What not to do with a chisel

[Karl Brogger]

I thought I'd try out a little body piercing with a chisel a while back. Thought you guys might enjoy the pictures. No damage, but it went entirely through my finger and into the table. I didn't even realise it had gone all the way though for a while. I washed the wound off, superglued the one side shut and sat down in the shop for a bit. A sink full of blood makes my stomach turn. I felt something warm dribbling down my hand and looked at the floor to see a new puddle of the red stuff, but not from what I had already glued shut. Son of a..........

Remarkably they cut through flesh very efficiently! Who knew?

[Peter Stahl]

Sorry to see that. Sharp tools are a must for woodworking but are bad for people. Keep it clean and get a tetanus shot. Don't know that I could have glued my self back together.

[Norman Pyles]

Ouch!!!!!!!

[John Karam]

amazing thing with chisels is I'll get cut by one and not realize it until im wondering why im sanding blood off my project....haha

glad it wasn't worse
maybe you should post a warning about the pictures...i know people that pass out at the sight of blood, fortunately not me.

[Karl Brogger]

Surprisingly it didn't hurt at all, untill the swelling really kicked in.

[David DeCristoforo]

Gluing yourself back together may be.... well I won't say it but please, take Peter's advice and at least get a tetanus shot.

Oh, and thanks for the pics.... lovely...


YM

[Richard M. Wolfe]

I've said this before.....and for several years. As far as I'm concerned one of the most dangerous tools in the shop is a dull chisel.

I don't know how sharp yours is/was. I was cleaning out the corners of a router rabbeted back on a bookcase so I could fit the back in. I was using a dull chisel (as is usually the case). Had it been sharp I 1) would have been cutting down into the wood more, and 2) not pushing as hard. I pushed - it jumped. Several years later and for the rest of my life I will have a scar right across my wrist. Right at the place where I feel a pulse, which is I guess where you slit your wrist after you leave the "goodbye cruel world" note. It just happened to not go deep enough to do fatal? damage. Needless to say I didn't get anything else done in the shop that day. Did a lot of mumbling to myself.

[Bill Wyko]

I dropped a freshly sharpened bowl gouge on my hand a couple weeks ago, went right through my skin. I hate when that happens.

[Terry Teadtke]

There may be no human being that has had more tetanus shots than I have; and I can almost guarantee you will never run into someone who has had 2 tetanus shots in less than 24 hours. I know, I know, they’re good for anywhere from 7-10 years but you couldn’t tell my old school mid-western grandmother that. When I was a kid my brother and I would spend a lot of time at my grand parents farm in the early 1960’s. We were generally building tree forts out of any old lumber we could scrounge up and unbending rusty nails to re-use. One afternoon I stepped on a rusty nail and off we went into town so I could get a tetanus shot. OK fine, the doctor said I was good to go for a couple of years. The following morning I stepped on another rusty nail and casually mentioned it to my grandmother thinking I was going to get another dose of Methiolade which was bad enough ( for you youngsters Methiolade is basically iodine and really stings on an open wound). Well guess what, off to the clinic again for another tetanus shot. It didn’t matter I had just had one the day before. It didn’t matter how many times the doctor told my grandmother I didn’t need a shot for another couple of years, and it didn’t matter what the nurse had to say, we weren’t leaving until I had my shot. So I got another shot. Calling my grandmother stubborn would obviously be an understatement.

Anyway, now I get a tetanus shot every other year just to be on the safe side because. I’ve figured I’ve had close to 30 shots to date and I’m just a little over 50

[Richard Dragin]

I think Grandma was just trying to teach you to be more careful or else you would get another shot. Probably would have been easier to just smack you in the head and save a trip to the doctor every time. Either way she is still with you if you are getting a shot every other year.

[Eric DeSilva]

Gluing yourself back together may be....

Actually, superglue--although not invented as a liquid suture--is used extensively by ERs for that purpose. During the Vietnam war, they even developed a spray version for stopping bleeding pending transport to medical facilities.

[Michael Wildt]

Bummer, sorry to hear you had an injury. Though it looks like a clean cut. I'm glad you still have mobility.

From my experience even 'dull' items can be sharp. It is amazing what a screwdriver can do.

The chisel does look a bit chipped on the edge and heat damaged.

Michael

[Doug Shepard]

Surprisingly it didn't hurt at all, untill the swelling really kicked in.

The really, really sharp ones dont hurt a bit. Thankfully I haven't cut myself that badly with one and nothing requiring stitches, but the dull ones hurt like crazy. The sharp ones cut like butter and you hardly feel a thing. Hope you recover quickly.

[Jim Becker]

You're causing me to reminisce about how I spent New Years Day a few years ago after a...sharpening accident...with my then-new chisels! The good news is that you will heal!

[Sam Yerardi]

Ouch. That makes MY hand hurt. Hope you're doing well.