Knifemaker's First Aid Kit contents

Allen,
IMO dermabond is the way to go. I am very new to knifemaking and haven't had to use it in the "shop" yet, but I coach high school wrestling and wrestled in college and any time anyone gets cut the first thing we put on is dermabond. Again IMO liquid bandaid is useless, just doesn't hold up long enough to continue the work you were doing. It is great if you plan on going to the ER for stitches but that's about it.
 
For the shop, I have a roll of electrical tape and a paper towels to stop the bleeding. Anything else I go to the house or the ER. Luckily I have only had to go to the ER once for stitches.
 
At work, we carry tourniquets and Quick Clotting Trauma Dressings, in case one of us gets shot. (I think we use the QuickClot brand, but I’ll have to double check.) The Combat Application Tourniquets we use are designed so that you can put one on yourself, even one-handed if necessary. With the ever present possibility of severing an artery in the shop, it might be a good investment to add each of these items to my first aid kit. Although the dressings are a bit pricey, hopefully I wouldn’t be going through a bunch of them :eek:. As Stacy mentioned, without prompt care, you could easily bleed out before EMS arrives.

All that being said, the last time I cut myself badly enough to need stitches (accidentally stabbed myself in the knee), I struck out when I went to the closet where we keep medical supplies. I discovered that my kids had used up all of the medical tape, gauze pads, and large band-aids (for God knows what). Of course they left the empty boxes in the closet, so that no one would notice what they had done.
rant.gif
 
Quikclot and other hemostatic agents work extremely well in stopping blood. As many of us already know, bleeding is pretty high on the injury list and a person can bleed out a whole lot faster than it takes to get medical attention.

Whoops, Chris Meyers beat me to it
 
In the shop I keep band aids for small stuff, maxi pads for large cuts, and a few smaller items. I have a pretty complete trauma kit in the house.

In the smithy I have large cotton sponges and maxi pads, as well as a water hose. I worry about bleeding and burns more than the smaller things. If I can manage the bleeding I can make the house.

I was twisting, with the help of a large friend, a 2" square damascus billet. The wrench broke, threw Marty backwards to the floor and me into the billet. It got the inside of my upper arm pretty good, but was hot enough to vaporize everything it touched. Wasn't nearly as painful as I thouight it would be. The hose is always there to put me out.

The water bucket for cooling blades during grinding works well on clothes, too.

Burn kits and eye dressings are important. I don't recommend the aloe vera gel for burns. It has alcohol in it, which will make you wake up in a hurry.

Good advice on the aspirin. Us older guys have to watch so many things.

Gene
 
I've found aloe vera gel to be wonderful for burns. If you apply it ASAP, burns usually don't even blister.
 
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