However, the table is about three and a half feet high. Ben is only five foot five and weighs about a hundred pounds. He just couldn't get the weight behind it to drill into the thick steel. Once again ignoring the smart option of walking to the next workshop, he decided that he'd succeed if he had more leverage. He undid the vice and put his right foot on a box, laying the metal on his right thigh and holding the other end with his left hand while drilling into the metal. Now, a few things should have occured to him by now. 1. Drilling in the direction of your body is not a smart thing to do. 2. putting every ounce of weight and energy into a drill will create inertia once it breaks through. 3. A Vanadium drill tip going at high speed into plate steel will be hot as all hell.

shortly after midnight, an almighty scream was heard throught the site.

The nearest worker came and found Ben on the ground screaming himself hoarse with a bit of plate steel hanging off the drill bit which was embedded into his groin area.

He was taken to hospital where they cut away the pants to find that the drill bit had 'bullseyed' his testicle. It was hot enough that it literally cooked it, along with it's partner. Worse, the skin was melted around it, meaning that drastic surgery was required to remove the bit. Fortunately the intense heat meant that no blood was lost, as the wound was cauterised.

Ben is now one testicle short, and the other is more like a hard boiled egg. In true fashion of the industry, he received a new nickname of "Shotgun" as he is always half cocked (It doesn't really make sense, but it stuck anyway).

As he has removed himself from the genepool, I'd like to nominate him for a darwin award.

Submitted on 01/06/2007

Submitted by: J B Eddy
Reference: August 1999

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