Paslode Framing Nailer 1 Hand 0

[Rob Wright]

Well, I found out on Sunday afternoon that when the nail glances off of the stud, that it will fly straight and true into the hand holding the 2x4. I calmly looked at my hand and attempted to pull out the 3.25" nail - it was stuck. I walked upstairs to my wife and asked if she could help pull it out. It was buried up to the end of the "cement". I little wiggle back and forth and a quick twist by my wife and it popped right out. Went and washed it out under the sink, it bled for a few minutes and stopped. It throbbed for a while and was difficult to make a fist without pain, but overall I felt as though I dodged a bullet so to speak.

84915

After reading horror stories of deep puncture wounds and bones infections on the web, i decided to go to the Doctor today. It ended up that I broke the two outside bones in my hand, but luckily no infection.

Now I end up with a cast for 4 to 6 weeks.:(

I guess the basement project will wait a little while longer.

It's funny - every time you have that "near miss" you get safer and safer after that. Well I thought that I was being safe by holding the blocking 6"+ away from the gun in case it veered out of the wood - I guess that it was not far enough!

BE CAREFUL - ACCIDENTS CAN HAPPEN ANYTIME!

- Rob

[Toney Robertson]

OUCH. Those guns don't know the difference between wood and flesh. I am glad you were not hurt worse.

I saw something on the job site that I would never have believed it if I would not have seen it.

Travis was long on muscle but short on sense. One day he was nailing the top plate on a 2x4 wall laying on the floor. He was stepping on the studs to align them even with the plate. He was bang nailing and missed the 2x4, hitting his shoe. We all gasped and asked him if he was all right.

He took off his shoe and we were expecting it to be full of blood but NO blood. We looked at his shoe and the 16P nail had went straight into the sole of his clod hopper. No part had left the sole either inside or outside. AMAZING and amazingly lucky.

Be careful out there.

Toney

[Michael Stanley]

Rob, Sorry to here about your accident. It's really scary considering that you thought your hand was a safe distance away and it got you anyway. My framing nailer scares me much more then any other tool in my shop.

[Isaac Barnes]

My framing nailer scares me much more then any other tool in my shop.

That would be a strange thought to be scared of a tool, I'd think that would make me more prone to get injured by a tool. I was always taught to have respect but not fear of a tool.

[jason lambert]

OUCH. Those guns don't know the difference between wood and flesh.

Sure they do they go through flesh much more easy. Let's see saw stop concer this challange.

Glad your ok though there are some bad spots to hit inthe hand and it seems like you dogged them.

[Matt Ocel]

Rob - I was using my Hitachi framing nailer that was made to use clipped head nails and it skipped then shot - right threw me thumb. I feel your pain.
P.S. my gun aws made to shoot clipped heads, but due to new compliances Hitachi now only makes a full head nail for that gun which is suppose to work for that gun - well when you get towards the end of the clip it doesn't work so well.

[Ken Fitzgerald]

Rob...heal well and fast! Thanks for posting.

[Mike Monroe]

Back in my days as a frame carpenter I shot myself in the hand once with a Senco framing nailer. I was nailing a sole plate and just caught the edge. I just pulled the nail out and kept working. Everybody on the job site had a good laugh at my painful expense. I have a nice scar in the palm of my left hand from the nail entry.

I saw a number of "shootings" during those days... the worst was a fellow that stapled his foot to a roof when we were installing sheeting. Had to use a hammer to pry his foot loose, those sheeting staples really hold well. The dumbest was when a fellow worker reached under a 2x10 while cutting it with a circular saw and felt for the blade!! He said he was checking to make sure the blade depth was set correctly. Luckily it was winter and he was wearing work gloves, so there was no tissue damage. And then there was the time a guy accidentally walked off the end of some scaffolding. Those kind of incidents and other things convinced me to go back to school and get a degree.

[Peter Quinn]

Ouch...Ouch...OUCH....that sucks...wish I'd never seen that before...Remember asking a guy on a dormer addition "Hey, what the heck is all this blood doing on these brand new windows?" then asking "Hey, are you gonna be all right man?"

My framer scares me...but the powdered actuated gun really gets the pulse up. Powerful weapons both.

[Joe Chritz]

Almost exactly the same spot mine got me. I missed the bones but buried it up to the paper tape on a 3.25" ring shank.

Don't know about yours but mine didn't hurt until the PA took it out. Then it hurt for a couple days. It was stuck good enough I would have needed a claw hammer to take it out without lancing the skin.

I saved the nail and will make a shadow box for it someday.

Hope it heals fast.

Joe

[ben bothwell]

Several years back a guy hanging siding on a jobsite I was on was standing on top of a fully extended 24' ladder and nailed his hand to the wall. He couldn't get his hand loose so he had to stand there and wait for two other contractors to put up ladders on either side of him and sawsall the piece of siding loose. He went straight to the emergency room with a 4' long section of 8" lap siding attached to his hand. From what I hear he is a cut man now, he won't go near a nailgun.

[Rob Russell]

Been there, done that - but with a finish gun.

I always tell folks to keep your hand at least the nail length distance away from the tip of the gun.

Rob

[Jim Becker]

OUCH!!! (Did I happen to say, Ouch???) Heal well and heal soon!

[J. Z. Guest]

Hi All,

My wife (a doctor) whom I read this to just told me that if this ever happens to me, (deep puncture) to NOT pull the foreign body out until after the X-ray.

She said that depending where the foreign body is in relation to blood vessels and nerves, that I could cause permanent nerve damage by pulling it out.

[Greg Hines, MD]

I would also make the suggestion that if you haven't had a tetanus booster in the last 5 years, you need one of those too.

Doc

[Keith Beck]

Hi All,

My wife (a doctor)...


That sounds like a drive-by gloat! :D

Keith

[Chris Padilla]

http://www.sawmillcreek.org/showthread.php?t=6894

How about some x-rays of nail gun accidents?! :)

Glad nothing serious happend in this incident.

[Greg Cole]

Rob,
Glad it wasn't worse and glad you'll heal up well. Once the initial pain goes away, you'll find yourself right back at it with the cast still on.
I've never stuck a nail in my flesh, but have sent some flying off floors, walls etc. I do at least protect my eyes via safety glasses.
Most of the tools-machines we use constantly are inherently dengerous, and when something happens, the machine never knows it did a bad thing (ask my jointer about my pinky). Managed to shorten the pinky in mid December, and it's still not quite "right" and will never have all the "meat" for the cushion over the bone on the tip, not too mention a slightly shorter bone. My 6 year old calls my finger tip a "ladder & slide", cause it looks about like the shape of a pool ladder & slide.:rolleyes:
I have no fear of my jointer from that incident. Matter of fact I was back in my shop as soon as I could at least use my hand without wincing & counting my pulse in it while sedentary (about a week).
Like Joe with his nail removed from his flesh, I have a reminder from my incident.... there are 4-5 drops of blood on the floor right where the door to the shop is. Every time I head out there and stop to turn on the lights I can see the "reminders" of the inherent dangers that abound in any shop.

Greg

[Bryan Berguson]

I would also make the suggestion that if you haven't had a tetanus booster in the last 5 years, you need one of those too.

Doc

Greg,

Should these shots be automatic every 5 years or just when something like this happens? What about splinters or other "minor" punctures? Is there such a thing as minor or are we kidding ourselves? I get little nicks, splinters, cuts and tears often so how much danger could I be in from these?

The last time I received a tetanus shot about 13 years ago ( I stepped on a nail) I was told to get the shot if I hadn't received one in the last 10 years. Could you please shed some light on why we need these and how often.

Thanks

Bryan

[Mike Monroe]

In my case, the nail was not imbended in bone, just the fatty part of the palm below the thumb. I instinctively yanked it out... jump up, see nail sticking in palm, yank it out in one motion, squeeze to make it bleed and move thumb, listen to Fitzy come over grinning saying "Shoot yourself?", Boss comes over says, "Wanna go to the hospital?", I say "No.", light up a smoke and go back to work. As I recall it was sore for a few days, but no permanent damage. The nail skipped the edge of the 2x, so I don't think it was going full speed when it entered my palm. I used nailers and staplers just about every day for 2-3 years and that was my only incident. (knock on wood)

[Chris Bruno]

Hey Chris, how about this one?

I was in LA when this happened and it was all over the news. All of the news people kept asking how he could have shot SO many nails into his head. Apparently they weren't familiar with the auto-fire feature most nail guns have.

The construction worker was expected to make a full recovery, though his situation was rather severe for a few days.

-Chris

[Ben Cadotte]

I worked at a lumberyard when in college. Every now and then we would get side jobs from contractors or by people that knew us (I was a carperter apprentice before going back to school).

Anyway one of the other guys got a job to build an indoor soccer arena inside and old warehouse. But he didnt really know what or how to do it. So I said I will help you and have a good idea on how it should go.

So I had just bought a new Bostitch nailer and compressor. I figured it would speed up the making of the side and end boards of the area go quicker.

But unfortunatley our nickname for this other guy at the yard proved itself (door knob Dave). Of course we were sharing the gun. After hearing the 3rd nail ricochet off the metal roofing, I decided it was time to take the gun back. Just as I was walking over he had done it again. This time it was followed by a loud cussing. Apparently he got lucky and the nail just ricochet off his hand. He handed over the gun to me without me asking. Said he was just going to hand nail from then on. When he was cussing, the only thing I could think of was the nail going all the way through his hand or something. As I heard it hit the ceiling. Was expecting to take him to the hospital. But luckily just a bruise from the impact.

[Greg Hines, MD]

Greg,

Should these shots be automatic every 5 years or just when something like this happens? What about splinters or other "minor" punctures? Is there such a thing as minor or are we kidding ourselves? I get little nicks, splinters, cuts and tears often so how much danger could I be in from these?

The last time I received a tetanus shot about 13 years ago ( I stepped on a nail) I was told to get the shot if I hadn't received one in the last 10 years. Could you please shed some light on why we need these and how often.

Thanks

Bryan



The rule is that you need a tetanus booster (what is called a TDaP) every 10 years, unless you have a puncture wound, laceration, or surgery, at which point you should have a new one every 5 years in that case.

The other reason to get a new one is the "P" part. That stands for Pertussis, aka Whooping Cough. The CDC now recommends that anyone needing a Tetanus-Diphtheria booster get that too, particularly after the outbreak of Whooping Cough a couple of years ago.

Doc

[Rob Wright]

Thanks for all of the sentiments. I was working back in the basement an hour later that afternoon. It did throbbed a little and closing the hand all the way was and is the major problem. I can't say that I am afraid of it anymore than I was before because I had no fear of the device before the accident or after. I RESPECT it a little more now and will take that extra half of a second to ask myself - "what would happen if...?"

I was wearing safety goggles over my glasses and I thought that by being 6-inches away I was out of the trouble area - this area is now known to be any area in line with the gun!

I had just gotten a tetanus last summer - another good deed helping my wifes cousin build a deck. I was trying to align the joist into the joist hanger when he thought that he should help - he helped by pushing the joist and having the hanger slicing the end of my knuckle off. That's another story though! That tetanus hsot hurt worse than the stitches or my hand right now!

My drywall is being delivered on Tuesday, the rough inspection Monday, so I will HAVE to finish my punch list times this weekend with the cast on. I still have to laugh at myself, I played collegiate and mens club rugby for ten years and have never broken a bone - darn tools!

- Rob

[Don Abele]

http://www.sawmillcreek.org/showthread.php?t=6894

How about some x-rays of nail gun accidents?! :)

Glad nothing serious happend in this incident.

Chris, I was going to post that link too! It was the first thing I thought of.

Be well,

Doc

[Greg Hines, MD]

That reminds me of a photo in a neuroanatomy text I had years ago, of a high-steel worker that had fallen off a girder, some long distance, and he ended up suspended from a rebar through his head, back-to-front, hanging off the building. I wish I could find it, but after Yahooing it to look, I could not.

He did survive, apparently, and had minimal if any neurological deficits, as I recall.

Doc

[Bryan Berguson]

Greg,

Thanks for the good information. Now that I'm thinking about it, I got another tetanus shot a couple of years ago. I remember it well. I was in the doctors office on a Thursday morning before golf and he told me my arm would be quite sore for a few days. I put it off until the next day because I knew I wouldn't be playing until the following Thursday...:rolleyes:

Rob,

I hope your hand heals up fast for you. Hurting is no fun. Just curious, air or airless Paslode? I have one of their air models that's about 12 years old. I've never been very happy with it and have always called it a good nail starter but recently I've been wondering if it was because it's on too many feet of 1/4" hose. Regardless of that, heal well.

Bryan