Don't tell me I'm not stupid

[Ed62]

I'm typically known as the guy in the family who takes care of his tools.

My wife was getting ready to make dinner, but found out the chicken breasts in the freezer had been frozen together because someone (me?) froze them without seperating them.

Cool!! I need a new bandsaw blade. What was I thinking? I took the chicken breasts to the bandsaw, and cut them apart. When I opened the cabinet to take the blade off, I was greeted with the vision of very fine sawdust (chicken fat) covering everything inside the saw. The blade and guides found their way to the garbage, and I gave the saw a very thorough cleaning. Have you ever done anything close to being that stupid? Marriage doesn't count.

Ed

[Stytooner]

Trying to cut it on a saw stop would have been one step more unsmart. Live and learn. Hindsight is a wonderful thing.

[Hellrazor]

Hah obviously you never saw the working area in a butcher shop and the mess at the bandsaw. You live and learn... atleast this was just a mess to cleanup and nothing serious.

[Uncle Cracker]

I 'm sure that somewhere along the line I probably did something that stupid, but right now I can't think of anything...

Let me warn you to check with us first if you ever glue your fingers together!

[eccentrictinkerer]

I'd like to think that you were just being creative in the use of power tools!

My moment of temporary tool insanity occurred when my wife asked me to cut the tops off a dozen coconuts so she use them for cups of rum punch.

Our gourmet group was having a Caribbean-themed dinner.

I used my 12" Makita miter saw and finished the job in about 4 minutes.

Do you know how sticky coconut mush can be? Spent an hour cleaning the d@#n machine.

[crokett]

Ed,

I've done something similar with a hacksaw. The little hand-held jobbie that you use in tight spaces. Much easier to clean.

Also used a screwdriver/crowbar to pry 'em apart.

[ragswl4]

Sounds like you missed a good opportunity to go out to dinner. But, alas I have done something much dumber. Maiden voyage in the 5th wheel, not just one but two dumba$$ things.

First the wife is in the shower and starts yelling that the water won't drain. Looks like the tank is full. So hook up the truck and off to the dump site. The TV antenna was lowered by a pine tree. Whoops.

Not too bad but the next day I pulled into another park and as I have a short bed truck I must use a hitch that has a maneuvering position. So out to unlock the hitch from towing to maneuvering. Well I pulled the wrong lever and unlocked the jaws of the hitch from the pin of the trailer. As I am about to pull away and the truck is creeping ahead, something just didn't feel right. Luckily I stopped when the pin was about 1/2" from coming out of the hitch and the trailer dropping into the bed of the truck. YIKES! The hitch lock handle is now painted RED.

We all have our moments.

[Crash2510]

Like Thomas Edison said

Results? Why, man, I have gotten lots of results! If I find 10,000 ways something won't work, I haven't failed. I am not discouraged, because every wrong attempt discarded is often a step forward....

you have just found one way not to cut chicken so keep trying

[linear]

Rags' story reminds me of one.

I was in the car with the kids on a nice Saturday morning. We got onto the highway on-ramp and accelerated past a guy pulled over to the side of the downward sloping ramp. His trailer had come off the hitch, and the tongue was resting on the ground. I did a double take, and noticed the big scratch in the pavement where the tongue had dug in. Ouch.

Well, we were under way by the time it all sunk in, but we turned around and went back. The kids wanted to know what was up, so I told them we were going to help out someone who was in trouble. I had some tools in the car.

We got back off, and circled back to where the guy was standing surveying the damage. He had a couple of jet ski things on the trailer, and there was a big toolbox mounted to the tongue that had gotten hosed pretty bad when the trailer came off. His wife had gotten out of the cab and was standing back radiating contempt for the guy--I sympathized immediately.

Anyhow, long story short, I offered him a hand--he said he had already put in a distress call to his kids, but I offered, and we went ahead an lifted his trailer back onto the hitch. His wife then helpfully suggested he should check that the trailer was attached this time. I wished them well and hopped back in my truck, leaving them to enjoy their weekend together at the lake.

[Mr__Bill]

Not at all stupid, stupid would have been waiting till tomorrow to clean the saw.....
It is said that stupid people don't know when they do something stupid. That it takes a smart man to know when he does something stupid, or a wife to tell him.

[gsmittle]

This thread reminds me of my favorite quote from The Foreigner by Larry Shue: "When in doubt, ask a stupid person. Then do something else."

g.

[germdoc]

I wonder if Jeffrey Dahmer had the same problem with his bandsaw?

Just wonderin'...

[paulstenlund]

My father tried a similiar trick 40+ years ago with frozen salmon, cut several up into nice steaks, there was fish dust in every nook and cranny of that old band saw - not as easy to clean as a butchers bandsaw (which is where he got the idea). Now LOML and I live on an island in the Columbia River and commercial fishermen are all around providing us with ample fresh salmon which we freeze. Our daughter wanted to take a few back to Eastern WA but they were to long to fit in the ice chest, so as I was leaving for work I said "Use the saw and cut off the heads and tails" (my fault I should have said "use the MEAT saw") she used my CS and left it on the back deck (she was running late) again fish dust everywhere only not discovered until the local cats clued me in - what a mess.

Paul

[Dale In Corona]

Yes... stupid is as stupid does sir... been down a similar road a few times. One time I ruined a perfectly good router by overloading it, completely stupid move on my part and to make things worse, as I was doing it I was actually thinking "I probably shouldn’t be doing this" and then... poof, out came the magic smoke. Which reminds me; I probably shouldn’t have to point this out but will anyhow. If you ever have the thought “I shouldn’t be doing this” while you’re in the middle of something STOP! I've run the table saw without any guards and gotten lucky (now I have a shark guard and hold downs, thanks Lee). I've cut maybe 15 or 20 pieces of trim to length one time on my CMS without checking to make sure that the blade was set to zero (90 to the fence and table) and ended up with a 15 degree angle cut... Yes... sadly it’s all true. I try NOT to be stupid, and, in my defense, at least I have learned from my mistakes.

On a side note, on the rare instance that I had the occasion to cut meat, the butcher saws I have worked with have typically been made from all stainless steel and or some aluminum with a sealed motor housing so that you could take a hose to them to clean them up. Additionally, several parts, most especially the table, were set up to come off quickly so that you could wash them in a sink.

Dale