wolfman98

Today I should have just stayed in the house and watched the tube or looked for parts I can't afford anyway. But I know that I can only spend 3-5 hours puttering on the Olds so I went over to the garage to get a little more done. I have been stripping off a lot of the parts and brackets etc. off the motor so I can clean them up and give them nice fresh paint.With being on disability and working alone on a limited budget it is mostly a slow process but it's better than sitting at home feeling sorry for myself.I started with stripping the underside of the hood and repainting it , which was a long process as I do not have a "clean room" so it took a lot of rubbing down between coats of paint and clear.I have it on one end of the garage and then I blocked it away from the other end with some cardboard after it was dry. Then I started stripping various parts and brackets ( hope I remember where they all go ). Today I was using my little angle grinder with twisted wire wheel (it does a great job stripping old paint , rust etc. )Well I was starting to lose feeling in my arm as usual due to afore mentioned disability ( struck in the head with a chunk of wood thanks to my bucket man , crushed discs and put 3 vertabae out of place ) I decided it was time to call it a day and when I tried to shut off the grinder the damn lock on button would not release. Well I thought to hell with you I will just unplug you from the wall and i proceeded to do just that , tripped over the starter , falling into my cardboard wall and losing grip on the grinder. My hands start going to sleep so when my wrist hit the front of the hood , the grinder got away from me still running full bore and proceded to do a dirty dance all over the underside of my hood.By the time I got up and had gotten it unplugged the damage was done. Talk about having a bad day , tomorrow we are supposed to get 6-8" of snow so maybe I will stay home , I might not be so f***ing mad at myself by then

gearhead1218

Sorry for your crappy day. Yes we all have them and I can sympathize.

I remember the day I took a corner a little too fast and forgot about the alternator in the trunk. It went flying into the quarter panel and left it's mark.
Then there's the day I got too close to the door with a jackstand-- OWIE!!!!
The time I forgot to latch the hood and went for a test drive-- another OWIE.

Mistakes happen, we all make them, then have to fix them. But look at the bright side, at least you have no one to blame but yourself, and only yourself to b*tch at. You'd be a tad madder if someone else did it, then you'd be b*tching at them.

Olds64

Sorry to hear about your lousy day. It happens to everyone. At least the grinder only messed up the bottom of the hood instead of the top of it.

citcapp

Had those days more then I care to think about. Could have been your hand or leg. Count youself lucky it was only the inside of the hood

gearheads78

Agreed could have been much worse. Glad you are OK wire wheels stripe flesh easier than paint

wolfman98

I guess I have to learn what my limits are instead of just getting that last piece done. I have worked since I was 13 when my summer job was haying for $1.00 per hour. It seems that I have had too many occupations and all involved ahrd work and working with my hands. to coin a phrase I became a jack of all trades , master of none. The last 6 years I spent running a chainsaw cutting trees and brush , as well as dragging it to a chipper. Asplundh here clears out around and under the powerlines. Three years ago I got wacked in the head that did a little damage to 1 vertabrae and disc but other than some neck pain I kept working without incident until my boss decided that I should work underneath a bucketman for whom no-one else wanted to. he was the fastest cutter they have but for a good reason ( I nicknamed him Hack and Slash ).For some reason once these guys graduate to the bucket , helping out on the ground is too good for them. Dispite my age I could keep up most of the time and we always were one of the best crews , downside was he got his own way cause they figured he was a great trimmer and did not want to lose him. He managed to hit me several times (something about not being able to look down when he moves over an area where I am working). The last time he was watching and waiting for me to grab an armload of brush but as soon as I turned to drag to the chipper he slash cut the top out of an Aspen. it would have been ok if it dropped staight down but it deflected off a lower branch and made a b-line for the spot under my hardhat , dead center neck. Kocked me cold and the only thing that brought me around was the mouthfull of water I inhaled after landing in the ditch of water. I know this bad day is not the only one out there , I am glad that I managed to find this Olds to work on. This site is also good medicine for me cause I have found some of the nicest guys who don't mind giving a guy a little advice.And that is something that I appreciate big time. for those who have not seen it http://www.flickr.com/photos/wolfman98/

Lady72nRob71

Wolfman,
Glad the hood took the hit and not yourself! Loosing flesh will ruin not one day but many, depending on how much you loose. Been there, done that - recently.
I have dropped several out of control tools and luckily, rarely hurt.
I do have a phobia about chainsaws though... I got my moms arm with one back when I was 16 when we were cutting tree branches; it caught her long sleeve and pulled her arm in but luckily it did not hit bone. I was finally able to use a chainsaw just a few months ago without too much fear... However, the memory still hurts.

OLD SKL 69

Sorry to hear about your bad day too. Hope tomorrow is better for you. BTW, your restoration pics look great, keep up the good work.

hamm36

Keep up the good work. I took a lot of photos to help remember were it all goes, and use baggies labeled for the bolts. It paid off when putting it back together. Little at a time, and don't get over whelmed. It is looking good. I am sure just about everyone who as ever used a power tool has had a smiler experience.

Bluevista

Doesn't sound like fun, too bad about the hood. The car looks good, I like the center rear speaker, should have been like that in all convertibles with stereos. I was thinking about having one done in mine at the trim shop, some had nice ones like the '67 GP 'vert I had, looked similar to yours.
I'm a carpenter and one of the scariest things is when a power tool switch sticks or is erratic. It usually happens when your cutting off rafter ends above your head with a Skilsaw standing 20 feet up in the air on a rickety 2x12 ladder plank...in a blizzard...at night.
I know how you feel a little bit, have a titanium plate and three fake discs in my neck. My left arm and hand still gets numb or tingly sometimes but the pain was unbearable before surgery. 150 thousand bucks later and I'm almost good as new. They said I should try to become a foreman or get a desk job and never lift heavy things at work, I'm self employed..

OKIEOLDS

dont feel to bad....my bad day was when I changed brakes on my wifes car in the garage, started backing out with the door open and looking backwards and forgot to pump the brakes back up...needless to say I went to stop and NO BRAKES and it turned he door back the other way towards the fender...Man i was pissed!

Olds64

I have heard that working with power tools for long periods of time can do damage to the nerves in your hands and arms. Chainsaws, jackhammers, and reciprocating saws all can do nerve damage if used continuosly for long periods of time.

Cecil Anderson

Just to get in on the bad day thing. A while back I went out back to caution my teen age cousin on how to saftely us an ax to cut a tree down The first swing it cought a limb, and I was in the emergency Hosp getting the ax out of the top of the head and getting stiched up while my little cousin watched. He was good about it and agreed I was only showing how not to do it. I to have had better days Andy

wolfman98

Glad your neck feels better , I know what you mean about unbearable pain in the arm. The good thing about living in canada is that if deemed necessary i will get fixed up free , the bad news is that i am on the waiting list to get on the waiting list.They book appointments 6 months in advance and the waiting list to get on that list is about a year. the problem is a shortage of specialists because a lot of them move to the U.S. to cash in on huge salaries. A lot of U.S. specialty hospitals recruit specialists up here and the money is too good to turn down .

wolfman98

One of my first jobs out of high school was clearing brush for Dept. of Highways and they handed my an axe to cut some of the smaller trees. All was going well since I used to split wood for my dad , but after cofee break which I spent sharpening my axe I started on a small Maple tree . First hit down secnd up then third strike down to remove that chunk My axe hit a fencing nail and deflected staight down right into the top of my foot. 40+ years later my big toe still feels like it has some dental freezing. I managed to slice through the nerves.

wolfman98

I had carpal tunnel surgery done on both hands about 7 years ago.

wolfman98

I have worked with chainsaws a lot, especially the last 6 years.They are dangerous but I never had any major events until last year.Despite having chainsaw safety , chainsaw felling and chainsaw felling around powerlines cards ( where you have to take on hands courses) accidents can happen. I also climbed trees around transmission lines (high voltage 72,000 )and trimmed back branches that were to close ( you need a course for that too ) my accident was due in part to carelessness , weather and the neck problem which was causing loss of feeling in my left hand. I was under the lines mulching flat the branches being trimmed and my safety glasses were fogging up so I was peeking under to see where to mulch. I located some brush and reved up the saw while leaning into the pile and the tip of the saw hit one one those stubs that stick off a spruce , the saw kicked back and my left hand could not hold onto the handle cause it was numb and it hit me right in the chin ( the chain brake did not kick on ). Took 22 stitches broke 3 teeth and shaved a small piece of bone from the chin. I was back to work the next day .. as they say get back on the horse.