No you don't understand. I've been soldering since I was 10 years old. And yet I still do it every now and again.
I was stick welding an old car chassis.
As the welding rod got to the end I dropped it out of the holder on to the ground.
I then leant forward to see the weld and put my hand on the red hot rod end.
I could smell burning flesh.
I had to put it under the tap for a good few minutes before the sting went.
Another time welding a big spark dropped down and went straight through my trainers.
I have a bucket of water handy in case of fires and had to put my foot in the bucket of cold water to cool it down. Since then I wear steel toe capped boots for welding in.
I was hacksawing a piece of metal in a vice. The hacksaw slipped off and cut into my thumb.
As the welding rod got to the end I dropped it out of the holder on to the ground.
I then leant forward to see the weld and put my hand on the red hot rod end.
I could smell burning flesh.
I had to put it under the tap for a good few minutes before the sting went.
Another time welding a big spark dropped down and went straight through my trainers.
I have a bucket of water handy in case of fires and had to put my foot in the bucket of cold water to cool it down. Since then I wear steel toe capped boots for welding in.
I was hacksawing a piece of metal in a vice. The hacksaw slipped off and cut into my thumb.
It's only stupid if ...
This one isn't mine but how about "Surfing during hurricane Irma". Yes, other people died doing this.
There is a youtube for one person doing a big in your face and getting away with it. Surfing Irma
Grant.
This one isn't mine but how about "Surfing during hurricane Irma". Yes, other people died doing this.
There is a youtube for one person doing a big in your face and getting away with it. Surfing Irma
Grant.
I saw this reminder a day or so after Irma hit Barbados. Even pro surfers are not immune to the power of big winds and a lot of water.
YouTube
It used to be common TV news fodder in South Florida. The TV news would always have several warnings followed by "live footage" of cops VS surfers in the hours preceding any large storm or hurricane. It was a rather popular game to play. I haven't seen as much of it lately since the TV guys finally figured out that their coverage just invites rookie surfers to test their luck......
Back in 1979 hurricane David was coming to south Florida. I had finished all my hurricane preps and settled down in front of the TV when such coverage appeared in front of me. So what do I do? Well I grabbed my board and went to the beach......that lasted about 15 minutes. It was one of those lessons that you only have to learn once.....mother nature has a LOT more power than a 140 pound skinny kid does.
Now, taking my 14 foot Hobie Cat out during small craft warnings was a different story. I could literally make that thing fly, and did so for about 10 years without incident.
I think that I have only grabbed the hot end 2 or 3 times in over 50 years of soldering. Splattering hot solder on bare legs, well "I still do it every now and again."
The Tough Mudder obstacle course race has an obstacle called "Electroshock Therapy." It consists of hundreds of dangling wires connected to an electric fence charger. The terrain beneath is usually mud, water, and grass, although this years course also included hay bales that you had to go around. The racer must run, crawl or roll through the course while being zapped by the dangling wires. As I found out taking a zap to the head will drop you instantly.
At work, one of the techs grabbed a de-solderer by the wrong end.
When he yelled, I knew what happened. So I took a bottle of lanolin hand cream and poured it on the burn. 10 minutes later, you couldn't tell that anything bad had happened.
This guy's video was a bit like my experience. Few successful rides, lots of time paddling out, or being under water.
Note what happens to him at 2:36. An incident like that was why I gave up surfing. A was 17 years old, we had skipped school and took our boards to what is now South Beach. I have no memory of exactly what happened. Some say it was someone else's board, some say it was my own, but it did not skim the top of my head. It hit me square in the center of the forehead and knocked me out. A total stranger got me out of the water and onto a board and pushed me to shore, then he went back out to surf. A lifeguard bandaged the gash in my head and strongly suggested that I go for further medical attention. That suggestion was ignored since we were supposed to be in school.
YouTube
I left Dallas late on a Friday afternoon, in iffy weather. There were about a zillion other people with the same idea, so I figured I would just get in line, get out of Dallas airspace, and try to get a weather briefing in the air, thinking the worst case scenario was that I could just fly low and north into Oklahoma, staying west of the Kiamichi's, then turn northeast to get into the Arkansas river valley. Piece of cake. Once up, I decided to head direct just to take a look, pushed it farther then I should have into the Kiamichi's, and wound up socked in solid with a fairly wild ride for what seemed like forever, but was probably only ten minutes or so. My one and only case of get home itis.
On the purely careless and stupid, but not life threateningly careless and stupid; I was at my warehouse of junk a few months ago for some tubes, put a small sack of octals on top of the car, went back inside, got distracted by a phone call, and drove off with the tubes on top of the car. I recovered exactly one of them intact. A 6W6GT.
Win W5AG
On the purely careless and stupid, but not life threateningly careless and stupid; I was at my warehouse of junk a few months ago for some tubes, put a small sack of octals on top of the car, went back inside, got distracted by a phone call, and drove off with the tubes on top of the car. I recovered exactly one of them intact. A 6W6GT.
Win W5AG
Of course Jimmy did! And then there was Einstein. Yeah, I've been listening ;-).
Carry on Cal !
Grant.
OK....you win.
I almost got killed (at least that's what I thought) walking home from a FREE all day outdoor concert maybe 12 hours after I drank the Electric Orange Juice. The venue was the soccer field at the University of Miami. The field also served as a practice field for the (American) football team so there were goal posts. I remember climbing up onto the cross bar of one of the goal posts and sitting there for much of the early part of the show because there was a huge crowd. Concert headliners were The Pacific Gas and Electric Company and Jethro Tull. Local bands played during the day including a band from our high school.
I was walking through Coral Gables sometime after midnight and came to a cross street. I sat down in the grass and waited until there was only one car visible and it was far away. As I started walking across the street it zoomed past me at a distance of what seemed like a few inches. I returned to my seat in the grass, waited until there was nothing moving anywhere in my field of vision, then ran across the street!
The next day I realized that I could have just watched the street light...or even pushed the crosswalk button and waited for a walk sign!
I just typed this into Google and found that the show was May 16, 1970.
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