Wear your safety gear!

[3100 special]

I had forgotten about an incident that happened earlier today when I was posting the day’s efforts. Thought it worthy of sharing as both a funny (though not at the time) and a reminder that you should think ahead at the possible consequences when working in the shop. Or in my case today, the driveway…

Usually when I’m sanding or grinding on the panel, I’ve got on safety glasses, a paper mask and ear plugs.
So there I am, on my back with my safety glasses and I’ve marked my spots for the holes on the driver’s side 4 link bracket. No problem.
Tap the holes with a punch to make sure the drill bit doesn’t drift…check.
Squirt a little oil on the spots to aid in cutting…check.
Get my drill; make sure the cord is clear in case the drill catches (half inch drill, plenty of torque)…check.
Here we go, the bit starts it's job. No problem.

So what did I not mention above…no paper mask. Big stinking deal, right?
Wrong.

As the drill started biting and the shavings started dropping...that magical moment happened.
A nice, hot shaving dropped perfectly into my left nostril hole and fell perfectly (without touching the sides) to the ridge before going into my sinus cavity.
F-ing burn! The next immediate reaction was to release the trigger and raise up…pure reaction. In the brief moment, I had just enough sense to move my rapidly raising head to the side to avoid banging my gourd on the bottom of the frame.

Everything turned out cool. Blew a hole in a couple of tissues and everything was great. The piece of crud was free.

Forgot all about it until I was cleaning up this evening. Dang sure didn’t forget enough to not wear my mask the rest of the day though…

So was if funny? I have to admit, yea a little.
BUT, if that POS had dropped a bit further I might have been screwed.

Work safe folks!