Adventures of an Aspiring Maker!

D

Dav

Joined
Mar 19, 2000
Messages
94
First of all (in order of importance), welcome to Mr. Bos...pleasure is all ours, Sir, I've heard nothing but legendary things about you and look forward to doing business with you in the near future.

The second thing is an ethical question and one that is weighing heavily on me at the moment (to be explained in the following text).

I received a kitchen/carving knife from a very nice Italian man (from my place of employment) that had seen the worst part of an evening of carving, slashing, crushing and maiming the meal of the night with a request to try and 'save' his kitchen delight. As I had entered into a previous agreement of skill trading (he's an accomplished tailor) I agreed to work on his 'sweetheart' and proceeded into the shop to do my magic (it is magic, isn't it?). Yes the knife is finished and yes the nice Italian man is more than satisfied that he can once more cherish his kitchen blade of choice.

Here's the ethical question...should I charge the nice Italian man the medical bills I incurred when I went into anaphalactic shock as a result of being exposed to old fish guts imbedded in the plastic(?) handle? You see, I'm deathly allergic to shellfish and seafood/oils, etc. of any kind and there was no odour until I started handling the knife
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I say all this because, yet again, I have demonstrated my singular ability to be as sharp as a bag of bowling balls when it comes to blades and blade making. I also hope that it may give a smile to someone that desparately needs one
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PS: Survived to carry on, won't give up the ship no matter what, Eh?

All the Best

Dileas Gu Brath

 
That's definitely a unique situation!!!

I think if one didn't understand the severity of anaphalactic shock they would just brush the whole thing off. Being severely allergic to just about everything myself, and also watching my sister go into it last week after her allergy testing was done (enter epinephrine, a.k.a. adrenaline), I understand the complexity of what you are asking.

Does this nice Italian man know what happened?

It would be hard to answer this, but I think unless this guy KNEW how allergic you are to seafood then this is simply a terrible accident that would have been hard to prevent.

Now if he knew, and intentionally gave you the knife to work on anyway, well then he's a psychopath.
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I hate to say it, but I think you have to swallow this one. Perhaps you can get a little more "trade" out of him on his end.

Good luck.
Nick
 
I have to agree with Nick, no way your friend could know,especialy if the knife had been cleaned. Rubber gloves maybe?
 
I agree he probably had no idea and would feelreally bad but as for him paying the bills it would be no different than getting seriously cutt or having a reaction to something else in the shop,you are probably better off biting the bullet on this one and thinking twice before doing a job like this again,Just my opinion,Bruce

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Bruce Evans Handcrafted Knives
The soul of the Knife begins in the Fire!!!!!
Member of,AKTI#A000223 and The American Bladesmith Society
 
Dav, I'm sorry about your problem, but you need to know you're in an environmentally unfriendly activity. The are many allergens and maybe worse in the knifemaking world. Cocobolo has seriously damaged a few folks, and some of the best makers have had to quit for health reason. The best thing to do is to protect yourself.

In this instance, unless you had previously told the fellow about your allergy, I don't think it's reasonable for him to be held liable. Most folks are not aware of how hyperallergenic some things are, and fewer still are aware of their impact on hypersensitive people. I have a friend who goes to the hospital about once a year because he is similarly allergic to nuts. Inevitably someone will think that just a little won't hurt or maybe not even think about that there are nuts in lots of things. He eats something, and is immediately anaphylactic.

My thoughts...

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Jerry Hossom
www.hossom.com
 
I thank you for your responses and concerns and the 'expenses' have already been picked up by the citizens of this great country (National medical coverage, with exceptions).

I didn't want to leave you with out letting you know that I will not speak to the nice Italian man as he didn't know about my allergy and besides, it's not his problem; It's mine!

I guess that this is one of the many 'lessons learned' postings that I get to write every once in a while to remind myself (and hopefully others) that what appears to be a simple thing in the shop usually isn't. Mr. Murphy lurks in every corner of my shop just waiting to let down my guard!

All the Best

Dileas Gu Brath
 
mr. murphy fallows me, today while hanging florescent lights everything went wrong. also mr. murphy made my calzone for lunch fall apart.
 
Mr. Murphy ate your cojones!!!! More than a bummer Magnum
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Yes, Jerry I can almost tell you what a hollow grind is supposed to look like now that I've heaved about ten perfectly good pieces of 440C into the trash pile. I wonder how much I can charge for hollow ground toothpicks made out of 440C from 2"x 8"x 3/16th" blanks?

Keep your stick on the ice, your pecker in the air and above it all, keep smiling (it's easier to pretend you're not grinding your teeth
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All the Best

Dileas Gu Brath
 
Dav, never fear. It'll come to you, then you can look back and wonder why it was such a fuss. It just keeps getting easier.

Well... That's not really true. What happens is that what you are doing now gets easier, then you start raising the bar and make it harder again, and again...

Still, there is just nothing more satisfying than handing a knife you've made to a grateful admirer. It just doesn't get any better than that.

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Jerry Hossom
www.hossom.com
The Tom & Jerry Show
 
yup, he ate my calzone!
i know what you mean jerry, i've got a knife collector coming to my house to pick up his knife, cuase he won't let me ship it, to dangerous. since i don't sell knives yet he gave me a surface grinder
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