Who has actually hit themselves with an axe/hatchet/tomahawk?

kvaughn said:
Do machetes count?
I put a 28" freshly sharpened Imacasa into my shin good for 7 stitches.
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Thank for sharing your story, I think it helps to put things in perspective. Even though big blades are in theory more safe than an axe, you can still injure yourself. I hope you are healing/healed well.
 
dogstar said:
Thank for sharing your story, I think it helps to put things in perspective. Even though big blades are in theory more safe than an axe, you can still injure yourself. I hope you are healing/healed well.
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Healed well and learned a good lesson. Carry a first aid kit.
I was about a mile into a trail clearing project when it happened.
Walked into the local emergency room shirtless as it was wrapped around my leg.
Thay didn't even blink.My wife showed up shortly with a shirt.
 
I've had a few run-ins with axes. The first happened when I was ~20 years old. I was using a boys axe to bust up some pallets for firewood. I heated my home with pallets that year. I didn't hit myself with the axe but rather a piece of shattered wood flew up and hit me in the forehead. My girlfriend told a colorful story about 'hitting myself in the head with an axe'. 🤣

Maybe a decade ago I was falling small forest fire killed pines for a campfire up on Hart's Pass in the North Cascades of Washington. A glancing blow threw my boys axe (a different one) into my shin. Luckily it hit the heavy seam at the bottom of the double knee of my Carhartt trousers. After cutting through the trousers it cut my leg about 1-1/2" long x 3/8" deep. At camp I was able to close the wound with butterfly style bandaging so we didn't have to break camp to go get stitches. It took 2 months to heal and I still have a scar.

I few years ago I was cutting kindling to light my coal forge. I was working at my carving stump with my Stubai hewing hatchet. An errant blow opened a gash on a fingertip of my opposite hand. I went in and got that one stitched up.

I respect axes. I understand that a trip to the hospital is as close as a slight lapse of attention. It keeps me thoughtful of how I use them.

Keep 'em sharp!
 
Square_peg said:
I've had a few run-ins with axes. The first happened when I was ~20 years old. I was using a boys axe to bust up some pallets for firewood. I heated my home with pallets that year. I didn't hit myself with the axe but rather a piece of shattered wood flew up and hit me in the forehead. My girlfriend told a colorful story about 'hitting myself in the head with an axe'. 🤣

Maybe a decade ago I was falling small forest fire killed pines for a campfire up on Hart's Pass in the North Cascades of Washington. A glancing blow threw my boys axe (a different one) into my shin. Luckily it hit the heavy seam at the bottom of the double knee of my Carhartt trousers. After cutting through the trousers it cut my leg about 1-1/2" long x 3/8" deep. At camp I was able to close the wound with butterfly style bandaging so we didn't have to break camp to go get stitches. It took 2 months to heal and I still have a scar.

I few years ago I was cutting kindling to light my coal forge. I was working at my carving stump with my Stubai hewing hatchet. An errant blow opened a gash on a fingertip of my opposite hand. I went in and got that one stitched up.

I respect axes. I understand that a trip to the hospital is as close as a slight lapse of attention. It keeps me thoughtful of how I use them.

Keep 'em sharp!
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Thanks, I've cut myself about that many times doing wood carving and cooking. I guess the axe injuries tend to be more severe due to the mass involved. I suppose my time will come with my hatchet or hawk, but I will try my best to avoid it.
 
Square_peg said:
...

I few years ago I was cutting kindling to light my coal forge. I was working at my carving stump with my Stubai hewing hatchet. An errant blow opened a gash on a fingertip of my opposite hand. I went in and got that one stitched up.

...
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Adjunct thought - as most of mine are - but the gent that taught me blacksmithing always lit our coal forge with a kerosene-soaked field corn cob. Works like a charm.
 
In terms of whacking oneself with an implement - if we're allowing machetes, hopefully you don't mind a new addition: Right out of college, I was working construction - building pole barns, doing roofing, etc. We ended up with a repair job in an old downtown warehouse, where the 150+ year old wooden ridge beam was sagging. The remedy was to install a vertical steel I-beam to support it. This involved a lot (and I mean A LOT) of blows with a sledgehammer to get the I-beam plumb.

In one of the countless hammer strokes, I apparently lost focus for a fraction of a second, which - with some hard-wrought fatigue - caused the sledge to glance off the face of the I-beam and hit me squarely in the middle of my shin ("thud"). Pretty unreal amount of pain, and a goose egg that I watched inflate in a matter of seconds. I did not walk right for quite some time, that spot stayed tender for over a year, and I still have a lump there.

With anything laborious and repetitive, it's wise to take breaks before you feel that you need them. Heck, even set a timer on your phone, to stop every so often. Same philosophy as drinking water - do it before you're thirsty. I've had a couple of super narrow misses, like a chainsaw whipping my hat off on a kick-back, and a log splitter coming so close to taking the end off a couple of my fingers that the cleat kept my glove.
 
I tend to hurt myself sharpening or wiping the blade clean rather than in use.

I took the tip of my finger meat off with a machete I was wiping with a rag. About a 1/4” round raw spot. It hurt like hell fire for a few days. Bout ten years ago.
 
I'm sure most of the folks on here already know this tip, but I know there are some few who maybe have only recently picked up and ax and started chopping; I learned in the Boy Scouts that before I start swinging, to take the axe/hatchet/tomahawk by the head and (slowly) swing it with the handle extended out along whatever arcs you are about to chop with, be it overhead or off to the sides. This is just a last-minute check so that you don't start your swing and then find out too late about an overhead branch or vine that you didn't notice that might redirect your swing (or if your luck is real bad; the axe hangs up on the branch, your hands slip off, then the axe falls on your head)
 
kvaughn said:
Do machetes count?
I put a 28" freshly sharpened Imacasa into my shin good for 7 stitches.
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Harnessing your inner ninja? 28" is katana length. Where do you live that such a tool is practical? I didn't even know they made machetes that long - I've got no need for such a thing; but I'll admit to being intrigued enough to start internet shopping.
Pictures?? (Please don't disappoint me with an 18" typo)
 
The girl met the wrong end of a Traumahawk. In a moment of poor judgement, she decided to mess with my Christmas Spirit and ended up in the emergency room.
For explanation's sake, this is my Christmas Spirit:
View attachment 2036053
I'm not quite sure how things transpired, as I wasn't home yet; but from the look of things she caught the beard (that's where the blood was).
View attachment 2036056
She said she grabbed him by the legs to move him - I'm guessing that when it was dislodged, the handle dropped...pulling the beard into the skin as it rotated? Luckily, it wasn't dropped from any distance - the damage was relatively minor (missed the tendon by just enough) and she is healing.
Needless to say, there was much fuss about whether she'd intended to hurt herself or if somebody else had done it. When I got to the ER (approx 30 minutes after her), they weren't going to let me in. When the provider came back, he was having a difficult time with her explanation of what happened until I showed him the first picture.
 
hhmoore said:
Harnessing your inner ninja? 28" is katana length. Where do you live that such a tool is practical? I didn't even know they made machetes that long - I've got no need for such a thing; but I'll admit to being intrigued enough to start internet shopping.
Pictures?? (Please don't disappoint me with an 18" typo)
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I think it was 28. Been years ago so I could be wrong. It was too long for the job trail clearing vines and brush but was what I had at the time.--
Just looked. Imacasa does make a 28.
 
I've used tools for cutting wood all my adult life (carpenter) so consider myself "aware" when swinging an axe of which I've done and do often but let's hope after reading your post Dogstar I don't do it for the first time🙄
 
Dav1 said:
I've used tools for cutting wood all my adult life (carpenter) so consider myself "aware" when swinging an axe of which I've done and do often but let's hope after reading your post Dogstar I don't do it for the first time🙄
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Hey, you're doing something right. Keep it up 👍
 
Dav1 said:
That's not to say I've not had a few "mishaps" or near misses. Worst was a router Cutter spinning out of the collet (which I'd tightened) at 10000rpm and hitting me in the leg.
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I tell my boys to treat power tools like they are Evil and want to hurt you, and they will if you dont pay attention. I came to this belief after binding a chunk of wood in a table saw and having it ram back with impressive force. On a related note, never never use a flat surface, no matter how convenient, that puts potential kickback at groin height.
 
BitingSarcasm said:
I tell my boys to treat power tools like they are Evil and want to hurt you, and they will if you dont pay attention. I came to this belief after binding a chunk of wood in a table saw and having it ram back with impressive force. On a related note, never never use a flat surface, no matter how convenient, that puts potential kickback at groin height.
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Definitely! Never had any issues with hand tools in decades but indeed the drills etc... generate immense torque which as you say especially with larger bits can be very dangerous.
 
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