Well that was weird!!!!

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CAframer

CAframer

SGF, Supreme Grumble Framer
Joined
Nov 19, 2003
Posts
3,834
Loc
Orange County, CA
There I was doing something I've done hundreds or thousands of times before --- picking up a sheet of glass from the bench --- and then something weird happened! The glass just broke into three big chunks. One chunk took a mighty good bite out of my hand, blood spurted everywhere!

Of course the local minor emergency closes at 5pm and this was a few minutes after; Jane was at a mixer; and I was trying to do everything left handed --- use the mouse to search for another minor emergency --- make phone calls --- trying to close the wound with butterfly bandages. I'm very right hand dominant and I just could not get those bandages to go in the right place fast enough. By the time I got them positioned they were soaked in blood and wouldn't stick! Yuk! Gave up with the bandages and wrapped a good chunk of LJ wipes over it then strapped it up with ASAP7. Seemed to do the trick. Those LJ wipes sure are absorbent!

In the end I got hold of Jane and she carted me off to a place we've used before a few miles down the freeway. By then my thumb had lost all feeling so they saw me straight away. Anyway, to cut a long story short they stitched me up good, and I'm back at the store trying to clean up the mess!

My thumb's still dead, and the doc has told me to avoid stressing my hand for about a week. Some fat chance. I am in the middle of a big rush commercial job (all oversize handwraps) plus I have another rush job to do for a wedding. The biggest problem is having to keep my hand and the dressing dry ... Normally I wash my hands a bazillion times a day, so not sure how that's gonna work out! Plastic glove maybe?

I've always said I'd give my right hand to be ambidextrous! So now I guess it's come to pass! Yeh, us lefties rule!

Still can't figure why the glass shattered like it did! Weird
 
evartpat said:
Owy, Owy, OWY!!! :cry:

Why is the thumb dead? That's scary!
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The gash is on the top of my hand behind the thumb, more or less. Doc thinks I nicked a nerve. He figures it'll correct itself in a week, or a month, or a year or so. He was a bit vague on timing!!!!
 
Andrew, you're not the one who climbed up on that
chair and fell off of it this summer? Or was it a desk?
Anyway, we were all freaking out for about three hours,
wondering what had happened.

If you are, then good job at getting patched up so
quickly! (Albeit, gushing blood does have a way of
spurring one to immediate action). If you aren't then,
maybe the two of you should avoid ever going camping
together.

("Tonight on the Darwin Awards: Think you can't slash a
major artery at a remote wilderness campsite at the exact
same moment your hiking buddy sustains permanent spinal
cord damage? Think again!") :icon21:

Joshing aside, I'm bumming that this happened to you. Even the most careful people have crazy things happen sometimes. Maybe there was a tiny ship on the edge that didn't show up, or maybe the way you lifted it put weird torque on it somehow. Or to throw in a completely tortuous (tortured? torturicious?) metaphor, maybe the moons of Venus were a little off and they threw a wrench in the gears.

Does Venus even have moons?

I'm so right side dominant it's not even funny, so understand whereof you speak. Take good care of yourself, and I hope it heals up quickly.
 
CAframer said:
Still can't figure why the glass shattered like it did! Weird
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Oh that just gave me a chill - I did that years ago with a sheet of Matobel (showing my age) and a massive shard went straight into my leg - bled like crazy and I ended up getting a tetnus shot which hurt more than the glass!!!

My theory is there was a small flaw in the sheet that when it flexed made it pretty much explode


I hope you are ok - it sounds pretty major


I'm so glad we have a wall mounted cutter now it still gives me the heebies.....:faintthud:
 
Andrew, if need be, Frank can be your "back room" on those wraps. I'm sure we can help make a bit of an accommodation for you; seeings how your "half thumbs". Is it this one :thumbsup: ? :D
 
Baer Charlton said:
Andrew, if need be, Frank can be your "back room" on those wraps. I'm sure we can help make a bit of an accommodation for you; seeings how your "half thumbs". Is it this one :thumbsup: ? :D
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He was already doing a bunch for me - I was doing the ones for the frames that have to be delivered tomorrow.

Not so much concerned about the wraps more about handling 48x96 sheets of acrylic and large frames with a gammy hand. But it'll work out no doubt.

Er, no not :thumbsup:... that's the left one.
 
Andy, Andy, Andy (not so h..Andy at the moment ;) )

Not good... I have had glass just explode like this before - Glad to hear that there appears to be no major carnage.

Take it easy Buddy and Heal Quick!
 
Good luck! I know we all feel for you.

Twice since I started framing, I have picked a sheet up, felt something not right and it shatters as I let go to drop it out of my hands.

Some glass just has week spots in it. Bad break though.
 
Andrew ...been-there-done-that working with large glass several times. Fortunately I have been able to get out of the way and have not suffer the medical emergency you did.

Heal fast, brother!
 
nature of glass..weak spots occassionally....hope the thumb gets feeling back soon, take care of it...do what doc says.
 
My framing scars are hurting just thinking about it!!:beer:


Once you learn to work with your left hand, you'll be amazed at how much better your life is!! You'll start thinking more like an artist and be infinitely more creative.
Of course, you'll lose all business sense, but, hey... a small price to pay for the shear joy of being left handed!!:thumbsup::thumbsup:
 
Steven6095 said:
I have been trying to get in the habit of picking up glass - especially full sheets with gloves.
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I usually wear the Tru-Vue gloves when handling glass, but I am not sure how much they would have helped prevent the cut even if I had been wearing them this time. There was enough force to make a big deep cut, so I think it would have gone thru a Tru-Vue glove. I usually wear the gloves to avoid fingerprints on the glass, but in this case I was just using a sheet of regular as a weight so hadn't bothered to use them.

As somewhat expected, my hand hurts worse this morning than last night!
 
you didn't get any blood on the art, did you?
 
Andrew...If I've told you once I've told you a thousand times. USE ACRYLIC for big jobs. I am so sorry to hear about your accident. Feel (in your thumb especially) better soon! Take care. And of course this could only happen when you are in the midst of a job with many pieces and a deadline. Get well quick!
 
Andrew, your description is what nightmares are made of....I feel your pain. You will amaze yourself what you can do with your opposite hand; not a day goes by that I'm glad I'm ambidextrous. Heal fast.
 
OW OW OW OW ow!!!!! :cry:
I don't have the left-handed disease either (LOL) good luck with all your orders!!!!
I'm sure its hard to type and surf the net lefty tooo!!! :eek:
 
GWAndrew.jpg
 
I've got to hand it to you, Andrew, you are resourceful and dedicated!

Take it easy, and let's hope for a full and quick recovery!
 
Sorry to hear about your accident. Hope you heal fast. I had the same sort of thing happen with a 32x48 that I was working with, almost cut my little toe off, went right through the shoe. I have since started wearing my boots when working with oversized glass.
 
Hands

Do not over work your hand! If you would like the full use of it for many years to come. And you might get a hand doctor to look at it. I shoved a glass shard into my wrist (yes raised questions at the emergency room) I assured them I wasn't trying to off myself. Anyway, x-ray stitches, and the advice don't use it for a while. Haaaa I had jobs I'll work with it. Needless to say over months it got worse carple tunnel a tendon had been cut.....Had I gone to a hand doc he could have saved me a lot of problems. Ohhh and my bullheadedness to keep on framing didn't help either now I wish I had listened to what the doctor said. By the way I framed the glass shard with the blood on it, just to show how deep it went! I have it at home somewhere I will dig it up and post a pic. Anyway take care of your hands....Mona
 
ouch!! Heal quickly, and heed the advice my father gave me, which is in my signature below.
 
Happened to me once carrying a piece of 32 x 40...this was just regular glass, too.

I was holding it/carrying it at arms length with the longest side horizontally and carrying it by the left and right sides like I always do.... I was in the middle of the floor when the middle of it just dropped right out and both sides swung like a pendulum. The breaks were wavy.

I think it had to be defects in the glass itself.
 
I just took a look at both hands and was reminded of several of these "hand-accidents", (mostly glass, but some not) via scars....stitches, no stitches (that shoulda been!), a 6-month right-handed arm-and-hand cast (3 months to help a "torn" ligament in my thumb, and another 3 months, after finding out it was a "torn-OFF" ligament that required surgery to re-attach, after it had atrophied....my surgeon's name was -ahem- Dr. Hook!)

I learned to be ambidextrous, if that's the only gift I could get out of it. In all of that...no blood on the artwork! Some on the ceiling and the tables and walls, but NOT on the artwork!

Ow-Ow, Andrew! Take the suggestions to let it heal, and ask for some help....otherwise, you'll delay the healing. My digits eventually regained their feeling, although my thumb gets a bit tingl-ey when it gets cold. Plus, no more glass on oversize projects....acrylic will protect you AND your customer and their art.

Sending healing thoughts to you.
 
CAframer said:
....I usually wear the gloves to avoid fingerprints on the glass, but in this case I was just using a sheet of regular as a weight so hadn't bothered to use them.

As somewhat expected, my hand hurts worse this morning than last night!
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Uhh. How bad, but at least you got to to doctor. I'm glad you were not working alone.

For weight I have a sheet of 3/8" aluminum plate that I picked up at a machine shop. This way I can have it on the floor where I can kick it by accident a few times without any problems.

Best recovery
 
Cuts

The other day I thought about whether or not there was a thread on this forum about cuts on the job. I decided not to do a search, too upsetting a subject. Every framer has a story about getting cut; no framer likes to think about it. So sorry about your accident, hope things heal quickly and thoroughly!
 
Sorry to hear about your mishap, Andrew. I hope your hand recovers quickly, but try to rest it as much as possible in the meantime. Hopefully, there won't be nerve damage. Have you regained any feeling in your thumb yet?

Last fall, I cut the palm of my left hand at the base of my thumb, when I was removing a v-nail from a frame. Not near the deep gash as you are describing and the cut healed nicely. However, now I'm experiencing sharp pains every once and awhile in that area so I'm wondering if I nicked a nerve or something.

I had a few sheets of glass break like yours while I was living in Calgary. Fortunately, I didn't get cut. I think it was a bad batch of glass as they all came from that one case and I hadn't had any problems like that before or since (knock wood). It seemed like you only had to look at the lite sideways and it would break.
 
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