Before I tell this story, you need to know three things about my Bauer 20″ cordless hedge trimmer (sold at Harbor Freight):

1. It’s powered by a 20V battery.
2. It has a hard plastic sleeve to cover the blades when not in use.
3. It comes with a safety feature that prevents the user from accidentally engaging the blades.

Keep these facts in mind.

Last Saturday I was building a shelf in the garage, using my Bauer cordless drill, powered by the same 20V battery as the hedge trimmer. When the battery on my drill died, I looked around for another one.

Pro Tip #1: Always have extra batteries for your power tools.

I found a battery attached to the hedge trimmer that was hanging by the handle.

Pro Tip #2: Always remove the battery from the hedge trimmer before hanging it up.

I reached up with my left hand and grabbed the hedge trimmer by the blades to take it down.

Pro Tip #3: Always keep the hard plastic sleeve on the blade.

The rod on which the trimmer hung pressed against the trigger.

Pro Tip #4: Never disable safety features on power tools, especially those with blades.

The pressure on the trigger engaged the blades while my left hand was wrapped tightly around them. Harbor Freight’s product description for the hedge trimmer states, “rapid cutting 2200 SPM (strokes per minute),” and evidently my grip wasn’t going to stop it.

The blade would have cut my middle finger completely off if the bone hadn’t stopped it. Work gloves also mitigated the damage, but my finger was deeply gashed and blood flowed like tequila on Cinco de Mayo.

I did what most grown men do in these life and death situations. I ran into the house crying for my wife, who masterfully medicated and bandaged the wound.

And I took a nap.

Turns out, almost losing a digit is exhausting.

This accident could have been avoided had I been smart enough to follow just one of the precautions. I didn’t have to be perfect 3 for 3. Any one of the three would’ve sufficed.

If I had removed the battery before hanging up the hedge trimmer, it wouldn’t have had power to almost kill me. But I admit not having thought through those implications.

However, as for the plastic protective sleeve, I purposefully tossed it in the garbage can. Who wants to bother with removing and putting it back on every time?

But in my defense, the safety mechanism was a pain because it required two hands on the trimmer at all times and sometimes you need a little extra length that only one swinging arm can provide. I’m not the only person who felt this way. Harbor Freight’s webpage had several customer comments complaining about the same issue.

I may be the only person who disabled the feature, however. Or at least the only one to suffer for it.

I’m not in any way blaming Harbor Freight. It’s my favorite store on the planet. They can’t help that stupid people buy their wonderful products and disable or ignore the safety features.

And yes, I will keep the safety feature disabled.

You probably don’t want to borrow my power tools.