accidents and "the fear"

S

Speed_wood

Joined
Jun 28, 2006
Messages
11
i recently had an accident where i mostly removed my index and thumb of my left hand. I got distracted while chopping some tinder with a Ka-Bar USMC. Two surgeries later im going to make a full recovery but i have a problem, The fear. Im deathly afriad of handeling my old trusty camp knife now. Iv tried carrying it around the house, cutting things safly and so on but it still erks me. Anyone have similar experience?
 
Man, I'm sorry to hear that. Glad they got reatached and all is well. I have never cut off any fingers but I think we all taste that same fear response at times. First time I shot a 500 Nitro express I flinched when shooting for a month. If theres one thing my Cowboy Grandpa taught me its "when you fall down get back on the horse". If you let the trigger shy set in and get comfortable I think it will be much harder to get rid of. Seems like your on the rigt track using the knife in a safe fashion. It's not like you need to get comfortable using it in a unsafe fashion. I'd say just keep at it, just make shure you force yourself to deal with these jitters now.
 
No, but a very good friend of mine cut off his index finger, and shattered the middle finger knuckle of his left hand and took off the tip of his left thumb all at the same time from a table saw accident. He went through a similar experience the next time he went to use it but now uses the saw and everything else in his shop without much in the way of problems.

I think time is the key. Give yourself time and don't push it or make it worse than it is. You are fortunate. My friend lives so far out in the middle of nowhere that by the time he got to the ER they could not save his finger. Nor was there much they could do for his knuckle except remove the middle finger from that shattered knuckle first to use in replacement of his lost index by sewing it on the index knuckle since it still had enough live tissue to survive, then remove the middle knuckle altogether and pull his ring and pinky knuckles and fingers over one digit each and pin it all back together.

He is a dentist and left handed. Unbelieveable as it may sound he recovered in time and is able to still practice dentistry and can still do all but a few things he once did. Other than numbness he does a great job and even extracts teeth. His and a few other testimonies I discovered from his experience are one of the great thing about modern advances. Just a few years ago he would not have had the option of going back to work in what he was trained to do.

STR
 
Yes I pulled my rat3 out with my pointer finger over the kydex sheath and cut myself down to the bone. It caused nerve damage and I cant close the finger all the way anymore. I had to sit in the Eroom for 5 hourse till they got to me. Left me scared a lil bit of the knife....wierd but i totally understand what you are saying.
 
I punched a wall thinking it was drywall (it wasn't) and broke my knuckle off. It healed at a 45 degree angle, and now I can't open it all the way. I'm so scared of walls that I cannot bring myself to finish the room in my house that I have been working on ;) . I'm a jerk! Sorry to hear about your hand, very glad to hear that you are going to recover, that's awsome! Leave the knife in a drawer for a while, you'll be able to pick it up later (after your hand is totally healed).
 
Hi Speed and welcome to the faura.
I cut off my left Index finger with a 12" Forschner Chef Knife during a demo on fabricating a side of beef. After the loss of feeling for a year, then getting it back and now loving it (sounds weird but when you are in the kitchen the loss of feeling when moving hot pans around is no great loss). Just get back on the horse once your able to and go chop a broomstick in half or poke a hole in a garbage can, do whatever to get the feeling of being alive and in control back. Remember you control what is in your hand and use the right tool for the job. If it sounds corny, sorry thats what gets me through.
 
Try to just learn from your mistake, be more careful in the future, and get that knife back into action as soon as you can. I've cut myself (never very serious) many times, and each time I learned how to be more careful. The last dumb thing I did was trying to hold a straight razor in my hand while trying to mess with some other things. I should have first put the razor down to free up my hands. I ended up re-gripping the OPEN razor and pushed my thumb into the heel of the edge. If you think a really sharp knife is sharp, you haven't experienced sharp until a straight razor is slipping and slidding through your flesh. You don't feel much at first, but you know you just sliced yourself good. :) I learned from that one.
 
It's good to have some fear/respect for what a knife can do to you when you're not paying attention. It's not good to let that fear overwhelm you to the point you no longer use a knife as you like though. I think for me (with many self inflicted wounds) it's an issue of becoming over confident and too comfortable holding/using a knife. Every time I get cut though, I think I'm a little more careful next time. I try to pay extra attention when I use the knife for heavy cutting or chopping. Try not too fear the knife, but more so the mistakes you make with the knife. And keep in mind that chances are you will never cut yourself any where near that bad again.
 
There were old superstitions about what you describe. One says to dress the blade of your knife the same as your wound. This is to tell your knife you forgive it for wounding you.
I know silly but there are a lot of knife superstitions out there like never give a knife to a friend unless they give you a coin. As you must receive payment or the knife severs the friendship.
Another is always face a knife away from you on a table, and to your right.
A knife pointing at your place on a table means Death. and on the left means sickness.
 
When you hear a story like this, it makes you realize again what a dangerous tool a knife can be. When you handle knives for many years, there's the risk
of becomming careless. Let's treat our knives with attention and respect !
 
outlaw918692000 said:
There were old superstitions about what you describe. One says to dress the blade of your knife the same as your wound. This is to tell your knife you forgive it for wounding you.
I know silly but there are a lot of knife superstitions out there like never give a knife to a friend unless they give you a coin. As you must receive payment or the knife severs the friendship.
Another is always face a knife away from you on a table, and to your right.
A knife pointing at your place on a table means Death. and on the left means sickness.
Click to expand...

In Indonesia they believe(d) that there were knives (kris) that were "blood-drinkers", possesed by a bad spirit . If the owner does not cut or stab enemys from time to time with it, the knife will try to cut him by every opportunity,in his thirst for blood.

Just a myth ?
 
Speed_wood said:
i recently had an accident where i mostly removed my index and thumb of my left hand. I got distracted while chopping some tinder with a Ka-Bar USMC. Two surgeries later im going to make a full recovery but i have a problem, The fear. Im deathly afriad of handeling my old trusty camp knife now. Iv tried carrying it around the house, cutting things safly and so on but it still erks me. Anyone have similar experience?
Click to expand...

This might be a dumb suggestion, but when you're doing activities that make you the most nervous, maybe you can try going full force with a trainer blade to get the coordination down without fear (ie hard chopping with a trainer).
 
Cornelis Böhms;4171146 said:
In Indonesia they believe(d) that there were knives (kris) that were "blood-drinkers", possesed by a bad spirit . If the owner does not cut or stab enemys from time to time with it, the knife will try to cut him by every opportunity,in his thirst for blood.

Just a myth ?
Click to expand...

I believe so. I imagine that the majority of members here haven't stabbed any enemies recently and if that were true, all of use would be complaining of the same issue (if we had the ability to type). My opinion, the unconcious mind will automatically seek validation for one's most fundamental and engrained beliefs if the individual is not paying attention.
 
Time is the key. I lost fingertips down to the knuckle on my right index and middle finger in an industrial accident. Had nightmares about getting my hand stuck in gears for about 3 months. Took almost two years(long after I was healed) until my body realized that the fingertips were no longer there. The key is jumping back on the horse. I still work heavy industry and have had no other mishaps. The only way to alleviate the fear is to safely do what you normally do to rebuild your confidence.
 
Does anyone else notice that almost all knives bite you at some time or another and you kind of get a connection with it after that? My best hunting knife has nipped me several times and i usually dont notice it until later. Nothing serious but a nip. Anyone else notice this?
 
Ka-bars are pretty nasty...I dropped one on my foot (STUPID) and I somehow managed not to get the tendons. I luckily only ended up with 13 stitches. Not quite like cutting fingers off, but I get where you're coming from. ( I remember the doctor looking in to the cut and telling a nurse to pull on a piece of skin to see if it made my toe move...) I cant say I was afraid when I started using it again (like the next day), but I was definitely more careful with the thing. And I do notice that Im more drawn to the ones that have cut me as barrabas mentioned. Might sound stupid, but id say theres a bit of a bond formed.
 
I'm sorry to hear about your injury.

I nearly severed my right index finger on Labor Day a few years ago. I couldn't look at that knife without getting shaky. I got rid of the knife because my confidence in using it was gone.

I dropped a Muela Buffalo Hunter(large recurve Bowie type knife) on my right foot. I had to reach down and pull it out. Incredible pain for days afterward and eventually it healed but with numbness radiating down to my big toe. It was a nice knife, but, I had to get rid of it.

Over the course of 42 years, I've had many cuts and stabs with many knives. Those are the only two incidents that shook me enough to sell those two knives.

You have two choices here:

1. You can swallow your fear of the knife, jump back in the saddle and conquer that fear.

Or

2. If you've lost all confidence in that knife and your use of it, get rid of it and chalk it up as empirical knowledge gained and get busy finding a replacement for your camp knife.

Loss of confidence in this instance does not entail the actual physical capabilities/attributes of that particular knife, just one's perception of confidence in the use of that particular knife.

Decide what the best course of action for you will be, jump on it and don't look back.

Good luck!
 
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