t-posts and gloves

[bigballer]

yesterday morning i was working on doing some (pre) cleanup around my latest project and picked up a couple t-posts, carrying them horizontally (one in each hand) i tossed the first one into the pile for cleanup later. as i tossed the post, the metal plate towards the bottom (with the points on it) slid forward and hooked onto the palm of my hand and ripped a 3" gash in my hand, a very loud expletive rolled off my lips and i knew i was in trouble. i gave it a quick glance before squeezing my palm shut and lifting above my head. it was a jagged deep cut that would definately need a good cleaning and stitching. a couple hours later i was back home with 10 stitches, a sore arm from a tetnus shot, a bottle of anitbiotics, and a bottle of vicodin.. luckily so far it appears i have escaped serious nerve damage but it is quite painful.

lesson learned: no matter how "light" the work seems, ALWAYS wear good pair of leather gloves when dealing with fencing (or any other outside work that involves sharp objects). the rub is that i had a pair of thick leather gloves sitting there but thought, I don't need them yet as I am not doing anything too dangerous.. i thought wrong apparently..

 

[Defective]

An extra hint for you...

Think about how you release things when you throw them. The gloves will definitely help, but if there is a sharp edge, it can go right through the leather too. (I got you on the stitch count by 12...and I had my gloves on at the time.) Don't just rely on your safety gear to protect you.

Take it easy & let it heal.

 

[Soundguy]

Take it easy on that hand. Hey.. at least they gave you the happy pills. My doc is reluctant to isue happy pills the last few times i got hurt on the farm.

Soundguy

yesterday morning i was working on doing some (pre) cleanup around my latest project and picked up a couple t-posts, carrying them horizontally (one in each hand) i tossed the first one into the pile for cleanup later. as i tossed the post, the metal plate towards the bottom (with the points on it) slid forward and hooked onto the palm of my hand and ripped a 3" gash in my hand, a very loud expletive rolled off my lips and i knew i was in trouble. i gave it a quick glance before squeezing my palm shut and lifting above my head. it was a jagged deep cut that would definately need a good cleaning and stitching. a couple hours later i was back home with 10 stitches, a sore arm from a tetnus shot, a bottle of anitbiotics, and a bottle of vicodin.. luckily so far it appears i have escaped serious nerve damage but it is quite painful.

lesson learned: no matter how "light" the work seems, ALWAYS wear good pair of leather gloves when dealing with fencing (or any other outside work that involves sharp objects). the rub is that i had a pair of thick leather gloves sitting there but thought, I don't need them yet as I am not doing anything too dangerous.. i thought wrong apparently..

 

[MikeD74T]

Our company just instituted a new safety policy that requires all employees to have gloves in their possession anywhere that hardhat & safety glasses are required. Obviously gloves are free & a wide variety availible depending on use. Trying to cut down a high incidence of minor hand injuries to prempt more serious ones. The theory was that some employees were injured as they stopped to do an unplanned task while passing by without gloves on. Now the employees worry that senior management will touch things just because they have gloves with them. Looks a little dumb to see a touring group of visitors with new hardhats, safety glasses and GLOVES !!! MikeD74T

 

[Rara Avis]

Hope you feel better...
Your accident was just another example of lack of attention to job at hand...(sorry about the pun)...That most of us on this forum have been guilty of more than once and just been luckier than you were...

 

[bigballer]

i appreciate the well wishes and i agree the gloves may not have necessarily prevented the injury but they may have prevented me from having to go to the ER. i also agree that paying closer attention to the task at hand is advisable. sometimes i (we) are in too much of a hurry, our mind wanders or we are thinking 3 steps ahead when we should focus on what we are doing. i guess that's the world we live in too much to do and seemingly never enough time to do it. as a co-worker once said, "your inbox (email at work) will be full until the day you die so take it one step at a time".

on a side note, i always wear gloves, heavy boots, muffs, and glasses while chainsawing but am thinking chaps and a helmet would be a good addition.

be safe out there..

 

[JC-jetro]

yesterday morning i was working on doing some (pre) cleanup around my latest project and picked up a couple t-posts, carrying them horizontally (one in each hand) i tossed the first one into the pile for cleanup later. as i tossed the post, the metal plate towards the bottom (with the points on it) slid forward and hooked onto the palm of my hand and ripped a 3" gash in my hand, a very loud expletive rolled off my lips and i knew i was in trouble. i gave it a quick glance before squeezing my palm shut and lifting above my head. it was a jagged deep cut that would definately need a good cleaning and stitching. a couple hours later i was back home with 10 stitches, a sore arm from a tetnus shot, a bottle of anitbiotics, and a bottle of vicodin.. luckily so far it appears i have escaped serious nerve damage but it is quite painful.

lesson learned: no matter how "light" the work seems, ALWAYS wear good pair of leather gloves when dealing with fencing (or any other outside work that involves sharp objects). the rub is that i had a pair of thick leather gloves sitting there but thought, I don't need them yet as I am not doing anything too dangerous.. i thought wrong apparently..

Sorry for your misfortune We all try to do the right thing most of the time but unfortunately it is so darned difficult to scape totally from the laws of probabilities. it's never possible to entirely remove all the risk unless you stop all you are doing and then ... Bam .. you die of boardem.

Wish you a speedy recovery.

JC,

 

[Soundguy]

Here's a tip good for what it's worth.. and it is a good 'reminder' about thinking about the job at hand.

I was putting up a tube fram tarp structure on this past new years eve on my farm. A friend came over early in the day to help out with chores and then we went out that night to party it up a bit.

In the process of putting sheet metal screws in with a power driver I use dmy hand to 'back-up the 2 pipe fittings i was joining.. .. should had the hand a few inches under the area where i was screwing.

Long story short.. i had to manually unscrew a self tapping sheel metal screw from the palm ( thumb meat area )... Hand swelled up like a dead raccoon on the side of the road in july by that night.. next day went to the doc.. 'Yep' he said.. that sure looks consistant with a screw thru the hand... take these antibiotics.. try not to do it again...

Was fun partying that night with an ace bandage on my hand... As a bonus, after te wound healed, about ever 2 weeks a small piece of metal would make its way to the surface to be dug out!.. did that for about 7 months... I figure i finally got all the metal out that's coming out.. havn't seen any in a month or so..

soundguy

 

[RegL]

Take it easy on that hand. Hey.. at least they gave you the happy pills. My doc is reluctant to isue happy pills the last few times i got hurt on the farm.

Soundguy

He probably thinks your getting hurt a little to often.

 

[Bird]

In the process of putting sheet metal screws in with a power driver I use dmy hand to 'back-up the 2 pipe fittings i was joining.. .. should had the hand a few inches under the area where i was screwing.

Long story short.. i had to manually unscrew a self tapping sheel metal screw from the palm

Dang, Chris, I thought maybe I was the only one to do dumb things like that. Small difference is about all. I was using a power driver putting coarse thread drywall screws through a piece of drywall into a 1' board and had my left hand holding the back side of the board. I drove a screw into the end of the ring finger on my left hand; right under the finger nail. But I'll have to admit I was lucky. I never went to the doctor and it hasn't bothered me nearly as much as I expected it to. That happened on September 15 and the damaged nail only has to grow another quarter inch or so for all the visible damage to disappear. I figure another month and a half should do it.

 

[TwinWillows]

Ouch !

While I've cut my self also I try to be pretty careful on the gloves issue keeping many pairs around the farm/barn/tractor/shop/pickup/etc..

It paid off again several weeks ago when I was working on cleaning up our new to us grain drill. While disassembling one of the drill units to clean it out I didn't realize how sharp the disc scrapers were & cut almost all the way thru the leather on my glove over my LT index finger. If it hadn't been for the glove I know for certain it'd been a trip to the ER for stiches.

I hope you heal quickly.

 

[keving]

Glad to hear there's no permanent damage. I seem to have your same luck. I have cut, broke or otherwise hurt myself doing the simple tasks. I have learned to slow down or have someone else do it... Take it easy!

 

[Rara Avis]

Here's a tip good for what it's worth.. and it is a good 'reminder' about thinking about the job at hand.

I was putting up a tube fram tarp structure on this past new years eve on my farm. A friend came over early in the day to help out with chores and then we went out that night to party it up a bit.

In the process of putting sheet metal screws in with a power driver I use dmy hand to 'back-up the 2 pipe fittings i was joining.. .. should had the hand a few inches under the area where i was screwing.

Long story short.. i had to manually unscrew a self tapping sheel metal screw from the palm ( thumb meat area )... Hand swelled up like a dead raccoon on the side of the road in july by that night.. next day went to the doc.. 'Yep' he said.. that sure looks consistant with a screw thru the hand... take these antibiotics.. try not to do it again...

Was fun partying that night with an ace bandage on my hand... As a bonus, after te wound healed, about ever 2 weeks a small piece of metal would make its way to the surface to be dug out!.. did that for about 7 months... I figure i finally got all the metal out that's coming out.. havn't seen any in a month or so..

soundguy

Geez...why did you wait so long...just put your arm in an MRI machine...all the metal would have been out in a jiffy...

 

[Soundguy]

Take it easy on that hand. Hey.. at least they gave you the happy pills. My doc is reluctant to isue happy pills the last few times i got hurt on the farm.

Soundguy[/QUOTE

He probably thinks your getting hurt a little to often.

Hmm..I've only been to the doc about 8 times in the last 2 years for farm injuries

soundguy

 

[Hootie]

Wow, thanks for making me feel better. I have cuts, scars, scrapes on me constantly. I love messing with all this stuff and am constantly telling myself "DANG IT BOY BE CAREFUL". Not long ago I took the top off the 5030 cab to make some adjustments and needed a tool that was not in my pocket. First step was a doozy, I literally rolled down the three point hitch on to the bush hog. I lay there a minute waiting for the first signs of permanent disability. Felt nothing and started thinking that maybe the couple of beers were masking the pain. Got up and looked were I tumbled and could not believe I escaped with only a bruise. I have WAY too many stories and can honestly say I really think these days before taking on and performing projects. That is if I can remember what project I am doing, went to the parts house yesterday morning, the guy said may I help you, I said yeah, tell me why I came in here!

 

[KYErik]

T Post drivers (the hand operated sliding pipe type that isn't spring loaded) can be dangerous too. I was driving posts in hard soil a few years ago and realized that the further up I lifted the driver- the harder hit I could get on the post.

I lifted the driver up a little too far one time while pounding away and the back lip of the driver got caught on top of the T post. Not noticing this, I pulled the driver down hard and the driver tilted horizontally and knocked me on the top of the head. I saw stars and the button on the top of my beaseball cap made a nice gash in the top of my head. Thankfully it didn't need stitches, but it sure bled a lot.

I learned my lesson and I don't try to lift the post driver as high these days when pounding posts... Maybe I need to wear a hard hat.

 

[chuckhole]

Reading theses posts takes some of the embarrasment out of my own similar injuries. Yeah, there are plenty of sharp spots on T-Posts. I am thankful that none caused a cut so deep that I had to get stitches. I have a dozen pair of gloves and am stupid enough not to use them too.

Now, when it comes to air powered nail guns, gloves are not going to help all the time (unless maybe they are Kevlar ones). I was framing out a wall and was holding the opposite side of the top with my hand............off to the side...........out of the way............so I thought. The force of a 3" nail being driven in to a couple of 2x4's tends to make the framing nailer bounce once in a while. Well it did. It sent a nail through the 2x4 where my hand was on the back side. Luckily, it takes a couple of seconds to fill 100' of air hose so it was not quite full force. But the nail did go about 1/2" deep into the palm of my hand.

 

[Spiveyman]

So I guess we all have our embarrassing moments. Earlier this year I was unloading a bull at the slaughter house. My partner asked me before we got in his truck to head down there if I had my gloves. I'd forgotten them in my truck and said, "Naw... I'm not going to need them." The last several animals marched in on queue, but this guy put up a fight. (These are Texas Longhorns and their horns at way wider than the chute gate at the slaughter house.) I had a hold of his tail trying to persuade him, he stepped back and raked my hand across a piece of sheet metal that was covered in mud and manure. Nearly sliced my thumb off. The best part was the doc cleaning the crap out of that cut!

I NEVER go ANYWHERE without my gloves now. I got a pair of deer skin as they seem to be really tough.

Eye protection ain't a bad idea either. The guy helping me on my farm was fencing and cut a piece of wire. The end of it snapped back and went right into the side of his eye. Talk about miserable. I was happier with my stiches than what he went through. Almost lost his eye. I picked up a pair of safety glasses at TSC that look like sunglasses. I pretty much always have them or a clear pair on as well. Not taking any more chances than I have to.

 

[bigballer]

i don't feel so bad anymore.. good to read i am not the only one out there that's had "accidents". the doc that stitched me up said he see's more head injuries from the t-post drivers than he does from the posts themselves.. anyway november is open enrollment month for bene's at work so i just bumped my ad&d insurance to the max ($950k) it only costs me $15/month and figured living on a farm increases that "dismemberment" risk by an order of magnitude so it's worth it.. of course i hope to never have to use it but if something happens i'm covered.

btw, the stitches were removed but at the deep end the skin didn't really fuse back together all that well so i have this small channel that looks really bad. time will tell how it will turn out but i do know i'll have a pretty apparent scar but i can live with that..

 

[Soundguy]

Glad you are mending.. look at it this way.. you have an early start on a halloween costume for next year!

soundguy