Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Hunter's Campfire The Old Days of Corn Pickers

How many of you knew someone with a hand on one side and a hook on the other?

PaPa Stepp, lost his right hand in the mine.

Brother In Law had a hired man with one hand about 45* rotated, and missing a bunch of forearm muscle thanks to Mr. McCormick...

My father-in law lost it in the combine several years ago.Wore a hook for many years,dont wear it anymore,sure dont slow him down though!

Long ago many farmers seemed to be missing a digit or two, mostly due to lines pulling the hand into a pulley as hay was lifted into the upper reaches of the barn. Usually the horses or equipment were stationed at the far end of the barn and start/stop communications were a bit slow.

Try the saw mill guys. Dad worked a short time in one, everyone had something missing. He didn't stay long there so kept his. Of interest is that they would hit lead way deep in lumber grown in.

He did cut the tip off one finger with a Skil saw, doctor sewed it back on upside down, so his finger print was skewed.

Worst thing I ever saw pictures of was a man who had a (as I remember) left hand transplanted onto a right arm. Glad he could get it, but it caused a recoil at first sight.

Farming used to be the most dangerous occupation..........not so any more according to........https://www.cnbc.com/2017/01/04/the-10-most-dangerous-jobs-for-men.html

I remember an old Life Magazine article about a guy who had lost a thumb (I think in WWII). They moved his index finger over to be in opposition to the other digits.

dated a girl in high school, her dad had two hooks. he was a electrician and lost both hands after being electrocuted.

Yup! Know one.

Had a fellow by the name of Thomas who used to help me on the farm. He'd lost his left hand when he was young in a farming accident. He would sometimes wear a hook, and scare the heck out of little kids. He could do as much work with his one hand as most people can with two. Of course, he had to, as he got no disability. I admired him a lot for his work ethic.

Years ago, I was installing carpet in a farm home. Farmer came in, stripped to the waist. Got his sleeve caught in the PTO on the manure spreader. Lucky guy.

Last time I saw someone with a hook was this morning. My wife's uncle lost a hand in a farm a accident years ago. Don't remember the details. When I began tool and die work there were a lot of the old time machinists missing a finger or two or three. A lot of them lost fingers back in the days of line shaft driven machine tools. It wasn't considered macho to knock the belt off the machine pulley with the stick provided for the purpose...real men just knocked it off with their hands....until a hand go caught. A lot of the Amish fellows are missing fingers or toes. Always makes me nervous to see them working barefoot in the summer at the sawmills.

One of my uncles died in a corn picker. I have another we call fingers because most of 'em are no longer in his possession.

Yes one of my neighbors lost his right hand in a corn picker while in High School about 1969. He was a bright boy and made a successful career in .gov financials, as well as running a couple hundred acres of irrigated farm ground and a small herd of Angus beef.

A second young man I know got an arm tangled around an implement pto drive shaft when he was 13 or 14 yo. It shattered and splintered everything between his elbow and his wrist. A few years later he went to the Golden Glove national championships and as an adult did two tours in Iraq with the US Army.

I knew a guy who lost his right arm in an Allis Chalmers round baler. He has long passed on.

kwg

Local preacher lost an arm due to an impliment, not sure what.
Childhood friend was standing on a brush hog while dad was mowing,
got his leg in the pto, broke it bad.
Neighbor lost all right hand fingers in an industrial press.



Buddy, interning in a shoe factory, second week on the job.
They take him back to a machine that sews the sole on a boot,
while it trims off the extra leather and sole. They show him how
to use it, and keep repeating to be careful. At lunch, an older woman
noted that it was odd to have a young inexperienced guy run that machine,
but, "the lady that ran that thing for years cut off her thumb and a finger yeaterday".

Lady I work with, missing 1st joint of a finger.
Her brother shut it in a door.

This is not as clear as I'd like. A picture in a bankers office. His father as a young boy in the photo. As far as I know, there men had all finger, and hands.

Forestry Forum dot Com is targeted for sawmillers and forestry industry. Can't find it now. But, several years ago, had a video of a guy standing next to an implement powered by a tractor PTO shaft. Button down shirt (fortunately) with the tail out. During the filming of the video, a puff of wind blew the tail of his shirt onto the PTO shaft. When you slow down the video, you can see that the shirt was completely off his body, wrapped around the PTO shaft, BEFORE he even started to turn around to respond...



First job out of high scholl was a metal fabricating plant in an OLD building. The old guy who ran the canteen only had one arm. Same thing, Trying to change belt speed. Shirt and arm got tangled in the belt. He took a quick trip up to the ceiling. Arm went around the line shaft and off into history... Like others noted above, he may have received some small compensation for the loss of the limb. But still worked every day. Was old when I got there. And was still working when I moved onto my next job.

high school friend lost a leg to a combine. later shot himself. knew a kid in Oregon in the late 70's that was the grandson of a famous ww2 general that lost both arms standing water pipe and hit high voltage line. my older brother is missing part of a finger from a tight dally.
knew a guy in college missing one arm.
never knew anybody with a hook