Wierd accident

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Dan in Ore

Member

• Oct 10, 2008

• #1

This is one of those things that just happens.

I was splitting wood. I swung the maul at the wedge and hit it solid. I felt an electric signal go through my thigh like I had pulled a muscle. I looked down and blood was flowing pretty heavy. I got up to the house and couldn't get the bleeding to stop, so I called 911.

Dr x-rayed the wound and there is a piece of steel in there about 1/8" square and about 3/8" long. It is about 1/8" from the bone.

He said it is better not to try to remove it as the surgery would do more damage than the piece that is in there.

Goes to show that you never know when and where something like this is going to happen.

 

B

bc

Well-known Member

• Oct 10, 2008

• #1

Not sure if you hit the artery or not, but it must be close to the artery. You may be lucky in that regard. When that leg artery gets cut, people bleed to death fairly quick without a tournaquet. I suppose there would be some muscle damage if they tried to cut it out although there is probably some muscle damage from the entry. Just watch for the slightest hint of infection. Have to get to that real quick when dealing with a leg.

 

A

Anonymous-0

Well-known Member

• Oct 10, 2008

• #1

I did this twice within about a year a couple of years ago. Both pieces went into the forearm and one is still there for that same reason.
That wedge is gone. I have one of the beet-shaped ones from ACE hardware that works better anyway but I watch the head now on it too.

 

A

Anonymous-0

Well-known Member

• Oct 10, 2008

• #1

Yikes! Makes me think a hydaulic splitter is safer, but I have a friend who's missing a finger from one of those. I've had some close calls over the years but nothing that shows.

 

I

INCase

Well-known Member

• Oct 10, 2008

• #1

Not saying you've used poor tools but it does make you wonder about the quality of some stuff (China junk) that's out there and how safe it is or isn't. Make sure you've got safety glasses on too.

 

Goose

Well-known Member

• Oct 10, 2008

• #1

When I was in the Marine Corps on Taiwan, one man swung a sledge at a post he was driving. The head flew off the handle of the sledge and hit another man upside the head. He died on the spot.

I still get the willies when I find a hammer with the head loose.

 

G

Glen D Anderson

Member

• Oct 10, 2008

• #1

No offence, but was the head of the maul or wedge mushroomed?

 

R

RegoR

Member

• Oct 10, 2008

• #1

While vacationing in Maine a couple of weeks ago there was an story in the local paper (Camden, I think) about a guy splitting wood and a fragment from either the maul or the wedge punctured his femoral artery. While trying to get out of the woods to find help, his truck got stuck and his life ended there. I had to reread that story twice, it was so unbelievable. I get shivers just thinking about it again...

 

J

JBMac

Member

• Oct 10, 2008

• #1

We had something similar happen to a guy at work this year. Was using a large puch and a sliver flew into that big vein where the top of your forearm meets your wrist, bled like crazy.
For wood, I would say a splitter is safer, but I had a piece of cherry "explode" with a large piece finding my shin. Still have a little dent there, man did I cuss!

 

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Paul from MI

Well-known Member

• Oct 10, 2008

• #1

Friend of mine had a similar experience with a piece of a wedge embedded in his abdomen. He is a very large man and after quite a few hours of surgery they gave up. Just couldn't find the piece. As far as I know it's till there after 25 years. Still a painful experience and he was off work for a couple of months. Moral of the story is keep your wedges and hammers burr-free. After that I started really paying attention to my punches and chisels, etc.
Paul

 

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Paul from MI

Well-known Member

• Oct 10, 2008

• #1

Friend of mine had a similar experience with a piece of a wedge embedded in his abdomen. He is a very large man and after quite a few hours of surgery they gave up. Just couldn't find the piece. As far as I know it's till there after 25 years. Still a painful experience and he was off work for a couple of months. Moral of the story is keep your wedges and hammers burr-free. After that I started really paying attention to my punches and chisels, etc.
Paul

 

K

ken in texas

Member

• Oct 10, 2008

• #1

I have a piece of steel in my index finger,been there at least 50 years.No problem,except it seems to be getting larger.I used to let the grandkids feel of it,and it really gave them the creeps. ha ha ha .

 

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WhiskyDog

Member

• Oct 10, 2008

• #1

that happened to a friend of mine, a piece of punch broke off while removing screws. The X-ray tech said she had never x-rayed that body part, and had a hard time figuring out how to get it on the plate. I guess he was still hopping around, and that made it worst.

 

1

1936

Well-known Member

• Oct 10, 2008

• #1

A guy in the Hayward, WS area just in the past month was shooting a kit black powder rifle. It blew up and a piece of the gun cut his femoral artery end of the story.

 

J

JBMac

Member

• Oct 10, 2008

• #1

If he had been having the hard time he could have just poked it up there!

 

OP

OP

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Dan in Ore

Member

• Oct 10, 2008

• #1

Neither one had a mushroom on it, and the items were not made in China.

I have a hydraulic splitter, but the engine is in the shop right now.

Dan

 

A

Anonymous-0

Well-known Member

• Oct 11, 2008

• #1

Sorry about your injury.

I have a friend who is skinny as a rail. He worked on the railroad, and one day a piece of steel broke off and imbedded in his leg just below the knee. Blood was running and he was hopping around in pain, and all his buddies were trying to get him to sit down and roll his britches leg up so they could see how bad he was hurt. When he finally exposed the wound, one of them smart-alecs declared, "My God, it's swelled up the size of a broom handle!". Bad as it hurt, he had to laugh. . .

Paul

 

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Anonymous-0

Well-known Member

• Oct 11, 2008

• #1

throw the wedge away and just use a spitting axe. that wedge is used in the bush when falling trees.

 

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bc

Well-known Member

• Oct 11, 2008

• #1

You'll have to get a letter from your doctor now to get through metal detectors.