Careful with those carving knives

Huntindave McCann

Huntindave McCann

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I'm in the middle of building myself a new fishing rod. One of the steps in that process is to attach the guides to the rod blank, by overwrapping the guide foot and rod blank with a layer of nylon thread. I was using one of my carving knives to trim the thread. The knife slipped from my hand and landed on my leg. Sliced right thru my jeans and about 1-1/4 inch deep, into my leg.

No big deal right? A little hand pressure to stop the bleeding, a few Steri-Strips to close the wound. It's only 1/2 inch wide and 1-1/4 inch deep. Soon as I was able to get the Steri-Strips in place (I was alone at the time) the bleeding stopped.



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Well, it's been 36 hours now and there is bruising showing up on the other side of my leg.


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Makes a guy wonder just how blood shot the muscle in there actually is? I know my leg is sore, much more than I would have expected. I assume the depth of penetration is a bit more traumatic than just a surface wound.

Be careful out there. [cool]
 
YOWCH! Reminds me of a hunt Steve and I went on down in extreme south FL. One of his knives slipped and he stabbed himself in the leg much like you did. Lord god did he bleed too. Freest bleeder I have ever known. He just grabbed the duct tape to close it up. Next morning we are standing in the cattails waiting for legal light with ducks all around us and he makes the comment....well, either my waders have a hole in them or my duct tape came loose. The duct tape came loose. When he got the waders off back at the truck his whole pant leg was soaked. I don't know how he didn't bleed out in the marsh cuz it sure seemed like a whooooole lotta blood to me. He just ended up wrapping it up with a cloth and duct tape again and the world kept spinning on.

I also have a scar on my middle finger that likely should have been stitched but I just wrapped it super tight. That one came from actually sharpening one of my knives....

Definitely be careful out there....
 
I hope you have had a Tetanus shot in recent years, like less than 10, because if you haven't you should at least call your Dr., and advise them of what happened. An 1-1/4" deep puncture wound is far from a scratch.
 
don novicki said:
I hope you have had a Tetanus shot in recent years, like less than 10, because if you haven't you should at least call your Dr., and advise them of what happened. An 1-1/4" deep puncture wound is far from a scratch.
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Thanks,

Yes, as it turned out I had a previously scheduled yearly checkup later the same day. Doctor looked at it, said it looked clean, checked to see how current I was on a tetanus shot. Never mentioned to expect the bruising to show up. Knowing my history, he probably figured I already knew it was going to show up.

The puncture wound was right at the upper end of a scar I have from many many moons ago, when I buried a skill saw into my leg down to the bone. That time I needed stitches. To top it all off, my wife, (who was a surgical nurse in the ER at the local hospital), helped sew me up.
 
Ouch!! It hurts just thinking about it. You need to build up a layer of fat for safety sake. Keep it clean, and hoping for a speedy healing process.
 
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MIKE-SID said:
Ouch!! It hurts just thinking about it. You need to build up a layer of fat for safety sake. Keep it clean, and hoping for a speedy healing process.
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Ha ha , funny you should mention the fat layer.

After the fact, upon examination of the blade, I could tell exactly how deep the blade had penetrated. Just like a dipstick for checking oil level, I could see an oil film on the blade, from the blade passing thru the fat layer under the skin. Geez, how cool is that! [huh]
 
Opening oysters and the knife slipped between my fingers about two inches deep. Worst part was putting q tips with peroxide in there to clean it out, hurt more than the slip. Don't know how many times it took to come out clean. Better than going to the hospital to get it done. I use a towel now, what's a little laundry!
 
I just spent two weeks in Alaska on a diy moose hunt and this was one of my biggest fears. I had cut resistant gloves so felt good about fingers/hands but nervous about cutting or pushing through and slicing or puncturing lower body. My hunting partner and I were constantly reminding each other to take our time because best case is it would be hours until someone would be able to come but worst case, it could be several days. Hope it heals up.

Cyril
 
Huntindave McCann said:
MIKE-SID said:
Ouch!! It hurts just thinking about it. You need to build up a layer of fat for safety sake. Keep it clean, and hoping for a speedy healing process.
Click to expand...

Ha ha , funny you should mention the fat layer.

After the fact, upon examination of the blade, I could tell exactly how deep the blade had penetrated. Just like a dipstick for checking oil level, I could see an oil film on the blade, from the blade passing thru the fat layer under the skin. Geez, how cool is that! [huh]
Click to expand...

OK, the oil dipping comment is TMI!

Has the bruising gone away? My first reaction when I saw that picture was to worry about an infection, but since it looks like you've been out shooting geese since then, I'm guessing that's not the case. I had a small scratch on my shin blow up into a massive infected calf a few years ago, so I'm probably over cautious now.
 
Jeff Reardon said:
Has the bruising gone away?
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Oh heck no, it is still spreading, or was still spreading. I think the bruising has stabilized but it will be some time before the skin clears up. Hard to say just how much internal bleeding was going on. The entry wound was a nice clean cut with a highly polished blade. No redness around the wound so I'm confident there is no infection. Entire upper leg is sore and the area around the entry wound is tender still, but no swelling or redness. It's been 4 days now since it happened.

These guys that get shot out of the saddle in a western, get back on and ride off,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,, ain't happening! [w00t] Although I did go out and drop a couple Woodies today.
 
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