Dufas Moment...

[Richard]

Wife & I replaced the handrail on an elevated deck off a back bedroom. No great shakes. Got the parts, measured, stained, cut....now getting ready to install and she notices one of the stiles (?) that hold all of this...was loose. Looking closer, seems when this was refinished several years ago, someone or something had pulled the bottom two nails out of where it was attached.

I was going to simply screw it back in when I realized these nails are the reason why it won't go flush. I bounce down two flights of stairs to get my oscillating saw but alas, no metal cutting blades. Not to fear, I pull out my sawzall which I know DOES have some metal cutting blades, but it's bigger and a bit tighter to fit in the 1 1/2" space I had.

Carry it back up, sit on deck to assess things and start to attach the blade. Can't quite reach it as it's retracted.... no problem, I GENTLY pull trigger to get it to move out....and it's 100% dead. Zero, nothing.

Memories of once having a gallon jug of muratic acid dripping in the garage (thankfully, right above a stainless container which caputured it BUT the fumes still caused us issues)

I'm wondering if this has been eaten away inside. No worries, if so, I can take apart to clean/fix. It has the slider on top to go into oscillating mode or not.... it WOULD NOT budge....adding to my fears that the guts were eaten away when that acid got loose.

I then had a slap my forehead moment......

Yep..... though cord was plugged into wall..... the other end was not plugged into the saw itself. I didn't attach it as I was sitting with saw on my lap.

yeesh.

(nails now cut and stile is firmly attached)

I figure if I can't fess up to being a dufas, then my wife will beat me to it and announce it!!

 

[Runner]

Confession is good for the soul. Live long and have many more dufas moments.

 

[oosik]

I have a 3000 W Honda generator. I use it out on the property to run my corded tools. Battery powered tools seem to die prior to project completion.

So I have a project. Way out in the NW meadow. Load the generator, Hole Hog drill, drill bits, gloves, toilet paper, water - onto the tractor.

Get all the way out there - where in the @#$% is the extension cord.

By the time I get back from getting the extension cord - it's starting to get hot - I'm pissed - this project will now be a sweaty endeavor.

I won't make this mistake again. However - I fear there are others - just waiting in the wings.

 

[Richard]

I'll just refer to you as "BD" or, Brother Dufas!

 

[dodge man]

I once needed an extension chord to power the fridge with my generator during a power outage. I walked out to my shop, hit the light switch without thinking, walked over grabbed the extension chord when I realized the lights were on. I guess I don’t need this extension chord anymore huh.

 

[Rockbadchild]

I can't count the amount of time I unplug the skill saw to plug the grinder but I simply re-plug the skill saw, then I wonder why the grinder is not working ... or going around looking for my flat head screw driver while holding it in my hands .... or I am looking for my pencil, can't find it, so I go get a other one, make my mark and I go to put it on my ear and there is already a pencil there....

Our horse fence is electric but it is currently powered by the camper generator (for now) they needed to get zap once or twice so they respect the fence, now that's done we don't need it on but I will still transfer it to the grid once I built the fence close enough to my parents house. I was in the camper in the morning and I start the generator to make my coffee, since I was out I go check the horse water tub level and it was a bit low so I went through the slinky gate (which is electrify as well but usually the power is not on) to fill it, as I go through the gate I have this electric sensation in my hand, balls and right foot ( left foot was in the air), in the heat of the moment I was thinking did I just pull a muscle or got a hernia?? What was that, how can it went from my hand and balls to the feet why the hand ?? then it occur to me the generator is running! so the fence is live, duhh... but it took me a second .... Ok Yes it was early in the morning and I had a few beers the nigh before ...

I hope these 4 makes you feel better... the worse of all is there is nobody to get mad at other then yourself.

 

[BravoXray]

I will simply relate that a plasma cutter will not cut worth a damn if the ground cable isn't clamped to the piece you're trying to cut.

 

[Richard]

I will simply relate that a plasma cutter will not cut worth a damn if the ground cable isn't clamped to the piece you're trying to cut.

what do they say...

"pics or it DID happen!"

 

[mikester]

Even in Australia!

 

[Yander]

Boy, I wouldn't know which one to go first with I've had soooo many of those.

When I was 19 a guy (he was in his 30s) asked me to haul a fridge to the other side of town. He went with me.

No need to strap it down just go slow. Didn't even get off the first Street, never went above 30 mph, KABLAM! Fridge blew over in back of truck.

Never worked again.

 

[JethroB]

As office manager I decided to keep our visiting IT guy company late into the evening. (It’s always good to keep the Tech people happy.) So we run a very very long length of twinax cable through a drop ceiling to replace one that kept giving us issues. When finished and being the thoughtful and tidy types we decide it best to remove the original faulty cable to eliminate clutter and future confusion up there . Yep,,, yanked down the new cable . Time to go home.

 

[Rockbadchild]

As office manager I decided to keep our visiting IT guy company late into the evening. (It’s always good to keep the Tech people happy.) So we run a very very long length of twinax cable through a drop ceiling to replace one that kept giving us issues. When finished and being the thoughtful and tidy types we decide it best to remove the original faulty cable to eliminate clutter and future confusion up there . Yep,,, yanked down the new cable . Time to go home.

that's some funny sh@t right there... well for me, I am sure you don't think so

 

[Jstpssng]

When I did a stint for a landscaping business, the youngest two of my coworkers were sent out of town for a few days. They were given enough cash for meals, lodging, and truck fuel and what was left was theirs to keep. Their vehicle was a 4 door ton truck with a newly rebuilt 305. By the end of the week it was low on oil, so they found a gallon jug of 10-30 between the seats... not noticing that someone had written "Roundup" in very small letters on the jug. By the time they got back the engine needed all new gaskets.

To his credit the owner didn't get mad at them, he just had the engine rebuilt again.
When it came back though, he did tell them "if you put Roundup in my engine again I'll put you in it!!"

 

[oosik]

My first experience really using the bucket on my first tractor. Followed the owners manual instructions carefully and got a really heaping load of sand in the bucket.

My surprise. Rather than the bucket full of sand raising - it was the rear tires that lifted off the ground. Lever forward immediately. Rear tires hit the ground like a hot potato.

Ah, ha - time to be more careful and get a rear blade.

 

[Rockbadchild]

When I did a stint for a landscaping business, the youngest two of my coworkers were sent out of town for a few days. They were given enough cash for meals, lodging, and truck fuel and what was left was theirs to keep. Their vehicle was a 4 door ton truck with a newly rebuilt 305. By the end of the week it was low on oil, so they found a gallon jug of 10-30 between the seats... not noticing that someone had written "Roundup" in very small letters on the jug. By the time they got back the engine needed all new gaskets.

To his credit the owner didn't get mad at them, he just had the engine rebuilt again.
When it came back though, he did tell them "if you put Roundup in my engine again I'll put you in it!!"

ouch ehn that’s a good boss … sorry my french but what is roundup ?

 

[Rockbadchild]

I was driving a mid articulated Volvo on super swamper tires once and I was lifting my box to dump my load in the trench and the excavator operator radio me and told me “hey not there” so I lowered the box quickly without thinking about it and ouch the whiplash I must’ve got a concussion, i lost my hard hat and the floor dust smoke the whole cab… lesson learn on that one.

 

[Eagle1]

ouch ehn that’s a good boss … sorry my french but what is roundup ?

Weed killer.... a brand name for Glyphosate

 

[Jstpssng]

Weed killer.... a brand name for Glyphosate

Exactly. To be more specific, that's the trade name for the company which developed it.
Side note; this is one reason why you aren't supposed to repackage pesticides without proper labeling.

 

[ponytug]

Many moons ago, a coworker got an old AllisChalmers row tractor into a tight spot on the edge of a stream and came to get me to get it out. I had driven it perhaps once or twice, but the tractor was right on the edge of a four foot drop into a creek, and was needed elsewhere.

So I climbed up, stepped on the clutch and brakes, and started it up, put in gear and feathered the clutch and released the brakes. Yup. Started to power backwards. Wrong gear. I stood on the brakes, and shifted to the other "H-shift" pattern and got the tractor out. My memory is that the other tractors on the farm had a different shift pattern...

In hindsight, I was probably closer to killing myself than anything I had ever done before or since.

Never been a big fan of geared tractors on slopes since then for some reason.

All the best,

Peter

 

[LS Tractor Owner]

I was really into the RC airplanes. Had purchased a used nitro engine at a swap meet, the engine was all gummed up from sitting with fuel in it for years.

Easy fix, just remove the glowplug, pour a bit of fresh fuel in the hole, let it sit overnight.....

Next morning, it was freed up, but still stiff to turn the prop. OK, more fuel down the hole. That afternoon, decided to use the electric starter motor to turn over the engine quickly and for longer....

Put some more fuel down the hole. Then, while looking down the same hole, touched the electric starter to the prop....

PPPSSHHOOOOO! That fuel I just put in the hole came out directly into my face and eyes! HOLY *@/t! ---- I have been in training courses when you get sprayed with pepper spray.... I will do that all day long compared to nitro fuel!

Oh, don't forget about the castor oil component in the fuel too. I must have rinsed my eyes for an hour! Good thing was no damage. Won't do that again......