Blood...

[Dave Cav]

It seems like all I have to do is walk by a knife and I start bleeding. As I have gotten older my skin has become thinner, and I'm also on blood thinners. I get little nicks and cuts all the time and never even notice it until I see blood on the project. Today I just finished sanding a pine end table and suddenly noticed a spot of blood on the front carcase edge. I wiped as much off as I could with a wet sponge, but it looks like it'll take a little more sanding. Anyone found a good way to remove blood stains?

[Dave Mount]

Hydrogen peroxide. Like always, test in an inconspicuous area first, but it works for clothes.

Best,

Dave

[Ken Fitzgerald]

Dave, I was beginning to believe I was the only one who had to spill some blood on every project. Though I seldom post in the Neander Forum, I do read a lot of posts there. I had never had a problem with the sharp sides on a chisel because prior to buying a Veritas PM-11 bench chisel last year, I had been using some 40 year old Craftsman carpenter's chisels. This afternoon I was paring some tenons on an oak end table I am building for my wife. Sure enough, that Veritas chisel left a few small slices through the palm of my hand that was guiding it. It then had a visit with an old diamond hone I use on my turning tools. It seem to be more behaved then.

[Matt Day]

Wear gloves maybe? When safe of course.

[Mick Simon]

I feel your pain. My dog licks my wounds every evening.

The aggravating thing is that you never know you've been knicked until it's too late.

[Steve Demuth]

Out damned spot.

Oxalic acid removes blood and rust stains. But you need a little experimenting on your wood, or you'll over-bleach and the cure will be worse than the spot.

[Ed Mitchell]

Also it's winter, which tends to be very dry (colder air takes up less moisture), so our skin tends to be dehydrated, making it thinner / more brittle / more prone to getting nicked.

If I haven't used my hand tools in over a month or so, I start to lose my callouses, and I have to go through the process of toughening up my skin again (which means getting many small cuts).

And of course once you're good at sharpening, your tools will cut you so easily that you can't notice when they do cut you, so there's no warning that blood is flowing onto your work pieces. Like Ken said, you def need to blunt the sides of your chisels if they get sharp or the sides of your fingers will get shredded. Alternatively, you could wrap your fingers with that self-adhesive clingy bandage (this stuff (https://www.chippingaway.com/shop/woodcarving-supplies/sanding-products-manual-and-power/proxxon-power-proxxon-pen-sander/woodcarvers-protection-finger-wrap/) which you can get much less expensively here (https://smile.amazon.com/Elastic-Adhesive-Tape%EF%BC%8CFirst-Bandages-Swelling/dp/B07ZT9HZRL/ref=sr_1_7?crid=152HS2L7PCWL8&dchild=1&keywords=first+aid+tape+self+adhesive&qid=1614479862&sprefix=first+aid+tape%2Caps%2C214&sr=8-7)) all the time, but who is going to remember to do that?

[Richard Coers]

I'd suggest a card scraper and then a little sanding. Buy some higher quality mechanic gloves. They fit really snug on the hands and grip on wood really well.

[George Makra]

Same problrm here tissue paper skin on an old bulldozer body.
The daughter-in-law is a nurse and suggested taking Collagen Peptides. Its available at WALMART and drug stores. Its a tasteless powder you can mix with anything.
I have been using it for 2 or 3 months and I no longer look like I have lost a knife fight.

[Bradley Gray]

Not a fix, but masking tape stops the bleed way better (and quicker) than a band-aid.

45 years ago I worked with a framer who would sign it when he left blood on the work. "It's my damn blood"

[Alan Lightstone]

Actually a type of cyanoacrylic glue works best on cuts (used to close surgical wounds in hospitals. The brand name is Dermabond). Great stuff, stings for a few seconds, and sloughs off in a few days, but the pain from the cut stops instantly, which is nice.

Amazon sells it, but it is very expensive and they want a medical license or medical business certificate.

There are some far cheaper liquid bandage types for sale. Not a clue how they work. The MSDS of one of them is a plethora of chemicals, but may work just fine for far cheaper. Vet versions too.

YMMV. My $0.02. And yes, it rots to get old.

[Prashun Patel]

Leave the blood. It adds character.

[Charles Lent]

I have always managed to leave a little of my DNA on everything that I make, but in these older years and now on blood thinners, my marks are getting harder to disguise.

Charley

[Jim Matthews]

Any project that demands a sacrifice will last forever.

I wear the Showa 451 when chopping wood, or handling sheet goods. Good for snow removal, too.

No cuts in the shop while they're on (not a tablesaw or lathe user, me).

Leather gloves for hauling out the local thorned vine.


https://www.amazon.com/showa-atlas-451/s?k=showa+atlas+451

[Alan Lightstone]

Leave the blood. It adds character.

:D I've said that in the OR. It usually elicits a solid glare from the surgeon.

As I've heard, "The abdomen was opened with copious bleeding and somewhat bad language"...

[Jon Nuckles]

I cut myself a lot, but rarely on blades, chisels, etc. It's always a sharp 90 degree edge on wood (usually hard maple), a sliver, or bumping against a rough surface. I can totally relate to the thinning and dry skin issues. I'll have to look into those collagen peptides mentioned above.

[Bob Falk]

I am on blood thinners and I keep a box of "Quickstop" band aids on hand in the shop. Stops the bleeding quickly, unless you want to finish your whole project in blood as in the "Red Violin".
https://www.amazon.com/Curad-Quickstop-Clotting-Technology-Flex-Fabric/dp/B01FY63WA4/ref=asc_df_B01FY63WA4/?tag=hyprod-20&linkCode=df0&hvadid=312026047383&hvpos=&hvnetw=g&hvrand=11890466225641149457&hvpone=&hvptwo=&hvqmt=&hvdev=c&hvdvcmdl=&hvlocint=&hvlocphy=9018943&hvtargid=pla-569569228534&psc=1

[Ralph Okonieski]

I believe I tried “oxi clean” to remove blood from raw oak; it turned the oak black where the solution touched the oak. This was worse than the blood. I suggest trying whatever method on a sample piece of wood before cleaning the primary piece.

[Dave Cav]

Thanks for the replies. A green scrubbie and some water got most of it out. I'm pretty good at avoiding all of the usual sharp stuff in the shop, but it is the occasional sharp edge or corner on a piece of stock that seems to get me. I do keep several different clotting agents and lots of bandaids in the medicine cabinet in the shop bathroom, and they get used on a regular basis.

[Matt Schroeder]

Consider it an upgrade--Bloodwood at pine prices!

Matt

[Charles Lent]

When desperate, dinner table pepper stops bleeding from small injuries quite well. I keep salt and pepper shakers in my shop. The salt gets sometimes used in very small quantities to stop slippage in glue joints. But fortunately, they get used more for lunch.

Charley