Replies

Ouch.

I have been shot seven times in 12 years, only the hands and wrist... Once in the arse, but by someone else from distance; also took a spun nail off the chest from someone else.. I follow these stories though, as I used to use a nail gun every day. I own three of them, they are the most effective tools of my trade other than the skill saw.

In a recent story from Massachusetts a carpenter got a 3 1/4 inch gun spike in between his upper rear molars, and did not realize it for a week. His dentist found it while checking out his toothache.

These horror stories abound in construction circles. I once saw a man nail his finger to a window sill and start to cry; his partner saw him and came to his aid; he fainted. We cut out the sill, and sent the crying carpenter to the ER with it. We also revived the fainter.

I got a job last year because a guy nailed his big toe to a staging plank.

I treat a nail gun like a loaded .22 pistol. They can hurt you, but probably will not kill you.

The last time I got shot I had to go to the ER with a subdural hematoma that ice would not stop; the doctor asked me "what is it with these nail guns, I do at least one carpenter a day...?"

It happens, but not if you are aware. You only get aware by popping yourself a few times.

Enough of these stories and they will want to ban them. Fine with me, I sell labor, by the hour.