Ed Scherer

Take off any rings you might be wearing before working on your battery or on the starter (or anything else with one of those garden-hose size wires that you know can carry more current than your ring).

Didn't happen to me, but someone I knew many years ago. Seem to remember that it involved a ring (while still on finger) getting caught between hot wire on starter and ground, instantly being heated to red hot, and then sawed off in the emergency room. Gives me the ******* just thinking about it (of course, you can imagine that the finger starts swelling immediately, making it impossible to remove immediately). Ugh.

User 4221

Yep, that happened to my grandfather...... He tried to wear a ring again about a year later. His finger immediately swelled to twice its size and the ring had to be cut off. This time with a pair of heavy duty wire cutters.


Edited per Thaddeus' inputs

Thaddeus

Check your sentence structure, somebody's going to make a dumb joke...

Nathan Valles

Years ago my grandfather went to Africa and shot an elephant in his pajamas.
How he got into my grandfathers pajamas I'll never know. buh-da-boom

Bernie

Make sure you put the cap back on the master cylinder before pumping up your brakes for bleeding.....

(man running frantically around garage looking for rags and towels to get brake fluid off just about everything...... )

User 4221

Nathan had to be the one........

macreel

Never use your cutting torch in the garage,
or at least very,very, very carefully.

A colleague loved collecting and restoring 914s;
he had four in his residence garage and lots of parts.
he was cutting exhaust parts from below when he
smelled burning carpet (inside the cockpit).
He crawled out to find the interior about to
be engulfed; couldn't reach the vehicle fire
extinguisher; ran to find another than realized
he ought to push the 'teener out of the
(closed) garage, but another teener was in
the way; door was down. You get the picture.
7 minutes later he was short 4 'teeners, a garage,
a house. The wife, kids, and pets got out.

Careful out there, hear?

SharkSkin

Gregg K

It took me two windsheilds before I realized that those tiny sparks from a grinding wheel aren't harmless. They are molten, and stick to the glass. In time, they break off, and will cause a windsheild to eventually crack.

Safety glasses are good for keeping junk out of your eyes when under the vehicle, if nothing else.

When putting a car on jack stands, give the car a shake to make sure it's settled on the stands, before climbing under it.

Les Schwoob- Shop teacher who also had his ring turn into a high current conductor. Now he has a permanent ring scar. Didn't realize this happened so often.

SharkSkin

Actually, you guys have reminded me of my dad & his stretch-metal watchbands. Once I saw him get some juice through there that caused a muscle spasm, and the watch slung off his wrist and into the wall.... kept on tickin', but needed some melted links replaced...

Rob M Budd

If the garage door cable breaks and the door won't stay up, never prop it open with a broom stick on top of a barrel.
My brother did this years ago.

His brand new 66 Pontiac convertible was facing forward and he proceeded to drive out.
1. Hit the barrel with front right bumper
2. Barrel moves
3. Broom falls away.
4. Door comes crashing down and smashes across hood and fenders leaving nice straight dents on all three.
5. Sit there dumbfounded.
6. Swear like crazy
7. Leave engine running & put it in neutral.
8. Do not set the parking brake.
9. Get out of car & go over to passenger side to lift door.
10. Lift door.
11. Grab broom try to assemble makeshift door holder.
12. As you hold the door up, watch brand new Pontiac move slowly forward.
13. While holding door up, decide not to put your foot under the wheel to block tire (good move).
14. Do not let door down while the brand new Pontiac convertible picks up speed for fear of it smashing into the top or trunk lid.
15. While still holding the door up, watch brand new Pontiac continue down the driveway, across the street and plow into the stone wall on the other side of the road.

washington951

oh, pleeeeeeze tell me it wasn't a GTO....i love GTOs.....

SharkSkin

Bill, I read your account of how that happened... and I agree that it's too perfect to clean up. Have you considered sealing it in with some clear epoxy, to preserve it for posterity?

dr bob

From the list of Mechanics' Basics:

Never push on a wrench while trying to break that stubborn bolt free. It's a recipe for smashed fingers. Always pull on the wrench.

Bernie

Yes, good one Dr B.
Another one is to use extensions on your sockets, whenever possible, to get your hands away from other parts when trying to break a bolt or nut free.