My woodworking hobby caused another injury over the weekend. I just want some sympathy because my wife is tapped out, having driven me to the emergency room once too often, so if anybody can work up a sincere “Poor baby!” for me, I’d appreciate it.
I’m building a work table that attaches to a desk. I was getting ready to apply the stain/sealer when I noticed a small scorch mark left by the router that I’d missed before. I pulled out the small orbital sander and touched up the area, not bothering to put my goggles back on since it was, after all, just a touch-up. To clear the area and see if the scorch mark was gone, I blew the sawdust away. Unfortunately, I’d forgotten that I’d already turned on a circulation fan, getting ready to apply the finish, and the fan blew the sawdust (which also contained grit from the ultra-fine sandpaper) into my face. I thought nothing of it until a few minutes later when my right eye began to itch. Not thinking, I rubbed it and POW! pain shot through my eye like a hot knife. Long story short: I’d “skinned” the cornea of my right eye. My wife helped me get the eye washed out, but the damage was done, and the pain got worse as the day wore on. Finally, she hauled me to the local ER, where they treated me with painkillers and antibiotics, taped a patch over the eye and sent me home with more patches and more antibiotics. The eye is much better today, and healing quickly, but I still get no sympathy at home.
I just spent a week remodeling our bedroom, and the number of ways I could have easily injured/maimed/killed myself through just such an innocent moment of carelessness brought me to near-paralysis during moments of greater exhaustion.
I’m glad you seem to be healing quickly. You deserve chocolate!
Eye injuries are a bitch! I was making a display case for Japanese netsuke about ten years ago. It was Ebony with Cocobolo stringing and the stringing involved a lot of very fine sanding and fitting. Well, it turns out prolonged contact to cocobolo dust can cause an allergic reaction which I got from dust accumulating under my contact lenses.
I spent two weeks with my eyes bandaged shut :eek:
On preview I need to find the opposite of that smiley. There was NO wide eyed action! I’ve never worn contact lenses again.
I’ve never had any serious eye injuries, but the other day I got … something stuck in my eye. I don’t know what, but it drove me batshit insane over the course of two days until it eventualy worked itself out. I tried flushing my eyes but it did no good. It seemed to have adhered to my eyeball the way a moistened suction cup adheres to a smooth surface. It could be moved around, but it flatly refused to be removed.
Damn, that was annoying.
No, no, this table used an inverted belt sander, not an orbital. This required an entirely different approach for accidental mounting.
I once jabbed myself in the eye with a lit cigarette. Something (I forget what it was) flew at my eye and I just reacted and went to brush it away without thinking and used the hand holding the cigarette. I barely made contact with the eye surface and it hurt for a couple hours but I think the wetness of my eyeball kept it from actually burning my eye.
On the bright side though, you get to wear an eyepatch, so it’s only natural you get to talk like a pirate. Never miss a chance to talk like a pirate, ye scurvy dog! HAAAAAAAAARRRRRRRRR!!!
This just makes me think of the TLC commercial for there new “collectors items”, the little figures with funny saying on them, the Life Lessons Series. This one would go under “Know when to NOT Do It Yourself”… The figure is a guy with bandages on both his hands. They can be found here. (it is on the second page)
You got that right, last year I was doing the incredibly dangerous task of putting up a Xmas tree. I was tightening the bolts of the stand when eldest Stuffette asked me something. I of course looked at him to answer, which in retrospect was a bad idea since he was holding up the tree. OUCH!! :smack: pine needle right in the eye. Hurt like a SOB for a month or so. I spent the rest of the season calling it the effing tree
This was the story I was going to relate about my friend. After she scraped her cornea with the needle, she had to use some sort of ointment but every morning when you open your eye it rips at it again?? True? ::shudder
A pirate walks into a bar; he has a wooden leg, a hook on his arm and an eye patch. Curiosity gets the better of the barman, so he asks why he has a wooden leg. The pirate says, “Arghh me matey, its quite a story. I was at sea and was sailing the seven seas and doing a bit of fishing on one of the planks, and a shark jumped up and bit off me leg.” The barman then asked about the hand. The pirate said “Garrr, when the shark bit me I punched it to get away and he bit off me hand so I got this hook put on!” The barman finally asked about his eye patch. The pirate said, “Arghhh, I looked to the sky and a seagull shit in my eye!”. The barman said, “It shit in your eye? How’d that take your eye out?” The pirate said, “First day with my new hook!”
Ye God, man! I had one eye patched for 48 hours, I thought I was gonna DIE!
Thank you for the sympathy, Pixisis, and the gentle safety reminder. You are sincere, and I needed that. Virtual pie is enroute to you, if I can ever figure out **Skald the Rhymer’s ** instructions for the transporterthingy.
I did try the “Garrr!” bit once, Swampbear, but my co-workers all grabbed the cheap laugh line from “Dodgeball”: “You’re not a pirate!” Took all the fun out of it. The boss called me “Patch Adams” yesterday (patch is finally off this afternoon, feeling much better, thank you) which shows what a friggin’ comedian he is.
Yes, Mindfield, the table-mounted inverted belt (TMIB) does require a straddle mount, but “naked” is not to be taken literally. Leather chaps and a loin cloth are usually worn, for obvious safety reasons. Nipple piercings are optional.
