[toddler]

I was just up in my attic putting up a guardrail. Noticed I was carrying my cordless drill around with my finger along the side of the drill body and had to laugh at myself. Still, better super safe with a drill than not safe enough with a pistol.

Currious if anybody else catches themselves doing this, or noticed silly carryovers from firearms safety to other pursuits?

Todd

[Jesse H]

Drills, Windex, staple guns, etc...

;)

[4v50 Gary]

It does tend to carry over into other tasks. Not with the hair dryer though (if I ever bother using one). Was taught to hold those by the nozzle & body (better control).

[keyhole]

Hey! It's just good practice to get into, and stay in:D

Find myself doing it a lot, good thing too!

[AZTOY]

Currious if anybody else catches themselves doing this, or noticed silly carryovers from firearms safety to other pursuits?


YES!!

[DMK]

Have you ever had a drill go off accidently? Those things can poke holes in you man! Watch that trigger finger!

Luckily most have a very heavy trigger pull. :neener:

[Mal H]

Yep, I do find myself with finger off the trigger on more than just firearms. Drills and especially nail guns. The real problem with some models of nail guns is that you can shoot a nail if the nose just touches something if you keep the trigger pulled. Variation on a theme - "Never point a nail gun at something you don't want to attach to its backstop."

[BrokenPaw]

Not only do I tend to index my finger along the "slide" of my cordless drill, but I also tend to leave it on "safe" -- with the directional switch centered, so that you can't pull the trigger -- when I'm not actually going to be drilling.

As an aside, "Be sure of your backstop" is a valuable rule when doing home remodeling.

-BP

[DJJ]

I do that too, plus I now know what it feels like to be, uh, "drillwhipped". I was helping my brother put up a ceiling fan, and his big cordless drill fell off the top of an 8' stepladder and got me right in the face. Mashed my glasses down onto the bridge of my nose. Hurt like :cuss: :fire: .

[Jesse H]

Reminds me of an episode of Monster House on Discovery. Guy shoots a nail through his finger, puts a bandaid over it and keeps nailing. Eek.

[Orthonym]

What about circular saws? Yes, even I have cut some things I didn't intend to. A curious analogy with safeties and trigger locks, here. They have blade guards and some have trigger interlocks. One gets used to relying on such and may forget he's disabled ,oh, the blade guard temporarily.(say, for a delicate, precise cut)

[Sean Cloherty]

Thank God I am not the only person who does this!:D

[Kharn]

I find myself practicing good trigger safety with everything except joysticks.

Kharn

[Carlos Cabeza]

Ahem, There are many things I have to watch since I am a craftsman by trade. Many have already been mentioned. I have learned that safety is a state of mind, not a practice.

[Henry Bowman]

As an aside, "Be sure of your backstop" is a valuable rule when doing home remodeling.
This is SO true! More than once when using very long drill bits (or should that be twistdrills?) I've drilled through the outside wall or roof! :rolleyes: I'm very experienced with a drill, but sometimes a bit too cavalier. :neener: My problem is holding it on "full auto" long after the mag is (or should be) empty.

[blue86buick]

I've drilled through the outside wall or roof!
Funny you should mention that...a friend and I are trying to wire an apartment complex for Cat-5e and coax...so far, we've drilled through the downstairs ceiling twice (not where we were trying to put a hole), once through an opposite wall into a stairwell, and then on down through a stairstep IN that stairwell. We're feeling pretty good about our skills so far. :rolleyes: Thankfully, his dad owns the apartments.

one lesson we've learned is that going "hmm, i wonder why it stopped. should we just push harder and keep drilling? yeah, why not?" is a BAD idea... :banghead:

[280PLUS]

:rolleyes:

better yet try drilling through a live wire

that'll get your attention

especially when the whole building burns down

i knew a guy who drilled THROUGH his finger once (just once)

that got HIS attention

they hung the bit complete with flesh dangling offa it on the shop wall

they were brutal like that

its probably been there 15 years now, still with dried flesh

then theres the guy who stapled his finger, hadda use pliers to pull it out

then there was the guy who trimmed off about 1/4" of his index finger in the bench grinder (oh, wait, that was me... :eek: )

just don't get the red ryder drill, you could drill your eye out...

:neener:

[sturmruger]

You should see the Volquartsen trigger kit I put on my Deawalt 24V Cordless Drill. It is SWEET!!! It lowers the trigger pull to 3 lbs and has a over travel adjuster so i can tune it just how I want. I did look at the Power Custom Trigger kit but I decided to go witht the Volquartsen instead.

[Mal H]

24V cordless? Man! You went all out and got the magnum version, eh?
:)

Overheard in the California General Assembly, "No civilian needs 24 volts. 12 volts is plenty for anyone. Only professional carpenters should be allowed access to something as powerful as 24 volts."

[SLOdraw]

I'm glad that you are all so safety conscious but maybe this has some merit...

http://www.allmax.com/MILT/

We will all be safer

[Autolite]

The 24 volt drills are not the problem, it's those evil little black Dremel tools that can be so easily concealed. I propose further research and development of the "smart-drill" technologies we've been hearing about...

[geekWithA.45]

drilling holes for curtain rods, when she fell.

Not being a shooter, she had her finger on the trigger, and ended up putting the drill bit THROUGH MOM'S NOSE.

Truth! I Swear!

She opened the chuck, and took mom to the hospital, with the drill bit still in place.

In the emergency room, they basically just yanked it out, put a bandaid on mom, and gave her a tetanus shot.

You really can't see the scar anymore.

[Madmardig0n]

Same thing with my drill; finger off the trigger.

280plus-I've drilled through my finger before! Not fun, either.

[sm]

Yep do it with drills , spray bottles...
Doors anyone?
It was pointed out that my finger is alongside the pull handle, then I insert finger to "pull" the latch back to open door.

[Flashpoint]

I have only caught myself doing the idex finger thing with my cordless drill. The only reason I noticed it was because I was pulling the trigger with my middle finger and it felt funny. I'm just glad firearms have trigger guards.

[280PLUS]

a drill in the nose beats two in the finger...

:what:

yowzers...

geeez, the more i think about it the worse it seems

poor mom, i hope she's ok now

glad it didnt get an eye for real,,,

m

[toddler]

That allmax link is a riot. Some people have even more free time than me.

It's funny, I've caught myself with my finger off the brad nailer trigger too, but was actually happy about that. Drill bit in the nose is bad, and is a good reminder that eye pro is a must even when just assisting someone with a dangerous tool. I've been lucky a couple of times when the table saw threw pieces I was trimming. You know, the 1/8" you take off to "make it fit". Now my solution is to have so many pairs of cheap safety glasses around that I can't do anything without putting a pair on or they're in the way.

Be safe.

Todd.

[Mal H]

I do the same thing Todd. :)

I've got safety glasses hung on the switches of the rad arm saw, table saw, and draped over a bench grinder. You can't turn 'em on without removing the glasses. It sure beats, "dang, the glasses are way over there -- well, this is just one little cut, I really don't need them."

[sebago]

I got the same habit....anything with a trigger I keep my finger off until I'm ready to do whatever.

[MicroBalrog]

El cheapo airsoft guns.:D

[Combat-wombat]

I do it all the time with spray bottles, etc.

[MessedUpMike]

Finger off the trigger and a habitual "Neutral" setter. For those of you with less superior tools almost all DeWalt hand tools come with a safety to disengage the trigger somehow, including the cordless Sawzall. Can't say I've ever tuned a trigger but I did manage to "cook off" an 18 volt cordless drill. Set it on fire.

[JSolie]

*whew* And here I was thinking that I was the only one who does this. Also do the same with any saw (powered by evil electrons or as God intended saws to be powered). Same with spray bottles of glass cleaner...that stuff stings when you get it in your eyes!

Also, I would do it with a hair dryer.....if I had hair! :D :D :D :D

-- John

[toddler]

Lot of affirmative replies to this. Now I'm going to have to start watching people to see who does this. It'll be interesting to see if I can pick out the pro-firearms/hunter crowd. Makes me wonder if the FBI/DEA/LEOs... ever look for this habit when observing people?