I'm sure I'm not the first...

[MilDoc]

Only got nicked by a brad going the wrong way. Learned that lesson fast.

[sparkeyjames]

I keep all my precious body parts on the non ejection side of the nail gun. Learned this from a guy I used to work with who did housing construction as a side job. Got to see the wound on his finger where he nailed himself to a 2x4. Lucky for him it missed the bone and tendons.

[LCHIEN]

here's my contribution on brad nailer safety - though i posted this once, but I can't find it.

[jonmulzer]

I fired a 16ga finish nail almost an inch straight down into my index finger last year. Once again, holding a piece where I should not have and nailing crappy CDX plywood. Multiple mistakes of which holding it in the wrong place was the final one. I went to throw together a simple box for my father just to hold pens, pencils and markers on his workbench and since I already had 2" nails in I did not feel like changing out for just a couple of shots.

Amazingly enough I did not feel it for an hour. I did not even know I had done it until I went to move my hand for the next shot. After an hour though, and for two weeks, I felt it a LOT. Brads, staples and 16ga are the worst I think. They do not cut when they go in, they tear the flesh when they penetrate. Those blunt tips are killers.

As a small child I saw a guy on one of my father's remodel crews get a 3" Phillips bit shot into him. Right where your buttcheek meets your thigh. They removed it with a pair of needle nose pliers and he went back to work. After that I had a pretty good idea why my father always called that guy "Meathead". He was something else......

[Handy Al]

I was putting together the framing for our kitchen table chair. I hear the brad bounce off the wall and looked down to see an 18 ga. goove acroos the back of my hand. An 1/8 inch lower would have been very painful.

One word: Clamps, clamps amd more clamps.