Striking hardened Steel on hardened Steel is a bad idea.

[Csm Davis]

While working on flipping deuce hubs I was removing the wheelstuds by means of tapping them out. To ensure I didn't hit one off center, I placed a 3lb sledge on the stud and then struck the sledge with another hammer.

I knew this was a bad idea but did it anyway.

I felt an impact on my left hand. I thought perhaps the handle had twisted in my grip. A few blows later and my glove was bloody. I removed my glove, blood squirted.

Assessment revealed a small cut. I palpated and didn't feel any foreign body. I held pressure, got it stopped bleeding, put on a new glove and continued working.

I got home about 3am.

I woke up yesterday with more pain and swelling. Placing a magnet near the affected area caused instant extreme pain.

X-ray shows a steel shard about the size of a 5.56 projectile up against the bone.

I spent the day yesterday getting this dug out of me. My left hand is unusable for a while.....

Sorry for your pain. I had a similar thing happen years ago on my first day at work at a driveshaft shop, three of us were knocking u joints out at a big table and the owner reached and grabbed a PTO shaft instead of a drift and gave it a hard smack it spit a shard of steel straight into my forearm. Hurt like heck but was somewhat funny as I was cracking jokes about the owner fragging me on my first day.

sent from my decrepit fingers

 

[swbradley1]

Ouch! I rammed a **** rusty piece of cable into my finger last night and luckily it didn't break off and stay there.

Get better soon.

 

[VPed]

Sorry to hear of your injury. FYI to you and others - When I flipped the hubs on my deuce, I used a HF pneumatic impact hammer with a blunt punch tip to knock out the studs. The only drawback was to render the letter on the end of the studs illegible.

 

[rickf]

Did the very same thing hammering on a U-joint and the same thought in mind. This is not a good idea. Shot two pieces, I had the joint cap that broke so they could match things up. They dug one out that had penetrated almost a full inch in my forearm but nobody saw the second one. They saw it was missing from the cap and figured it missed me, it didn't. It came out of my armpit a year later!!!! It had traveled the length of my arm inside over time. THAT is scary. I Never hit hard on hard anymore.

 

[54reo]

The bit about foreign materials traveling to different locations in the body is a fact.
My grandfather was shot accidentally in the lower leg with a shotgun while hunting as a kid. He always talked about shot coming out of him in various places through the years but I never beloved him; until I saw a shot pellet fall out of his face (ear) while we were sitting at the table one day. It was under the skin when he showed me, then he proceeded to scratch it out.
Thorough the years those shot pellets came out of everywhere...

 

[54reo]

Believed, not beloved

Although he was beloved, that was a typo