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Larry Edgerton
08-12-2015, 6:44 PM
I like to trim my tomato plants with a jackknife but this year they are out of control so they are getting a bit big sometimes when I get to them. So........

Does anyone know of a thumb guard that I could cut against with the knife, my thumb is getting tender. I don't like gloves, and I don't like to use a pruner, not enough feel. End up cutting the wrong one.

Post office guys have a thing they put on their thumb for sorting letters, something like that but tougher.

Ideas?

Thanks, Larry

Larry Frank
08-12-2015, 7:05 PM
I am glad your tomatoes are doing so well. Mine suffered badly with two months of rain in May and June.

George Bokros
08-12-2015, 7:33 PM
My tomatos are not doing well either. Suffered from the June rain.

Larry Edgerton
08-12-2015, 7:37 PM
I did not plant until the tenth of June, and have had to water since. Better that way as I can control it. I water very little in the first month to make the roots go deep, then use soakers about once a week.

My daughter lives in Valpo, she was saying that you have had a lot of rain this year. I don't want it now to avoid blight on my viney plants. Last year we got a little rain almost every day in the later season and I got blight.

James Tibbetts
08-12-2015, 7:59 PM
How 'bout just duct tape a small piece of wood to your thumb?

Bruce Page
08-12-2015, 8:08 PM
Would this work?

http://www.amazon.com/Malleable-Metallic-Stabilize-Fractured-Injured/dp/B00MPH58JE/ref=sr_1_13?s=hpc&ie=UTF8&qid=1439424377&sr=1-13&keywords=finger+splint

Probably available at your local CVS.

Tom Stenzel
08-12-2015, 8:11 PM
Cut the thumb off of a pair of leather or welding gloves? Or if you have small hands use the fingers from a pair of XL gloves.

Although James didn't expressly say it, this is a woodworking forum so some solution involving WOOD is a thought. :)

-Tom

Mike Chance in Iowa
08-12-2015, 8:18 PM
I would look at a sewing thimble from a quilting supply or leather supply for sewing leather together. They are different than the one that goes on the tip of the finger.

Larry Edgerton
08-12-2015, 8:27 PM
Good thoughts!

Bruce, you may have something there. The thimble idea as well.

Malcolm Schweizer
08-12-2015, 8:49 PM
Look for a Sailor's Palm. Google it. It covers part of the thumb and Palm.

Myk Rian
08-12-2015, 8:54 PM
Everyone I've seen doing work like that just wraps what needs it in duct tape.
How much "feel" do you need to snip a tomato off a vine? :confused: Just snip it off and move to the next one.

Dave Lehnert
08-12-2015, 8:55 PM
Woodcarvers use this.
http://www.woodcraft.com/Product/16V24/Large-Thumb-Guard---Adult-Male.aspx

Mike Lassiter
08-13-2015, 4:14 PM
Here's something you might like from Hoss Tools https://hosstools.com/product/handy-twine-knife/

319571

Wade Lippman
08-13-2015, 4:29 PM
I don't like to use a pruner, not enough feel. End up cutting the wrong one.



My tomatoes are doing pretty good.
If you can see them, why do you have to feel them? And if you can't see them, how is feeling them going to help?
I use a pruner.

Joe Tilson
08-13-2015, 4:55 PM
Larry,
Why not use a carvers thumb protector.
I got mine from Lee Valley.

Larry Edgerton
08-13-2015, 6:05 PM
My tomatoes are doing pretty good.
If you can see them, why do you have to feel them? And if you can't see them, how is feeling them going to help?
I use a pruner.

I'm sorry that you just have regular tomatoes:p. As I said, mine are out of control and I have 99 plants. Rows are three feet apart but now it looks like one 40'x50' tomato jungle. I can not always see where I am cutting. I see the one I want to cut and follow it down with my hand and snip it off with the knife. Like I said earlier, I don't like using a pruner. I do have a business to run too, so give me a break.

I stopped and bought a finger guard at the drug store, cut the fingers out of an old glove, now I am going to adapt the two so I have what I want.

Thanks for the ideas gentlemen. I am just overtired lately because of work and needed some inspiration. I got it here!

Thanks again, Larry

Joe Bradshaw
08-13-2015, 6:16 PM
Larry, go to your local office supply store and buy a box of rubber thumbs. They come in various sizes.
Joe

Jim Koepke
08-13-2015, 10:05 PM
This might work:

http://www.leevalley.com/us/wood/page.aspx?cat=1,43456,43407&p=54669

It is also handy for other things.

jtk

Kent A Bathurst
08-13-2015, 11:15 PM
Now that I got that outta my system, what I intended to post before Joe took me off track, is this:

Google Cut Resistant Gloves. Plenty at Azon, among a jillion other places. Very effective, and you don't have to worry where the blade may slip to - you will be covered.

Notice how it is Joe's fault?

Chris Padilla
08-13-2015, 11:51 PM
I read the subject line too fast and thought it said:

'Toronto gone wild' and I thought, "Cool, another baseball thread about my new favorite team! LOL...."

Joe Bradshaw
08-14-2015, 8:44 AM
Kent, they are also good for your Fonz impression
Joe

kevin nee
08-14-2015, 9:42 AM
I had a tomato that was so big it broke off the vine. It rolled down the hill.when it hit the house it cracked the foundation

Jerome Stanek
08-14-2015, 11:18 AM
I had a tomato that was so big it broke off the vine. It rolled down the hill.when it hit the house it cracked the foundation

Attack of the killer tomatoes

Larry Edgerton
08-14-2015, 12:16 PM
I had a tomato that was so big it broke off the vine. It rolled down the hill.when it hit the house it cracked the foundation

I was worried about that myself so I was careful to build the house uphill from the garden.:D

Myk Rian
08-14-2015, 9:47 PM
Google Cut Resistant Gloves.
Kevlar. I have a couple pairs of them.

Kent A Bathurst
08-14-2015, 11:56 PM
I was worried about that myself so I was careful to build the house uphill from the garden.:D

Too bad you planning was only for runaway tomatoes. Probably should have included vehicles in your planning, no? :p