Workshop Renovation

This page will be dedicated to the numerous injuries I will undoubtedly encounter during the creation of the ultimate workshop.  Amazingly, I did not receive any wounds that actually drew blood until November 21, 2002 !  Each time I cause a significant amount of pain that actually results in one or two obscenities drifting from my mouth, I will document it here, along with what I learned from the experience.  Below is the first such occurrence:

Injury:

This happened when I was attempting to pry an outlet box off a wall stud so I could move it out a bit to make it flush with the new wallboard going up.  While exerting an extreme amount of force, the pry bar slipped, causing my hand, specifically, my ring finger on my left hand, to go zooming into the outlet box, slightly ripping my finger.  Notice how the blood actually splattered onto the surrounding fingers, all the way to my thumb.  Impressive for such a minor injury !

What Did I Learn?

Even though I was using the correct tool, I was not using it in the proper manner.  After cleaning up the ever increasing flow of blood, I used a hammer to force the pry bar behind the outlet, and successfully removed it.  New Rule:  Do not try and force a pry bar simply using human strength.  Let's see if I do this again in the coming months !

Wound Update

Today is April 26, 2003, and still no other wounds !  What am I doing right ???

Injury #2:

It has been over a year since my last injury, but it finally happened on November 27, 2003 !  (What is it about November ? So far, 100% of my injuries have occurred during this month !)  Excuse the poor picture quality, but I was hurrying to stop the bleeding:

Injury:

This happened when I was adding some wiring in the ceiling to expand the lighting capabilities in my workshop.  I was using a razor knife to strip the ends of the wire (14 gauge wire in case you are interested) when it slipped and took a healthy slice into my index finger.

What Did I Learn?

I was not using the correct tool.  I really need to get some wire cutters/strippers so I can safely do this stuff !  New Rule:  Use the correct tool, even if it means you have to go out and buy it !  And I need to get a first aid kit for the workshop !