Knifemaker's First Aid Kit contents

Allen Newberry

Allen Newberry

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Jan 10, 2007
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Seeing as how it is possible to get hurt while knifemaking. What should go into a Knifemaker's First Aid Kit?
 
Super glue and bandages are the first things that come to mind. Should cover most injuries nicely.
 
I keep a trauma bandage on the tool cart by my work bench, if that's overkill then I can just hold it tight and go inside or worry about it later. If that's not enough then it'll have to do while I yell/dial for help.

I've considered keeping a bit more out there but the above pretty much sums up my philosophy regarding "first aid". Depending on where I'm at I may have more than just the one bandage with me, but I tend to be pretty light on fluff and more focused on dealing with major bleeding. I keep some bandaids in my bag and neosporin and such, but just a couple that get refreshed when used. If it isn't solved by a bandaid to keep it clean and keep any blood drops out of my way then it probably justifies the more serious stuff and maybe a call to EMS. More than that might be practical in a home kit for general purpose, but not as a true first-aid kit.
 
i'm glad this thread came up. i've had several bits of chip in my eyes in the last year or so, and i completely forgot that i currently have a bunch of Nd magnets in the shop for an alternator i'm building.
 
I wouldn't be without my eye wash kits. They have a cup that you fill with saline, then place over your eye and blink/move your eye around. These have saved my butt many times, and are very cheap.

I've had to have metal slivers cut out of my eye two times and it sucks balls (WAS wearing safety glasses both times!!!).

I've never used a retrieval magnet like Chuck mentioned, but have looked into them. I think it's a good idea.
 
I keep a full first aid kit on hand and it has about everything in it. The place most kits fail is larger bandages so I buy additional, If you are cut with a razor sharp knife bandaids wont help. I cannot imagine grinding steel w/o eye protection (or forging) but looking on youtube there seems to be alot of knifemakers willing to risk their eye sight.
 
I keep my stuff inside b/c if I am gonna get a band aid, or the like I am probly gonna want to wash it off anyway, so I gotta go inside.
 
yeah; it can be pretty tempting to forgo the safety equipment:

i've got a nice (read: useful, not pretty) cotton long sleeve shirt with a snug fitting high collar and it sucks wearing it next to a hot forge on an already hot day.

i've got a pair of well used safety glasses that are scratched up enough to slightly (read: annoyingly) blur my already poor vision and it sucks when sweat starts dripping inside them.

i've got my steel-toed riding boots, and they suck to stand and walk around in too much.

there are lots of handy excuses to get burned, loose and eye, a toe, etc. i think i remember something about an ounce of prevention and something something.
 
+1 on the electrical tape. Research (amateur) by my brother in law says cuts heal faster with elect tape vs band-aids.
 
If anyone ever opens the front flap of the black bag I carry at knife events, they will find a minor surgery kit, sutures, gloves, anesthetic, bandages, and just about anything needed to stop severe bleeding. When at such events the time it takes to get EMS people there can be life or death.
At home in the shop, I keep bandages and tape in a plastic box ( dust gets into everything if it isn't sealed).

Super glue is good, but it should not be an immediate treatment of any severe cut.

Funny that this thread comes up today. At work I was working on a sword, and stabbed my finger with it. Luckily ( or not) it was a mini.
It is a 4" long 1902 style Infantry officers saber with silver fittings and silver sheath. As I was rapidly working it in and out of the sheath to work smooth the inner surfaces, I accidentally pulled it out too far and it came out of the sheath. On the return stroke I ran it nearly all the way through my thumb tip ( yes, it was razor sharp).If it hadn't hit the nail from the inside it would have gone through. On its trip through the fingertip it hit an artery, and blood spurted all over the place from the tiny 4mm slit it made. I applied pressure to stop the squirting and went to wash it up. After treating the wound with peroxide and applying neo-sporin, I sealed the opening with cyanoacrylic and applied a pressure bandage (a couple of tight band aids), and covered the finger with a cott. That took care of the bleeding, so I went back to work on the sword and the rest of the day's jewelry repairs. When I got home I went out to work in the shop for a while. Afterward I took a shower and decided to check the finger. At first I thought it was just black with steel dust, then I realized it was black and blue as if I had smashed it. The blood had flowed under the skin from the knuckle to the tip. No real problem, but it is going to look ugly for a week. Fortunately, it was such a quick and sharp piercing that it has no pain.
 
Jesse Latham said:
+1 on the electrical tape. Research (amateur) by my brother in law says cuts heal faster with elect tape vs band-aids.
Click to expand...

When I was an apprentice electrician ,1969, I cut my finger and asked my journeyman
for a band aid:eek::D

I was 19 and that wasn't the last time I embarrassed myself.:o
 
A small mirror, tweezers, Solarcaine spray (pain killer), aspirin (heart attack,) eye drops, magnifier-if you need it, sterile wipes/alcohol swabs, rubbing alcohol, acetone or nail polish remover for super glue "accidents," cotton balls, Q tips, in addition to the above.
I do plating (cyanide) so I keep amyl nitrate "poppers" handy.
If you have back problems, valium is a great muscle relaxer. Stop working after you take it!
Ibuprofen for hangovers and other pain & inflammation.
BTW- NEVER take Tylenol (acetominophen) if you drink alcohol! It is toxic. The ONLY reason to ever take acetominophem is if you simply can not tolerate other pain relievers, or have a clotting problem or pending/recent surgery. It's really bad stuff.
 
Bill has a good point about acetaminophen. It is the number one cause of liver failure in the USA. It is also one of the most common suicide drugs, as a 50 count bottle has many times the dosage needed to place you in a coma. It is also one of the major accidental OD drus....often with the same results as those intending to OD.

It is not that combining of alcohol and Tylenol that is toxic, but that both are individually toxic, and when taken together they overwhelm the livers ability to remove toxins. The toxic dose of most things is quite a bit higher than the normal dose. In the case of acetaminophen the toxic dose is not even twice the normal dose. Doubling up on Tylenol/acetaminophen can put you in the ER and on the liver donor list. Adding alcohol use/overuse to the equation really makes it worse. While two Tylenol taken four times a day is OK....and two drinks a day is OK, taking both is really bad.

For an illustration:
Tom says, I can drink two whiskeys and be fine to drive......and he probably is.
Mike says, I can drink four beers and be fine to drive drive......and he is ,too.
But, if Fred drinks two whiskeys and then switches to four beers he will NOT be OK to drive.
 
I would just go with what you would have for a typical outdoor adventure. Being that if you get hurt while working on a knife, chances are that you are close to civilization and can get emergency help fairly quickly. I think if you looked into what most industrial first-aid kits have you would have most things covered. A couple of eye wash stations if your shop is big enough, or at least one right were you use chemicals

Aside form that I would go with what Patrice said, but add a wad of toilet paper to it:p
 
Most shops won't need anything that's not already close by, but a source of clean cold water for burn mitigation.

A 2nd- or 3rd-degree burn will do a heck of a lot less damage if you get it into cold water Right Fricken Now and leave it there for a while. I'm told that anytime within the first 10 minutes helps, but the first minute makes the most difference.

That "no-pain" crepe-looking self-stick tape is also very handy for keeping shop dirt out of owies.
 
Thanks for all the input everyone. I think stopping the bleeding and getting stuff out of your eyes seem to be the biggies. I recently had need to close a wound and lucked into some dermabond. That stuff was pretty cool. Basically it is superglue that is ok to get in the cut and is flexible as well so it doesn't need reapplication the next day. I keep seeing things like liquid bandaid type stuff and wonder if it does any good.
 
I am surprised nobody mentioned a fire extinguisher. From what I understand knife makers catch themselves on fire fairly often.
 
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