My biggest woodworking problem!

[Wes Newman]

Once when I was about 8 we had a privacy fence made out of rough sawn cedar and being a daring kid I decided to try and scale this fence without any shoes or soxes on, well I got about half way up and then I slid down with my feet scraping the whole way down. You can just imagine how many splinters I had sticking out of my feet. Probally in the hundreds range. My Mom picked as many as she could out, the rest finally took care of them selves after a few weeks of baths. I'll never forget that experience. Funny what goes through your head when your a kid (or rather what doesn't go through your head).

[John Miliunas]

Mark, please, don't mess with it! Get it taken care of properly. Infections like that are NOT to be taken lightly! Hey RYAN, if you're out there, get the old man to the doc, wouldya'!

[Kirk (KC) Constable]

LOML gets on me regularly because I have rough hands, and I won't use lotion or anything to make them 'soft'...but the primary reason is that it doesn't seem to hurt as much when I have to dig out splinters. I've had some bad ones, too...a few that I've just not been able to get out until a little infection gets going and 'festers' it up where I can get to it.

Worst for me are teensy slivers of steel wool. You know they're in there, just can't see 'em.

KC

[Norman Hitt]

When I was younger, my hands were all calloused and my skin was much more flexible yet seemingly harder to cut or pentetrate, and I hardly ever got splinters. When I did, they came out easily. Now, however, it seems I can walk by a stack of lumber and 20 splinters will jump 4 ft right into my hands and they Always seem to break off inside and I have to literally dig them out.

I hate pyracantha (sp) and prickly pear cactus worse though because of the barbs on the ends and the soreness and infection they cause. When I was a teenager, I worked on a ranch some and while working some cattle one day, a cutting horse (that was MUCH better at cutting than I was at riding), managed to plant me upside down on my back in the ONLY cactus patch in that whole 600 acre pasture. (that dern horse didn't even miss me, he just kept after that steer). My mom picked those things out of me for nearly two weeks. I was one solid fester, but fortunately didn't get any serious infections that she couldn't treat.

However you do it, Mark, it's gotta come out or it could get serious.

[Jerry Olexa]

I also get splinters a lot. Usually the smaller ones that I can't get to work themselves out in a couple of days. Cleaning well and antibotic are also helpful. When I have one that is troublesome, I get out the nail clippers (the MDs in group are getting nervous) and then carefully trim and remove the small area of skin around the splinter . Following hot soapy water soaking (swells the splinter) I can usually grab and remove.Then apply a disenfectant. But best advice when all else fails, is go to an MD or an ER. I had to do that a few years ago when I got one under a fingernail which above couldn't help.The Drs will be doing a form of the above but under very clean, controlled circumstances and followed by a strong dose of gern/infection killer. Sorry about your mishap...

[Mark Singer]

I soaked in peroxide....used a black head remover and pushed ...then with tweezers I got it!

[Jerry Clark]

Wow Mark-- the supense was killing me! Glad you are OK

[John Miliunas]

Good for you, Mark! Be sure to put some anitbiotic schtuff on it and a band-aid. BUT, not being the young man that you are, I need to ask: What in Tarnation is a "black head remover"???

[Mark Singer]

John

It has a loop and is metal...when you push it against a black head it forces it out with the pressure.

Good for you, Mark! Be sure to put some anitbiotic schtuff on it and a band-aid. BUT, not being the young man that you are, I need to ask: What in Tarnation is a "black head remover"???

[Marshall Harrison]

If they aren't too deep I usually get a pair of side cutters, dikes or what ever you want to call them then just cut a hunk out of me deep enuff to get the splinter. Sometimes I just take a knife and keep digging pieces of me out till I get it. Hurts a little but can't leave the bugger in.

[Tom LaRussa]

Splinters! I don't know why? They love me ....big huge Wenge splinters...Shedua.

The other day I was grabbing a small piece of wood from the pile and a huge Wenge splinter from another board went deep into the meaty part below my thumb! It broke inside and I can't get it out....it feels infected..

Mark,

I'm glad your self-surgery was a success!

My biggest problem is feeding parts of my hands into grinders and such.

Took off a big piece of my right thumbnail -- well below the "quick" thank you very OUCH! -- a few weeks ago on the bench grinder.

More recently I fed my index finger into a wire brush I was using to clean rust off an old plane blade. You know, it's amazing how often the back of one's index finger gets bumped. It happened so many times that the constant irritation would not let the finger heal -- it started getting all red and puffy. So I had to rip off the scab and newly forming scar tissue to release the puss and start over again.

Not fun.

[John Shuk]

In addition to needle poited tweezer you can get them with a magnifying glass built in for better viewing. When I sold first aid supplies I couldn't keep the stocked. I have seen them at Rite Aid or you can try Grainger's catalog.

[Mark Hulette]

A neat little trick I've used for when there's just a little bit of the splinter still sticking out (or you can wait a bit and if it's not too deep they can/will move to the surface) but not enough to get a good grip on...

is to use WWing glue and just spread a thin coat around the splintered area, let it dry (just takes a few minutes) then peel it off. Sometimes it takes a couple of tries and if the little bugger is bigger, a thicker coat of glue will help but I've never had this method fail! Of course, all other first aid principles apply as well, including cleaning the area afterward.

Mark- glad to hear you've distanced yourself from that little bit of Wenge!

[Jim Fancher]

My Dad had a bump that developed on the side of his leg. It got bigger over time until he started to complain about it hurting. We finally talked him into going to the doctor. They removed a hard growth that was about half the size of a dime in diameter. They did a biopsy on it and guess what it was.

A splinter.