Do you ever look at your hands

Alan (California Radiant) Forbes

(usually sitting on the toilet) and wonder in amazement at the work they've done to get you to where you are now? Scars, blisters, arthritis, dirty fingernails...............I do.

Intplm.

Had a foreman hire me.He said he hired me because of the look of my hands.

Alan (California Radiant) Forbes

I chose my wife the same way. Of course, there were other things that looked good as well.

STEVEusaPA

You sent this from the bathroom, didn't ya?

ChrisJ

STEVEusaPA said:

You sent this from the bathroom, didn't ya?

Sittin on the toilet...….

woodrow

its always nice when you clean a plugged boiler and you rip your gloves and cant get the soot and oil out for a few days as well as pulling a submersible pump with a lot of iron or you shake someones hand and they say you must work for a living

Henry

Remember the black titeseal? It would take two to three days in the ocean to clean my hands.

STEVEusaPA

ChrisJ said:

STEVEusaPA said:

You sent this from the bathroom, didn't ya?

Sittin on the toilet...….

Must be where he gets philosophical...

EBEBRATT-Ed

Nerve damage in my left hand. Pinky and ring finger don't work right. 46 years of driving with my left elbow on the arm rest is what did it I found out.

Right hand, same thing. But that's from lifting the coffee cup and the doughnuts.........LOL

Leonard

Worked/played at dad's car garage as a kid. Always had greasy grime stained hands. Came into school nurse for vaccinations and she said I had to clean my hands. Told her I did, she scrubbed them with soap and rough brush for a minute and gave up.

Heard body sheds it's outer dead layer of skin every 3 days.... that's how we get rid of dirty hands.

Intplm.

EBEBRATT-Ed said:

Nerve damage in my left hand. Pinky and ring finger don't work right. 46 years of driving with my left elbow on the arm rest is what did it I found out.

Right hand, same thing. But that's from lifting the coffee cup and the doughnuts.........LOL

Carpal tunnel. Had a operation on both hands for carpal tunnel a few years ago. Should have done it sooner. Hands work again now. Plenty of scars on them too.

AMservices

How did you take that picture?

lchmb

dont ask....

HVACNUT

And with the door open. So that's how it is in your house.

ChrisJ

HVACNUT said:

And with the door open. So that's how it is in your house.

I have to admit, even when I'm home alone that door is closed.
I have no reason to fumigate the entire place.

Can't wait to get the Vent-Away running...…...that'll be interesting.

Alan (California Radiant) Forbes

AMservices said:

How did you take that picture?

You win the prize! Others thought I had 4 arms. And only me (and Loretta) know the answer.

ChrisJ: So, as I remember, you lifted the flush lever to initiate the Vent-Away action and you heard this suction noise from under the tank lid. If they really, truly worked, don't you think they'd still be around?

In my experience, there is absolutely nothing that will get rid of that smell. Light a match and then blow it out? Burnt sulfur + "that smell". Air freshener? Lemon verbena + "that smell".

The only thing that comes close to vacating the aroma is to take a hot, steamy shower afterward with the window open.

EBEBRATT-Ed

This is like sitting around the coffee shop talking with the other old geezers about our ailments

Intplm.

LOL I got a ton of them too. Head to toe !!

STEVEusaPA

I imagine (hope) you used a go pro.

Alan (California Radiant) Forbes

EBEBRATT-Ed said:

This is like sitting around the coffee shop talking with the other old geezers about our ailments

It's called an organ recital.

Timco

I am ashamed and humiliated at how soft and clean my hands have become since taking this job. I am going to send myself out for some field work now that heating season is over....

ChrisJ

Timco said:

I am ashamed and humiliated at how soft and clean my hands have become since taking this job. I am going to send myself out for some field work now that heating season is over....

Yes, everyone should be ashamed of clean healthy hands......

Intplm.

EBEBRATT-Ed said:

This is like sitting around the coffee shop talking with the other old geezers about our ailments

Ok List them ...?🙂

BillM

25 years in the field and my hands were rough cracked almost indestructible. Now after 27 years behind a desk estimating and engineering. They have gotten soft and finally clean. It also sucks as you get older your skin gets so thin you only need to bump something and you get bruised or cut. I guess it beats the alternative

Dave Yates (GrandPAH)

Back in the dark ages when I was an apprentice, my job was to man the power threader, cut & thread pipes, when the mechanics would call out the size pipe and length to cut/thread. No gloves, of course, cause we were men dag nabbit. One afternoon, a friend invited me to stay for dinner. When we sat down, his grandmother, a true southern lady, took one look at my hands and said I could not dine with them till I washed up. I dutifully complied, only to return with no change in the ground-in dirt from handling, cutting, & threading black iron and galvanized piping. She sent me back again thinking I had defied her request. Needless to say, no change in my hands' appearance could be had from those repeated rinse wash repeat trips to the bathroom.

ScottSecor

Dave (GrandPAH), when I met my wife's family years ago I had a similar conversation with them. We're still married after 28 years, so I guess it worked out.

Like the most of you, I also have the battle scars from over thirty years on the job. Thankfully, I wear gloves most of the time these days and don't have to spend as much time out in the field.

One thing I will say (that might upset plumbers that work with drains) is that at least I knew what I was touching with these gritty hands. Could have been soot from a clogged oil boiler, grease from an old pump shaft, cutting oil from boilers or pipes, or black colored liquid and sludge that came from an ancient water or steam boiler I was working on. Thankfully, I never got an infection or some other disease from anything we came in contact with.

Intplm.

@ScottSecor you didnt get a infection because you had built up a immunity after all those years.☠︎☣︎☢︎

SeanBeans

One time I asked for a 1 1/4 pipe threaded to 79 3/4”..

About 10 minutes later I realized that I had been waiting way longer than usual..

I ask the helper why he didn’t cut me the piece and he grabs the tape measure, opens it up about 12” and asks me where in between 7-9 I want it cut, says he can’t figure out what 3/4s between 7 and 9 was...

Poor guy

Alan (California Radiant) Forbes

@ScottSecor
"Thankfully, I wear gloves most of the time these days and don't have to spend as much time out in the field."

I'll never forget the day: February 8, 2001. We were doing a job in Mill Valley and I was at the office when the phone rang. It was a cold day and my journeyman on the job was wearing gloves while he was using his Hole Hawg. Somehow, the drill chuck snagged his glove and pulled (yes, pulled) his baby finger off his hand.

I don't wear gloves.

Tinman

6 months after hanging up the tools, I don’t even recognize my hands.
No cuts, bruises, scraped knuckles, perpetual blackness, or callouses.
I can even bend my fingers now.
Plenty of scars though.

Leonard

Had roots outside in my house sewer line. Didn't want to rent, transport in my car, and haul a HEAVY roto-router machine down stair to my cellar. Made up my own cable with claw end from a power pole steel guy wire.

Hooked it up to a slow RPM 1/2 inch drill. Saw it catch some cloth on floor and rip it apart. Realized that could have been my skin. Put several diameters of 3-4 foot steel conduit over it to hold and guide it. Set conduit up so would telescope so could hold it, that also prevented wire whipping. Wire was ~ 40 ft long.

Had to clean out sewer line in 2 apts dad rents out, poured gallon of bleach down the line first,

Tinman

I have evidence.

EBEBRATT-Ed

@Steve Minnich That's nasty looking!

I try wearing gloves but have problems getting any that fit. Don't think my hands are big but everything I find is too small for me. My problem is if I can't take them on and off easily I won't wear them.
@intplm Too many ailments to list now.!

Tinman

@EBEBRATT-Ed - I have worse that I can share and most of them happened in my last few jobs.
The worst was when I was working on a ladder and my lit torch fell into the cuff of my glove. 3rd degree burns in the side and back of my right hand. I did not miss one second of work. Wrapped some gauze around it and went back to sweating copper.

Intplm.

Me Too.

Alan (California Radiant) Forbes

@Steve Minnich
If there was an "I feel your pain" emoji, I'd be clicking on it.

unclejohn

My hands are pretty clean these days but a while ago they where only clean during the second week of vacation at the beach. This thread reminds me of a Guy Clark song. The tools where only as good as the hands there in.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fqWcH5G-hQQ&list=RDfqWcH5G-hQQ&start_radio=1

ChrisJ

Alan (California Radiant) Forbes said:

@ScottSecor
"Thankfully, I wear gloves most of the time these days and don't have to spend as much time out in the field."

I'll never forget the day: February 8, 2001. We were doing a job in Mill Valley and I was at the office when the phone rang. It was a cold day and my journeyman on the job was wearing gloves while he was using his Hole Hawg. Somehow, the drill chuck snagged his glove and pulled (yes, pulled) his baby finger off his hand.

I don't wear gloves.

I work in a machine shop.
We have 4 lathes and other machines that will do a lot more than rip a pinky finger off. 10HP @ 100 RPM won't even know you're there, all of you or not. I believe that's around 500 ftl/lb of torque.

I think it's pretty much standard to never wear gloves when running a lathe

Other situations and types of work you need gloves to protect your hands.
Loose clothing and hair is another issue.

flat_twin

I remember the day I was driving the company truck between jobs, looked down at my hands and thought they looked like they belonged to an old man. I think I was 48 at the time.