From bushcraft to the e.r.

Glad it wasn't worse, PDE, but sorry to hear about your misfortune nonetheless.

I have never had a cut resulting from a sheath malfunction, but I have definitely done some stitches-worthy damage with my outdoors knife. My worst injury involved me putting too much pressure on a hollow-ground blade while cutting an onion, resulting in the knife sailing straight through the onion and into my left index finger. The cut was deep, bled like a faucet, and was, of course, full of onion juice. Ow. I should have gone for stitches, but I was one day into a fishing weekend with friends up north, and I opted to tough it out. The result is a nice, V-shaped scar / gouge, with a bit of lasting nerve damage. I had plenty of first aid gear on hand (pun intended), so it was easy to keep the cut clean and bandaged.

I hope you find your knife, PDE!

All the best,

- Mike
 
sherlockbonez said:
Finger.jpg


Cut both the flexor tendons. Was a fun 2 months packing skids in the factory with a cast on my hand and a fishing line holding the pinky in place.
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Nothing that bad in the least. I hope I never suffer anything like that ever, it looks painful as hell.
 
3 stitches, you're okay. It just sucks that you have to look for your knife and I'm glad it wasn't worse.

Let's see, nastiest cut........

I was working with a double edge Smith and Wesson when I was 15 maybe, trying to get duct tape off some dowl rods. It slipped and got the side of my hand, went all the way into the knuckle of my left index finger. No stitches, but probably needed them.

Numerous cuts from sharpening and having the knife slip.

Lopped of a big chunk of my left index finger when I was 17? I think it was my senior year in high school. No stitches, mostly because my mom freaked out and she cleaned my knife, which still had the chunk of my finger on it, so it washed down the drain.

Nastiest cut though, my machete wound. I was tired of having a dull machete so I took it to a sharpening place at a gun and knife show and they put a good edge on it, I took it home and made it better. I was doing yard work, using a limb trimmer to get the branches on the ground then hacking them up for the burn pile with the machete. The 22 inch Ontario machete was so sharp that it cut clean through a 1.5 inch thick branch (maybe 2) and somehow it caught me in an odd angle and slashed my lower right leg, about 5 inches above my ankle.


Had to patch myself up and drove myself to the hospital, 30 minutes away. When I cut the muscle the tension increased and it looked like I took a huge chunk of my leg out. So before I patched myself up I looked around to see if I could find anything on the ground.

Went about an inch and a half deep at the deepest, the cut was about 4-5 inches long. Took 3 or 4 internal stitches, 10 external. Cut clean through the nerve, almost nicking the tendon, I stopped just short.

The nurses asked me the same thing, if I was attacked. And all my freinds asked me what the hell I was doing with a machete and why I needed to even own one.



People these days..........................


At least my ER visit only cost $100
 
I limped out to the trail and sitting tip down in the dirt is the knife, right smack in the middle of the trail. It has been wet out and I was expecting the A2 to have a small amount of rust. Not one bit, however. I cannot understand all of these people who constantly trash talk good steel, they obviously have never taken the time to try a knife in it out.
 
PDE said:
I limped out to the trail and sitting tip down in the dirt is the knife, right smack in the middle of the trail. It has been wet out and I was expecting the A2 to have a small amount of rust. Not one bit, however. I cannot understand all of these people who constantly trash talk good steel, they obviously have never taken the time to try a knife in it out.
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Glad you found your knife!!:thumbup::thumbup:

A2 is a wonder to me. I have noting against other steels, but A2 would be a good balance of "all things good" in a knife steel for me.:thumbup:
 
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In a real wilderness suvival situation being injuried by your own axe or knife is not a good thing obviously, but equally as bad is losing your axe and/or knife because it fell out of the sheath and is lost somewhere back in the bush.

Now granted some of us can improvise and make stone tools but most folks cannot. So losing a knife for personal safety reasons and/or survival is mission critical.

I've seen top name survivial instructors wear knives around their necks and seen them bend over during a demo and the knife fall to the ground. Some of these sheaths are less than secure. I'd rather have a super secure sheath system than to lose a knife or get cut by one.

Also as a side note, anytime you run run you should cover your knife and/or handgun with your hand...that is a standard protocol in law enforcement or at least where I'm from. Granted most holsters now are level 2 minimum and most are level 3 but it is still taught nevertheless.
 
Farnsrocket said:
Glad you're OK!



Isn't it wild? I remember taking a pocket knife to school.......not anymore!! :rolleyes:
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I can remember openly trading for pocket knives and comic books while in grade school....in the middle of NYC.....which led my teachers to annoint me as a future businessman...times have changed.:(

Heal quick. I am glad to see that it turned out to be a minor injury.

n2s
 
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I thought this was a story about a dog.

I think if the woods stole my knife, knife escaped its clutches only to attack me,
found myself off to hospital in an instant; leaving my gear behind with no mention of my old amigo who'd run off to battle; I'd hope to find cause for reflection.

There is no intention to attack, or discredit, or make light of your situation. (even though that is an attempt at a humorous synopsis) It's just that sometimes things happen that are the opposite of what we want. I don't believe in accidents so naturally I would want to contemplate my situation to see what might be learned.
 
barrabas74 said:
I was splitting wood with one of my choppers about two years ago, simple splits on flat boards and I was sitting on a little chair just getting kindling made for a fire that afternoon behind my parents house. I split a piece with a knot in it and istead of stopping the blade goes out the left side and into my leg above the ankle. I feel the pressure of the blade but it didnt feel like a cut, I saw blood squirt into the air. It all happened in slow motion I tried to get to the house but my left leg was limp from the ankle down. I get to the kitchen and I am holding my ankle squeezing as hard as I can. My grandmother (visiting) comes up the stairs and I yell to call an ambulance she says why? Sees the blood all over the floor and coming through my fingertips and screams lol.

My cousin is an eagle scout and has LOTS of first aid training to boot, so does my father. They get my leg elevated and add pressure till the amublance arrives. I start feeling light headed and comment on how beautiful one of the workers is :D she proceeded to tell me I lost too much blood to acuratley gauge her ;). In the ambulance the lights get blurry, I feel sick and start blacking out. She saw this and kept me awake.

A bit of blood and some stiches and cookies and I was back to limping. The nurses at the hospitol were all perplexed about me using a knife and why I was making a fire in the summer. Actually as the nurses were all young and hot and working the night shift I made out pretty good. I still dont have feeling in the left side of my foot and if you poke the scar I feel wierd sensations from the nerves. They said I was lucky I didnt bleed to death, which if I had been by myself I just might have.

On another story I cut my finger to the bone badly one time, they got me into a room quickly but forgot about me apparently as I waited 3hours by myself until my g/f at the time arrived. She reminded them of my situation and I got stiches not 10 min later.


I have had many such trips to the hospitol from cuts but the leg one was the scariest I think.
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OK,
But first of all..this story about had me puking and laughing at the same time...thats a rare sensation.. thanks.
To the OP, glad you are OK.

Have I ever cut myself with a knife? Yup..3 times stand out in my memory..although, I have cut myself MANY times at work with a utility knife..the most dangerous knife, IMO.
I will do this fast as loose.
1. When I was 11 years old, my Mom bought me a SAK, I like Mcgyver, and wanted one bad..so at Easter, instead of candy..I had a SAK...pretty cool right? Well, one day while sitting on the edge of my bed, I was using the scissors to trim a toe nail, and slipped..I stabbed all the was through my ankle..right behind the Achilies tendon. That really hurt quite a bit.

2. I was stabbed ON ACCIDENT by a friend, in the hand...I swear, it true!!! Small spyderco, went through my pinky, and into the 3rd finger..4 stitches.
I was questioned AT LENGTH by the nurse..I only admitted to having cut myself on a beer bottle...he knew I was lying. I was a bit buzzed, so it didnt matter all that much to me.

3. I came home, when I was around 17, I had ordered a Camillus boot dagger from SMKW's..oh say 6 weeks earlier..this was the 80's mind you. I saw the package..and was like "awesome!!"
I went inside, opened the box, and looked at my new knife...these had a spring retention in the sheath...I thought to myself..man, that doesnt look very safe..and preceded to hold onto the sheath..and wave the knife around. Mind you, I am 17...well, in a herky jerky motion..the knife left the sheath..my hand and the sheath were moving pretty fast..the knife was "hovering" in mid air...and I stabbed myself in the hand..through the pinky..and into the next finger... same finger that gets stabbed 4 years later...no kidding.

I drove myself to the hospital, by sitting on my right hand, rapped in a bundle of paper towels.
 
My dog was perfectly fine, actually found him up at the house waiting to come in. He was just sitting there smiling and wagging his tail(damn dog).

It was stupid of me, I should have grabbed my gear and my furry friend because my life was not in immediate danger.
 
I wouldn't go that far. I have a sheath that I have been less than confident in. Often I'll check it; no peace of mind. Now I see it could be worse than an "I knew it" back track looking for it. I'll make it better now
 
Most of my bad cuts have been from relatively nonsharp items. Also, my Dad and wife are in medicine. People lie about what happened so often. They often pry to get an answer from people. My dad has literally seen hundreds of stab wounds intentional and not. More gun shots than he would like as well.
 
I was up in the mountains last spring doing a chop off with my SY SOD & Yard Hook.The machete is one of the cheapie $5.00 jobs,but it out chopped the SOD & Hook.
044.jpg


After the chopping, I was trying to get the Hook stuck in the top of a little sapling that had been shot off so I could get a pic.
It had to be that particular sapling because of the snow capped mountains in the background.
I was holding the sapling with my right hand & pushing down on the hook with my left,trying to get the recurve area of the blade stuck just enough to hold it in place.
The top of the sapling was approx. 1" dia. & all ragged from being shot up &
the hook didn't want to stay.
Well I pushed too hard & it went in at an angle & shaved a sliver off the side & stuck in the knuckel of my right hand.

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I didn't know how bad it was,just wanted to stop the bleeding.
Luckly I had a little first aid kit in my pack.
It was a bitch trying to hold my hand just right so it wouldn't bleed all over & get the bandaids & salve out of the pocket of the pack.
I finally got it bandaged up & contemplated going to the nearest medical facility,(about 35 miles away)but decided to stay & enjoy my first trip to the mountains of the year.
I settled for a pic of the Hook on the top of my canopy instead.

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After I got home I irrigated it with a saline solution then soaked it in proxide to hopefully clean it out & not have to go to the doctor.
The first two fingers & the area behind them to my wrist swelled up the next day & they were pretty darned sore,so I figured I nicked the bone.
I kept soaking it in proxide & the swelling went down the next day,so I said the hell with a doctor.
It healed ok with just a little scar.
After chopping through that 6" dia. log the SR101 Hook was still pretty darn sharp:thumbup: :rolleyes:

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PDE said:
I limped out to the trail and sitting tip down in the dirt is the knife, right smack in the middle of the trail. It has been wet out and I was expecting the A2 to have a small amount of rust. Not one bit, however. I cannot understand all of these people who constantly trash talk good steel, they obviously have never taken the time to try a knife in it out.
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Cool beans,glad you found it(& that you were able to get back out there & find it.):thumbup:
 
PDE said:
The thing that gets me is that none of the nurses could figure out why I had a knife, they thought I was crazy. They kept asking if I was stabbed, by someone else. No one these days is a fan of knives, until they need one. I leave with three stitches and a 150 dollar bill. Still do not have a clue as to where my knife went.

Do any of you have a story about when you got hurt by a knife?
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I sliced my hand pretty good with my buck 119 that I use hunting, woods, whatever and when I went to the ER the triage nurse asked me how I did it and I told her I slipped with my knife while in the woods...went and sat down, 20 mins later police show up and questioned me! asking if I still had a knife on me, was I legally allowed to have a knife and just a run of stupid things. After they finished I left and patched myself up at home, I dont goto the hospital anymore unless i'm ripped open bad and i'm squirting blood. I keep a good medical kit in my pack, a larger kit in my car, and then an even larger more diverse kit at home.

Explaining a knife related injury sounds 100 times easier stateside, can't wait to get back!

PS. good luck finding your knife, scout about and i'm sure you'll get it, invest in a good sheath as others have noted and you'll be ready to get back to the woods. :) glad to hear the wound wasn't too serious.
 
The knife is a Sharpshooter deep pouch if it is the stock sheath. If the knife was put in properly (which I am willing to wager it was) it had to have snagged on something to come out. Sharpshooter makes great sheaths.

To the OP - mistakes happen and it sounds like you got a 'perfect storm' of sillyness to get cut. I am glad you are safe though.

TF
 
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