December 2013 Challenge Discussion Thread

Any safety tips other than "don't force it" when almost all the cuts are pulling forward towards your thumb?
 
I've been doing pull cuts towards my thumb ever since my mom taught me (by example) 40 years ago. It's the only time I cut towards myself that I feel safe doing. If you're just pulling with your fingers, you have a lot of control. Keep your thumb below the blade line and in towards your palm; that way if you overshoot, your thumb will not be in the blade line....you can wear a leather thimble (obtainable at big craft stores and sewing outlets as well as woodworking stores) but This seems like a really common technique that doesn't result in finger or blood loss. Chefs use this cut all the time with paring knives, and it's near mandatory technique with chip carving. If you keep your thumb out of line with the blade, it's very unlikely that you'll cut yourself. Somewhere around 2:00 here:[video=youtube;Wu50jnWmYvE]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Wu50jnWmYvE[/video]
You can see that if you lower your thumb, it'll be out of the blade line and there will be no flesh in the path of the blade.
 
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