Safety guards are there for a reason
Back in the day when I had a welding job instead of the cushy office job I have now, I was working late on a Friday afternoon trying to get a job done. I had to cut some small welds, and the weapon I'd chosen for the job was a very large, 7" angle grinder with a brand new cutting blade and no guard - it would just get in the way, right? Rush + power tools without proper safety equipment = bad things. This large grinder had a lot of power, and as it dug into the metal, it slipped out of my hands. Before I knew what happened, it had cut into the knuckle of the index finger on my left hand. I had visions of losing half my finger. Somehow, it only ended up being a minor flesh wound, despite there being little in the way of flesh on the knuckle. I cleaned it up, put a bandage on it, and forgot about it. I guess I didn't clean it well enough, because when it healed, there was still carbon dust in there, and there's now a permanent black line on my knuckle. I call it my idiot tattoo, a permanent reminder that if you're going to do a job, you rush through it at your peril.
(BlackArmadillo Avoided writing that article on, Fri 29 Nov 2013, 3:20, Reply)