nail guns- be careful!


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Old 05-29-06, 06:27 AM
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nail guns- be careful!

yesterday i was nailing a 2" block of 2x2 to another with a 15 ga finish nailer. everything should have worked right but for unknown reasons the nail turned less than a half inch into the pine and came out the side. unfortunately i was holding the block. nail went through my middle finger and into index finger. sore as heck but i'll live with a lesson learned the hard way. be careful!
 
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Old 05-29-06, 06:34 AM
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The nail probably hit a knot which redirected it.

An electrician friend of mine borrowed the framers nail gun [while they were at lunch], stood on top of an 8" ladder to install a block for lighting and ended up nailing his hand to the rafter. Since he was the only one on the job he had to pull his fingers loose from the nail and climb down the ladder before he could even cry.

Bottom line, all tools have the potential for harm and due respect should always be given.
 
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Old 05-29-06, 06:47 AM
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Also hear of the guy, probably from California, lefty, that hit a hard spot with a framing nailer, shot the nail through his heart, stood back and told his partner, *%# that hurt. They took him to the hospital, and the only thing that saved him was the fact the nail was so hot it cauterized the wound and prevented the heart from bleeding. Wierd.
 
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Old 05-29-06, 06:59 AM
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yea, i'm glad it was the finisher instead of the framer.... i was using it on saturday.

obviously i need to become much friendlier with my clamp collection to avoid doing this again.
 
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Old 05-29-06, 06:59 AM
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Wreckwriter,

Same thing happened to me at work last April. I was nailing a 1x4 oak window jamb together in a garage, and had my hand a little to close and shot a 2 1/8" nail right through the bottom of my thumb and out through the top of the knuckle, right through the bone! Fortunately when I pulled my hand back and yelled OW! I yanked my hand off the nail. I didn't realize the nail had gone all the way through for a few brief seconds. Funny thing was, it didn't bleed- the holes were so small! Hurt like *$%# for the next few days... didn't bend right for a month or so. Amazing how quick something like that can happen. But after a little reminder like that, it makes you a lot more cautious for quite a while.
 
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Old 05-29-06, 07:06 AM
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i don't know how i got my hand off of it. obviously i yanked it off but it happened so fast i don't remember doing it. just felt an impact, like hitting fingers with a hammer, then i was looking at the holes and grabbing a rag. bled some but not too much.
 
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Old 05-29-06, 08:46 PM
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Webbed hands are ***** when doing home improvement, aren't they, Tom? Strap your tank on and get back in the water. You're safer there.
 
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Old 05-30-06, 05:24 AM
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Another incident with my framer. My daughter who was in graduate school, during her summer, insisted on working on a construction site with me. So I indoctrinated her on all the safety I could imagine before we started. The framer had a contact trigger. She was holding a board for me to nail, it double hit on top of the first nail head, and the second nail hit the bill of her hat. After I stopped shaking, I went to the truck and switched to the sequential trigger. Shooting nails at a rapid rate is cute on TV, but is sobering if it goes wrong.
 
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Old 05-30-06, 05:57 AM
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I agree Larry. I keep my framer set on single shot. My finisher came with single shot only trigger but if you call they'll send you a bump trigger. I got it and used it a couple times but didn't feel comfortable so I put the single shot trigger back on. Feel kinda lucky that i did now....
 
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Old 05-30-06, 05:58 AM
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Unhappy

Originally Posted by azatty
Webbed hands are ***** when doing home improvement, aren't they, Tom? Strap your tank on and get back in the water. You're safer there.
heh, i wish. i hurt my back a while ago, i'm fully retired from diving now.
 
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Old 05-30-06, 06:58 AM
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I imagine anyone who uses nailers on a regular basis is going to get bit eventually. I had a 2 1/2" finish nail hit something hard and curve around right into my fingernail about down to the quick. Actually hurt worse pulling it out lol. Sounds worse then it was it really never hurt all that much. I nicked a knuckle with the frame nailer once now that one hurt! I have the pasload impulse frame and finish guns. Neither shoots more then one time. If I were doing huge frame jobs (heaven forbid) I would want to be able to hold the trigger and stab nails into stuff but for the most part it doesn't save much time and you will be neater with your nails pulling the trigger everytime and oh yeah, might avoid tacking yourself to the deck or something lol.
 
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Old 05-30-06, 09:45 AM
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Always check the hand that's not holding the nailer to see if it's too close. The framing nailer that I use on community service projects has the sequential trigger installed - it saves time by not having to teach any of the other volunteers how to safely bump-fire fasteners. Also avoids misplaced fasteners when that second shot occurs after the rebound.
I had only one gripe from a volunteer who was also a contractor regarding the sequential trigger. He was the guy who needed a bandage a few minutes later when he nicked his free hand that was holding 2x4's in a T as he was nailing.
 
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Old 05-30-06, 10:45 AM
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I've used pneumatic nailers enough to be comfortable around them, but I'm smart enough to know I don't have the experience to use a bump trigger. I tried it in my framer installing subfloor. I quickly went back to the single shot. That thing scared me.
I haven't nailed myself yet, but I came real close. I was plugging my Bostich nailer into a charged air line and the thing went off. My finger was definitely nowhere near the trigger, but the nailer tip was resting on my knee and probably depressed(yeah, I know) as I balanced myself on some second floor joists. The nail shot through my jeans, scraping my knee just deep enough to get my attention. I still haven't figured out why it happened. I tried for an hour after that to get it to fire w/o the trigger but it wouldn't.
 
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Old 05-30-06, 07:27 PM
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I don't care if it's made by smith & wesson or porter cable - if it's a gun, I'm paranoid careful.
 
 

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