was standard fare for me and my friends from a very early age, even at Primary School. One lesson i learnt at a very young age was not pull the knife towards me when cutting. An individual older than me cut a bale by pulling the knife upwards and took his own eye out.
Russell

 

[thetyreman]

hope he recovers, sounds nasty!

 

[Trevanion]

It's really a sobering reminder of how something so mundane as mowing the lawn can be so dangerous if you're not paying complete attention, let alone working with power tools or even hand tools.

I've got plenty of local agricultural (and woodworking) horror stories that have been passed around for years, but one I know personally involved a lapse of judgment with a post knocker running off the back of a tractor. This individual had been doing post knocking for years and had put in thousands if not tens of thousands of posts in the ground without any incident. One day he was working a field and doing his usual routine but for some reason when he was positioning a post he left his hand on top of the post when he threw the switch to drop the weight, which resulted in his right hand becoming one with the post. I couldn't imagine the pain of having all the bones in your hand pulverized.

For those who don't know what a post knocker is:

I once knocked myself out with a post rammer which is basically a tube with an end cap and two handles for hammering on top of a post if you're doing them by hand, when I returned from slamming down on the post I pulled it up a little too high and the end of the tube caught the top edge of the post which caused the rammer to come backward and knock me straight on the head. Fortunately no serious damage (That I know of :wink but I was on the ground for a good while before I came around with one hell of a headache. That's when I decided I'll only take down fences from now on, I'll let someone else put new stuff in!

 

[rafezetter]

I've spoken to the captain of the dive ship the guy works on and he thinks he may be able to return to work once healed. He's a second officer and dynamic system operator so most of the time he is pushing buttons on a computer. The company will keep him on full pay for 6 months which should be enough time to recover.
It may not be as bleak as first feared. Thanks to all who replied to this post.
Paul

Oh that's good news - your post is a good reminder how a senior moment can end, made me seriously cringe when I read it.

 

[rafezetter]

This thread has evolved slightly so here are two offerings from me.
Whilst loading straw bales onto a small lorry my pitchfork spike went through the lorry drivers hand, his name i seem to recall was Les Pike!
A pocket knife was standard fare for me and my friends from a very early age, even at Primary School. One lesson i learnt at a very young age was not pull the knife towards me when cutting. An individual older than me cut a bale by pulling the knife upwards and took his own eye out.
Russell

I wish you hadn't posted that, ohh i so wish you hadnt posted that, I wish you hadnt posted that ohh i so wish you hadnt posted that, I wish you hadnt posted that ohh i so wish you hadnt posted thatv I wish you hadnt posted that ohh i so wish you hadnt posted that...... ad infinitum

 

[Trainee neophyte]

The lesson you learned wasn't not to propel lawnmowers by kicking them?

I is a farmer. Sometimes, the best way to get something to do the job is to kick it. Works on all sorts of things. (There may be consequences, especially if you put "the wife" on the list).

 

[flying haggis]

I knew personally three people who'd lopped the toes of one foot with a Flymo.

Add me to the list. The only way to get a flymo to cut grass is to kick the bloody thing. Eventually it will flip up just as you go to kick it, and you will put your foot through the blade instead. It seems to be a design feature. I kept my toe - just lopped the top off, like on a boiled egg. Went through my work boots like butter - only steel toe-caps ever since.

Lesson learned: never cut grass for other people as a favour, and NEVER use their cheap, nasty flymo.

the only time i used a flymo( a big contractors version about 21 inch cut) was to cut a 45 degree slope. the secret is to stand at the top with a rope tied to the flymo and let it slide down then haul it up. when you have done a bit you can start to swing it in an arc, works really well.