[pianotech] Pain Hurts

[Ron Nossaman]

On 12/9/2010 7:37 AM, paul bruesch wrote:
> I smashed finger/thumbnails a few times when I worked as a machinist (I
> did eventually learn that it HURTS! and quit smashing them.)  On one
> occasion, the pain was bad enough that I chucked a small bit into my
> drill press and drilled through the nail. When it broke through, my
> finger jumped up just a bit before I could stop it. No harm done, but
> the thought of what could have happened gave me shivers for years every
> time I thought about it. (Actually it still does as I write this, and
> the event in question happened in the mid-1970's.)

I was told by someone early on not to use a power tool to make a hole in 
a nail. You want a bit that's small, but big enough for the point to 
penetrate the nail while the outside of the cutting edge is still above 
the nail. drill by carefully spinning the bit in your fingers. No grab, 
no bits out of control and coming out the other side of your finger. A 
small round dental burr works well too.

I've only had to do this once (and augured out a hole with the tip of my 
pocket knife), but I did get pretty good at putting on tape stitches 
with either hand when I was carving a lot. Flint knapping is a pretty 
dependable source of wounds too...

Count 'em when you start, and again when you finish. Should be the same 
total even if some don't work quite right afterward.
Ron N