Ouch
You all liked that last one so much… .
You sometimes see nail guns used as weapons in movies, but it’s a preposterous proposition because the safety, the gizmo which has to be pulled back for the nail to fire, requires great force to retract. If you want to play Mel Gibson in Mad Max with my framing (as in nailing the studs that make up the frame of a house) gun, which uses good, lethal-sized nails, you must use the claw end of a hammer to retract the safety. Which is good because it keeps your fingers away from those projectiles as they go whizzing after pigeons. I mainly fire nails into the air to watch the bright steel tumble and glint against the blue sky.
However (I am a however guy) , I have a smaller finish nail gun, which is operated by a battery and gas cartridges, and I can pull that safety back with my left thumb and forefinger. The nails I commonly use are two inches long and about a thick as the center of a toothpick.
This day I’ve finished my eight hours of hard labor, and as a salute to quitting time, I aim my gun not quite straight up, pull the safety back and fire. I’m sure that nail tumbled into the wild blue, but I doubt it reflected the sun’s light. I can’t say for sure because I was bent over, knees on the ground, holding my left hand in my right as if I were back in Cincinnati praying for my juvenile-deliquent soul at St.Catherines. When the scream of pain passed I peered down at my thumb, at the two small drops of blood on either side.
And this was in your early youth? Before you lost all but the remaining 3 brain cells you have now? (Note to self: stay far, far away from Mike’s work projects.)
Comment by rakkity — October 19, 2006 @ 3:29 pm
Had I not taken Mike’s confessional before our cantankerous Misery Pond firepit and this terrible tale thus been news to me, I might be doubled over with sympathetic pains myself … Ouch indeed … ! And again, ouch. Never mind the little red dots … What about the externally invisible tunnel connecting them? What an image. I believe cops and military boys call that a “through-and-through”, and something of a blessing (though following a curse).
They don’t call ’em safety’s for nuthin’, so with out one, whaddaya got? Be careful what you wish for, Mikey — one day you might NOT have two opposable thumbs …
But lest this seem too extraordinary, my friend Ron, currently a cabinet installer for Home Depot, recently nailed himself to the shed he’s building in his backyard. With a 10d (“ten-penny”) framing nail. OUCH.
Comment by el Kib — October 19, 2006 @ 3:48 pm
OUCH is right. The more I hear about these high-powered gizmos and the damage they can wreak, the more I want to go off into the hills (like the mainecoursers), and get away from electricity. It’s bad enough that we can smash ourselves up even without electricity, but throw in that extra power and we’re toast.
Comment by rakkity — October 19, 2006 @ 5:00 pm
Michael keep away from all wattage please.
Comment by Chris — October 19, 2006 @ 6:04 pm