Well, It finally happened to me. I was in a hurry and decided to start my O.S. 1.60 without a glove. [X(]

The engine backfired (then started) and sliced off the skin on two of my fingers - almost down to the bone. I got home and cleaned it off, it will heal fine. Damn that was stupid!!

OUCH!!!!!

I have a really good starting glove with rubber padding on the back of the fingers.

I always wear it when starting my SPE40, unfortunately however I got too close the other day and managed to get my non-starting hand into the prop arc[:@]. (Engine had just started and I was moving around to get behind the prop before revving up).

Took a fair slice of skin but fortunately not too deep. Finger now healed fine.


Terry

I don't even try to start big glow engines by hand flipping them through the compression stroke anymore. I just prime them a little on the wet side and spin them backwards by grabbing the spinner with my finger tips and let the kickback that results do the engine starting. This doesn't work on gas engines with spark ignition though. I hear that paint rollers make good chicken sticks for big engines and they are soft enough to not damage the prop if there is a big kickback.

I got this glove (pair of gloves that is) for handling feral cats. It's made of kevlar and is very tough, but is both durable and flexible. Makes a good engine starting glove. Only problem is that it goes up beyond my elbow.. which takes a bit of practicality out of it's use with RC engines.

I hear ya...in a hurry and a 1.60..I know you read my other posts...those that have and those that will...welcome to the have side try not to have an again
Sorry to hear you got hurt
Good Flyin

Hi... glad your injury is going to be fine.... now you know that these things we call toys can bite!!!! A little over a year ago I got my arm and a 32" prop. in contact with each other while the prop was spinning... End result was near loss of arm due to the cut and near loss of life due to blood loss ( 5 pints) and a $51,000 doctor bill and and still to this time a hand that is numb and some fingers that don't work right.

Please use extreme caution when around the spinning end of our toys.

After getting "bitten" a couple of times, ( quite painfully too, with copious amounts of blood... ), I've elected to stick with electric starters.

Even my 50CC'ers are started with a Hobbico High Torque starter using two 3800mAh battery packs in series.

Works just great and there is far less chance of more lack of feeling in other fingers...

OK, my story: On or about 1956 I was flipping my Atwood .049 over, that junker never did run, one day it fired, surprise!!! I still carry the scar on my trigger finger. Once bitten twice shy.
I back snap my engines too if my starter isn't working and hand flip my gas engines. After my Atwood/ FireBaby problem way back when I sometimes wear A glove, usually on the first fire up of the day. After that no but you will never see me with my fingers around the prop, always on the front or face and I flip towards me or off to the side, never A straight shot.
So far so lucky but I have been wearing A welding glove more and more as I get older and slower.

Yeah, I knew what they could do, but that whole rush/stupidity thing happened. What the heck model were you flying that had a 32" prop? The largest I've ever owned was a 22 incher, and I thought that was big. [X(]

We need some pics nathan

What prop were you using when it bit you?

I believe it is a 17x10 APC. It's a pumped pipe setup on a 2M pattern aircraft. It started backwards and acted like it died, so I stuck my hand back in there (like an idiot). At that moment it promptly reversed direction and fired up. [:@]

Pics?? Nah, I think we all know what a nasty prop bite looks like. Suffice it to say that there's a big chunk missing on my baby and ring fingers. []

I always poke fun at my flying buddy Ed because he uses Supertigre engines (which are good engines by the way). For example, he was once having engine trouble and asked me to double check everything. I said, "Oh, I see your problem here. You're running a Supertigre engine....Thow in an OS and you'll be up and running." It's sort of a spoof on the masses of people that seem to have an unfounded viceral hate for them. Anyway, I'm just waiting for him to sign on and post something like, "see, a Supertigre engine wouldn't have done this!"

Don't they make big high torque electric starters for the big engines? I know not everybody has a spinner to engage it on, but wouldn't it be a lot safer than wearing a glove.

Yeah, but I'm too stubborn to get off my butt and go get one. I'm a man, I don't need one!!

Famous last words

In other news, bear poop found in the woods.

Also, the Pope is now rumored to be Catholic.

Only took once for me and that was with an OS 60 and a master airscrew prop, with in a mounth I had my first sulavan starter. I still have the scar to this day. The prop kicked back and nailed my left pointer finger. It opened the side of my finger up like the gill on the side of a fish right to the bone. I was the only one home and the hospital was over 20 miles away. So I washed it off, got out the thick CA and glued it shut. Didn't really hurt much until I hit the CA with Zap Kicker. Then it got a whole lotta hot, LOL I think I screamed for 15 minutes straight. The CA sealed the cut up nicely and it took about 6 month for the nerves to grow back together.
Everythime I see some one starting a engine by hand, It still makes me think of my mishap and I grab the starter and left them use it.
NEDYOB

Sorry about your finger, Nate. I wouldn't worry about getting a starter; something tells me you won't do this again

I hope it didn't get your thumbs (or your pincher fingers if you're one of those)

I was trying to be a little 'greener' and take my bike to work yesterday, so I pulled it out of the garage and went to pump up the tires. Somehow I pulled the pump off and slammed my thumb at the base of the nail into the disc brake edge on the front wheel, and all I could think about was how much it would hurt to fly a plane the next day. With that in mind I iced it up all night and it's not too bad today - swollen and bruised but I flew just fine with it.

Drink lots of OJ, vitamin C is great for healing. Hope you feel better,

Joe

My only "trophy" is a small scar on the underside of my forearm from 40 years ago. I started a Cox .049 Space Hopper on a Goldberg ½A Skylane with that not-too-visible black nylon prop. It started then I reached over the prop arc to turn on the receiver switch.

I stole a pattern for a neat little starting thong which is cut from thick leather and laced together. When finished, your index and middle fingers are inside a leather wrap. There is a flat flap which you grip in the palm of your hand with the other two fingers.

You guys need to give up gum.

My whole problem is I have yet to find a brand of glow engine that I don't like...

The really silly part of Nathan's mishap is that he has a nice, heavy starting glove that he always has with him. I can only guess as to whether it was sitting right there in his flight box or if he just didn't want to walk 25 feet to his car to go grab it!

Nathan is a classically trained pianist as well as a budding pattern pilot, so you'd think he'd be smarter about protecting his fingers. He even enjoys sewing doyllies on which to park his hangar queens so the ground can't get the wheels dusty while he's busy not flying them. (See, I can publicly antagonize you without resorting to snubbing your favorite brands of engines, Nathan!)

He was back out flying again tonight, so as much as it smarted, at least it's not keeping him grounded.

Really simple rule. Never, never, never touch a propeller while a glow ignitor is attached to your engine. This still leaves you vulnerable to getting injured by electrics, diesel engines, 4-strokes, and gas engines, but it's a start.

We have a Senior Dental School student who just solo'd last fall in our club that I've been trying to convince of this rule for almost a year now. I mostly use my hands for typing RCU forum replies or eating bone-in pork chops when I'm not using them for flying, so a few stitches wouldn't be a big deal for me. For folks who need their hands to make a living, they really ought to exercise good common sense.

Glad to see you're not grounded because of a momentary lapse of judgement, Nathan! I have little doubt that you will walk away from your mishap wiser from the experience.

That's fine. A couple years down the road when my airplane still looks like I just took it out of the box I'll get the last laugh.

Yeah, the sad part is that my glove was right there sitting on my toolbox.

Soon, I have to accompany a singer that is going to be singing Schubert's "Der Erlkonig." If you don't know, that piece has arguably THE most difficult octave passages ever written for piano. Playing it is actually an exercise in masochism. It was very difficult back in the day and piano actions have become MUCH heavier since. It's far worse than a pronated grip chinup routine!! [X(]

Anyway, I think I'll be healed enough by then........hopefully. [link=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=P5B6nysheec&feature=related]Der Erlkonig[/link]

I want a recording!