# Scariest moment in your shop?



## Vrtigo1 (Mar 18, 2010)

Just wondering what your scariest moments working with your tools have been? Maybe you've had some close calls or worse. Mine was a few months ago, I had my hand down inside my table saw with a brush cleaning some of the builtup dust out and at that moment my air compressor kicked on and I thought it was the saw. I knew I was about to lose an arm. Of course the saw was unplugged, but it still scared the crap outta me.


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## Dcase (Jul 7, 2010)

I have a couple that are up there..

I was ripping a larger sheet of plywood once and something went wrong because the TS kicked the whole sheet of plywood back at me. It was a rather large sheet but the saw still threw it all the way back and it hit the wall. Luckily I was standing way off to the side when pushing it through so it did not hit me… Now anytime I have to rip a large sheet I will often go get my wife and have her kind of help support it as I push it through..

Another one that comes to mind is I was using the drill press and I cant remember what I was drilling but the piece I was drilling somehow got stuck on the drill bit and took it out of my hands.. So the press was spinning fast with the bit and small piece of wood stuck to it.. My first reaction was to duck which I did, but in order to turn the press off I had to reach above it… Again, nothing bad happened as I got it shut off and the wood never went flying but it was a scare.


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## Greedo (Apr 18, 2010)

from the first two posts i am confident in thinking that close-calls are way more scary than actual accidents.
I have had two or three actual incidents in the shop, from hand getting grabbed by miter saw, thumb getting mangled by belt sander, to deep cut in arm with cutter that was sticking out of my pocket. but none of these incidents actually felt like a scary experience, no time to be scared when the danger arrived already.
the scariest moment i can come up with would be when i was cutting on the TS and behind me a panel that was leaning against the wall fell over and slammed to the ground in an enormous clap sound. That scared the hell out of me.


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## shopdog (Nov 9, 2008)

From my own personal experiences, it's scarier to actually touch a spinning blade than it is to almost touch one.
I've been kissed twice by my table saw blade, but I was lucky both times, as I still have 10 working fingers.
Both times, I wrapped the affected digits with my bandana, left the shop, and fixed a drink. The scary part came when I took off the bandana.


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## RONFINCH (May 24, 2010)

Trust me, better to be almost hit by the blade, than by actually getting hit by the blade…..


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## jeepturner (Oct 3, 2010)

The air-compressor has startled me more than once. I have become somewhat accustomed to it as time goes by, but like you it can still get me when I am around sharp or hot objects.
I think one of the scariest "Startles" I have ever had is when my wife called me from the door when I was cutting something on the lathe. Normally I am aware of what's going on around me, but it's those times of intense concentration where I am susceptible to being startled.


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## Sawkerf (Dec 31, 2009)

My family long ago learned that I wasn't to be disturbed when I was running a tool. I always told them to move into my field of vision and wait for me to stop whatever I was doing before saying anything.

This lesson came hard for #2 daughter, however. One day I was cutting something on my radial arm saw and she came up behind me and grabbed my legs (she was only about 5 yrs old). I'm not sure how I managed it, but I just froze, turned off the saw, and turned around. All I could see was a mop of blond hair and the biggest blue eyes ever. She was petrified!! I gave her the infamous "look" and said "Don't EVER do something like that again".

She stayed far away from the shop for a couple of weeks, and when she started coming back, she would carefully move into view and wait for me to say something.


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## shopdog (Nov 9, 2008)

cr1,

You're either very careful, very lucky, very young, or you have a bad memory. Which is it?

In 35 years of woodworking, I've had a lot of scary moments. The ones that made me bleed the most stand out more than the others. If I knew then what I know now, I would have stayed in college, and been an accountant  ...not.


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## Maverick44spec (Aug 7, 2011)

I have had many scares. Most from the tablesaw, a couple from the drill press, and a few from the mini lathe. The biggest one I have had happened when I was working on my lathe. My mom's boyfreind came in to the shop to tell me something. I was deep in concentration and did not notice him until he was right behind me. When I finally noticed him, it startled me and I almost hit him in the gut with the butt of my chisel. (reflexes).


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## CharlieM1958 (Nov 7, 2006)

A few years back I was making a cut on the table saw. I can't recall exactly how it happened, but there was a bind, a loud bang, a chunk of wood went flying straight back, and ended up embedded in the sheet rock wall about 15 feet behind me. Definitely a brown stain moment.


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## BentheViking (May 19, 2011)

few years ago i was working at a table and bent over to tie my shoe. buddy was working on the table saw and a rather sizeable chunk kicked back hit my tool bag that was sitting on top of the table only inches from my head. between that and a hardhat i was quite lucky because it very well could have been my end


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## TopamaxSurvivor (May 2, 2008)

That is mine too Charlie, a kick back. Pays to be out of the way when it goes down ;-)

Shopdog, I think you hit the nail on the head. Just like the guy who has never been lost in the mountains; either lying to hasn't been in them much. My dad packed and guided on the Lochsa in central Idaho. He was gathering firewood when the fog moved in. He finally sat down to wait it out. Nobody else in camp at the time. Sat there 1/2 day about 200 feet from camp. Lots of nights he couldn't see his horses ears on the trail. No idea where he and about 30 or 40 head of mules and horses were. His saddle horse would bring him to a line camp and he'd know which way to head out to the next one. Hubert Nettleton of Owyhee County, ID offered him any 3 of several hundred head of horses he had on the ranch for King, the horse he rode up there on the Locsha. No deal ;-)) Sort of off topic, but illustrates the point.


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## StumpyNubs (Sep 25, 2010)

I shoved a chisel through my hand last year. Went right in my palm right between the thumb and index finger and came out the back side. *Bled like crazy* but I stitched it up myself and saved an emergency room visit. The chisel hurt, but the stitches hurt even more, and let me tell you, it's *HARD *to push a sewing needle through flesh, they are not that sharp. I've since bought some proper suture needles for the first aid kit. (No joke)


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## TopamaxSurvivor (May 2, 2008)

Stumpy, You are crazy!! & very lucky ! I had a dr sew up my foot to tight and it got inffected big time.


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## StumpyNubs (Sep 25, 2010)

Only a few stitches Topa. And I cleaned it very well, even soaked the thread in alcohol (not the drinking kind). And I kept a close eye on it for signs of infection. If there was any reddening or swelling in the following days, I would have gone to a doctor.

It's really not difficult to do your own stitches if you have a strong stomach (my wife refused to watch) and can grit your teeth long enough. I'm not a "tough guy" or anything, I just would rather take ten of fifteen minutes of self inflicted pain over the kind of pain the emergency room bill would have inflicted!

*Maybe I'll show how to do stitches on my woodworking show some time. Bet that would drive the critics around here nuts! *


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## therookie (Aug 29, 2010)

Umm lets See,
1. Lopped my finger tips off on a jointer
2. Got hit with a piece of 8/4 kick back in the center of the chest
3. Cut my thumb open on a scroll saw
4. (not in the shop but it happened) I got shot in the head with my own air rifle
5. Got hit by wood coming off the wood lathe
Thats it for now i would normally saw it wont happen any more but I would be lying. So these are my tails thus far…


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## TopamaxSurvivor (May 2, 2008)

Too bad I didn't know you then. I could have sent a migraine and you would not have had to grit your teeth. I had a 3 shot series during the worst of them. The nurse told me people tell her they are the most unbearable pain they ever felt and another woman told me far worst that child birth. I wondered what the big deal was with the first 2, but on the third the migraine was down. Worst pain I ever felt in my life! How damn bad could the migraines be if i didn't feel them? ;-((


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## MedicKen (Dec 2, 2008)

Trying to rout a small piece on the router table and not using a hold down. My own stupid self said it was not safe and to not do it. I guess I should have listened to myself. The router bit grabbed the piece and being that I was holding it it pulled my hands right into the spinning bit. I was lucky and I missed the bit but it shot the piece across the room and put a dent in the garage door 10 feet away. Needless to say I turned off the router, lights and called it a night.

Before I had a REAL table saw I was cutting a small box. The piece was about 4" square and I was mitering the edge at 45 degrees. This was a small bench top saw that belonged to my dad and had no guards or splitter. The large piece got caught on the back of the spinning blade and shot right into my right eye. Luckily I was wearing glasses, not safety glasses mind you, prescription glasses with glass lenses. Luckily the wood hit right in the middle of the lens and knocked it out but no penetration to my eye. The table saw is LONG gone and I will NEVER use another wanna be bench top saw. They are the devil


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## mrg (Mar 10, 2010)

Fingertips in jointer after the wood exploded.


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## Bill1225 (Oct 31, 2011)

I know this isnt a scariest shop accident but i thought i would add something a little lighter….It was 04 in Fallujah i was on the duece( M2 .50 machine gun ) we were securing a building and all H$%& broke lose and i took a round i dropped into the hummve could,nt find where i took it then my crotch got warm and red!!!!!( scariest moment of my life i was thinking worst case) so in the middle of a fire fight fight i was pulling my trousers down and then i got the wind knocked out of me , it was our corpsmen knocking me down… needless to say he got me calmed down and found where i was bleeding .I ended up with 2 broken ribs and punctured lung. I was never so happen to hear u took one to the torso in my life.


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## Maverick44spec (Aug 7, 2011)

Glad your ok. Thank you for your service.


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## DMIHOMECENTER (Mar 5, 2011)

Not in the shop, but working at a customer's house. I'm inside at the foyer talking with one of the guys, but just inside the storm door on the front of the house. I hear a slam and a loud "f*%!". I turn towards the storm door and see the blood spatter. My partner Jerry was pushing a small hardwood trim return through the Dewalt jobsite table saw and it came back at him hitting the ends of three fingers HARD. I mean hard ! The three fingers looked like hamburger meat and with two fingernails hanging. X-ray showed a bunch of shattered bone fragments. He healed up after awhile.

An aside: the following year a billy goat raised his horns up and the tip went into the webbing between two of Jerry's same fingers and raked all the way into the middle of his palm. Ouch.

Jerry will never be a hand model, I'm afraid.


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## Maverick44spec (Aug 7, 2011)

It sounds like jerry should start wearing chain mail gloves. I bet that hurt like heck.


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## glue4you (Aug 11, 2011)

I had my son (3 years) with me in the workshop and he stuck his hand in the outfeed of the thickness planer while I was using it to help daddy clean out the chips. Caught him on the way in while it was not too deep yet. Very very scary moment. I'll never let him get close to any of the big machines again, not for now


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## Knothead62 (Apr 17, 2010)

I almost started my lathe with the chuck key still in the Jacobs chuck. Fortunately I was standing off the side but really don't want to know what would have happened. I'll be content to speculate.


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## GaryC (Dec 31, 2008)

Cut a chunck out of my thumb. Scary part was facing my wife. Another was with the router table. Heard a loud pop and the material felt loose.. Turned the machine off to find out that the shank on the bit had broken. The more I thought about the possible things that could have happened, the more scared I got. 
Of course, for me, just turning the lathe on is scary.


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## glue4you (Aug 11, 2011)

Knothead62: Did that same thing at the drill press! The damn chuck key hit my head from behind. When my finger touched the green button I saw the key in the chuck and instinctively turned away to avoid broken teeth 

Well …. stupid me.


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## donwilwol (May 16, 2011)

A few weeks ago I was grinding the head of a bolt to make a new jig for sanding plane knobs on the drill press. I'm still not exactly sure what happened, but the grinder caught the bolt and dragged my thumb into the wheel. All I knew was my thumb hurt like hell, and was bleeding profusely. I was afraid to look at it, I didn't know if it was missing, cut badly or just banged up. Luckily the wheel had just cut a hole threw my thumbnail. It was bleeding and hurt like hell, but not a serious injury. I honestly thought for a second I had lost my thumb. I know it doesn't made sense, its just a grinder, but the pain was over riding all logic.


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## glue4you (Aug 11, 2011)

Don W: There is a reason why pulling fingernails was so popular during torture in the Middle Ages. I'm glad you kept your thumb!


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## DBoltz (Nov 20, 2011)

When the chisel I was using slipped off my workpiece and went into my left index finger. Blood was instantly all over the floor. 4 tight stitches later and Ilthe tip of my left index finger has no feeling. I'm usually careful to make sure my hands aren't in the field of the chisel's path. Not sure what happened that time.


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## TopamaxSurvivor (May 2, 2008)

The feeling in the tip of your finger may come back. Mine has trice; once from frost bite and once from a small drill bit going through it.


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## GoodsCustomCarpentry (Oct 4, 2010)

I have had a lot over the years but I think the worst have been:

1. I was ripping thin square stock out of a big Red Oak board to use as a piece of step trim in some baseboards, when The TS grabbed the small square and shot it out past me and 15 feet to the next wall and through a 3/4 thick cabinet door that holds all my shaper knifes and bits. Point of realization - that would had probably punctured my liver or kidney had I been directly behind it.

2. I was running 14" x 18' glued up white oak board through my Invicta RS-15 Shaper. I was putting a full bullnose profile on the front because they were going to be steps used in a church alter. I was supporting the middle when my untucked shirt got stuck between the board and the table/fence. Because I had my stock feeder turned down I could only watch as I was being pulled into the 1750 rpm wheel of death at a medium to slow pace. I planted my feet and leaned back only to have every button on the front of the shirt pop off. I quickly turned to the left then to right to allow my arms to escape. The shirt got pressed into the bit and shredded into fine particulate matter, while simultaneously wrapping around the spindle and snapping the drive belt. I guess I got off pretty easy considering the alternative.

I sure that if I thought hard enough I could come up with a couple more but these two are the ones that stick out the most vividly.


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## richgreer (Dec 25, 2009)

I was turning a relatively large piece of walnut (4×4x24) when, for no apparent reason, it jumped off the lathe and hit me in the head. It was a very hard blow to my head and the compression laceration above my right eye required 9 stitches.

I always wear a face shield now.


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## Bertha (Jan 10, 2011)

I worry more about fire in the shop than a shop injury. I'm not saying that's smart; but it's true.


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## Knothead62 (Apr 17, 2010)

Stumpy, my grandfather was an ironworker. He cut the palm of his hand. Went back to the boarding house, sewed it up and went back to work. FWIW, you can use CA glue in place of stitches. It was formulated to replace sutures in some cases. I cut my thumb making a salad!!!!! $310 for three stitches. Should have used the CA glue.


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## ChuckC (May 13, 2010)

I was cutting a piece of wood on the TS (in hindsight too small) and it kicked back and hit me in the chest. I fell to the floor and lost my breathe. I work in a detached garage so getting any kind of help wasn't going to happen. When I was able to get up I went inside. I now have a policy of always having my cell phone with me when I go out there.


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## helluvawreck (Jul 21, 2010)

After I've operated a table saw for 40 years I had my first and only kickback about a year ago. I couldn't believe how fast it happened and the loud noise that it made when it hit the side of a cabinet in my shop. One second the piece was being pushed by hand through the saw and another second it was gone. I couldn't believe how fast it all happened and fortunately I wasn't hurt at all. For the next 5 minutes I had to keep looking at my fingers to make sure everything was ok. About 30 seconds after it happened my wife opened the door to the shop and nervously asked if I was ok because she had heard the noise and wanted to know what happened. I hate to admit it but I told her a lie and said that an 8 ft. board was leaning against the wall and fell over and hit the cabinet. I didn't want her to worry about me because of it. The side of the cabinet received a pretty good gouge mark and I sure was glad that it didn't hit my side.


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## Neight (Nov 6, 2011)

This all reminds me of my dad
one night hanging out in his shop, he was in another room running a TS and all of a sudden we hear the very loud ring of a saw blade immediately followed by a large thud and my dad making a loud grunt.
We ran into the room and found him holding his chest, TS still running. We asked what happened and he lifted his shirt. He had a square indent in his chest that looked to be pretty deep. He wasn't bleeding, but you could tell that piece of kick back came at him pretty darn fast, and he was hurting. fortunately, he wasn't seriously injured, though that dent in his skin took some time to smooth out…
it might not have happened to me, but it sure did scare the hell out of me, and him too…


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## ChuckC (May 13, 2010)

Kickbacks are no joke. I always had respect for the TS but after that day I had a whole lot more.


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## LepelstatCrafts (Jan 16, 2011)

I had a really close call with a table saw and some Masonite (thank goodness it wasn't ply). A new guy in the shop I was working at was supporting the cut off end. I was very specific in how to support it and told him NOT to let it pinch the blade. Sure enough he did everything I told him not to do. The Masonite shot back and hit me square in the place where men fear to be hit. I had to will myself to not to fall towards the saw and to lean back. I collapsed on the floor in agony. When I finally could hobble around I had some very well crafted 4 letter words for him. Keep in mind he also somehow shattered a miter saw blade and destroyed a band saw motor all in 3 months. After I got hit they guy had a very long vacation.


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## Pimzedd (Jan 22, 2007)

In chronological order.

1. 1970 Cut tip of middle finger off on sheet metal squaring shear. 3 stitches. The business put a guard on after a second person was injured on the shear.

2. 1970 Cutting a piece of 1/4 in. glass. Glass did not break on score line. Thumb needed 5 stitches on side of first joint, 7 on second joint.

3. 1980 Reached around the guard on a 75 injection molding machine clamp. Clamp closed. Lost down to first joint on index finger, all muscle and skin on the side of the finger. Damaged end of middle finger. Required a temporary skin graft from right hip. Six weeks later, reconstructive surgery with a neural flap transplanted from right big toe and a skin graft from the hip for the toe. 175+ stitches.

4. 1997 Cut tip of thumb off with xacto knife, 3 stitches.

Scariest moment, No. 3 for sure. Cried out "Oh God" when it happened. Turns out I was more religious than I thought.

What is up with this guy you say. All I can say is I am a retired *SHOP TEACHER*. All accidents happened in the classroom. A shop teacher without some stitches never taught anything, at least that is my excuse.


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## Neight (Nov 6, 2011)

pimzedd you just reminded me of my driving instructor…
he recounted just part of the list of car accidents he has been in with students. Teaching might just be one of the most dangerous jobs you can take…
#3 on that list made me cringe pretty hard, I can believe it was a religious experience for you O.O


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## Uncle_Salty (Dec 26, 2009)

About five years ago, I was cutting a 1/4 piece of plywood (it was about 14" x 14"... not exactly small!) with the rip fence. The blade was only up about 3/8" of an inch. For some reason, things decided to go awry and and I still don't know why! I have made that cut a hundred times before. Anyway, when the piece kicked back, it drug the tip of my right index finger over the blade, cutting my finger vertically instead of perpindicularly. Boy was I lucky! It only took 5 stitches, but it caused a table saw safety revival in my world! The only thing I can figure is that the piece had veered away from the fence ever so slightly and I tried to force it back (unconsciously), or when the leading edge of the plywood hit the rising side of the blade, it pinched and shot it back!

Nowadays, the splitter, complete with kickback palls, rarely comes off these days. The guard is on whenever it does NOT interfere with the cuts.

I also drove a Kreg screw driver bit through my left hand. I was piecing together a face frame, and wasn't getting enough pressure for the screw to seat in the pocket hole. So I reached behind with my left hand to hold the face frame. I must not have been seated in the screw properly, and the screw went sideways and the driver bit went right through the palm of my left hand! I removed the bit from my punctured palm and said to myself "that's gonna hurt." I then saw some blood dripping from the back side of my hand onto the workbench. I turned my hand over, and, sure enough, the driver bit had gone all the way through my hand, but had not hit any bones! The doctor said no stitches; puncture wound. Antibiotics, clean the wrap, and be careful!

I consider both of these events "close calls" because the results could've been much worse. Thing is, I am in general a very safe individual, and, in particular, very safe around shop tools. Just dumb look on both counts, I'm afraid. But, more important that that: It was a very graphic reminder that, even when you think you are being completely safe, things happen!


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## Neight (Nov 6, 2011)

Another story about my dad (since I am so new at this, most of my experience comes from hanging around him  )
when I was maybe 5 or 6, I was down in the basement with him. He was using an axe to chop up some firewood, and when he was finished he cleaved it into one of the pieces to rather than laying it down. He was cleaning up and for some reason decided to mess with me. He grabbed me and some vicious tickling ensued (the man was a master at tickling, and my childhood was torture!) anyway, I started flailing away with my arms and legs and happened to kick the handle of the axe. I must have kicked that thing hard, because it flipped all the way around and was heading straight at my leg blade first (it was a double sided axe blade).
To this day, I have no idea how he did it, but with incredible reflexes, he reached out and caught that thing before it got me. Unfortunately for him, he caught the blade, and it was sharp. It laid his palm open, but he still didn't drop it. he set it down, and with one hand, drove him and me to the hospital to get it stitched up. At the time he had this 77 chevy truck. That thing was a monster and was older than power steering, so he had to one hand manhandle that beast for the 20 mins it took to get there, all with his hand bleeding profusely into the rag he used as a bandage.
Even though I was so young, I still remember it all quite vividly. I reminded him of that story once, close to the end of his life, and you should have seen the grin that came over his face! He was really a pretty amazing man, and I am grateful to have had him for a father. I could honestly tell quite a few more stories about his adventures (or mis-adventures depending on the story  ), but I don't think any of us have that kind of time.


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