Don't do this at home!

A similar thing happened to me. I was a supervisor in a machine shop watching a co-worker hammering on a chisel. The worker was trying to cut away a broken set screw (large set screw). Either way, as I watched closely, and all of a sudden, somebody punched me (really hard) on the side of my head. I grabbed the right side of my head in pain and turned around to clobber whoever had blind-sided me. When I turned around there was nobody there!! But I did feel blood trickling into my hand. I went over to a mirror and found that my ear was bleeding. Long story short, a piece (3/16") of metal had come flying off the set screw and pierced my ear lobe. It went all the way through and left a slot when it entered and exited. It bled pretty badly for a good while but eventually it stopped. I found it amazing how much impact such a small piece of metal has when it's traveling at a high rate of speed!! I actually thought someone had punched me (really, really hard) on the side of my head.
FYI - That's the only piercing I've ever gotten and yes, I was wearing safety glasses (thank God!!)...should have been wearing a face shield because I could have just as easily lost an eye!!!

Treblig