What was your worst injury?

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Ever pulled a tree with a rope to short, and didnt realize till it hit you :monkey:
Im just saying...

Now I have a hard hat. And a arm that wouldnt work for a week. Pop cut the tree and I was pulling it down with a rope, and I was supposed to run, well I didnt run far enough or fast enough so the top hit me on the head/back and a limb hit me on the funny bone.
Lesson well learned
 
mine is pretty minor compare to some here, but still hurt like hell at the time. Was up in the tree with a freshly sharpened chain on a 192t. Through some weird combination of things after lopping a few branches i swapped the saw into my left hand and was moving my right up to a branch when my footing failed. I shot my right hand out like a rocket to get a hold and ran my hand right up the underside of that bar, catching 3 or 4 real sharp cutters that opened me up nicely. Could have been worse. I wear gloves now.

Shaun
 
mine is pretty minor compare to some here, but still hurt like hell at the time. Was up in the tree with a freshly sharpened chain on a 192t. Through some weird combination of things after lopping a few branches i swapped the saw into my left hand and was moving my right up to a branch when my footing failed. I shot my right hand out like a rocket to get a hold and ran my hand right up the underside of that bar, catching 3 or 4 real sharp cutters that opened me up nicely. Could have been worse. I wear gloves now.

Shaun

Ouch!! Your damn lucky!
Jeff
 
Ouch!! Your damn lucky!
Jeff

Yeah, that pretty much sucked. I didnt feel too lucky at the time though! Chain brake was on and everything.... and i didnt even push against the cutters hard, was just a very light grazing but they opened me up easy.

Ive had quite a few close calls like im sure everyone has. One that came close was pruning again... Up the tree with one foot on the ladder and the other wrapped round the tree for stability so i can use both hands on the saw. The ladder let go (the ladders dont sit on the ground, they are attached to the tree) and i went with it at the exact moment the saw went through the branch. Saw went straight into the leg wrapped round the tree and a ate a good mouthfull of chaps. If it wasnt for the chaps i wouldnt be here writing this! Guys on the crew used to give me crap about wearing chaps all the time, but it only takes one time to save your life ;-)

But the odds are stacked against you if you're pruning 150~200 trees a day, 5 or 6 days a week. at $1.20 a tree you dont get rich quick either :-( Glad im not in forestry any more!

Shaun
 
whacked my arm with my hand saw really hard and punctured a vein. i was 80 feet up in a coco palm. i kept working of course. not thinking it was really that bad until i went to the hospital and they had to clean out the wound give me a tetanus shot and glue the wound shut with liquid stitches.
 
Well my worst happened tonight....thought the branch last week was bad....

Was taking down a 16" sugar maple....had already dropped 3 black birches and was being lazy and instead of dragging them out of way I just continued taking more down...Made the face cut and was in the process of making the back cut...well it split and laid over it self about 10' up....now I am on a side hill and instead of going to the high side I touched the spinning chain to the split section from the low side...well it barely touched and i didn't have time to get out....so I tried to go back....remember those black birches?...I tripped and my feet went straight back and down the log....my right shoulder smashed into the birch....left shoulder slammed and skinned by the sugar maple....face did a little jig against the birch stump...helmet went flying...at some point the back of my left hand, ran across the chain...(not spinning)

My right shoulder is sore....

Over all it could have been much worse...

I was using a MS250 that I did a muffler mod on yestarday...it was in mint condition...and was running AWESOME...now the choke wire is broken, the switch wont stay in place, and the knob on the top of the air filter cover is broke....:cry:
 
Well my worst happened tonight....thought the branch last week was bad....

Was taking down a 16" sugar maple....had already dropped 3 black birches and was being lazy and instead of dragging them out of way I just continued taking more down...Made the face cut and was in the process of making the back cut...well it split and laid over it self about 10' up....now I am on a side hill and instead of going to the high side I touched the spinning chain to the split section from the low side...well it barely touched and i didn't have time to get out....so I tried to go back....remember those black birches?...I tripped and my feet went straight back and down the log....my right shoulder smashed into the birch....left shoulder slammed and skinned by the sugar maple....face did a little jig against the birch stump...helmet went flying...at some point the back of my left hand, ran across the chain...(not spinning)

My right shoulder is sore....

Over all it could have been much worse...

I was using a MS250 that I did a muffler mod on yestarday...it was in mint condition...and was running AWESOME...now the choke wire is broken, the switch wont stay in place, and the knob on the top of the air filter cover is broke....:cry:

Dude, glad you are still able to sit and type, thanks for reminding the rest of us to not cut corners.
 
No, I don't. In fact, I'm not even sure what you are referring to. Sorry.

Despite all my injuries, I have outstanding health, and I heal very quickly! (too much practice?). I never have skin irritations, and I am not allergic to ANYTHING, including wasps, bees, poison ivy, or even sycamore tree sawdust. I largely heal without scars, too.

I never get sick either, except for a never ending stream of tonsillitis (not less than twice per year) until I was 30-35 years old. Maybe all that strep throat boosted my immune system?

We were all blessed with some special attributes. I think it is important to appreciate the good ones, improve our weak points, and calmly accept what we cannot change.


What are the symptoms of this ailment?
 
Good grief, most of this makes anything I've dealt with so far seem quite mild.

Injuries:

Trying to (stupidly) flatten out one of those neat little curls that a drill press makes in steel. Sliced the tip of my left index finger almost to the bone. Very faint scar still exists.

Damn near cut the top of my thumb off with a utility knife. Clinic doc said "You're lucky." I said "How so, doc?" He said "A little bit in, would've hit the bone, a little more out, would've taken the entire tip of your thumb off." The blade was fresh and brand new... made so clean of a cut, right through the nail and all, I didn't even feel it. It healed partially by the time we got to the clinic. It was that clean.

Moving truck lift, dropped onto my right ankle, cutting from a little above the middle of the calf, making a nice 12" gash clear all the way down to the anklebone.

Chipped the anklebone, and blood filled my then sized 9? (I was 8 back then, don't remember what shoe size I was) Cried for about 30 seconds. Mainly from shock of all of the blood and seeing my anklebone, it didn't really hurt that bad. Still have a bit of numbness at the last two inches of the cut, ending at the anklebone. Scar's there. Uppermost part has faded a little, but all of it still shows what I went through.

Wheel weight hammer, outside corner of left thumb, small wheel weight. HURTS LIKE A #####!!!!!! I almost passed out from that one. :dizzy: Hurt for a week, blood spot under the nail.

Surgery:

Cochlear implant installation... Doc told me it's gonna feel like someone hit me in the head with a hammer when I wake up... if you're thinking 16 oz. household claw hammer, forget it. Felt much more like a 10 lb sledge. I missed taking the pill by about an hour... immense pain. I'd wake up from a nap and I'd be in a bit of pain from sleeping over the time of needing to take that pill. It was pretty bad even with the massive Vicodin? they gave me, and without it, trust me, it hurts like hell. I was 16 at the time, Junior year in HS. First couple of months was hell on my head and brain. I have no intention of having my left 'deaf' ear done... I happy with the one I have in my right ear. (I was born deaf, not able to hear anything until the db's were over 95)

Close calls:

Jumping the Enticer 250. I was 12, and decided that it'd be fun to jump that suspension lacking sled off of the mound of snow my neighbor made at the end of his driveway, in the yard. I went at the jump, hit about 30? mph (no speedo on this thing) went flying through the air. Felt like it took forever. I was looking around when I was up there and it seemed everything was in slow motion. Landed with a massive thud. Thank God I was smart enough to wear the brain bucket... the chin bar landed hard on the handlebar. No helmet would've resulted in a broken jaw. I jumped that thing 12 feet. Got lots of air though, figure I was about 5-6 feet off the ground.

I'll try to think of some more things I went through...

My uncle was cutting a rubber hose with the table saw. Blade caught the hose, snapped his index finger into the cut, and cut all of three inches straight down the middle of the finger. They used pins to hold the split together. Took a long time for that one to heal.

My pops used to work on a celery farm, and one tool they had there for processing celery (forget what it's called, will ask him) he was doing something and his index finger happened to meet the blade? pinch point? or something like that and got partially crushed. Still works good, looks a little funny though.

Also, he used to work at a foundry. Some molds? something like that crushed and broke all of his fingers in one or both? hands?. Took a bunch of guys to get that thing off of his hand. I don't recall the details perfectly about how or what finger/hands got broke, but he ended up working in the office, which led to him becoming an accountant.
 

A lot of guys can't stand to work on sycamore trees. It irritates their eyes & lungs, they itch all over. The sawdust seems to act like fiberglass insulation: while it isn't exactly an allergy, it sure does irritate a lot of folks when they work in it. Some other opinions on the topic:

http://www.arboristsite.com/commercial-tree-care-climbing/33203.htm#post430638
http://www.arboristsite.com/commercial-tree-care-climbing/28876.htm#post376115
http://www.arboristsite.com/commercial-tree-care-climbing/33203.htm#post430822
http://www.arboristsite.com/firewood-heating-wood-burning-equipment/162184.htm#post2724512
 
Sawmills are Alligators

Stepped into a waste conv. return and it sniped my boot,pulled me in and took my leg,clothes,and boot and ripped it all off.I am now a above knee Amp. I have a wonderfull family and still work in the machine shop as a Welder/Fabricator/and machinist helper.I love my Job. -God bless
 
Damn tough break.

I'm familiar with the feeling, though. I gave the tip of my thumb to a shop planer, and it yanked my whole hand into the machine. I'm several digits short now.

I really don't like bumping my small finger-stumps, and I would really hate to be obliged to walk around on a leg sized stump all day long. It hurt like hell in the beginning, I'll bet?

Does your stump ever get used to being walked on, or is it a constant discomfort?
 
Don't think that a stumpy leg is going to upseat PDQDL as the most injured here. :)
 
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