A few weeks ago I posted a thread on working with Stone. I mentioned some projects I was getting into now that the semester is over and I got a very good response. I went out and bought some stone working tools including a pneumatic hammer, and 5 hp compressor. Well, I was building a retaining wall for a new stone chat pit I’m helping my BIL with and something terrible happened. I was using a pitching chisel and 5 lb mini-sledge like this when I looked away for an instant. That instant happened to be the same instant I was coming down on the chisel with the hammer. I slammed my forfinger on my left hand into the large peice of granite I was smashing. instantly fracturing it in 3 places…I wish you all could have seen the x-rays…not a nice sight. the resetting of the bone was even worse…but I really hemmed myself up!
My wife was right there, and she watched right after the incident happened, while I was jumping around holding my finger - still in the rawhide glove - saying " Oh Shit! Oh Shit! OW - OW - OW! To be blunt it F*cking hurt!
As someone who loves to work with my hands in my spare time, this is going to put a damper on my projects for a while. And with an impending trip to Italy…I’m not happy I am basically typing with one hand…
Well, my wife offered to help with the wall, and I could show her how to do things etc…etc…I have no reservations showing her what to do…But I just don’t want her to get hurt, and thee is a lot of heavy lifting involved and I won’t be able to help too much!
Anyone ever been hurt onsite building something? Anyone have someone else finish? Anyone ever had your SO finish, something they would normally not be accustoned to doing?
I thought you meant finishing off your finger with the sledge! :eek:
Gut reaction: hire someone to finish for you, or ask a friend to help with the heavy lifting. Saves the frustration of trying to get someone to learn a new skill in an instant, and saves on both of you worrying about her getting hurt.
Is she going to Italy with you? If she is going and she does get hurt, she won’t feel like going, and you’ll be worried about her. If she is not going, and she gets hurt, you’ll be worried about her all the time you are gone.
Or she may turn out to be just dandy at it. My mom helped my dad and his buddies build our garage, and she did just fine - the garage is still standing. (Of course, they didn’t know that I learned a lot of new words while listening to them build the garage…)
She is coming to Italy with me, and hiring someone did come up…So that may be a viable solution. She’s quite strudy…so who knows, she may love banging rocks for a few hours… 
I can feel the pain. (Jeez*&^^FUC!@##N!@#%#^#!)
I seriously think you should learn to let this project go until you can get back to it, rather than jeopardizing your wife over it. Does this project really need to go forward right now?
I mean, if you busted a sewer line, or damaged some electrical wires, you would need to have someone fix it right away. It might do you some good to let this project sit a while. At what cost does this really need to get done?
I know that I become overly concerned (and feel pressed for time) with any project I am working on, and since I hate when things are pending, and I hate my unfinished worked being seen by anyone, I worry waaayyyy too much about the project. It might be good therapy to learn to live with something undone.
Let it go.
Phil - I suppose I could leave it, the pit itself is on a hill, and this retaining wall will need to be in place and settled before the rest of the flag stone is laid. I’m going on vacation and will have to wait until I get back anyway, due to the nature of the fracture. You should see it, 2 fractures below the first knuckle and one above. My index finger is tapped to my middle finger and they are set in a hard cast…so the only fingers out are thumb the ring and pinky…So glad I missed my wedding band… At very least it was in the afternoon and I’d been out there since 8 a.m. My wife really wants to help but not as bad as with other projects we have post vaca…
How heavy is the lifting? I helped my father install two retaining walls using fairly heavy concrete blocks (if I had to guess, they were probably about 16lbs), since he knew his back wasn’t going to appreciate it much. Designing and building those walls was a first for both of us, and after two years they’re still as solid as when they were new.
We’ve also laid two floors (Pergo and ceramic tile) where I did more of the actual laying than we’d intended, again because the constant bending over was hard on his back. The Pergo was fairly idiotproof; the tile floor has no cracks after two winters.
On the other hand, I’ve been helping him with general home improvement projects all my life. YMMV if your wife has never worked with tools at all before. But it is possible to build something that way, with good instructions and a willing set of hands.
I shattered the base of my thumb when I flipped a race cart/go cart two days before my wedding. Real fun stuff.
It hurt more when I saw the x-ray images.
IMHO, you should let it go. Get some drugs and relax.
Yup, you let it go. But let your wife do it if she wants to. Why is it even your decision? Your wife wants to do it, she does it. She doesn’t want to, she doesn’t. Would you hop up to stop her if she wanted to? Withhold your secret knowledge?
(I did stop BoringMom from deconstructing a rubble retaining wall and turning it into a flagstone walk. But she was 8 1/2 months pregnant at the time and the rocks were pushing 40 lbs.)
Nope! I’d not stop her if she really wanted to do it. That is not really the issue here. She is not really all that excited about it…She merely offered. I’m just thinking about the trip and her nails Just kidding…she’s pretty rugged and we often work together on many projects…
