Occupational hazard

golok

golok

Joined
Oct 20, 2000
Messages
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In all kinds of workshops, safety is no doubt of paramount importance.
The knife workshop is not an exception.

I often wonder if getting hurt when handling the various kinds of machines that go into shaping a knife is more common than expected.

The hazards that spring to mind would be fingers getting cut by an accidental slip somewhere, flying wooden bits, tiny metal parts (shrapnels!) and sharpening exercise that can go awry.

Thus, the presence of goggles, gloves, and other protective gear. Still, what are the chances of hurting oneself in the course of one's work? Is it a rare occurrence or a knifemaker is apt to hurt himself in a minor way at least once or twice in a year?

No doubt there is a First Aid Kit lying somewhere in the workshop all the time.
 
when things go wrong in a knife shop it is usually pretty gross. I think I have trained my subconcious enough with scars over the years that now I am overly safety concious. Many accidents can be prevented through changing the work process and not getting too complacent. Kinda like the old phrase "stay alert,stay alive". I have had more than a few cuts and scrapes in the shop but have avoided many horror stories though dumb luck(thank God it flew that way instead of this way!).
 
While it always sounds like a warn out cliche to me (usually in my head it is the voice of someone like Florence Henderson or an overly safety-hyper soccer mom), but it really does make sense.

While I am not a knife maker, I am a plumber by trade and have been in institutional maint. for over 12 years. This means everyday I am on one type of machine or another from bench and hand grinders to drill presses and table saws. I have personally had very close calls with many of these machines-some were just stupid and others that were REALLY STUPID. After awhile your eyes, fingers, hands, face etc. becomes more important to you than some stupid misguided notion that "it won't happen to me".

One machine I have really come to respect-no make that FEAR heheh-is the bench or standing grinder. Whether they have guards or the open buffing type. I have never seen anything launch a piece of metal as hard and fast as a grinder. Once you have something ripped from your hands and literally stick in the wall you kind of sit up and take notice!

Another piece of safety equipment that I have begun to utilize more and more is hearing protection. I just can't stand the idea of damaging my hearing by sitting next to a whining table saw for an hour or two. Funny how the younger guys in my shop (I'm 39 btw)seem to get a kick out of this somehow 'wimpy' act of safety. Let 'em laugh I have already noticed my hearing is not what it used to be and I don't need anything speeding up the loss of it.

Bottom line on safety equipment: BUY IT USE IT.

Mongrel
 
Ive gotten used to the environment. I put on my saftey goggles, face shield, earmuffs, respirator, breast plate, apron and gloves, and im set to grind ( then like a little kid on a cold day I have to pee ).

Ive gotten so many little cuts, abrasions, etc, that I rarely get excited about it anymore. Like Bill said though, there have been times when a blade should have gone this way into me, but went that way into the wall, that the presence of god is undeniable. You do this business long enough you see things that are amazing.

Although I may have gotten used to the environment, I never let my concentration down. The times I have been hurt, have been getting ready for a show working too many hours and not enough coffee ( er I mean sleep ) ; it only takes microsecond and something goes wrong.
 
I concentrate on my mental preparedness after the accident that may occur. I roll play cut off hands, severed arteries etc. When a near miss occurs, I go into a "what if" phaze. I quit what I am doing, try to imagine the injury, then take care of it. If right hand, I use me left hand to stop bleeding with pressure, tourniquet, (where is it)??? what ever is necessary. I dial 91. with a pencil in my teeth, start my pickup with the other hand turning the key, Etc. It is all part of being prepared, let your imagination go the the worst possible scenario and roll play. Maybe, just maybe you will be prepared if and when it happens. I find that for me most of the protection stuff is more dangerous than helpful. I do use glasses and ear protection. Glove for forging etc. but like to get as close to my work as I can.
 
A few winters ago we had a bad snow storm and a bunch of branches broak off the trees in the yard. I went out the next day for clean up and I was using my 15 inch Himalayan Imports AK Khukuri to cut up the branches and I got careless! I was holding a branch with my left hand and chopping with my right when I somehow slammed the khukuri down on my pointer finger cutting off the tip! My finger was luckly saved and it taught me a great lesson! I'm in the prosses of becomming a knife maker and I will never let down my guard when I'm in the shop and will give the respect to every knife I come in contact with it commands!!
 
If you read through this forum and the Shop Talk forum, you'll find dozens of stories about knife makers hurting themselves while working (a search for "blood" would turn up some interesting results). From most of what I've read of knife makers, and any other profession or hobby that involves regular use of power tools, sharp implements, or machinery, safety and caution are essential, and many (most?) people get hurt anyway. Just about everyone knows what safe behavior is, and just about everyone is lax about it sometimes, and though most accidents occur due to a lapse into carelessness, even when all safety precautions are observed properly, accidents still happen. As adequately titled, this is an occupational hazard. The question isn't really even, "have you hurt yourself?" it's "have you hurt yourself yet?" since it is very likely to happen eventually.

I'm not a knife maker, but that hasn't kept me from hurting myself. I only cut myself badly once, and that was definitely due to unsafe cutting method, but I've had a lot of close calls with a Dremel, soldering iron, knives, driving, etc., and once got very close to cutting my ring finger in half lengthwise on a bandsaw (long fingernail saved me).

Be careful guys. You'll probably get hurt anyway, but if you're careful you'll get hurt a lot less.
 
Safety glasses, dust mask,3M respirators, paying attention to what you're doing.Never startleing a knifemaker on a grinder,never walking infront of a surface grinder (seen some blades thrown from it hard ) Had a piece of steel inplant itself in my eye from profileing blades and that was a doctors trip to get it out. I wear glasses but became a big beliver in safety glasses.Like the cop said on Hill Street Blues...be careful out there. Cavelady
 
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