Death involving splitting wedge and sledge...

[sixdogs]

I happened to read of an unusual accident involving a death of a guy splitting wood in his yard. It was in the Bangor (Maine) Daily News maybe a month back. He was hitting the steel wedge with a sledge and a piece flew off and hit the artery in his leg that matters. After he tried to run back to the house, he bled out and died on the lawn.
What is odd is that I saw something similar 40 years earlier when a friend and I were splitting wood. He got a piece of shrapnel in his leg, had it surgically removed and has problems to this day. Further, I saw the shrapnel thing again recently.
Having heated with wood in Maine for 25+ years I have cut and split maybe 300 to 400 cords of wood and a lot of it invloved a sledge and steel wedge. Many a piece of "shrapnel" flew off.
Now, I no longer use much wood but if I did would stick to plan "B" and find a different way to tempt the fate that follows us all.
Just offering this in hope of saving someone some agony.

 

[Ductape]

Sounds believeable to me. I also have a chunk of steel in my right thigh from splitting wood. I bled like a stuck pig for a bit, and drove myself to the hospital. After X-rays they told me it was too deep to remove without "real" surgery (i had no insurance at the time), and suggested i just leave it there. A couple shots later i was on my way home. Now i just have fun with it running my hand held metal detector over my leg for my friends!

Its very important to keep your wedges dressed properly (though dressing wasn't my problem). These peices of metal can end up in your eye, or worse (obviously). Stay safe out there !

 

[jimmyj]

Wow, this is shocking. I never realized a piece of a wedge be that dangerous except to your eye. When you talk about dressing your wedges, what exactly is the best stuff to do? Should I make sure to grind off any "mushroom" edges or cracked bits?

 

[MikeD74T]

My father had a dime sized piece come off a splitting wedge into his calf. Had it surgically removed. His xray showed over a dozen pieces of schrapnel left over from WWII. He flew in B24's in the Pacific. Said they often came back with small cuts & never gave them much thought. The Doc chided that with one more piece of metal in his body he'd never get past airport security again, & this was way before 9/11. MikeD74T

 

[Ductape]

Wow, this is shocking. I never realized a piece of a wedge be that dangerous except to your eye. When you talk about dressing your wedges, what exactly is the best stuff to do? Should I make sure to grind off any "mushroom" edges or cracked bits?

You hit the nail on the head. This will reduce pieces flying off greatly.

 

[LBrown59]

Sounds believeable to me. I also have a chunk of steel in my right thigh from splitting wood. I bled like a stuck pig for a bit, and drove myself to the hospital. After X-rays they told me it was too deep to remove without "real" surgery (i had no insurance at the time), and suggested i just leave it there. A couple shots later i was on my way home. Now i just have fun with it running my hand held metal detector over my leg for my friends!

Its very important to keep your wedges dressed properly (though dressing wasn't my problem). These peices of metal can end up in your eye, or worse (obviously). Stay safe out there !

A frind of mine lost an eye like that several yers ago splitting wood .
They had to remove his eye and put in a glass eye.
You have to watch this with steel chisels too.
Always wear good quality safety glasses

 

[EdC]

This sure will make me a lot more careful the next time I use a wedge. 95% of my splitting is done with a splitting maul. Last year I was swacking the back of a hand axe with a four pound maul since one arm was out of commision. If that ever happens again I'll borrow or buy a hydraulic splitter.

 

[Bedlam]

Definitely grind or burn the edges off. same as with chisels in the garage.But we often pick one up and say well thats a job for later I'm just gonna hit a few. and never get them cleaned back .

 

[Skyco]

Many years ago I worked in a boat shop as an after school/summer part-timer. We used to routinely remove the bearing caps from boat axles with a claw hammer. The claws are stuck in the edge of the sheet metal cap where it meets the cast iron hub...a few wacks on the head of the claw hammer with another hammer and they usually popped right off. Had a stubborn one one day so I was really wacking the two hammer faces together...one hammer chipped and shot the piece into my arm, pretty deep but I got it out with some needle nose pliers. Back in those days we never messed with safety goggles and probably didn't even know not to strike two hammers together. I'm wiser now

 

[LBrown59]

Many years ago I worked in a boat shop as an after school/summer part-timer. We used to routinely remove the bearing caps from boat axles with a claw hammer. The claws are stuck in the edge of the sheet metal cap where it meets the cast iron hub...a few wacks on the head of the claw hammer with another hammer and they usually popped right off. Had a stubborn one one day so I was really wacking the two hammer faces together...one hammer chipped and shot the piece into my arm, pretty deep but I got it out with some needle nose pliers. Back in those days we never messed with safety goggles and probably didn't even know not to strike two hammers together. I'm wiser now

I've done that