Oops; injuries

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Polzeyboy

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Very sharp knives are generally regarded as “safer” but it can go wrong and in my experience, it can go quite badly wrong.
What are your worst, (accidental!) self inflicted knife injuries?

Aged 8, I was carving a champagne cork with a basic and new SAK; I slipped, it went straight through the palm of my hand; with a tourniquet applied, my mum decided it was best to drive me to hospital in my dads new (at the time) Golf GTI, which ran out of petrol on the dual carriageway (two lane highway); so there is stood, blood everywhere, thumbing a lift.
One came very quickly and whisked us to hospital where I was sewed back together...

More recently I tried to open a sticky epoxy resin lid with my (now lost) Enzo PK70; slipped onto my thumb knuckle, exposed bone.

I’ve also had a nasty slice from an SAK folding onto my finger; I do like at least a slipjoint now!

Oops.
 
I only have 2 (so far!). When I was very young I was playing with my dad's sak. The big chunky one, with all the tools! It was too much for my child hands. Well, I opened the big blade and I guess my thumb pressed on the blade. Terrible cut, bled everywhere. Didn't need stitches thankfully, but it did make me take more care around sharp objects...

Second I was in high school. We were carving these rubber mats for printing and were using very sharp instruments. Not knives I guess, but same principle applies; keep your hands and fingers out of the blade path. I didn't. I slipped and jammed the thing right into the end of my thumb. Don't know if I hit bone, but the pain was intense. Yanked it out and wrapped it up and went on about my day. Felt pretty stupid...

Haven't had any other injuries really, except the odd nick. Did drop my 0470 once, and it slightly bit me but nothing major. Felt really bad about that, it hit the tile in the kitchen and bent the tip down. Looked weird. Ground out no problem though. So now the blade is ever so slightly shorter than a new 470.

Just remember, a dropped blade has no handle!
 
When I was five, I had to get stitches on my pointer finger because I thought it would be a good idea to try and chop down our fence with my dad's Case.

About six months after that, I tried chopping an aluminum can in half with dad's freshly sharpened axe...while barefooted...and I put my foot right in front of the can. The axe went between my 3rd and 4th toes almost to the middle of my foot. Luckily, I didn't cut any tendons or major arteries.
 
Never really had a major cut with a blade (****Knocks on wood!)

I did have my Wife take my Spyderco Native, first expensive knife I ever had. She was mad then at the price tag. She wasn't looking while she was cutting with it, and sliced right into the meat of her finger. Then she got mad at me for having such a sharp knife that it would dare cut her! I said for what I paid for the knife it darn well better cut her.

Funny thing also is I take knife pics, and everyone assumes band aides on my fingers are from the knives I collect. It's usually from doing plumbing, auto repair, or liberating the kids toys from the hard plastic wrapping.
 
Yo Mama said:
Never really had a major cut with a blade (****Knocks on wood!)

I did have my Wife take my Spyderco Native, first expensive knife I ever had. She was mad then at the price tag. She wasn't looking while she was cutting with it, and sliced right into the meat of her finger. Then she got mad at me for having such a sharp knife that it would dare cut her! I said for what I paid for the knife it darn well better cut her.

Funny thing also is I take knife pics, and everyone assumes band aides on my fingers are from the knives I collect. It's usually from doing plumbing, auto repair, or liberating the kids toys from the hard plastic wrapping.
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My fingers are currently covered in little cuts; the reason? Clearing the underside of my Honda mower yesterday which was getting clogged up! About seven stingy little things!
 
My worst cut was from an Exacto knife. I used to work in a shop building models of theme parks and the like. After 36 hours straight, loads of coffee and no food, I sliced open my middle finger and palm of my left hand while trimming flash off a model chair. I looked at it, watched a piece of what looked like fat slip out of the cut on my palm, then it started gushing blood. 10 stitches. Went back to work the next day.
 
When I was a Cub Scout, I had a scout knife fold back almost to my fingers carving a pumpkin. No blood, thanks to my 10 year old lightning fast reflexes. But I learned the value of a lock or fixed blade, for certain jobs.

A few nicks along the way of course. The most recent cut worth remembering actually came from a Chicago Cutlery boning knife. I wasn't even using it. I was rubbing some mineral oil into the walnut handle and it twisted in my hand and drew blood. No stitches, but a tight band-aid required for a couple of days. Now, I put a piece of painters tape on the edge when working with handles.
 
When I was ~10 years old I was pushing the tip of a frost cutlery fully serrated stainless piece of art through a zip tie and pierced the meat between my thumb and index. I’ve feen careful and fortunate since though.
 
Out of all my years of, let's face it, playing with knives, I have never been majorly cut by any of my pocket knives or outdoor fixed blades. I've had a few nicks no doubt, a few close call "whew" moments, and one slice in my pocket that made me decide once and for all that tip down (blade forward) carry was not for me; but nothing dramatic.

Kitchen knives on the other hand, are another story. I've sliced myself pretty bad a few times in the kitchen. The worst of which was a pretty gruesome slice to my trigger finger which sent me to the ER for stitches (the following morning after trying in vain to tend to it myself). I still have the scar and a hard bump of scar tissue as a reminder. It happened while I was washing the knife and mindlessly got distracted by things happening in the kitchen. I knew the proper method of laying the blade flat against the side of the sink and washing one side at a time, but I just wasn't thinking.
 
One distinctive scar I have was from the edge of a surfboard fin; sort of a carbon/plastic blade.
I was surfing pretty big waves and went for a slightly ambitious turn/snap; somehow my board flipped under my feet and smacked me in the face; the fin sliced my top lip almost clean through to the back.

I asked a lifeguard how bad it was and he told me “hospital, now.”

I met my wife further up the beach, she saw the cut and immediately fainted; she face planted into the sand and cut herself in exactly the same place (a scrape rather than a deep slice); how romantic!!
 
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Spent a good 3 or 4 hours sharpening on diamond and Japanese water stones.
Cut a piece of flexible conduit a little differently than I normally do and surprise surprise I was cut.
Didn't feel it, saw a strange red liquid rolling down the conduit, looked down and that familiar sting and burn set in.
Finished what I was doing (new "whip" on a condenser disconnect) and stopped by the urgent care.
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Smiling said:
Am I only one who never suffered a knife injury except a minor cut?
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I doubt it, but you are for certain in the envied minority of knife enthusiasts, cooks, tradesman etc.
Most that use knives everyday have had at least a decent little cut or two from one sharp edge or another.
All preventable. All regrettable.
Live and learn....I've stopped a few from cutting themselves accidentally. I saw how they were cutting and knew for sure, from personal experience,
they were about to have a bad experience.
 
I've had my share!!
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If you look at the blade, you can see how far I pushed into it the finger. A neat mark!
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This one took forever to heal!! Dominant hand thumb, severed a nerve.

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Way back before cell phones or digital cameras i tried cutting the sidewall of an old tire for some purpose. Don't remember the project or the knife but it was sort of one of those stab it in and pull it out deals. So pulling and pushing really hard. Pulled it out and stabbed it back, right into my thigh. Missed the femoral artery thank goodness. No stitches or anything but still have an indentation there.
 
When I was around 10 years old I got a pretty ugly cut while cutting a piece of water hose. A nurse just happened to be there at my grandmothers and put a butterfly bandage on it. I almost passed out from the blood. I was trying to rig up a fresh water system in an old barn my cousins and I had turned into a clubhouse. All the amenities of home.
 
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