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Was a guy (also name of Jim) helping me work on an old 2-stroke magneto ignition dirt bike once. He had a better kicking ability than I, and was able to get it going. Trouble was I had set the throttle stop screw at max and with it revving like snot, he wanted to stop it before it tore up the engine. Well he didn't know where the kill switch was so he yanked off the spark plug lead.... !Ai caramba! Bike and Jim were on their side... me: wha' hoppen mon???

Well he didn't know where the kill switch was so he yanked off the spark plug lead....

I've used the old 'screw driver to ground trick' to kill a magneto-driven engine before - *DO* make contact w/the chassis/cooling fins on the engine first!

Was a guy (also name of Jim) helping me work on an old 2-stroke magneto ignition dirt bike once. He had a better kicking ability than I, and was able to get it going. Trouble was I had set the throttle stop screw at max and with it revving like snot, he wanted to stop it before it tore up the engine. Well he didn't know where the kill switch was so he yanked off the spark plug lead.... !Ai caramba! Bike and Jim were on their side... me: wha' hoppen mon???

Ahhhh, the magneto, source of ignition power for many small engines including that old 3.5 HP lawnmower engine on which I performed a task similar to yours. Ignition voltage is quite high! Stings a bit, though at least I didn't rap my head (though if lawnmowers had hoods, I would have found it with my noggin). I did end up on my backside though!