SHAWNEE, Kan. -- A nail pierced the skull of a Kansas man, but he survived practically unscathed.

George Chandler and a friend were nailing up boards for an outdoor lattice last Friday when the hose of the nail gun somehow got tangled up and caused the gun to fire.

At first, the men couldn't figure out where the nail had landed.

"He (my friend) asked me, he said 'do you see where that nail went?' I said 'no I don't,' but I said, 'I've got just a little sting here,'" said Chandler, pointing to the top of his head.

Chandler had been standing below his friend. His friend then saw that the 2.5-inch nail had gone right into Chandler's skull.

There was no blood, and no serious pain. Chandler was alert and talking when medics rushed him to a hospital in an ambulance.

When he got there the doctor didn't use a surgical tool to remove the nail, but instead chose to use a claw hammer.

"(The doctor said) 'does anybody have a hammer? A claw hammer?' And I thought he was teasing at first. Then he said, 'no, it went in like that, we can pull it out like that,'" said Chandler.

Had the nail entered Chandler's head just a millimeter lower, it could have left him paralyzed or caused serious damaged to his speech or eyesight.

It happens more often than you would believe

youre crazy mirror

It does, I have a cousin who lost a eye with a nail gun

i could think of better ways to get nailed

my sister neighbor when he first started out in the police force they were doing a practice drill and he lost his eye from the pellet gun the pellet went through his googles. and he now has a glass eye from that...

yeh ive heard a few stories like this...ouch though lol