Safe use of a knife

Yo Mama

Yo Mama

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Sep 25, 2011
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Ok,after Bladegunner's knarley knife wound, I thought it may be good to reinforce safe cutting tips. I know I've seen more than a few graphic threads on yous peoples cutting yo selves.

SO! Do you agree with the following:

Do
safe working practices when sharpening them (I need to start using the guards that come with the Sharpmaker!)
Use a knife suitable for the job
Keep knives sharp
Cut on a stable surface
Carry a knife with the blade pointing downwards
Store knives securely after use, eg in a scabbard or container
Use protective equipment such as protective gloves when there is a concern about the need for heavier jobs.

Don't
Leave knives loose on worktop surfaces
Try to catch a falling knife (Same I was told for firearms)
Use a knife as a can opener (I know, bring on the flack!)
Carry knives while carrying other objects
Engage in horseplay with a knife
Cut towards your limbs or body


Well, what other advice would you add or disagree with? Let's hear it!
 
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We had an idiot where I work at recently try to cut a zip tie at eye level towards himself and ended up stabbing himself in the nose and requiring
several stitches. Safety tried to take our knives away from us but we all protested and they dropped that nonsense..
Accidents happen, I've cut a finger really bad on a filet knife and stabbed myself in the thigh down to the frame of the knife on accident.
Ya gotta slow down and pay attention to all the hazards, as you said, always keep your knife sharp, a sharp knife is much safer than a dull one when you're trying to cut..
 
If you're wiping down the blade, wipe it down edge up away from your hand. I've seen an entire palm split open down to the muscle because of a slip.

You pretty much covered it all, pretty much common sense to all of us and yet we still have accidents. I'd just add that if it's a folder, make sure you LOCK IT in the open position before checking it out like looking at the detent ball, lockbar, etc...Learned the hard way by being careless with that. Keep it sharp, keep it folded/sheathed when not in use, and don't rush or be lax while using it. No matter how many times you've used it.
 
When cutting something, make sure your fleshy bits are neither between the something and your knife nor immediately after the something intersecting the path your knife will follow.

More seriously, pay attention to where your knife will go when the cut is finished. Sounds simple and 99.9% of us do it 99.9% of the time, but when you're doing extended cutting chores it gets progressively easier to forget, particularly if you're in a bit of an awkward set up to begin with.
 
After the cut away from yourself rule , my close second is don't walk with your knife open. My folder gets closed at least ( better in the pocket) and sheath knife gets put down or back in the sheath. A trip or stumble and you have no control over that blade.

I tripped on the carpet runner once at home with a Delica ( closed ) in my hand. As I fell , It flew out of my hand , opened up , and stuck in the floor!

Almost put a butcher knife in my ribs when I was walking out of my kitchen once. Lost control of a Kabar Cutlass when I was walking in the woods and tripped on a hole and went down ( I actually tossed the knife as I fell)

Seems kind of lame right? Walking with an open knife. We handle them all the time. I am not complacent around knives and cutting tools ( it's in my trade also) , but after those couple of incidents if I'm on the move , the tool gets stored. Double for sure if I'm in the woods , including axes.

Good thread.:thumbup:
 
Pay VERY close attention when putting your knife down while working.
I saw a carpet layer using that kick hammer they use, not sure of its name. They use it when the carpet meets the wall and kick it with their knee.
Well this poor bastard put his carpet knife on the floor and forgot about it yesterday at the end of the day.
Yup!! The knife wound up stuck, quite deeply, right above his knee. Dude has been laying carpet for years!
Poor guy was freaking out.
Joe
 
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We had an idiot where I work at recently try to cut a zip tie at eye level towards himself and ended up stabbing himself in the nose
Click to expand...

Seriously ? ? ? he was extremely lucky he didn't stick himself in the eye. Though I must admit to doing a similar thing with a metal file. That was an eye opener so to speak.

Don't try to catch (or juggle) a dropped knife.
Click to expand...

Oh sure
I know that.
. . . and yet after I used my little retractable scalpel to dig out a cactus thorn and a sliver of metal, next to a slice from a piece of old dried rubber, all in the same finger tip :( :grumpy: :( :p, . . .
I rinsed the blade under a hot water tap and was just getting ready to pore alcohol on it when it slipped out of my taped up wet fingers . . .
. . . you guessed it . . . my other hand scooped under it from habit (or maybe it didn't want to go through the process of fixing the edge after it hit the sink) . . .

SPUCK
stuck right in my palm.
The advantage of getting cut with a hair whittling scalpel is it heals fast. A dot of gauze and a wide square of tape and it is nearly as good as new in two days. Glad I wasn't using the knife to repair the bottom of rabbit hutches or fix septic systems or some such when it bit me . . .




I would add to the list : Be conscious of where the edge will wind up when it leaves the cut. Or better yet handle the knife so it is pretty much in complete control. (worth glancing at how wood carvers handle knives). For instance this, even though the photo and the situation is for a different post / illustration, demonstrates how I might cut a wire tie where the blade could fly into something and damage it or damage the edge.
I can use my thumb as a fulcrum and swing the handle of the knife to move the blade forward or I can push with my thumb to move the blade forward but in both cases the knife isn't going to flail forward out of control when it passes through the last bit of the wire tie or what ever I am cutting through.



Other suggestions for knife safety :
  • Don't lend someone your knife. If they knew how to use one they would have one.
  • Don't post in knife chatrooms until you have had your first cup of coffee (something I am attempting to remedy as we speak).
  • Don't sword fight with your neighbor after you have had more than a six pack of beer each . . . someone is bound to get hurt . . . but I mean that is just common sense . . . every body knows that.
  • Don't carry your Benchmade 710 tip up in your back pocket with your hankie in the same pocket. My last " ? Did I just cut my self ? ? ? ! ? ? ? " moment . . . well I mean before this last, last one. The blade's back wasn't facing corner of pocket . . . hankie fold hooked on blade tip and pulled the knife open some. Reached for hankie . . . got the knife . . . so to speak.
  • Oh yah . . . and don't hang around Wowbagger when he has a knife in his hand . . .
 
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A hand tool, like a knife, is supposed to provide a mechanical advantage in a task. If you have to use extreme, brute strength, it's either the wrong tool or wrong technique. Blades are in constant use in my line of work and many accidents are the result of trying to force a blade to do something it was not designed to do (pry, cut material too hard, etc).

As far as technique, disregarding rules posted above will eventually lead to injury or material damage. Also, be mindful of what you're doing, focus on the task. Don't being twerking to music or watching the game while making a cut.
 
Seven',

If you're wiping down the blade, wipe it down edge up away from your hand. I've seen an entire palm split open down to the muscle because of a slip.
Click to expand...

Drives me crazy when I see people wiping the blade with / along the edge. I even see it in YouTubes by "Master" knife makers and chefs. Sharpen the knife, wipe it as if cutting a rag. I suppose it can be done. They do it. Won't catch THIS poor slob doing it.
 
when using a knife, try stay away from other people, especially children. Also, do not put your knife unattended while you are away from it. I say this largely based on my experience of cooking in my home kitchen. Too often I see people go cook at the stove while an 8" chefs knife is left on the cutting board with children running around in the house.
 
The Chef
takes great delight in catching me, the knife guy, doing this “bad thing”.

Usually the handle is sticking off an inch or in my warped imagination a half inch and the reprimand is uncalled for but she still calls me on it. As if : “I got to watch YOU every minute don’t I ?

Don’t let the handle of a knife, specifically a large kitchen knife, . . . don’t let the handle stick off the counter even a little when you set it down. It is possible to flip the knife off the counter and through the air if you drop something on it or hit down ward with your hand.

Or the tip she just said . . . don’t let the tip hang off the counter. Some body might brush against it and snag it off the counter. I have never had the tip off the counter. Thank Bob.

So there you go . . . the world is a dangerous place.
 
Well, what about this in addition to what you already mentioned:

cut_resistant_glove_polar_bear_pawgard_with_knife_1000_x_1000.jpg
 
Hiwa,

You fall down too much.
What would Master Kan and Master Po say ?

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xSS9Tg0of1Q

I ALWAYS walk like this.
In fact they had me do the stunt work here for David Carradine who could never quite get the hang of it.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fVVqBlcTjHU

Just kidding ! ! ! :) :) :) :)
I am going to pay a whole lot more attention to not walking around with an open / fixed knife.
Thanks !
Good one.

An example of a near miss for me carrying blades around with the edge exposed :
People ask me in the woodworking chat rooms are these pretty sharp ? or How sharp are they ? What makes me think my sharpening geometry is more effective than stock ? etc., etc., etc.,
I like to say well for instance :
I once dropped this whole stack of woodworking hand plane blades when I was taking them down stairs to the work shop after sharpening them in the kitchen.



By the time they stopped falling down the stairs the stair case was reduced to rubble

The whole thing looked like this !
It was a disaster.

 
when using a knife, try stay away from other people, especially children.
Click to expand...

That is pretty much my normal MO. I stay as far away from people as possible. Especially children.
Children scare me.
Now I know why. It wasn't just an unfounded fear as I had so often been told.
 
Hey Wowbagger ,nope..I don't fall much or am I unusually clumsy ( quite the opposite actually) , but on those 2 occasions I mentioned , it was extremely dangerous that I had an open blade in my hand. The kitchen one specifically. The 10" butcher knife and I fell to the floor at the same time(knife got dislodged from my hand when I fell into an ajar door after tripping) :eek: luckily ,Knife ended up between door and wall somehow.:thumbup:

The leaving the knife handle (pot handle also) away from a counter edge is super important also. It's habit with me for many years. My aunt still has burn scars from when she knocked a boiling pot of water over. Flipping a knife could also have catastrophic results.

I am a Journeyman Cabinetmaker , so I can totally dig what dropping a S-load of plane blades might cause to happen ,lol. :)
 
#1 Knife Safety Rule especially for members of this forum!
And I'm guilty of breaking it myself more than once!:o

Flipping open/close your knife absentminded for "meditation or therapeutic" reasons, without paying close attention where sharp edge is at all time!
Like when watching TV or typing on forums. Or even greater sin doing this in the dark, half asleep, yep that one bit me real deep!:thumbdn:
 
Nice points brought up here.
I've learnt to open/close a slip joint folder,
By firmly Holding the blade in a fixed stationary position
and then open or shut it carefully
by rotating via its handle and not the blade;
Also mindful of Never ever letting go of either end
whilst rotating all parts in motion.
Mishaps tends to happen with exceptionally strong slip joint springs.
As Folks voluntarily or involuntarily
let go of the blade whilst allowing the spring tension
To right itself.
Always Keep a firm grip on both blade and handle.
nothing worst than a jolting shock
should the blade bite its careless handler!
 
Ask yourself where the blade will go if it slips or your hand slips.
Is this task beyond my skill set?
 
What I tell my son to ask himself before cutting; "If I slip, where is this blade going to go?" If the answer is "into me" or "into someone else" you need to stop and think of a different approach.

A simple question, but if you take the half-second to answer it you'll save many a trip to the ER.

That said, I have a bandage on my finger while typing this because I slipped while slicing a bell pepper toward my own hand.
 
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