Ouch

[jeff...]

Well I debated on posting this one but thought I would share it with ya'll so you guys don't do the same thing I did.

I was swinging 8' boards around in my shop - my ceilings are 9' tall and there are florescent lights up there - well you already know what happened a board edge caught one of the 4' long florescent tubes and broke it. But read on...

Small species of glass and white powder came falling down and no it was not angle dust from heaven either so don't get all excited. See the worst part was one of the florescent tube ends hit me in the head. Now who would think one of those little two prong ends are so sharp that by falling approx 3' it would stick in my head? I had to actually reach up there on the top of my head and pull it out of my skull. Dang that hurt and who would have thought a little 4' florescent tube could really put a hurting on a guy like that? I mean no warning labels or nothing... geeze... or should I say G E eeez

Anyways I managed to stop the bleeding and the lump has gone down considerably but I still have quite a sore spot on the top of my head - man does a guy have to wear a hard hat in the shop? Just goes to show despite what some of you think, I'm obviously not all that head headed now am I?

 

[Bas]

I had to actually reach up there on the top of my head and pull it out of my skull.

OOOOWWWWWWWWWWWWW!!!!!!!!!!

Glad to hear you're OK, but MAN! A fluorescent tube stuck in your head. That sounds painful!

At least no-one will be able to accuse you of not being bright! (sorry, gotta reduce the tension a bit....)

 

[cpw]

No pics??? Didn't happen. (I couldn't resist.)

Seriously though. I'm glad you're not in ICU. No shrapnel in the eye? That's lucky too.

 

[DaveO]

Did it light back up :eusa_thin:eusa_thin???
Heads can bleed like nothing else, I ran my scalp into an exposed beam and gashed it good. You would have thought that I had been scalped...I have never seen so much blood from a tiny cut :swoon:

Your situation is something that I fear often. My celings are only 8' with the lights hanging below them. They are regularily bumped but have yet to break.

Dave

 

[Canuck]

Wow Jeff!

Although I feel for your headache..............thank goodness the glass shards didn't find an eye!!!!!!!

Thanks for posting! We all need to be careful!!

Take Care!

Wayne

 

[TracyP]

Jeff, I hope you have more cushion up there than I do. My head looks like a battle zone at times cause there ain't nothing up there to protect it and I tear it up on a regular basis. I hope you are ok though.

 

[jeff...]

It's all good I'm still trying to figure out a way to see the bright side of this :gar-Bi

Those prongs are sharper then they look. Dave your right about the bleeding... You would have thought it was serious - but was nothing more than a little hole. I don't think it lit back up again, might have for all I know. I'm still trying to figure out how the end came down first - one of those freak things maybe.

 

[Gotcha6]

....... not to mention the Mercury contained in the fluorescent tube that you may have inhaled or got in your skin! You might try & find one of those 'food grade' lamp guards that just goes over the tube, or a new fixture that has a shield over the lamps for that area. Glad to hear you're OK.

 

[ScottM]

See Jeff. Being hard header finally payed off. :rotflm:

Seriously I'm glad you suffered no real injury.

 

[JackLeg]

Never would have believed something that fragile could penetrate THAT head! :gar-La;

Glad you're OK. Makes the case for 10' ceilings in new shops!

 

[toolman]

See Jeff. Being hard header finally payed off. :rotflm:

Seriously I'm glad you suffered no real injury.

:rotflm: :rotflm: :rotflm: :rotflm: :rotflm: :rotflm:

Good one Scott! ccasion1 OK, Jeff I'm glade your OK! Man you made my head hurt just thinking about it. I know you had to be :kamahlitu, wow.

 

[RandyJ]

Jeff,
The old saying "That's using your head for something besides a hat-rack" doesn't mean you can use it for a PIN CUSHION!:rolf:

I'm glad you're ok....maybe a hard hat would be in order?

 

[LeftyTom]

Glad to hear the bleeding stopped. I have noticed that when I bump my head, I now feel more scrapes on my noggin. I do not know if that if from thinning hair :cry_smile , or if I am not as hard-headed anymore

 

[woodlaker2]

OUCH!! Head wounds can really scare you. All kidding aside Jeff, glad to hear you are apparently alright. As someone said it could have been worse so give thanks for the fact you didn't come out of it any worse off. And yeah I must admit I did get a kick out of how you told the tale. You might consider writing a book or short stories or something. You have the gift to entertain. Thanks for sharing. I'd put a smilie about here but they disappeared on me.

 

[Steve W]

Is anybody else thinking about those old Billy Crystal sketches from SNL where he and the other guy would talk about "Ooh - that hurt! I hate when that happens...":gar-La;

Glad to hear you're OK, Jeff.

:kermit: Steve

 

[McRabbet]

You might want to invest in some of the clear plastic tubes that you can put over your fluorescent lamps to protect them from a bump like this -- you can get them at the Blue Borg...

 

[Sanders Fine Woodworking]

Jeff,

Been there but missed out on the prongs in the scalp, thank goodness. I was afraid you were going to say you cut your hand trying to remove the prongs. Glad you're mostly OK. I'd like to visit your shop and buy some wood. Let me know if that's OK.

 

[cptully]

So far I have not done that in my new shop.... In my last shop all of the fluorescent tubes were individually encased in clear plastic tubes. This limited the chances of breakage and partially contained the mess when one did break. For just the reason though, i been thinking about putting the 8 foot fixtures I'm thing about using in a wire cage.