Machete Accident *Warning*

R

RainbowCanyons

Joined
Jan 12, 2012
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127
These pictures are not for the squeamish. Post your story so we can learn from each-others mistakes.



I recently moved into a very uncared for house and was hard at work in the backyard. I was trimming tree branches with my Condor Tool & Knives Golok Machete. (The thing is a monster). http://www.condortk.com/productsdetail.php?prodid=77


I had been working for an hour or so and was cutting a three inch thick branch into smaller sections. If you've cut large branches before, you know how much quicker it is to hit them at an angle to slice through the plant fiber more easily. As I was doing this, my chops became more powerful and less purposeful. I got relaxed and in the zone, not paying respect to the fact that I was swinging a blade.

I reached up to throw another strike and I went in at way too much of an angle. The edge didn't sink into the branch and the side of the machete bounced off and sunk directly into my shin bone. Shock set in immediately as I looked down and saw a quick squirt of blood come from my leg. I tried my best to remain calm and sheathed my blade. I then walked over to my backpack and got out my first aid kit. My little brother helped me clean and dress the wound as best as we could while I waited for my parents to get home.

The machete had left about a 1.5" cut in my leg and thankfully my shin stopped it. I barely bled, missed everything vital, and the blade went directly into my leg and not at an angle that'd slice off a flap of skin. I thank God that this accident wasn't much more severe.



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574508_10150688859363994_536098993_9376461_452354264_n.jpg



The pictures were taken several minutes after the impact and I had already cleaned the wound, but as you can see there was very little blood.


I went to the nearby emergency center and received 7 stitches. I was told that it would take about 10-15 days for this sort of injury in the location it is to begin mending. After that period the stitches will be taken out.

535197_10150688860128994_536098993_9376470_871146647_n.jpg



I blame nothing other than my own lack of safety, unlike the gun-control liberals that would love to blame the machete for this.


Let this be a reminder to us all, pay close attention to every single movement you make with a blade. And more specifically, with a machete, do not swing so hard to the point you can't control the momentum of the blade. Yes, it's fun to go Rambo but it's also dangerous.
 
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Yup.

Heal quickly, and be lucky that it was not worse. I will think about your post as I swing my machete. I use mine to mulch plant clippings, but I use a stump as a chopping block, which stops the blade.

Thanks for the post.
 
knargly pictures and a nice clean cut. It should heal up fairly quickly since it is a clean cut. Good luck and take it as a lesson learned.
 
This sort of accident is exactly one of the reasons why I keep the edge angles on my machetes narrow--around 30 degrees included. The machete can handle it , and it reduces the likelihood of glancing blows significantly. You still always have to mentally project the arc of your swings, though, and ensure that a glancing blow will travel away from the body. You're actually very lucky you got off as well as you did. You could have easily have done much worse damage! :eek:

Hope you heal up quick, dude! Looks like it was a doozy! :o:thumbup:
 
Thank you for the kind wishes! Hopefully my experience will remind someone else to be more careful and save them from anything like this! Re-profiling my machete seems like an interesting idea. When my only way of profiling isn't a mouse pad and sand paper I'll give it a shot :)
 
RainbowCanyons said:
These pictures are not for the squeamish.



I recently moved into a very uncared for house and was hard at work in the backyard. I was trimming tree branches with my Condor Tool & Knives Golok Machete. (The thing is a monster). http://www.condortk.com/productsdetail.php?prodid=77


I had been working for an hour or so and was cutting a three inch thick branch into smaller sections. If you've cut large branches before, you know how much quicker it is to hit them at an angle to slice through the plant fiber more easily. As I was doing this, my chops became more powerful and less purposeful. I got relaxed and in the zone, not paying respect to the fact that I was swinging a blade.

I reached up to throw another strike and I went in at way too much of an angle. The edge didn't sink into the branch and the side of the machete bounced off and sunk directly into my shin bone. Shock set in immediately as I looked down and saw a quick squirt of blood come from my leg. I tried my best to remain calm and sheathed my blade. I then walked over to my backpack and got out my first aid kit. My little brother helped me clean and dress the wound as best as we could while I waited for my parents to get home.

The machete had left about a 1.5" cut in my leg and thankfully my shin stopped it. I barely bled, missed everything vital, and the blade went directly into my leg and not at angle to slice off a flap of skin. I thank God that this accident wasn't much more severe.



305575_10150688859683994_536098993_9376466_1509723148_n.jpg



574508_10150688859363994_536098993_9376461_452354264_n.jpg



The pictures were taken several minutes after the impact and I had already cleaned the wound, but as you can see there was very little blood.


I went to the nearby emergency center and received 7 stitches. I was told that it would take about 10-15 days for this sort of injury in the location it is to begin mending. After that period the stitches will be taken out.

535197_10150688860128994_536098993_9376470_871146647_n.jpg



I blame nothing other than my own lack of safety, unlike the gun-control liberals that would love to blame the machete for this.


Let this be a reminder to us all, pay close attention to every single movement you make with a blade. And more specifically, with a machete, do not swing so hard to the point you can't control the momentum of the blade. Yes, it's fun to go Rambo but it's also dangerous.
Click to expand...


That'll be a beautiful scar. Haha.
 
Yep swinging big blades can be dangerous. I cut myself almost the same as you did with a battle mistress hacking a vine that was hanging next to a tree i was cutting down. When you got hit did it go clink, thats what it sounded like when i hit my shin. I just cleaned it up and put a butter fly on it real tight. It bled for a couple of days but finely healed up. Well i hope you heal up quickly and be safe.
 
d762nato said:
Yep swinging big blades can be dangerous. I cut myself almost the same as you did with a battle mistress hacking a vine that was hanging next to a tree i was cutting down. When you got hit did it go clink, thats what it sounded like when i hit my shin. I just cleaned it up and put a butter fly on it real tight. It bled for a couple of days but finely healed up. Well i hope you heal up quickly and be safe.
Click to expand...

No disrespect but that wasn't the best way to handle it. If it got infected it could have turned deadly serious--it's not easy to combat an infection of the bone. I know you cleaned it, but even the best cleansing of a wound doesn't typically kill off everything. I'd urge anyone who cuts their bone even slightly to get it checked out by a professional immediately.
 
My Old Man used to tell me, "...whenever yer swingin' anything, whether it's a wrench, an axe or a hammer, always check to see where whatever yer swingin', will wind up if ya miss what yer swingin' at..."

Heal quick, swing slower. :)
 
d762nato said:
Yep swinging big blades can be dangerous. I cut myself almost the same as you did with a battle mistress hacking a vine that was hanging next to a tree i was cutting down. When you got hit did it go clink, thats what it sounded like when i hit my shin. I just cleaned it up and put a butter fly on it real tight. It bled for a couple of days but finely healed up. Well i hope you heal up quickly and be safe.
Click to expand...


Ah yes, it made a nice loud "tink" sound as it stopped in my shin. I'm hoping I didn't do any significant damage to the bone, but I know shins are tough as nails. Thanks for the wishes:)
 
Thank you very much for reminding us to be very thoughtful when using a bladed tool. A few times when my attention was just momentarily diverted from doing a cutting task I wound up nicking myself - nothing serious. Still, we must consciously remain alert with using potentially dangerous tools no matter what they are.

Best wishes for a speedy recovery.
 
T. Erdelyi said:
My Old Man used to tell me, "...whenever yer swingin' anything, whether it's a wrench, an axe or a hammer, always check to see where whatever yer swingin', will wind up if ya miss what yer swingin' at..."

Heal quick, swing slower. :)
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Such simple advice, yet so often overlooked. Thank you!
 
Heal quick, man. Glad it's not worse.

We bought our house last June, and all of my cutting tools have been getting a workout. I've been careful and lucky so far.

Off topic:
I have exactly the shoes you have, I assume yours have steel toes. The steel toe in mine saved my toes twice last year, once from a missed ax chop (my fault) and another when I lost my grip and rolled a good-sized boulder over my foot.

~Chris
 
I was laying some sod yesterday and cut my finger to the bone (slicing not chopping) right through a leather glove with my Ontario Machete thatI had just taken off the edge pro. Not a good weekend for machete work I guess.
 
I was using the back edge of an Imacasa "colima" machete to chop sod while tilling a fresh garden bed yesterday. It was a lot of work since I was only using hand tools but I guess at least one amongst us was free from a machete mishap this weekend! :eek: The machete got a bit dinged up from all the rocks in the soil, but that's why I was using the back edge! :p
 
I Cut open my shoulder fairly bad with a condor inca knife a few years back. It went about 1cm deep and an inch wide and i didn't get stitches which was pretty dumb of me, it could have easily gotten infected but i guess i got lucky. That is one good thing about a very sharp machete, It doesn't hurt very much and heals quickly (About a week for me)

Just look at the bright side. It could have been a lot worse.
 
Chalk one up for experience. Glad to see that you will be okay and good thinking with having a medical kit ready.
 
orca8589 said:
Heal quick, man. Glad it's not worse.

We bought our house last June, and all of my cutting tools have been getting a workout. I've been careful and lucky so far.

Off topic:
I have exactly the shoes you have, I assume yours have steel toes. The steel toe in mine saved my toes twice last year, once from a missed ax chop (my fault) and another when I lost my grip and rolled a good-sized boulder over my foot.

~Chris
Click to expand...


Aren't they great!? Very cheap for what they are and I hear you on the steel toes, I've used them to break up dense dirt clumps countless times. I'm glad you had them for that missed ax chop, that would've been serious.
 
CQC86 said:
Chalk one up for experience. Glad to see that you will be okay and good thinking with having a medical kit ready.
Click to expand...

Thank you! I have it in my backpack for a month or so and never thought I'd need it. Oddly enough, I wasn't able to find my first aid supplies from the recent move so it saved the day. It's a must in my opinion, especially now.
 
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