Serious bites: Only for people who have to learn the hard way, inevitible, necessary?

I have always been painstakingly careful when using knives/axes/chainsaws/guns etc.
I have never cut myself bad enough for stitches. A couple could have been but proper care and steri-strips go a long way.

Growing up with my family chartering hunters on our land, running trap with dad from 8yrs old and fishing in diapers I was always exposed to sharp knives and their uses.
Then 14 yrs of slaughterhouse work with the old man.

Our family was very strict on proper use and maintenance of blades/tools.
Got my first knife at 6 and edc'd ever since.

Maybe I was lucky but what I saw butchering was the same 10% of guys on the line that got stitches usually were repeat offenders.

Inattention and getting too comfortable with the tool and not respecting the potential harm created bad luck most of the time IMOP.

Our grandpa accidentally shot himself with a 22 when he was 17 or so running trap.
He left the round chambered and ready to go, placed the rifle down to cross barbed wire in the snow.
Grabbed the rifle by the barrel and a twig pulled the trigger!!!
Bullet entered at the elbow and travelled up the humerous after hitting bone and exited out the back side of his deltoid.
He then had to snowshoe 2 km to the truck and then drive 125km to the hospital in Humbolt Saskatchewan.
Tough and lucky, he alway's said he could have easily died if the bullet travelled down the inside of the bone and contacted his brachial artery, lung or neckshot.

His arm healed an inch shorter and lost feeling in a finger and part of his palm.

We were all drilled by him in gun safety and I think a gunnery seargent would have been more patient for errors than that big ol'grumpy German farmer.

Regards and respect your tools
 
Well I've cut my self deep enough to see my own bones (back of left hand)
Not sure I learned much out off it but may be I'd be less likely to panic if it happened to me again.
 
I was collecting sap from a tree recently and slipped with my Booshway sending the tip through my thumb nail....that came a little keen and resulted in plenty of the red stuff !!!!
 
morrowj_98 said:
I've heard others say something similar to this and I struggle to grasp the logic. Do you feel the same way about firearms? Bang....crap...I shot myself in the foot....this gun is really mine now. :p
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I struggle to grasp your inability to grasp the logic, or the humor. :D

Of course I don't apply the same thought process to firearms, or to large speeding trucks for that matter. :jerkit:
 
PayetteRucker said:
Do you feel that cutting yourself bad enough to need stitches is a necessary right of passage as an outdoorsman or is it something that only happens to the... less than careful enthusiasts?
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I don't get what you are trying to find out. A knife is a tool like a saw, hammer or gun.

Is hurting yourself bad enough to need medical attention with a knife, saw, hammer or gun a right of passage? If so, a passage into what?
 
getting cut bad by a knife isnt necessary to understand the risk. its best to learn from others.
 
You play with fire your going to get burned. Play with knives and you will get cut. Simple as that.

Yeah as a kid I kind of thought of it as kind of a "right of passage" as you put it, just part of the learning process I thought. Now I just realize that I "play" with my knives too much. :) Been cut and stabbed too many times, and probably 90% of those injuries were a result of doing something fun but stupid with a knife. (like dropping a bowie on my ankle and severing my achilles, because I was goofing around with the freshly sharpened thing)



...been hit with a couple bullets too. One way to find out about the fun of ricochets! :o
 
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I don't really like the term "bite" for a knife cut. It seems to imply that it was the knife's fault and not my own. I think that every knife cut is through carelessness or lack of skill. I've cut myself a few times, but I'm pretty sure that I've never cut myself in the same way twice. Like anything, it's a learning curve. It's up to the individual how steep they make it.
 
Well I wasn't really an outdoorsman then, not sure I am one now, though I want to be...wait where was my point? Oh yes...

I was about 10 at the time. I was using my Vic Tinker to shave the bark off a stick. I looked up at something, but didn't stop moving the knife. A second later I had layed open a section of my left index finger, which required 4 stitches to close. I guess I did learn a lesson from that, as I've never cut myself that badly again, or in the same fashion.
 
dextersp1 said:
A knife is a tool like a saw, hammer or gun.

Is hurting yourself bad enough to need medical attention with a knife, saw, hammer or gun a right of passage? If so, a passage into what?
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I was pretty much wondering the same thing....


Stay sharp,
desmobob
 
Just got bit yesterday, new knife very small very sharp and I very stupidly closed it on the tip of my thumb. I wasn't paying attention and it wasn't a cool right of passage it was an awesome reminder not to do something stupid. Funny thing was how tiny the actual cut is yet it bled for over an hour and ruined the shirt I was wearing. Still can't get over how long it bled lol
 
I swing sharpened axes, so "no", I don't think bit is a good idea or mandatory. In my case, any axe mistakes would lead to a name change, like "pegleg Jim" or some such.

God forbid.
 
once when i was 7 i tried cutting a tennis ball in half...learned my lesson since and never got cut that bad again :)
 
I had forgotten until now, but the last time I really cut myself was several years ago. I had been doing some sort of heavy manual labor in the back forty and sat down on a bench at the house to clear my boots of clogged clay with a clasp knife. I was sweaty and tired and my jeans sticking to me. I finished one boot but when I swung my other foot up onto my knee, I some how managed to meet my open knife getting there. Opened up a nice deep cut just below the knee through the jeans. It bled like a Mama Jamma. Nothing vital but a good lesson. Fatigue is a BIG danger zone. No stitches, but took a while to heal, but I am a pretty good doc.
 
And believe it or not, while reading this post I was cleaning my SAK from cutting up a piece of chicken breast while on lunch, and I got bit a little bit. Not enough to draw blood, but reminded me how razor sharp it is. Wish I could sharpen blades as sharp as that thing is.Woooooooooooooooooweeee that's sharp!!!
 
It must have something to do with the severity of injury before some folks start paying attention. I cut my finger once when I was 7 and cutting towards myself. That hurt enough for me to have a hearty respect for knives and in general, I don't like the repeated pain that comes from using a digit that has been cut. I'm amazed when I read here about someone who just got a new knife and cut themselves with it within seconds and they're all 'hehe'. If they have guns, I hope they're more careful with them.
 
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