NEVER cut yourself???? (Warning - a few graphic pics)

I had a strange experience cutting myself just yesterday. I sharpened a few of my kitchen knives right before making supper. Afterwards while washing the utility knife it sliced into a layer of skin, a decent little cut, not deep, but enough to leave a little flap of skin. The thing is, it didn't draw a drop of blood. It just sliced the outer layer of skin at fingerprint depth. So weird, and I'm sure it only happened because it was freshly sharpened. Lucky too
The thing I don't quite get is that I have given myself tiny nicks before, but they bled like an artery. Hyperbolic of me I know.
 
I still remember one time, years and years ago, I was biting my fingernail, my finger slipped and I actually cut my gum with my finger nail, enough for it to bleed for a few minutes.
 
I still remember one time, years and years ago, I was biting my fingernail, my finger slipped and I actually cut my gum with my finger nail, enough for it to bleed for a few minutes.
You never know.
One of my worst cuts, 15 stitches, came from slinging firewood out of a truck.
I had to wait till the wood was stacked before they drove me to the ER.
My family takes wood burning seriously.
 
I was cutting some plastic at work with an older UH Stockman and lopped a chunk of my thumb off. It was a nice clean cut too, the surrounding area of the slice was white with a small red center. It took a few seconds to bleed, but when it started, it gushed like a severed artery.
 
I was of a young, tender age of 15 working in a restaurant that had a buffet line. I’d stand at the end of the line and carve the ham and beef for the customers. We’d have a sharpening rod to touch up the knife and I hadn’t sharpened it for quite a few minutes. Slicing a piece of roast beef and the knife slipped. Right into the side of my left index finger. Quite the cut. Had to get ran to the clinic to have stitches. That’s where I learned that a dull knife is much more dangerous than a sharp one.
 
Make sure you clean the detent on your blade and pull your pants up slow when carrying tip up in your pocket.
I won’t post pics due to how graphic they are but it required about 28 or so stitches. Most on the outside but some on the inside as well.
 
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Awesome topic. As a father I think about this a lot. I think you’re doomed to cut yourself sooner or later. In my mind what you can course correct is the severity of the cut.

When it’s time, I’m going to teach my son that he’s going to cut himself someday, but if he’s safe and smart enough it will be a bandaid and not a trip for stitches.

Knives will betray you the moment you get too confident and/or careless. I think it’s healthy to assume it’s a matter of time.

I had a hatchet accident from October 5th, but the picture’s the day after I got medical attention so it looks pretty good, all things considered. My thoughts above continue to be true. I got lucky it wasn’t worse. Or perhaps my safety training helped? I’ll never know, but I was’t careful enough.

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I stupidly cut myself 2 months ago. Trying to trim rubber on a snowblower impeller kit after it was installed, and instead of taking an extra minute to use a board to stop the impeller from moving I thought ‘I can hold it and cut it while being careful’. So of course with too much force on 3/8” rubber it gave and I smacked my hand. It was too deep and in a bad spot that needed sutures. Glue and Dermabond work great for lots, but not great for some. All to save time! Lol.

If I had a nickel...
Rushing something, trying to get something done, being to lazy to get a better suited tool...
sure fire way to have an accident.

I've cut myself thinking, "huh, I probably shouldn't be doing this" just before hand.
stupid... stupid... stupid.
 
Many times but I'll share two from my youth.

I was maybe 11 or 12 and was trying to cut a cardboard box using a very dull box cutter. The cardboard box had holes in it evenly spaced apart. I have the box resting on my thigh as I'm trying to get leverage to cut through it with this dull knife. Unfortunately I pressed hard enough to cut through an inch of cardboard and got to one of the holes. Stabbed myself in the thigh and must have severed a nerve because I lost feeling in an outside portion of my thigh. Fifty plus years later and I never got feeling back in that area of my thigh and the scar is still visible.

Then as a teenager I got a part-time Summer job working a meat processing facility in the Bronx. During the day I did odd jobs including vacuum packing portions of meat at the end of one of the processing lines where butchers cut up large portions of beef (whole sides of beef came in on refrigerated trucks) into assorted cuts. At various times the butchers would stop cutting to sharpen their blades. I had no idea how sharp those blades were but at the end of one day I would find out.

At the end of the day the butchers would leave and I would help clean up. Of course curiosity got the better of me and I thought it would be a good idea to try my sharpening skills. A grabbed one of sharpening tools (long rod) and knife and start the up and down motion on each side of the bar. This was in what was basically a large freezer and I was cold.

I later recall that during the sharpening exercise I had very lightly tapped the index finger on my left hand, the hand that was holding the sharpening bar. A minute or so later I notice what looked like fresh drops of blood on the floor. A fews seconds later I realize the blood was coming from the index finger on my left hand, the finger I hand very lightly tap with what turn out to be a VERY sharp butcher knife. I pretty much cut the finger on the joint below the knuckle down to the bone. Looking back I should have gotten stitches but that would have required telling the story of me fooling around with one of the butcher knives. I just wrapped it up and let it heal. Fifty plus years later the scar is still quite visible.
 
Okay it's not as bad as I expected. I mean, I can say that because it wasn't me....
 
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