Tools that scare you

[DR Buck]

I'm wondering if any of you own or have owned any tool that scares the crap out of you when you use it.   I have one.

It's a 1974 vintage Black & Decker Industrial 1/2" gear drive drill.  It  has a gray plastic double insulated case and a reversible handle that you can screw in either the left or right side to help hold it.  It operates at a single speed very slow RPM as far as drill go.   :D    I got it new when I was on active duty.   I think I originally bought it to drill out large holes in a car bumper for a trailer hitch.  The first time I used it the bit grabbed and the drill spun around and broke my finger.      This is when I learned that if the bit gets caught, the drill will still keep spinning EVEN IF YOU ARE ATTACHED TO IT!    There is also a design flaw in it.   The trigger lock button is right where it can be accidently pushed in when the drill kicks back.   I had that happen once or twice on me as well.     I also made the mistake of trying to use a large hole saw in it one time.   I was cutting plumbing holes in house framing and must have tilted the drill.   It pick me up and through me across the room.  The trigger lock button got pushed in and the drill spun until the cord snapped in half.    I have quite large friend that was using it to drill 5/8" holes in plate steel using a tapered down bit.    It picked up his 280 lb body and tossed him across the yard.   

Today I had to drill 4 large holes in 3/8" thick steel angle iron to mount a winch on my trailer.   Most of my hand drills are down at my other place 120 miles away. The B&D drill is the only one I have here at the farm that could hold the bit I needed.    I tried every which way I could to not use that drill.   I finally gave in and used it.   Even drilling small 3/16" holes and stepping up to the larger sizes scared me.    I got to 1/2" and used a file and die grinder to go up to the 5/8" size I need.   Even though I have the 5/8" bit, there is no way I will put it in that drill and try to drill a hole.   Lesson has been learned.  ;D

[Don P]

I had a similar drill, locked it on when standing on top of a log wall corner and the thing spun around clocking both shins with each revolution until it wound up enough to unplug it. It broke my wrist when I punched steel bolting the legs down on the sawmill. Sold it for $50, have worn out one clutched drill and am on the second one since. I've made the clutch slip multiple times. Each time I think, "that would've hurt".

I've got several of Dad's old metal cased drills and saws. Having been bitten good by a shorted cord on one I really like the modern double insulated  plastic cases. They just sit on a shelf in the barn.

[Magicman]

Yes, my old Dayton ½" drill is very similar.  It will break whatever is in it's way and if it get's away from you with the trigger locked it will keep on flopping and winding the cord up until it unplugs itself.  That or knock the side wall of the shop out.

Another item(s) that I no longer use are the two Homelite XL 12's.  They do not have a chain brake and I recently showed a picture of what happened to me on a kickback.

[Larry]

Either a wood lathe or especially a metal lathe is a machine that can wind you up and kill ya.  Metal lathes are deceptively slow.  I'm not especially scared of one for some reason.  I do practice safety when using one.

A big shaper running a 5" cutter gives me weak knees right away.  I think the sound of it winding up like an airplane is what does it.

[chevytaHOE5674]

I have a drill just like that, I call it a two man drill. One to hold and run the drill and one to hold onto the cord and yank it out of the wall when the trigger gets locked and it starts to spin the operator around :D.

[Dan_Shade]

I like air Drills, the ones that I have used stall when they grab.

Shapers scare me too. 

[NWP]

I have the same drill. It's a beast. I have found that design flaw also but haven't gotten any broken bones from it yet.

[Larry]

I had a 1/2" Mall drill, fitting name with a story. 

Dad worked as a lineman with a power company.  In the late 50's or so he was helping put up a transmission line over the Missouri River.  Another lineman was at the top of a high line pole drilling a hole with this Mall drill when it decided to wind him up.  He survived but through the drill into the Missouri River.  After work Dad went back to the river and dove in to retrieve the drill.  Took a while to find it in the mud.  Dried it out and it worked perfect.  I got it when Dad passed, but since I already had one I moved it along to one of the kids.  Still working and making stories.

Mall drills are defunct years ago, but really high quality.  I have a couple of 1/4" drills that work as new.  They came either as high speed or geared way down.

[starmac]

I have that same drill and it is a beast. I doubt it will ever wear out, mainly for the reasons you have stated. lol
Lately I have been using it with 5/8 and 3/4 reamers and it bit me a couple of times. I finally had some 1 in holes to drill and 16 more 5/8 holes, so went and bought bits for the mag drill. lol

I have a snap on half in air drill that just turns 600 rpms, it is as bad or worse and doesn't have the extra handle.

[Kbeitz]

I got two... The first picture is a one inch hand drill...
But it's not as bad as my Black and Decker 1/2" drill
The old Black and Decker has a trigger that you pull
once to turn it on and then you have to pull it again
to turn it off. Dated 1917



 



 



 

[coxy]

I have dads old keen cutter when we use to drill with it we would stick a 2x4 in the back handle so if it caught you would not loose your arms or wrists  dad had another one but don't remember the name that thing would always lite me up like a Christmas tree every time I turned it on that drill should be someplace in drill heaven by now  ;D

[Kbeitz]

I never had enough guts to run this skill saw.



 

[coxy]

is that a magnetic drill on top

[Don P]

I would like to have a mag drill, they are handy.
That saw is one drill attachment I've never seen before  :D
I'm leftie and the P torque on Dad's Skill 77 worm drive was kinda backwards for the way I grip. I gave it to a co-worker then later got a Milwaukee that works the other way.

Interesting tidbit I heard on skillsaws years ago, they were originally invented to cut sugar cane, then a backer saw the potential for sawing wood.

[Kbeitz]

is that a magnetic drill on top

Nope Jig saw...
But I have a Mag drill in my collection...



 

[Roxie]

DR_Buck, you've brought back a memory, of the only tantrum I've ever seen Cowboy Bob throw. 

Immediately following just such an incident as you described, I saw him grab the cord of said drill, and smash it into the block wall of the milk house.  He just kept going until the drill was in pieces and throwing electric sparks. 

I never said a word, and just backed quietly out of the barn.   

[sawguy21]

That was probably a very wise decision. ;) I have had encounters with those high torque drills too, they have my utmost respect. I'm not scared of power tools but they get my full undivided attention especially chain saws and table saws. Both have bitten me in the past.

[Ox]

My brain is a tool.  It scares me sometimes...  both in what I sometimes think of and how worthless it sometimes is...

[Roxie]

Ox, my grandfather had a saying about those random thoughts.  He said, "You can't help the birds that fly over your head, but you can keep them from building a nest in your hair." 

[Ox]

I like that Roxie!  Good saying. 

[Runningalucas]

The amount of drill talk being the scariest tools used is quite funny, and strikes a chord with myself as well.  We were installing large switch gear in a building, the 4" knockout set was in use elsewhere; so our dear project manager delivered a Milwaukee hole hog, and 10 pilot bits, and 4 4" hole saws. 

We, or I should say myself, and 2 others had to drill 10 4" holes through the top of the gear for feeders; I think it was around 11 gauge steel.   By the second, or third hole, we'd used up all but two pilot bits, and then started using quarter inch all thread as our centering pin, and saved the other couple for drilling the initial hole. 

By the end, only one of the hole saws was still good, and with the grabbing action that occurred, we'd gone through two cords for the drill.  A memory I'll never forget! lol

[PC-Urban-Sawyer]

Would have probably been cheaper and faster to buy another 4" knockout ...

[sandhills]

Ox beat me, I was gonna say my mind.  My thumb is also very scared of my hammer, or lack of ability to aim it I should say.  I had to take the guard off a little 4 1/2" angle grinder once to get into a tight spot and managed to tear my flannel and t shirt almost in half when it caught them, just a scratch on my belly but could've been much worse, it's hard to turn things off in a hurry and easy to put the guard back on in a hurry.  Also set myself on fire with a 7" angle grinder in highschool once, everyone else thought it was funny, I hadn't even noticed it, to busy grinding away.

[coxy]

ox and roxie that was funny  sandhills I remember my dad every time he used a nail hammer he would whack him self between the eyes with the claws blood would fly and I would laugh at him and he would throw the hammer at me and that made things interesting good thing I could run faster than him  :D

[starmac]

Any tool can be dangerous. Once my dad was holding something for another guy that was using a plain old screwdriver, he slipped and stuck it in dads eye.

My bil was using an angle grinder once, he had the old safety goggles everyone used at the time. they all had an extra long elastic band that you had to adjust and always had a foot or more left over, which he folded and put under the band to keep it out of the way. It came loose, and he said he watched it fall into the grinder wheel, knowing exactly what was going to happen, but couldn't kill it fast enough. It wound up the band, cinched the goggles up tight on his head and sucked the grinder right into his forehead, cutting a good gash. The first thing he said was, safety goggles my foot. Or something like that.

I know of a super (that all his hands couldn't stand) decide to put a screw in a leak on a tire of their road grader, instead of trying to screw it in, he smacked it with a 2 pound shop hammer which rebounded right between his eyes, knocking him colder than a wedge. It was close to quitting time, his crew left him laying in the dirt when they went home for the day. No one knew how long he laid there as he didn't mention it the next day. lol

Any tool can be dangerous, people even more so. Some folks should never mess with tools of any kind, this has been true forever, but seems even more so as time goes by.