Whos cut their finger?

[Backyard Bushcraft]

Hi,
Well i'm sat bored and off work at home with my hand in a cast at the moment so i thought i'd fill you all in about how this came to be!
I was starting to carve a spoon one night after work which i had sort of shaped the weekend before so i thought id have a go at finishing it, there was till a fair bit of access wood to rid of but it was cold and rainy outside so thought id just do it with a knife instead of an axe.
so i was uite happy carving way getting ever more confident with how much wood i could shave off in one go when i got too greedy and hit my middle left finger (the hand i was holding the spoon with) at the top "joint" and grabbed my finger very tight in fear of looking at it, any way 2 towels and 3 bandages a lot of bright red blood and 45 minutes later i managed to stop the bleeding and drove my self to the local hospital.
I was mearly expecting a few stitches a spot of embarassment and id be on my way, but that was not the way, the doctor was prodding my finger asking me if i could feel it to whioch i replied "feel what?" oh dear apparently i had gone down to the bone severing all the nerves on the way hence the lack of feeling in the tip of my finger, so i was bandaged up and sent to a hand specialist hospital with people briefly mentioning the word "surgery" which statred to scare me.
Any who before you could say "Whos bled all over my cream leather sofa, white walls and laminate flooring" (SWMBO) i was stripped down into one of them bum exposing gowns, a hair net and some very attractive paper slippers and whizzed into theatre where i was expecting to be going to sleep, but no local anasthetic was injected round the base of said finger which hurt lots, then i could watch my hand being butchered open so they could attempt to re-attach the nerve endings, it wasnt a pretty sight!! they then went about casting my whole arm up to my forearm in plaster which when i asked if it was neccercary i was told they could do it up to my shoulder if i'd prefer (hilarious....not).
Well they re attached all three nerve endings which were completly severed but they do doubt i will regain much feeling in the tip of my finger but thats fine ill live. So thats my tale of woe and horror all from a litlle spoon and maybe next time ill do a spot more work with the axe first!! and apologies for any spelling mistakes and poor grammer i am typing with one hand!!!
Jamie

 

[Shambling Shaman]

before you could say "Whos bled all over my cream leather sofa, white walls and laminate flooring"

I'm sorry - I did laugh at that bit, Hope you are up and running soon. I almost sliced my thumb off with a corn beef tin that bleed for hours as I was out in the cold a Ben Wyvis

A lesson is learned

 

[John Fenna]

Aldis did a fine line in cut proof gloves a while back and I was given some cut resistant gloves by a fellow BCUK member (just before he severed a tendon in his finger while carving - no he had not given me his last pair of gloves, and no he was not wearing any himelf!) - both are well worth wearing whilst using sharps!
I tend to wear a cut proof glove on the hand supporting the wood, but not on the hand holding the knife - so one day I will probably slide down the knife and cut my self that way!

 

[robin wood]

Oh dear,

Very sorry to hear that, hope it mends OK. I often say that it is surprising how many folk who work with power tools a lot are missing the odd digit, a slip with a table saw or router tends to be pretty terminal. Knife cuts tend not to be quite as terminal but sounds like you had a really nasty one.

Is there any chance you could describe exactly how you were holding the spoon and what cut you were doing with the knife so that we can all learn not to do the same?

The middle finger sounds an odd one to hit and I am sat here playing with a spoon blank trying to think how you could have been holding it.

 

[Toddy]

oooh mega sympathies

It's so easy, just one momentary lapse and you're leaking the red stuff all over the place

I got myself a humdinger half around the knuckle of my left thumb while carving a distaff a couple of years ago. A beautiful classic crescent shaped cut, felt so stupid

Hope it heals well,

Cheers,
Toddy

 

[HillBill]

I cut my thumb a few month ago. I was in the woods cutting a notch into a stick. The stick snapped and the knife slid down the wood and hit the base of my left thumb on the joint. In it went. I severed both nerves and tendon and cut into the joint itself popping my thumb out of socket. 1 operation, lots of stitches and 8 weeks on the sick. Lesson learned.

The problem, as i see it is when you have had a nasty cut you kind of fear the blade a little afterwards. This is a good thing from a safety perspective but a bad thing for confidence.

Take it easy mate. It seems a lot of people cut themselves right after thinking, i might cut myself here. I often wonder if i hadn't thought that would i still have cut myself?

 

[Shingsowa]

You have my sympathies! Make sure you heal quickly....

I used to own a small woodworking business, and as such i have managed to leave my hands in the path of some rather sharp bits of steel! Finger in the bandsaw, back of hand on the rip saw, drill into arm, chisel DEEP into palm, and on one memorable occasion i stuck my boot to the workshop floor with cyano.... Life is safer now i just climb, light fires and sit in front of a computer!

I also know of one member of this forum, who is reasonably highly qualified in cas-care, has dealt with casualties in traumatic incidents in the wilds of Wales, but still keeled over at the sight of his freshly cut hand last year... but not mentioning any names!

 

[John Fenna]

The problem, as i see it is when you have had a nasty cut you kind of fear the blade a little afterwards. This is a good thing from a safety perspective but a bad thing for confidence.

Thats why I now wear the cut resistant glove!
My left and is covered with reminders of lessons learned over the past 40+ years of playing with knives (slow learner!) and past trips to the sewing factory....
I have speared my hand, sliced all 4 finders (including all at once...), sliced my thumb, had nerve damage and lots of lost time....it is a good thing I heal fast!
The glove gives you back the confidence.....
Good luck with the healing!
I am just off to put a handle on a knife now - and I will be wearing a glove while I whittle the wood to shape

 

[mr dazzler]

I like your sense of humour , and you seem to have dealt with the shock quite well. And I hope you heal quickly and all nerve functions are restored to normality. How long have the doctors said it will take to recover?
I once made the same error of judgement when I attempted to continue using a draw knife to do work that really needed a heavier cut from an axe. I didnt cut myself, but suffered tennis elbow for about half a year, which affected everything including driving, drilling holes with a brace and bit, anything that put any strain on the elbows. Another time I ended up in casualty when a spoon gouge slipped and embedded itself in between my thumb and index finger. That avoidable incident (it wasnt an accident) happened because of my poor judgement and self discipline. I was too lazy to sharpen the tool correctly , was using a bad holding method with poor tool control , and cutting toward myself . Also I was tired and reallly should of known better I tend to trust my instincts more nowadays, if I think thats enough for now I take a break or leave it until tommorrow

 

[SOAR]

Jamie that sounds pretty bad mate, its so easy to cut yourself I find that I'm very aware of each cut these days but every now and again you can come pretty close or even worse catch a finger, hope it heals well and take it easy mate.

All the best.

 

[Walks with dogs]

Did the spoon turn out Ok?

 

[inthewids]

Were you given the paper hospital pants too? is it chain mail gloves you wear for carving? I have had a few slips and almost gotten my hand, fingers crossed i dont!

 

[dwardo]

Yup lots of stupid scars here too Various chisel stabbings and slices here and there, always managed to miss any nerves though

It realy is amazing how they can re-attach nerves, did you watch it ? If so i know it sounds a little sick but how the hell do they sew something so small ?

John, if you have found a pair of gloves that work post us a link here plz. I have found them to constrictive in the past but they must be better by now ?

 

[John Fenna]

The gloves I use are just Aldi specials - or some a friend "aquired" from work...
Niether are ideal, the Aldi jobs are like knitted fabric and snag on rough stuff the others a bit tight in places and too long in the fingers for me, but, judging by the scars on them, have saved my fingers a couple of times at least...

 

[dwardo]

I was given a chainmale glove but its too small and i cant close my grip on anything
I will see if a mate can liberate some from his place and try them again.

 

[Backyard Bushcraft]

Yea i watched it was awful, the plastic surgeon wore wat i can describe as binoculars attached to her head, pretty delicate stuff!! , not got a clue ow i was holding the spoon at the time (which is still unfinished and covered in blood) but it was a definate result if rushing and not taking my time, least i know my knifes sharp true what they say about a sharp knife being a safe knife though, because the cut was so clean on the nerves it was possible to repair them, going to hae some cool scars of this one though because it was onlt a small cut they had to open my finger lengthways ill post a link to some pictures i took when it happend because that was the first thing i thought of doing, ill just post links so if u choose to see them you can, it doesnt look bad at all just the depth is what caused the damage!! think i mite buy some big leather braclets for my wrists....just in case plus they will look cool ha ha

as soon as it happened http://i178.photobucket.com/albums/w276/mr_brightside85/13012009221.jpg

before surgery the day after http://i178.photobucket.com/albums/w276/mr_brightside85/14012009226.jpg

in a cast http://i178.photobucket.com/albums/w276/mr_brightside85/23012009258.jpg

 

[robin wood]

Thats why I now wear the cut resistant glove!
My left and is covered with reminders of lessons learned over the past 40+ years of playing with knives (slow learner!) and past trips to the sewing factory....
I have speared my hand, sliced all 4 finders (including all at once...), sliced my thumb, had nerve damage and lots of lost time....it is a good thing I heal fast!
The glove gives you back the confidence.....
Good luck with the healing!
I am just off to put a handle on a knife now - and I will be wearing a glove while I whittle the wood to shape

I am fortunate in that I nave never given myself a bad cut only a few small nicks, after each one I carefully analise exactly what I was oing wrong and I don't do it again. Certainly never needed hospitalisation, I put it down to having been taught the correct safe and efficient grips for using a knife rather than having to learn it by trial and error.

John if after 40+ years you still need a glove you may be beyond hope but if you wanted to swap some knife instruction for some canoe instruction I would be up for it. Maybe we could even to a trip with half time paddling and half time whittling and carving. Don't mean to be rude if you feel you don't need the help but sometimes self taught folk can still pick up good tips after many years, do you find that with paddling?

There does seem to be a pattern with cuts, often a certain worry just before...you are not sure you are going to get away with it but carry on anyway, maybe tired and just doing a last little bit, it is always good to work out what happened and why, if you don't you will surely cut yourself again.

 

[xylaria]

I have never cut myself properly with knife or an axe, but still have scars from splinters and scrapes. However one word of advice, I stabbed the end of a finger with print tile gouge when in school. The injury was small but was deep enough that I could see white at the bottom. I put my finger in my month, only to rapidly find out that there is small limit to how much blood you can physically swallow. I remember the class (teenage girls!!) screaming and running out of the room because it i was gagging up blood into sink. The teacher turned white when he saw the what the sink looked like.

I hope your hand makes a full recovery.

This thread has inspired me to go and whittle some bone needles now.

Me and my son concentrate very hard when using tools, my daughter however doesn't and she is really scary with anything sharp. They have both being shown the right way, but my daughter who is acdemically very bright, doesn't apply safely related knowledge anywhere near as consistantly as my son. She has managed to cut herself with a sander (????) , I'll let him use a hand-scythe

 

[HillBill]

Yea i watched it was awful, the plastic surgeon wore wat i can describe as binoculars attached to her head, pretty delicate stuff!! , not got a clue ow i was holding the spoon at the time (which is still unfinished and covered in blood) but it was a definate result if rushing and not taking my time, least i know my knifes sharp true what they say about a sharp knife being a safe knife though, because the cut was so clean on the nerves it was possible to repair them, going to hae some cool scars of this one though because it was onlt a small cut they had to open my finger lengthways ill post a link to some pictures i took when it happend because that was the first thing i thought of doing, ill just post links so if u choose to see them you can, it doesnt look bad at all just the depth is what caused the damage!! think i mite buy some big leather braclets for my wrists....just in case plus they will look cool ha ha

as soon as it happened http://i178.photobucket.com/albums/w276/mr_brightside85/13012009221.jpg

before surgery the day after http://i178.photobucket.com/albums/w276/mr_brightside85/14012009226.jpg

in a cast http://i178.photobucket.com/albums/w276/mr_brightside85/23012009258.jpg

NICE I had a cast on for 1 week before they put a splint on it.

 

[John Fenna]

Robin - that sounds like a great trade!
Most of my cuts have been acrued many years ago...the glove is mainly laziness and an excuse for poor technique now!
The last bad one I got was when I was shaping the back of a blade, dropping the point from a clip to a drop point, by rubbing it on the side of a cheap stone so as not to damage the face of the stone.
I was tired, ratty (giving up smoking - again!) and impatient. Rushing the job, pressing too hard, not concentrating....stone rolled, knife slippd and I plunged the very sharp tip into my palm...deep enough to show lots of white bits when I unjammed the blade and had a look. I could still wiggle my fingers and feel everything so I just bound my hand into a ball around a standard dressing. Three days later it had knit and the dressing was replaced with a large plaster.
It was several weeks before the hand was back at full strength though!

The knife is great!
Xylaria - I quite like the taste of blood and have drunk quite a bit of my own over the years.
But I would have loved to see the faces of those folk!