Close call while splitting hickory

[osage outlaw]

After looking all summer for a hickory tree that I could cut, I found one at the edge of a field where I work.  I got the OK to cut it, so I was set.  The tree was twice as big as I needed or wanted, but in two hours, I dropped it, loaded up 4 logs and cleaned up everything else so I didn't leave a mess.  As I was splitting it, I had a close call.  I was driving the hatchet into the end to start the split, and a small piece of the hatchet head chipped off and stuck in my bicep.  I pulled it out and kept on splitting.  A few minutes later, another small piece chipped off and hit me just to the side of the bridge of my nose.  A half an inch over, and I would have lost an eye.  I wasn't wearing safety glasses (NOT SMART).  My nose hurt and bled a lot.  I didn't see the piece that hit my nose.  I am a little worried that it is still in there.  I couldn't feel anything under the skin, but a week and a half later, and my nose is still sore to the touch.  The skin is healed up so it isn't that.  Maybe someday I will blow my nose and find a rusty shard of metal.  Please learn from my stupidity:  wear safety glasses while splitting logs.

I did end up with some fantastic staves. 

[kerryb]

Great reminder for everyone, glad your OK, nice looking stave's you got.

[Lombard]

Yeah safety first. And that looks to be one fine haul of Hickory. A bow building bonanza.

[KShip85]

I know the feeling, I've had to have a sliver of steel removed from the side of my knee that came off splitting beech one time...cut clean through my jeans and burried in my leg.  Have another one burried just below the knuckle on my left index finger.  Its not bothering anything so I just left it.  I'll tell ya the best way to find a piece of steel either under your skin or in an eye is a neodynium magnet.  I had a buddy who worked for a high end speaker company who got quite a few for me and it still pulls the one up under my finger.  Glad to hear ya kept your eyes, and good looking harvest ya got there.

Kip

[Hrothgar]

Glad you are ok. I've had pieces chip off my hatchet before. Anymore I use the hatchet just to start the split, then switch over to a steel wedge, but even so a wedge can chip too. A lot of good looking staves there--shagbark hickory?

[osage outlaw]

Yes, it is shagbarck.  I only use the hatchet for starting the splits too.  The one I was using had a hammer head on the other end.  That is where the metal came from.  After it happened, I remember someone telling me a long time ago not to hit two hammer heads together because they can break.  I have another hatchet that has a flat back, kind of like a mini wedge.  I plan on using it from now on.

[sailordad]

glad you didnt loose an eye,and nice haul

 thats just a myth aboot the hammers being hit together.
 ive done it many many times,never even chipped one.they even did it on myth busters.
 if i remember right,they only succeded in breaking handles when they did it
 if they are hit together flush,they will be fine,its a glancing blow that causes the metal to chip and fly away.

[Cacatch]

Yep. It's strange, my dad, 65 now and a lot slower than he used to be, was always balls to the wall when he was younger. He did mechanic work on farm machinery as well as work around the farm. Big as a mountain and strong as an ox, as a younger man he appeared invinceable. 6'4, 300lbs of pure farmer, with steal hands that could scratch my back just by using his palms. To weld, or use his cutting torch he would wear face shield, but aside from that, I don't recall EVER seing my dad use eye protection. If I threw my back out every day splitting logs for the rest of my life I wouldn't work half as hard as he ever did, and he never had a serious eye injury or face injury. And I don't know how he did it. Some people are just way too lucky and it makes the rest of us feel like we could leave out the PPE too, but don't let it fool ya. I feel like a real wuss compared to my old man, but the first few times I ever tried to do things like this without glasses, I had close calls like you just did. I know I won't have the luck my dad always had, so I'll be wearing glasses.  Doesn't matter who you are, the strongest man in the world still doesn't have iron eyes. Thanks for posting.

CP

[adb]

Yes, sir... safety first. I wear ear and eye protection when splitting logs.

[gmc]

I watched my father suffer many years as a young child after losing an eye splitting a log. I was about 12 years old at the time working beside him on the weekends and afternoons as he logged to make props for coal mines as a sideline. Mining props were used in the seventies before the laws changed to permanent roof support. With this type work, long as a split met the 3 or 4 inch width it could be sold. This lends itself to a lot of splitting. Safety glasses was a common practice for him to use, but that day he left them behind and choose to work without them. Starting that first wedge in the end of a log always pulls you a little closer, his prop building sideline job ended that day. The medical surgeries, financial hardship, and watching him struggle throughout the years will be hard to forget.

You will "never" catch me splitting a log without safety glasses. I am also particular with type wedges that I use. If you're using older wedges, keep the tops dressed if they start to crack or mushroom. Its the sharp corners/edges on a wedge that splinter off, much like a hatchet provides.

Sorry to bum everyone out but I actually lived this growing up.     

[cracker]

I too wear safety glasses and hearing protection and that will save eyes and hearing but if you want to cut down on high velocity metal chips embedding themselves in other parts of you're body use a grinder and grind away that ragged mushroom top on anything that is struck or that you strike with.
Ron

[George Tsoukalas]

osage outlaw, those are some beautiful staves. Excellent advice on the use of safety glasses. Cacatch, in those we days we didn't know better. My Dad was a carpenter (among other jobs). I used to help him all the time. He and I never used safety glasses. We worked with all kinds of power equipment too. We never had an eye injury. Thank God. We were lucky. Now I keep safety glasses handy. Before I turn on the power I put on the glasses. Jawge

[Eric Krewson]

I have to wear glasses anyway and I buy extra safety glasses through a retiree glasses program.

I used to buy cheap Chinese made axes and wedges when I started  harvesting wood to make bows. I noticed a lot of shrapnel coming off my wedges so I ditched the cheap stuff for vintage American made wedges and axes, no more shrapnel. I also grind the backs of my wedges back to a good, crisp, striking surface when they start to mushroom out.

[Del the cat]

I believe in preventing problems rather than trying to mask the symptoms. Isn't it better to file or gind the burrs off the back of your axe or wedge before you use it?
Safety glasses are fine in theory but the darned things steam up and stop you seeing what you are doing.
One of the worst 'safety devices' is the shield they fit on drill presses (pillar drills) The get scratched so you can't see the work and they jam and snag. First thing I did with mine was to remove it so I can see the work and clamp or hold it sensibly.
When I had trainees working with me I had to test 'em before they left the department, I always put a question at the end ...
"Who in the company is responsible for safety?"
As an answer I'd hand 'em a mirror
Del

[Pappy]

Nice haul,glad you are OK,I did the same as Eric,problem solved. 
   Pappy