Bad Nail Gun Day

MarkV · Sep 9, 2006

Had one of those “How did I get in the middle of this” type of days yesterday. I have been installing oak floors in four houses for one of my regular builders the last couple of weeks. Yesterday his labor was on the flat roof of a house I was working trying to nail some 2x4’s under a shallow eve for something. He was leaning over the roof holding the 2x4 and using a nail gun on the board. You may see what is coming. Next thing I know there is a bunch of yelling in Spanish and he has nailed his hand to the 2x4 while laying on his belly hanging over the roof.

I call for reinforcements and head up the ladder to see what I can do. It isn’t pretty and the guy isn’t happy. The framing nail he has through his hand has gone through the 2x4 and into the building so we can’t pull the whole board off the building. We gently tried that and even with our language barrier it was clear he didn’t care for that plan. By this time some reinforcements have come and look things over. We thought of a Saz-all to saw under the board for cutting the nails but the vibration it would cause would not have been pleasant. A hack saw blade was considered but time consuming. What I did was take an angle grinder with a sanding disk to eat up the wood around his hand so we could get to the nail shaft. Then we were able to cut the nail with the grinder while pouring water over everything to keep the heat down. All of this 2 stories up on a less than perfect ladder. Anyway he was free of the building and off to the hospital to take care of the rest of the nail removal. I was more than a little shaken, wet and less than motivated to finish the floor, though I did.

Even though not tractor related there are a lot of discussions about building on the forum. For those new to nail guns keep in mind they are very dangerous and have a big bite. Many of us that have spent most of our life around them have a bad story or two. Everybody be safe out there. Oh, and if you get in trouble I think I am retiring from the rescue business. It is just too hard on my old nerves.

MarkV

HEC · Sep 9, 2006

We have all done some things that turned out bad for sure , some get away with it a little better than others.It only takes a split second to ruin your day or maybe many more days and in the process ruin other peoples days also.I can still see my dad starting up his L235 kubota tractor while standing on the ground only to be in gear and the rear tire running right up on top of his hip.I jumped on the tractor and and put it in reverse to take it off of him as there was a rototiller on the back of it.He wasn't hurt real bad at the time but had problems with that hip up utill he passed away.
Be careful out there it sure pays in the long run

LeadPoison · Sep 9, 2006

My grandfather was building a house in 1978 when he came by to checkon progress one afternoon. He got out of his car and heard some hollering and screaming. Turns out the roofer put a nail through his big toe and fastened his foot to the plywood. They had to get a Skil saw out and cut him free. Off to the hospitable he went with a board attached to his foot. Ouch!

roxynoodle · Sep 9, 2006

My ex husband put a framing nail through his finger with a nail gun. Made for interesting X-rays at the hospital. I heard, by far, the worst nail gun accident on the radio last year. Guy called in who owned a pallet company. Well, he's got this pallet in his lap and guess where the nail went? Yep, he was attached to a pallet by a rather sensitive private part. Worst part was he was alone and had to pull that nail out to go to the hospital.

fishman · Sep 10, 2006

Stories like these and a couple of close calls myself remind me how much I want to disable the bump feature on my Porter Cable nailer. Anybody know how?

rlk · Sep 10, 2006

fishman said:
Stories like these and a couple of close calls myself remind me how much I want to disable the bump feature on my Porter Cable nailer. Anybody know how?

Fishman, please visit this link to locate a porter cable service center in your town. Porter-Cable - Parts/Service - USA - Home

I also have a porter cable nail gun, and had to disable the bump feature because it would double fire, i.e., fire one nail onto the top of the nail it just fired. When it did this, it caused the gun to have a tremendous amount of back force, and when working in close quarters this is very dangerous.

In 2003 it crushed the index finger on my left hand, which required a bunch of stitches, splint on the finger, etc. I posted the story, along with pictures on TBN - you might can still find it by searching on Porter Cable.

I filed a complaint with Porter Cable and the CPSC. The CPSC generated a bunch of paperwork, but nothing ever came of it. Apparently not enough people had been injured to cause a recall.

Porter Cable denied their product was defective, but did offer to pay my medical bills if I sent the gun back to them. My attorney told me to not send it to them, as he would have it tested locally, assuming we wanted to file a suit. I let everything pass after the CPSC said they were not going to do anything.

Anyway, it is easy to convert the Porter Cable to single fire - if I can find the instructions I'll let you know. Best I remember, it took about 15 minutes to do it.

Good luck, and please get yours converted. It is a lot safer with a single fire trigger.

Bob

JerryG · Sep 10, 2006

Some of us don't need a nail gun to nail ourself s. I nailed my little finger to my ring finger which I also nailed to my middle finger. Beat that! Three fingers with one nail. After telling the ER doctor that I wasn't using a nail gun three times, he still put in the report that it was inflected by a nail gun. I think that he was hard of hearing.

At least, I don't have to wait in line at the ER.

roxynoodle · Sep 11, 2006

Ok, last December I put a finish nail through my thumb. It had nothing to do with a nail gun. I was remodeling my kitchen and had to pull back some antique window casing to remove ugly, old paneling that was on the wall. While I was pulling on the paneling, I bumped a nail sticking out of the casing and it went all the way through the middle of my thumb. Old nails are much sharper than new ones

. For whatever reason my doctor thinks this incident was hilarious and still asks me about it. He says he wished he could see the look on my face. I said actually I was very calm and just pulled it out, said ooh, ahh! and went back to work. I had to go in because the next morning it was quite infected.

Just curious, I will be putting a hardwood floor in my kitchen and was going to borrow a neighbor's manual nail gun. Are these safer?

jimmysisson · Sep 11, 2006

Ok, last December I put a finish nail through my thumb. It had nothing to do with a nail gun. I was remodeling my kitchen and had to pull back some antique window casing to remove ugly, old paneling that was on the wall. While I was pulling on the paneling, I bumped a nail sticking out of the casing and it went all the way through the middle of my thumb. Old nails are much sharper than new ones

. For whatever reason my doctor thinks this incident was hilarious and still asks me about it. He says he wished he could see the look on my face. I said actually I was very calm and just pulled it out, said ooh, ahh! and went back to work. I had to go in because the next morning it was quite infected.

Just curious, I will be putting a hardwood floor in my kitchen and was going to borrow a neighbor's manual nail gun. Are these safer?
================
Much safer, but you can still get hurt. Your driver tightens the new board against the already-nailed-down one, and sets the nail, so you're swinging fairly hard. If you miss the plunger just hope your leg isn't in the way. When you get tired, you might misalign the floor plate/little lip on the nailer with the edge of the board, and then the nail goes wherever it's aimed. There's some pinch points on the machine you might find if you're in an odd position (up against a cabinet, etc.)
Still, it's nothing like a mistaken finger on a nail gun trigger - that's MUCH quicker and easier to do tired.

rback33 · Sep 11, 2006

JerryG said:
Some of us don't need a nail gun to nail ourself s. I nailed my little finger to my ring finger which I also nailed to my middle finger. Beat that! Three fingers with one nail. After telling the ER doctor that I wasn't using a nail gun three times, he still put in the report that it was inflected by a nail gun. I think that he was hard of hearing. At least, I don't have to wait in line at the ER.

Um.... Jerry... that story is counter productive to my previous views of you...

That musta been a sight though....