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Men shoot themselves in tattoo atte
Making Deadly Gas at Home
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Darwin Awards
2008 Slush Pile

This item was recently submitted by a reader.
Should I include it in the archive?
Vote to tell me what *you* think!

Pneumatic Nail Gun Surprize

2008 Reader Submission
Pending Acceptance

In 2003 Bubba Johnson was given a Sears pneumatic nail gun that his mother bought at a local pawn shop in Jacksonville, Texas.Bubba took the nailgun with him to redo the wooden floor of an enclosed trailer in a remote area. Nailing the new floor was going well, when his air compressor failed. Since Bubba was a welder and a handy guy, he rigged up his oxygen supply on his truck to supply the nail gun. In addition, to lubricate the nail gun he gave it a generous dowse of WD-40 lubricating oil. Then he bent over to shoot his first nail into the flooring and pulled the trigger. The next thing Bubba remembers is waking up in the hospital minus two hands and one foot. Since Bubba was no longer able to work he filed a lawsuit against Sears and WD-40 for failure to warn him of the danger of mixing oxygen with lubricating oil. His case was dismissed when his expert's testimony was thrown out. The expert had incorrectly testified that WD-40 was by itself a dangerous and explosive mixture. However, it was revealed to the court through tests and labeling that WD-40 had not used propane as a propellant past 1995 and that the WD-40 used by Bubba contained carbon dioxide and was not explosive.

Submitted on 01/21/2008

Submitted by: Hal Watson, PhD, P.E.
Reference: 2004 Lawsuit in US Federal Court Eastern District of Texas

Copyright © 2008 DarwinAwards.com

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Bruce said:
Definitely Keep: Personal Account
Thanks for an amusing story, Hal. It never ceases to amaze me how many people think that because they have a little bit of technical know-how that its safe for them to do something as stupid as attaching a nail gun to an alternate energy source. I did a little bit of searching for the relevant court case but didn't have any luck, so I'm only going to vote a PA on this one. If you can find any documentation to back this up please let us know and we'll be glad to upgrade Bubba's story to an HM.


Chip said:
Definitely Keep: Personal Account
Hal, Bubba deserves more than a Personal Account award for this one but without that validating reference that is all I can vote for. Funny story and you should also check the Stella Awards for a possible submission there since they deal with massively foolish law suits. Thanks for the submission.


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