Almost just lost my hand

[NightrainSrt4]

Finished eating dinner. The disposal wasn't working. Turned it off and was looking in the drain. Not seeing much I reached in and found some, yes, plexiglass fragments from my last modding adventure in the kitchen of the apartment. Some must have fallen in.

So I turn it on and it starts up rough. Stop it, go scravenging for more. Finding nothing turn it on. This time its not working again.

I forgot to turn the damn thing off before I went looking again. I didn't realize till I pulled my hand out. Luckily it didn't turn on while I was looking around in there. Not even sure if you can cut up your hand, but I am sooo glad I didn't get to find out.

Scared the living crap out of me. Would have been a Christmas Eve Disaster.

Note to everyone: Keep your hands out of the sink disposal while it is still connected to the mains. Don't rely on the switch!

Holy Crap. Anyone else screw up like this recently and lucked the hell out?

[Crimson Sky]

not sure it would cut up your hand?

considering food disposals will grind up bone without a problem, you would have lost lost fingers as easily as if it was cutting chicken breast.

[jdbnsn]

I've made this same mistake in the past, I was fortunately lucky like you were but in retrospect it could have turned ugly real quick. I have seen a lady in the ER who was less fortunate when she was fishing something out of the drain and her Einstein of a husband flipped the switch to help out. She was lucky in the sense that she only lost an inch off of her middle finger but driving on the freeway will never be the same. Her hand was none the less mangled and looked convincingly painful, but most of it was likely to heal.

[xRyokenx]

Heh... I'll keep my hands away from the garbage disposal now. Those things are like a wood chipper for food and random scraps.

[Luke122]

You know you are addicted to TBCS when.... hehehe...

Glad to hear that you are alright!!!

Merry Christmas to All!

[Bopher]

Man I don't like disposals. My dad was always sticking his hand down there and then, if we were watching as little kids do he would start screaming like his hand was being chopped up. Of course with little kids good for a few high decibel screams. Maybe that explains my sick sense of humor.

Maybe Santa was keeping a watch on you and let you keep your hand this Christmas. :santa::santa::santa:

[OvRiDe]

Yikes .. That just turns my stomach reading it.. I am glad luck was on your side..

If you watch the show Heroes.. They did a pretty good rendition of what happens when you reach into a running garbage disposal. The difference is she could regenerate what was left of her hand!

[FuzzyPlushroom]

Ohh man. Guess it's a good thing that we don't have one in the first place...

Lucky break, definitely.

[Dilphat]

good to know you still have your hand. now i know what not to do if it doesn't work...use a stick. lol, well maybe.

[Bopher]

If you watch the show Heroes.. They did a pretty good rendition of what happens when you reach into a running garbage disposal. The difference is she could regenerate what was left of her hand!

I just remembered that one. When I saw it I was like squirming in my chair. Never looked at the disposal the same way again.

[IndyRacer27]

Anyone else screw up like this recently and lucked the hell out?

Not too long ago, we got one of these trucks stuck in the mud at work.
http://www3.telus.net/indyracer27/797.png

When these trucks get stuck we use big metal cables with a loop on each end. The cable I was using wouldn't stay on the hook on the front bumper, so I decided to hold it while the dozer pulled the cable tight. No big deal, I have done that many times. This time however, I wasn't paying attention to where my fingers were. As the cable was pulled, the loop at the end was pulled tight. Luckily it just grazed my finger tips as it squeezed tight. My reflex action to pull my hand back left my glove still squeezed by the cable. If my fingers were in the loop when it pulled tight, they certainly would have been pinched right off.

[Airbozo]

Many moons ago a roommate was using a broomstick to try and clear the disposal and he had forgot to turn it off. He pushed the stick in just the right direction and the thing came unstuck and started spinning. The broomstick spun around and smacked him on the head so hard it knocked him backwards. I think he still has the scar and I know for a fact he kept that damn broomstick as a memorial...

[danthegeek]

Not too long ago, we got one of these trucks stuck in the mud at work.
http://www3.telus.net/indyracer27/797.png



How exactly do you get a monster like that stuck :think:


:)
-dan

[IndyRacer27]

How exactly do you get a monster like that stuck :think:


:)
-dan

The dirt we haul with those trucks is either oilsand, or muskeg. Either way, the trucks are so heavy, that they sink about 3-4 feet in the dirt as they drive. Where we dump the muskeg, the dump becomes so soft that sometimes the trucks sink a lot further than that, plus then they can't get the traction they need to get out. We get them stuck all the time. On Christmas eve, I think the truck drivers' minds were thinking of home, because in a 12 hour shift we had 8 trucks stuck. They usually only take a few minutes to get them out.

[Ichbin]

You have just rekindled my fear of ever putting my hand in the garbage disposal.

[NightrainSrt4]

Thanks for all the kind words guys. I am so very glad nothing happened. My girlfriend was pissed and banned me from ever putting my hand in it again.

Ya, I knew they chopped up food and crap, I just wasn't sure if the blades were in the middle or way over by the sides.

I am never putting my hand in the damn thing again. As my mom told me, thats what management in an apartment is for.

It would have sucked real ass if something happened. As almost all my Christmas gifts I need my hands for too :dead:

[IndyRacer27]

My girlfriend was pissed and banned me from ever putting my hand in it again.

I'm sure you got enough of a scare that you don't need her to ban you in order to keep the fingers out.:)


As almost all my Christmas gifts I need my hands for too :dead:

Not to mention everything else that you need your hands for, today and in the future.

[NightrainSrt4]

Ya, I feel very much like a dumbass. I was just in one of those I gotta fix this modes. Teach me to check everything before I go reaching in, this can be applied to a lot of things now that I think about it.

[IndyRacer27]

It's funny how the brain can overlook something so obvious. I know guys (more than 1) that have attempted to tip a lawnmower up on two wheels to adjust the carburetor while it is running. They put their fingers under the mower deck to pick it up. They both had fingers cut off.

My story of how I almost lost my fingers, was plain stupidity on my part. It is something I have done many times before, and considering the size of the equipment I deal with, you would think I would have been more focused on what I was doing.

[NightrainSrt4]

My issue was that I was going back and forth checking the drain and testing the switch to see if it was working. Back and forth, back and forth. When it didn't run I must have just thought I had already turned it off when I hadn't. Just glad nothing happened. And the same for you as well.