Do you wear a wedding ring in the field?

[Jeb]

I am just getting started in the farming / timber business and want to learn as much as I can from you! That is, I'd rather learn from your mistakes than learning the hard way all the time.  So, in the area of safety, do you wear your wedding or other ring when you are out working in the field or on the job?  If not, do you have any first hand experience that affected your decision?

Thanks,

--Jeb

[breederman]

I do not, because I was always bending and I was afraid of getting it caught. A lot of farmers do wear theirs though. How does your wife feel about it?

[Dave Shepard]

We had a hired hand when I was a kid that lost his finger jumping off a hay wagon. Ring got caught on a nail. All this mans brothers, and I think his father, had lost fingers, or more, working on farms and in sawmills. When his first son was born, he had an extra finger on each hand, and an extra toe on each foot.

[thecfarm]

I just about always wear gloves when I'm doing anything with wood.Have never had a bad experience when I had gloves on.But at work,wearing no gloves,I was climbing on a rack to look at something and I jumped down and my ring caught.Than I wonder why they always say to get a ladder.Would of been a lot worse another few inches higher.Did cut into my finger some.I've heard stories about rings getting caught while jumping off the sides or back of trucks.

[Norm]

Sure do I saw a guy weld his wedding ring on while working on a line accelerator (x-ray system) and that was enough for me to not wear one. As for my wife she knows me well enough to not worry about it.

[Magicman]

I wear the band, but always remove the one from my right hand.  I did accidentally get my band between two lugs in our camper.  12 volts will heat up a ring instantly.  Ring hazards/accidents can happen even when you aren't working.

Another hazard is allowing solvents. etc. to get underneath and blistering the skin.

I always wear gloves when sawing/working.

[Jeff]

I do not wear one after a couple close calls at work just in the first year of being married. Once on a log truck mirror, and once on a truck battery. I'm like Norm. Tammy knows me well enough and its never been a question. I have not wore jewelry of any kind since about 1981.

I did have one time when a ring perhaps saved me from injury. I was 16. It was my high school class ring. I was putting a 383 in a 65 Belvadere.  No room to see because of the big engine, so I was felling around down under to see if the motor mounts were lining up as we were lowering it with the engine hoist.  While my hand was down there, the chain on the hoist slipped and the engine tipped, pinning my hand between the mount and the frame. All the weight hit on my classring. It took a couple minutes for my buddies to re-hook and pick the engine up and free my hand, but I came out of it unscathed. We did have to squeeze my class ring back round with a pair of vice grips so I could get it off my hand.

[bull]

Wedding ring was put on 1-30-88 @ 6:30 pm and has been there ever since, other than for a short time for cleaning once in a while....... It was put their for a reason and there it will stay till death do us part !!!!   If your worried about it then take care of it, that includes the finger it is on !!!

[woodsteach]

Because of being a shop teacher and one of the safety rules is no jewelry allowed in the lab I got in the habit of taking mine off and putting it in my pocket.  Well it was getting dinged up by coins and pocket knife so the Mrs. said just leave it at home. 

I've also heard too many stories of jumping off of something and leaving the finger "up there".

A wedding ring is just an outward symbol of a vow that I made to her and God 14 years ago and one that I will never break!

;) Since I almost never wear it anymore I asked if I could hock it for a Ruger?   ;) ;)  Well the ring still sits on the shelf and the gun is still at the gun shop. ;D

woods

[Mr Mom]

Where my dad worked years ago one guy had a gold band tattooed where the ring would go.
My dad was a michinest and never had a problem with his ring. Ran a punch press and has all his fingers.

Thanks Alot
Mr Mom

[Reddog]

Being left handed it just never worked for me.
I got some bad blisters from trying to use a hammer while wearing it.

[zopi]

nope. don't wear one at all..I do too much dangerous crap...plus I almost got a finger ripped off climbing up the side of a ship...forgot to take my ring off and slipped...ooops.

[LeeB]

Haven't worn mine in over 20 years. lindy still has it somewhere. Had to dig it out of my finger when I slipped on a ladder.

[pigman]

I only wore mine for a week. It kept getting in the way of shaving my upper lip, so I removed the thing. 8)

[Patty]

Yea I had the same problem as pigman...........the diamonds were so big I couldn't get my gloves on. The final straw was when I went to shave my upper lip.  ;D

[Magicman]

What does da contract say  ???..... smiley_contract     

[OneWithWood]

I do not wear jewelry of any kind.  Too many moving parts on my toys.

[Ron Scott]

No, have had too many close calls of nearly leaving the finger behind jumping on and off fire trucks and rapelling from helicopters when I did wear one. Haven't worn a ring in years. Just too dangerous for me.

[ErikC]

 I never have worn one. I never even owned one for the first 7 or 8 years we were married. Now I have one, and I will wear it on occasion when we go somewhere. But I'm not used to it, so 90% of the time I forget. Sarah understands, it's no problem. Dad still doesn't even own one after thirty some years. We just always are around to many moving parts and sharp objects.

[Radar67]

Haven't worn one since I shorted out a power supply in a computer. Some one else mentioned that they heat up really fast, it's very true.

[Jeb]

Thanks everyone for your helpful responses. I don't plan to wear my ring in the field.  I've been married to the same woman for 33+ years and she agrees and supports my decision. She said, "I've gotten rather used to being married to a man with all 10 of his fingers. Leave the ring on the dresser!"

Thanks again.

--Jeb

[RSteiner]

I have three friends who are missing all or more than half of their ring fingers due to a wedding ring getting caught on something.  Just two weeks ago another friend was splitting wood with a hydraulic splitter.  As he was placing a large chunk of red oak on the splitter the piece of wood slipped in his hands, he was wearing gloves.  The weight of the piece of wood rested on his left hand which was between the wood and I-beam of the splitter.

A half hour later when he took off his gloves he noticed his ring finger was a different color and that his ring had been squashed.  The ring had to be cut off his finger.  There was no damage done to his finger or his hand, the ring had adsorbed most of the force of the chunk of wood falling on his hand.

Now he leaves his ring at home when working around machinery or heavy objects.  I stopped wearing my wedding ring 25 years ago becaause of a near miss, and we just had our 36th anniversary.  So you don't need a ring on your finger to convince your wife that you love her, there are so many other better ways.

Randy

[tonto]

I had a similar thing happen to me like RSteiner's friend. I was holding a piece of oak up to the cross on the splitter and a bad angle cut pushed it down to the the I-beam. I took my glove off and the ring was a triangle. I ran to the garage and used pliers to straighten it enough to get it off. The jeweler said he had never seen anything like this and when I told him the story he started laughing - saving money not buying fuel oil - hah.  Tonto.

[Ford_man]

In 50 yrs have never wore a ring. After reading this I just noticed that my wife is not wearing hers, I wonder

[barbender]

I wore mine for a year or so, hooked it on a few equipment ladders and my skin would get irratated from getting oil, hyd fluid, etc. under it. Jen gives me a hard time about it every now and again, I don't like tattoos but I told her I'd get a ring tat on my finger if she wanted. I also mentioned tradinf the ring for a pistol or something, mine is still sitting on the dresser as well