Got an axe today and......

[novembeRain]

Got a small (1.5lb) axe today, I've used them before but not for a while. Anyway, I felt it would be useful bushcraft-wise so I got a cheap one to try to start with, only cost me £3 but it was truly blunt. 30mins in the garage and it was plenty sharp enough. So the next job was to try it out on a bit of birch I'd fetched from the woods the other day.

The result..............

3 hours in A&E!! Couldn't be stitched because it refused to stop bleeding so superglue it was. I now have a mummified thumb and it's pretty sore. Silly me.

 

[John Fenna]

What axe was it? Did you damage the blade with your thumb? How well did it work on Birch? Seasoned or green?



Get well soon!

 

[robin wood]

Ouch that is nasty, a lesson to us all.

Having said that at least it could be patched up, it always surprises me how many folks who work with power tools are missing the odd digit.

Do you know exactly what you were doing at the moment you cut yourself? Looks like maybe holding the work with the left hand, thumb on right hand side of work and chopping a bit too close to the holding point? It is always good to analise cuts however major or minor and make sure you adjust the technique so you don't do that again.

Hope it heals quick.

 

[novembeRain]

lol, it would've worked fine if I hadn't missed and hit my thumb instead. The birch was seasoned (ish) and I don't know what the axe is, just a cheap one to have a go with.

 

[Shewie]

I bet Mrs NovembeRain saw this coming as soon as you mentioned you were popping out to buy an axe this morning.

Axe shop in the morning, A&E in the afternoon, that must be some kind of record.

Get well soon fella

 

[novembeRain]

Ouch that is nasty, a lesson to us all.

Having said that at least it could be patched up, it always surprises me how many folks who work with power tools are missing the odd digit.

Do you know exactly what you were doing at the moment you cut yourself? Looks like maybe holding the work with the left hand, thumb on right hand side of work and chopping a bit too close to the holding point? It is always good to analise cuts however major or minor and make sure you adjust the technique so you don't do that again.

Hope it heals quick.

You're spot on robin, you know those moments when you think "don't do this, you might hurt yourself"? Unfortunately, the wood wouldn't stand on its owm, so me (in my moment of madness) decided if I was careful, I could get away with holding it just to get the blade into it.

 

[Chopper]

Wow, well done!!!

Think yourself lucky it wasnt a GB, it would have taken your thumb straight off :twak:

Can you post another photo when you change the dressing please

 

[mick miller]

Hmm, I might be sticking with the saw half through and 'smack the granny out of the wood' technique a little longer after seeing this.

Hope it heals soon.

 

[novembeRain]

I bet Mrs NovembeRain saw this coming as soon as you mentioned you were popping out to buy an axe this morning.

Axe shop in the morning, A&E in the afternoon, that must be some kind of record.

Get well soon fella

Lol, you should've seen her panick at the ammount I was leaking You're probably right, she's been to A&E with me four times in 14 months

 

[novembeRain]

Hmm, I might be sticking with the saw half through and 'smack the granny out of the wood' technique a little longer after seeing this.

Hope it heals soon.

The strange thing is, I've been using a machetti for ages and never cut myself - just shows my in-experience with an axe I suppose.

 

[stanley lake]

Blimey is it throbbing yet if its not it will be tonight hope you got the whiskey ready thank god it still attached to your hand my brother cut three of his fingers of playing with sharp things :wow1: thank goodness for micro surgery

 

[MartinK9]

Ouch, thanks for the reminder about axe safety

 

[John Fenna]

Think yourself lucky it wasnt a GB, it would have taken your thumb straight off

QUOTE]

And cut the wood!

 

[Walks with dogs]

Bad luck fella , the good news is that you still have both thumbs so I'd call this a good scare. And a good scare is worth a thousand warnings.

Hope it heals well.

 

[Barney]

ouch! I hope it heals quickly for you.

 

[novembeRain]

Wow, well done!!!

Think yourself lucky it wasnt a GB, it would have taken your thumb straight off :twak:

Can you post another photo when you change the dressing please

You're not related to the nurse who sorted me out are you? I'm sure she was a sadist


Thanks for the concern guys, I slit down the one side of it and was going very steady force wise so doubt I'd've done much more damage but a lesson well learned - perhaps I should've left it blunt but I've got this fixation with things that are supposed to be sharp being sharp

 

[novembeRain]

This is MUCH better! Using a batton to set the edge into the wood;

http://uk.youtube.com/watch?v=q3oJ6OH7KYk see 2:40mins

 

[The Cumbrian]

I bet Mrs NovembeRain saw this coming as soon as you mentioned you were popping out to buy an axe this morning.

Axe shop in the morning, A&E in the afternoon, that must be some kind of record.

Get well soon fella

As said by Shewie.

I don't know how I've managed it, but I've never had an accident with an axe. It may have something to do with the fact that when I was a kid, my Dad gave me a hatchet and some split logs and told me to make some sticks for the fire, with the proviso that if I cut myself and ran to my mother he'd kick my @rse for me ( or whatever term was used in the seventies ).

It seems to have worked.


Cheers, Michael.

 

[robin wood]

This is MUCH better! Using a batton to set the edge into the wood;

http://uk.youtube.com/watch?v=q3oJ6OH7KYk see 2:40mins

Well actually I would say that the technique used at exactly 2.40 was potentially dangerous. I would suggest the holding hand should never be below the level at which you are striking with the edge. If it is and the wood splits or cuts more easily than you expect or the axe does not dig into the wood and bounces out then you are suddenly in a very dangerous situation.

At 2.40 he is doing what I call a bump cut, it is a useful cut for starting an axe cut at the top of a piece of work but should only be used where you can hold the work to the side, not below. If you can't safely hold the work to the side then its time to batton.

 

[John Fenna]

Have to agree with Robin - I know a bloke who severely dmaged his thumb doing this - the axe was sharper, the wood splitier than he thought!