Plier bites

[trebor44]

They are just looking for something to chew on, like a puppy!

[Mal Paso]

As the new kid on the crew, I used a 28-ounce Mason's hammer for a short while in construction, buttoning up tie-beams and columns in masonry with cut nails through 3/4" plywood form boards prior to pouring concrete. After mashing my thumb, first, and 2nd fingers, the crew chief had enough.

At the beginning of the pre-dawn pour my hammer went missing. I used a borrowed hammer to repair blow-outs. Mid-morning, the crew chief told me to look for my hammer on top of the SW corner tie beam. Yes Sir. There it was, just the butt of the rubberized blue handle sticking out of a freshly hardened concrete pour.

"Go get a 16-oz. Carpenter's hammer at the hardware store RIGHT NOW, or don't come back", I was told. It almost brought a tear to my eye - those experienced construction guys looking out for me - just not as fast as that Mason's hammer.

When I was a nail bender the 32 oz Vaughn was king. Drive #16 sinkers in 3 blows and straighten walls. It has a longer handle so you can put real power in a blow. The waffle face on mine is well warn so it doesn't mark wood like a new one. It's the only hammer on my service truck as it will drive nails and do the job of a single jack. Your off hand better learn to finger nails though. Good training for reloading presses, you can damage fingers there too. Drifty this morning.

[Land Owner]

Thanks Mal. For a short while, after high school, construction employment was instructive. I didn't know "jack", but responsibly showed up ready to work daily, not just "on time" but early, and stayed late too. I was on a good crew, making entry-level wages, and working for a legitimate contractor. I did as I was instructed. I learned - some lessons the hard way.

It was a highly competitive and lucrative time. It was cutthroat too. The lure of better pay and benefits led me to my 2nd crew, at another site, for a different contractor. Too late, I discovered there are "broken promise" contractors. The first week on the new crew I received partial payment and was refused all of my earned wages. Further "promises" founded on broken promises wouldn't cut it. I quit, made an immediate career change, and my off hand recovered.

[CastingFool]

I can switch hands when driving nails. Specially, when someone is watching, I'll start driving the nail with the hammer in my right hand, and then switch to my left hand.

[megasupermagnum]

Pliers ain't nothing. "Getting philips'ed" is the real deal. I've seen my share of pinched hands with pliers, as well as missing fingernails and such from various tools. I've never seen an injury as bad as a philips bit on a 1/4" driver driven through the bone of a hand. I honestly think it's worse than a drill bit. Even regular screwdrivers to the thumb are pretty gruesome. There's a reason they make star bits, and I have no idea why old timers still insist on the Philips. It's a screw that is designed to slip on purpose with zero warning, and the tool to drive them is a spear, but with flutes to tear you up.

[1hole]

I can switch hands when driving nails. Specially, when someone is watching, I'll start driving the nail with the hammer in my right hand, and then switch to my left hand.

I'm impressed and hope you never lose that ability.

I never worked as a carpenter but I've loved to "make things" all of my life and my hammer skill was pretty good. That lasted until a "T-bone" auto accident nearly killed me and bashed my right shoulder socket cartalige and tore four tendons (the rotator cuff) to bits.

Docs eventually gave up trying to repair my damaged shoulder and just replaced it. (It's still a mess but it doesn't hurt anymore and I'm grateful for that!) But, sadly, when installing the new store bought steel and plastic ball and socket some tendon and ligament connections got shifted around a bit. When I swing at a nail the old hand-to-eye memory is still there but now it makes me consistently hit about 1 1/2" to the right! I can't do that good with my left hand so instead of a hammer and nails I use a lot of "dry wall" screws and a DeWalt 18V battery drill-driver. That's a bit slower than a hammer but it works.

[jonp]

When I was a nail bender the 32 oz Vaughn was king. Drive #16 sinkers in 3 blows and straighten walls. It has a longer handle so you can put real power in a blow. The waffle face on mine is well warn so it doesn't mark wood like a new one. It's the only hammer on my service truck as it will drive nails and do the job of a single jack. Your off hand better learn to finger nails though. Good training for reloading presses, you can damage fingers there too. Drifty this morning.

You ever try one of the expensive ones like the 15oz Stiletto Titanium out of curiosity? The claim is it drives like a 28-30oz.

https://www.stiletto.com/p/ti-bone-i...d-handle/TB3MC

My fallback is the old Estwing.

[Mal Paso]

You ever try one of the expensive ones like the 15oz Stiletto Titanium out of curiosity? The claim is it drives like a 28-30oz.

https://www.stiletto.com/p/ti-bone-i...d-handle/TB3MC

My fallback is the old Estwing.

There was always something hotter for more money but the Vaughn would build walls then had the power to straighten them. The bad boys that would build a house in a couple days and got the big bucks used framing axes and blew out their elbows by 30. A top framer with a bag of nails is faster than a nail gun but it's harder on the body. I escaped to the technical trades as it paid better.

I have the big Bostitch 16 penny nailer that will also put Tico Nails in Simpson Strap holes slick as can be without moving the strap. That's my fancy hammer.

If I need a single nail I have to break it off a stick.

[Scrounge]

How many times do you have to get a plier bite before you throw them out into the woods to be returned to nature? Both cases were pretty much the same, after patching up some flat garden cart tires on two different days while bending the cotter pin back around the large needle nose pliers slipped and chomp. First time(the finger) I figured it was just me, the second really was a good bite and I may have used a few inappropriate words. This is the same reason I don’t own any Gerber multi tools they do the same to me.

Of course like a dope I cleaned them up and put them back in the toolbox…

The real problem is operator error. If you place the plier correctly, and grip firmly in the right area of the hand they will not do that. Get in a hurry, and don't do it exactly right, and you pay for it. Said from a font of experience on how not to do things, so not casting aspersions. Learn to do it right, or pay for doing it wrong! Unless you're me. Then you need to be reminded every now and again!

[sloughfoot]

A couple year ago I was challenged to cut a 1/4 inch grade 8 bolt with a pair of kliens. I beared down on that bad boy holding the pliers on my lap an BAM I GOT IT! Success!!!! But the butt of the handles came together with such force got the tip of muh business and left me with a nasty bruise and blurred vision for a week

[georgerkahn]

I feel badly for all the posters' injuries/war wounds posted thus far, and am more than a wee bit surprised not reading reloading/press injuries! One of my most memorable causes for a string of expletives when loading (in a hurry, a few hours before a band gig) was when I moved the press's handle down with my left hand forefinger slightly (ouch!) atop a .25acp or .380 case! I do not recall which calibre it was, but I surely do recall both the pain... and dripping blood on the piano keys thru the gauze and tape bandaging a few hours later. While (I'm 74) I surely have had my share of plier bites, hammer misses, etc. -- I once even screwed a finger to the wall while putting up drywall -- NONE even comes close to that reloading press cut/smash!

[jonp]

There was always something hotter for more money but the Vaughn would build walls then had the power to straighten them. The bad boys that would build a house in a couple days and got the big bucks used framing axes and blew out their elbows by 30. A top framer with a bag of nails is faster than a nail gun but it's harder on the body. I escaped to the technical trades as it paid better.

I have the big Bostitch 16 penny nailerthat will also put Tico Nails in Simpson Strap holes slick as can be without moving the strap. That's my fancy hammer.

If I need a single nail I have to break it off a stick.

Ex co-worker sold me a used one. He ran a construction company and went out of business. It was sitting in his garage and needed to be rebuilt so I gave him $20 for it, got the parts and good as new