I wanted to urge people to use protective eye gear with my quick story of a near-miss. Then I figured that what I really wanted was to read of other's mishaps and close-calls to know what is dangerous. Maybe this thread dies with 1 post, I hope not. Perhaps it's been done 100 times or more?
Mine: I was using a Dremel Tool (high speed rotary) for sharpening my lawn mower blade. I was wearing the safety goggles, but it was hot out and I was sweating into them. When I was done I checked the balance of the blade and thought I could use a smidgeon off the very end of the blade to make it balance perfectly.
The goggles were at the other end of the room. I figured it was a sec or two of grinding. I got possitioned over the blade too close with no eye protection. I *knew* the spin direction would throw the shards downward, I've been doing it for nearly 20 minutes. But I figured that I might as well get used to a no-exceptions rule, so I walked across the room, cleaned them out, wiped my face with a towel, and put them on, all the while cursing myself for being so safe.
I had lost track of the position of the dremel tool and the side of the blade I was using. It actually was spinning up toward me in that position I would have used. Shards of metal struck my eye goggles, and peppered much of my face, at a very high rate of speed.