One more reason to keep your chisels razor sharp

[John Coloccia]

It requires less stitches when you slice your finger. The ER staff was rather impressed by the surgical nature of the cut. GRRRRRRRRRR. One day I'll learn to keep my fingers out of the line of fire!

Would this be considered a stealth, sharpening gloat?

[Jim Koepke]

One day I'll learn to keep my fingers out of the line of fire!

I try to keep reminding my self of this all the time. Still, occasionally the sharp edge of a blade will remind me.

One of my main things is to constantly ask myself where will that blade go if it slips. It is always a distraction that seems to get me.

jim

[george wilson]

Chisels are one of the most dangerous tools. They can easily cut a nerve in a hand or finger.

[Nelson Howe]

I let my guard down because it was only a hand tool. One of my nice, new, wicked sharp chisels. Then I sliced the snot out of my finger. That has made me more careful now. I'm respecting the edge, and trying not to do that again.

Sorry about your finger.

Nelson

[Tri Hoang]

Chisels are one of the most dangerous tools. They can easily cut a nerve in a hand or finger.

Every time I pick up a chisel...that's what comes to mind. Respect the sharp tool, especially the skew chisels!

[Eric Brown]

I hope you recover fast. Oh, and slow down. My perspective is that the longer it takes the more it's worth. Of course I don't make a living at it either.
Best wishes, Eric

[Tom Henderson2]

It requires less stitches when you slice your finger. The ER staff was rather impressed by the surgical nature of the cut. GRRRRRRRRRR. One day I'll learn to keep my fingers out of the line of fire!

Would this be considered a stealth, sharpening gloat?

Hi John-

Sorry to hear about your mishap.

Would you care to share the specifics of your accident? We can all learn...

-TH

[John Coloccia]

Actually, I am usually pretty careful, and thought I was being careful in this case. I was putting the miter on a headstock binding for a guitar. I had my finger underneath the headstock. Nice and safe, right? Wrong. When I got through the binding, a piece of the headstock also came off, allowing the chisel to go straight down and chop my left index finger. No biggie in this particular case. Two stitches took care of it.

Again, though, it's a good thing I keep everything sharp. I shudder to think what could have happened if I was pushing down hard with a dull tool.

[George Sanders]

I got 5 stitches in my thumb after I stuck it with a chisel. The doctor also removed a wood shaving that was inside the wound. Like you, I was just using a hand tool so I let my guard down. If nothing else, mishaps serve to generate respect for tools.

[Sam Takeuchi]

Back in December, I made a clean wide and deep gash on my left middle finger. I was stropping 1/2" chisel and strop slid off the bench when chisel was pulled on it. Chisel and then drop itself into the finger when it lost contact with strop, cut all across finger pad and really deep. It bled a lot! Blood was dripping all over.

But no stitches. Went to ER, doc said it's a very clean cut, so tape should do fine. Taped shut, 2 weeks, all was well.

[Matt Rogers]

I spent a whole winter full of weekends learning to keep my fingers out of my way..... I never got to go to the hospital though, and all the scars are disappearing now.

Learning is hard.

--Matt Rogers

[Matt Radtke]

Heh. I did something similarly stupid with one of my chisels, a modern, blue-handled Irwin, no less. The injection of the local hurt hurt more than the cut. 1 1/4" long cut, 7 stitches. Thankfully, no nerves or tendons were hurt.

[Tony Shea]

Hands can be wicked places to get a cut, especially when you start getting down below the fingers. Lots of nerves and more importantly tendons/ligaments. I was doing a carpet instal a few years back with my old man and was cutting carpet across a straight edge on a wall. The carpet knife, which happens to be the sharpest razor knives on the market, slipped off the straight and went across the top of my hand above my index and middle fingers. Required 15 stitches and partially severed a tendon that controls my index finger. Needless to say I will never have full use of my index finger. Watch out for them hands as they're are damn useful. Take fingers for granted until you lose function of one of them.

[Bob Easton]

Hope your recovery is speedy John!

Yes, very sharp is always better. That brand new #2 X-acto blade left a deep cut that was 3/4" long, almost painless, bleeding like an oil gusher, but requiring no stitches (my own opinion - no ER visit). It was on the outside of a pinky finger and closed up with only tape in 24-30 hours. Ragged cuts never come back together that quickly.

Keep sharpening. Heal faster!

[Jeff Wittrock]

Glad it didn't turn out too serious.

I am notoriously clumsy, and usually have a few minor cuts each weekend. By the time the next weekend rolls around, thing have healed up a bit, and I'm ready for a fresh set.

I have even cut myself with my homemade wheel marking gage after it was freshly sharpened.

-Jeff

[bridger berdel]

I try to keep reminding my self of this all the time. Still, occasionally the sharp edge of a blade will remind me.

One of my main things is to constantly ask myself where will that blade go if it slips. It is always a distraction that seems to get me.

jim

right. "what would happen if the wood suddenly disappeared?"

[bridger berdel]

Back in December, I made a clean wide and deep gash on my left middle finger. I was stropping 1/2" chisel and strop slid off the bench when chisel was pulled on it. Chisel and then drop itself into the finger when it lost contact with strop, cut all across finger pad and really deep. It bled a lot! Blood was dripping all over.

But no stitches. Went to ER, doc said it's a very clean cut, so tape should do fine. Taped shut, 2 weeks, all was well.


I was sharpening a large kitchen knife with a steel. nice fluid motions, not clutching the handle, got it nice and sharp... and dropped it. without thinking, reached down and caught it out of the air- didn't want that nice new edge to hit the floor- and opened my hand up wide.

[jon devries]

I also got cut by a chisel. I have not figured out how when my brain tells me i am doing something stupid to actually listen. It is even sadder when you rationalize the stupid thing (like not putting it in the vise) and then like magic you slip and get a cut.

[Mike Olson]

Yup, i must say, dull hurts more, i've had experience with both.

I once was screwing two 2x4's together with a 3 1/2" screw and my drill with a phillips head on it. Pushing real hard while pulling up on the 2x4's with my other hand...

Drill slipped off the screw, skipped off the 2x4 and went about an inch into the meaty part of the palm of my hand at an angle. brining wood chips in along with it. ps. phillips head drivers make a triangular rip when they go in which does not close up one it's own. The doc at the ER was picking stuff out for what felt like an hour. and i agree that the shot from the local hurt almost as much as the initial wound.

That was not a fun day.

the few cuts from my sharp tools never involved an ER visit. Just taped them up and they heal really fast because of the clean wound.

[John Coloccia]

I also got cut by a chisel. I have not figured out how when my brain tells me i am doing something stupid to actually listen. It is even sadder when you rationalize the stupid thing (like not putting it in the vise) and then like magic you slip and get a cut.

My wife is a child psychologist. Once she told my, "Now Johnny, when you're about to do something you need to imagine a stop sign in your head, and then think if you're doing everything right.". To underscore this, she made me a little stop sign and tacked it up in my shop. When she got home Friday night and I told her what happened, she didn't skip a beat. "Now Johnny, you didn't imagine that stop sign, did you?". LOL. Nope.

[Don C Peterson]

Chisels are one of the most dangerous tools. They can easily cut a nerve in a hand or finger.

Now you tell me!!

Seriously though, I've drawn more blood with chisels than any other tool in my shop, and I have a slight loss of feeling on my left pinky finger because I foolishly tried to stop a freshly sharpened chisel from falling on a concrete floor...

Well, at least even the sharpest chisel isn't likely to take off a finger (or hand) like a table saw will.