Hi All,
Don't know about you, but sometimes I pull some stupid tricks. I am old enough that I do know better.
The latest was to cut my index finger near the tip, not really badly, but badly enough to bleed pretty darned good. I have been cleaning up some old Stanley #60 chisels that I paid pretty reasonable prices for. The relatively low prices were because they don't resemble a new chisel in any way shape or form, so I have been cleaning them up to restore them, flattening the backs, and sharpening them up to use.
The order that you do these steps in is important, and I flubbed that up on the latest one I started. The first thing I like to do is clean up the blade, in my case that is with Scotch Bright, then either very fine sandpaper and/or a very light brushing with a fine steel wire brush. This is then followed with some metal polish.
I haven't fiddled around much with the handles, as I haven't been too concerned with them, but am starting to think that maybe I should make those look better too. If I clean up the handles, that should probably be the first step. At any rate the last step is to flatten the back and sharpen the chisel. That's where I flubbed up. I wasn't thinking the other day, and sharpened one for the first step.
Clearly, sharpening the chisel is obviously the last step, as a really sharp chisel is too easy to cut yourself with.
I then pulled another boner yesterday evening, as I decided to polish the blade and listen to TV at the same time. To get to the point, I got distracted and gouged my index finger. I didn't cut it too badly, as I wasn't using much force at all, but the chisel was darned sharp, so it didn't take much force, and it bled pretty darned good.
It will heal up just fine pretty quickly, I believe, but the cut messed up my plans for the evening and for today. My first thought after cutting myself, was "what an idiot trick", and then I thought, "well, so much for the stuff I had planned for the evening and for Saturday." I play bass in the church band, and a cut to the index finger of the right hand isn't going to noticeably improve my bass playing a lot tomorrow. My bass playing isn't that great anyway, but with my finger bandaged up enough, I think I can get by.
Anyway, I know better. Have you pulled stupid stunts like such lately?
Stew