Ok I’ll bite. How do you know?
Let me preface this by saying that I own a half dozen angle grinders of varying sizes, and use them almost daily.
In May 2022, I was doing some work on a mid-sized dozer in Abbotsford. I tried to use a 7” makita grinder to widen out a split in the blade linkage that uses a bolt to clamp that tube to a large threaded rod end.
Almost immediately, the 14 lb grinder caught in the work and kicked back striking the back of my right hand. A quick glance informed me that a trip to the hospital would be required.
In typical field mechanic fashion, I wrapped my hand in clean rags and began cleaning up all my tooling; AC recovery machine, welding cables and gear, hand tools and so on. Once complete, I headed back to the shop in Coquitlam, then drove on to Eagle Ridge Hospital in Port Moody.
After a roughly 6 hour wait (I’m not the best advocate for my health
), Dr. Magee (awesome) cleaned and inspected the damage, and informed me that I had severed a couple of tendons. Apparently during the range of motion tests, my index and middle fingers weren’t able to straighten out. She sewed me up and provided a referral to a hand clinic in Surrey.
After that, there was the referral, tendon surgery to retrieve and reconnect the tendons (very uncomfortable having someone root around in your hand and wrist, even locally anesthetized), a pretty serious hand swelling infection, physiotherapy and funny bandaging for about 6 weeks.
For this time I was also essentially off work, and as a contractor, revenue was pretty much nil. Thankfully, I did and continue to opt in to Worksafe BC coverage for contractors. They were supportive and helpful, which was very much appreciated.
Anyway, the point is that Max123 mentioned that he uses a grinder with the same care as when using a chainsaw. This is great advice, and I cannot agree more.
I can dig up a couple pictures if anyone is interested…. For now, just the spank hand will have to do lol
