RandyMac
Stiff Member
I've had some good ones. So, we going for number of stitches, number of broken bones or length of recovery?
What was your worst injury?
- Thread starter mndlawn
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keith811
ArboristSite Operative
I can say that I have been very lucky and have not had any serious injuries, I almost cut my my toe off with a chainsaw. I hit a barbed wire fence while clearing some underbrush from a right of way and the saw kicked down as I was cutting up. And I got the crap knocked out of me by a tree getting eaten by an industrial sized chipper. I only flew about 15' took it right in the gut. ( luckily I have always had a bit of a beer belly I think my fat may have saved my likfe LOL). getting hit by the log hurt more than chipping the bone in my toe with the chainsaw. I've had lots of accidents but those are the only injuries other than minor cuts and bruises
So did you write that cause you are now waiting to recieve the worst injury of your life??
if you really did throw an animal outa window of a moving vehicle, well Satin will take care of you nice and good...
EdenT
ArboristSite Operative
That's kinky!
I assume you meant the prince of darkness (Satan) as opposed to the sexy bed sheets (Satin)!
I assume you meant the prince of darkness (Satan) as opposed to the sexy bed sheets (Satin)!
hunter0182
ArboristSite Member
worst injury
in 1990 i had a tank of acetylene blow up in my shop,about 20 ft from me,it busted both ear drums, the flash burned all my hair off my body top to bottom,took my shirt off,layed my side open and put me through a wall,i got up off the floor and walked out of the shop i was told it looked like something off the three stooges,i was smoking,i also had a flash bruise that ran from my neck all the way down into my boot, i have a small scar on my side and have had several surgeries on my ears i still have a whistling sound in one ear and only about half hearing in it,
Well i have had several,a tree related in 2001 i was cutting a 100 yr old red oak 60 ft tall, i was at about 25 feet and cut a 24 inch limb,it hit the ground and sprang back up,i had a safety belt on and could not move out of the way enough a spur on the limb stuck in my shoulder and the limb pinned my arm to the tree and slid down my arm crushing it, it turned black,the doctors were not sure if i would regain use or even keep the arm for a long time,but other than a scar and a little arthritis i have full use of it.
in 1990 i had a tank of acetylene blow up in my shop,about 20 ft from me,it busted both ear drums, the flash burned all my hair off my body top to bottom,took my shirt off,layed my side open and put me through a wall,i got up off the floor and walked out of the shop i was told it looked like something off the three stooges,i was smoking,i also had a flash bruise that ran from my neck all the way down into my boot, i have a small scar on my side and have had several surgeries on my ears i still have a whistling sound in one ear and only about half hearing in it,
Yea, i dont like the guy, i never remember how to spell his name right:spam:
That sounds pretty bad. Was it truly the tank that ruptured, or did you just have a leak that exploded inside the building?
If you ruptured the tank, how did that happen?
BTW: That getting pinned by the branch sounds bad, too. I presume that you peeled a branch that reached all the way to the ground? Would a pop cut have eliminated the problem?
hunter0182
ArboristSite Member
well a neighbor went in and knocked the torch head off the table,and it opened the acetylene valve,the building i came in with a arm of trash bags,when i smelled the acetylene i throwed them down ,and the static set off the acetylene,raised the roof 6 inches,fire chief said it was equal to 3 sticks of dynamite,a lady 3/4 of a mile away said it broke dishes in her china cabinet,
on the tree i should have did a pop cut ,but i thought it would just slide off,it broke and had that big spur and sprang back up,and i had no where to go
I too have been "had" by static, trash bags, and acetylene. But I wasn't hurt by it.
I used to fill small trash bags (or the mylar grocery bags) with 50/50 acetylene/oxygen to make little bombs with. Tie on some cotton string, light it, and stand back!
I was filling one one day, and squeezed it to get the corners expanded. BOOM! It blew a hole in my shirt and covered me from head to toe with tiny little tatters of plastic. My ears were ringing for 3 days. No harm otherwise.
I have always presumed that a static spark set it off. Your experience sounds much worse.
Incidentally, acetylene has no odor. It is unstable under pressure, so it is dissolved into an acetone/solvent liquid inside a porous-material filled tank. It is the acetone/solvent that you smell. The porous material that fills the tank prevents sloshing about with subsequent explosion.
Since the acetylene is actually in solution, larger torches require a larger tank to supply them, as the acetylene must "evaporate" out of the solution inside the tank. If the tank is too small, it can't evaporate enough material, and you experience problems running your torch. My rosebud tip (a bit too large for my tank) will make rapid explosions ("machine gun") if the pressure is too low and the oxygen and acetylene are not set to equal pressure.
I used to fill small trash bags (or the mylar grocery bags) with 50/50 acetylene/oxygen to make little bombs with. Tie on some cotton string, light it, and stand back!
I was filling one one day, and squeezed it to get the corners expanded. BOOM! It blew a hole in my shirt and covered me from head to toe with tiny little tatters of plastic. My ears were ringing for 3 days. No harm otherwise.
I have always presumed that a static spark set it off. Your experience sounds much worse.
Incidentally, acetylene has no odor. It is unstable under pressure, so it is dissolved into an acetone/solvent liquid inside a porous-material filled tank. It is the acetone/solvent that you smell. The porous material that fills the tank prevents sloshing about with subsequent explosion.
Since the acetylene is actually in solution, larger torches require a larger tank to supply them, as the acetylene must "evaporate" out of the solution inside the tank. If the tank is too small, it can't evaporate enough material, and you experience problems running your torch. My rosebud tip (a bit too large for my tank) will make rapid explosions ("machine gun") if the pressure is too low and the oxygen and acetylene are not set to equal pressure.
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tree md
Addicted to ArboristSite
You guys remind me of this guy:
Also made me think about the safety films they used to show us of demolished buildings in welding shop when I was in tech school. The acetylene explosions would demolish the building, the oxygen tanks would take off like missiles and blow holes through cinder block walls. My shop teacher would do a demonstration by bumming a cigarette off of a student, lighting it, placing the filter to the tip of the torch he would turn on the oxygen and the entire cigarette would incinerate. Then he would pull out a tattered shop uniform shirt and the remains of a bic lighter and tell us that's what happens when a piece of slag jumps off into the pocket of a shop shirt and lands on your cigarette lighter.
Also made me think about the safety films they used to show us of demolished buildings in welding shop when I was in tech school. The acetylene explosions would demolish the building, the oxygen tanks would take off like missiles and blow holes through cinder block walls. My shop teacher would do a demonstration by bumming a cigarette off of a student, lighting it, placing the filter to the tip of the torch he would turn on the oxygen and the entire cigarette would incinerate. Then he would pull out a tattered shop uniform shirt and the remains of a bic lighter and tell us that's what happens when a piece of slag jumps off into the pocket of a shop shirt and lands on your cigarette lighter.
EdenT
ArboristSite Operative
Thank heavens for that, the image of a seven foot, chainsaw wielding, viking, dressed in a satin bed sheet is a way more terrifying thought! :spam:
Yep! That's about what I felt like too.
I don't think I have done that anymore. If I do, I'll be wearing ear and eye protection.
gwiley
Addicted to ArboristSite
I had a close call yesterday, and thank the Lord I didn't end up on this thread, unseating PDQDL as king.
Care to share some details to help keep the rest of us alert?
RVALUE
Addicted to ArboristSite
I was being lazy and broke a few safety rules involving moving a tractor without sitting in the seat. In the snow. And, you get the picture without totally incriminating myself.
gwiley
Addicted to ArboristSite
I was doing that kind of thing on a regular basis until I started reading FACE reports (Fatality Accidents) involving skid steers. A couple of nicely detailed accounts involving death was enough to get me to operate the machine safely without suffering a serious injury.
PWB
ArboristSite Guru
I feel your pain. Fell off a truckload of hay, about 12 feet down.(30 years ago) Landed on my feet(on concrete) but ended up flat on the ground. x-ray of the heel was so bad they had to operate to figure out what to do with it. Waited a week or so in the hospital for the swelling to go down enough to work on it.... surgeon told me after the operation there was 25 or 30 pieces, he threw some away and stapled the rest back together. They taped it up, told me to use it all I could but don't put any weight on it. I was back to work in three months, good but not full mobility. Used to run when I was a kid, won't take the pounding now. Can usually tell when there's a change coming in the weather too. Did a few dumber things, but that was the most major damage.........
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seattletreecare
New Member
wow, sounds quite painful. I only bit my tongue off a few years back, but the doc sew it back and now it's just as functional as before.
Lugnutz
ArboristSite Operative
I've been very lucky, mostly bumps and bruises and minor stitches. Ran a hacksaw thru my right thumb at work, dead center of the nail, to almost dead center of the bone. Got left ring finger blown out like a squashed cherry tomato at work as well, got caught between too large chunks of metal in a press that was down for maint work. Had to use a bottle jack to get me out. That was maybe 5 years ago still hurts now and then and the fingernail is horrid but nothing major.
At home I feel thru a ceiling, it was a drop ceiling and I had climbed up a wobbly step ladder ( which I thought would probably kill me in itself ) and wiggled my way thru the entrance hole to the attic. I was sitting in the opening trying to figure out where I could put weight and how I was going to stand up. Well I didn't have to think about it long, the 2x's that framed the entrance gave way dropping me straight down on top of the ladder which actuall probably saved me some damage. I had an indent to my thigh from the top of the ladder and a nice hole in one leg where my wife found denim from my jeans when she cleaned me up after she came home from work. Both under arms to about mid biceps were black and blue, mostly black.
Had some mishaps on bikes and motorcycles as a kid but no lasting damage, on second thought that might be why I'm a little screwy these days.
Yesterday I got as close to major disaster as I ever want to get with a saw. Not sure how it happened but after cutting a small tree and making my way to safety I nicked my shin. Scared was the only thing in my head. This didn't happen by fleeing the scene with the saw running, I was in the process of comeing up from a squatting position and pivoting towards my escape path. Think maybe I snagged some scrubbrush or a vine and it twisted the bar back to me where it grabbed my pants and then nicked my shin. Lesson learned wear chaps and take a bit of time to clean up the cutting area of snag'ums and such.
All in all I've been lucky, as most of these events have had the potential to be way worse than they were.
At home I feel thru a ceiling, it was a drop ceiling and I had climbed up a wobbly step ladder ( which I thought would probably kill me in itself ) and wiggled my way thru the entrance hole to the attic. I was sitting in the opening trying to figure out where I could put weight and how I was going to stand up. Well I didn't have to think about it long, the 2x's that framed the entrance gave way dropping me straight down on top of the ladder which actuall probably saved me some damage. I had an indent to my thigh from the top of the ladder and a nice hole in one leg where my wife found denim from my jeans when she cleaned me up after she came home from work. Both under arms to about mid biceps were black and blue, mostly black.
Had some mishaps on bikes and motorcycles as a kid but no lasting damage, on second thought that might be why I'm a little screwy these days.
Yesterday I got as close to major disaster as I ever want to get with a saw. Not sure how it happened but after cutting a small tree and making my way to safety I nicked my shin. Scared was the only thing in my head. This didn't happen by fleeing the scene with the saw running, I was in the process of comeing up from a squatting position and pivoting towards my escape path. Think maybe I snagged some scrubbrush or a vine and it twisted the bar back to me where it grabbed my pants and then nicked my shin. Lesson learned wear chaps and take a bit of time to clean up the cutting area of snag'ums and such.
All in all I've been lucky, as most of these events have had the potential to be way worse than they were.
