Just learned the hard way. Ouch. How stupid. I thought I had to call the neighbor to look after my toddler while I went to the emergency room but I ended up applying a lot of pressure and now the band aid seems to be doing the trick.
I think we'll order out tonight.
It took me forever to type this post. /img/vbsmilies/smilies/frown.gif
It really scared me at first bit it's really fine. I think I'm going to finish what I started. I have all this food, I can't just order out... /img/vbsmilies/smilies/smile.gif
Don't drop a freshly sharpened(I finish with 2,000 grit polish, think scalpel sharp) 10 inch chefs knife on top of your other hand. Partially severed tendon, 7 stitches total. Just got out of the wrist brace I have been wearing for 3 weeks, still need to wear a funky finger brace.
Gah...tendon damage! I severed a tendon in my bloody pinky finger, emergency plastic surgery, six months of physio, and two years of chronic infections (a piece of suture was left in). Very few things make me shiver, Mary, that's one of them!
Dull knives require more force to use, more force equals a deeper cut. Also consider what the edge of a dull knife looks like, jagged, these cuts take longer to heal.
Dull knives require more force to use, more force equals a deeper cut. Also consider what the edge of a dull knife looks like, jagged, these cuts take longer to heal.
I am not sure in fact you have to use that much more force with a not-as -sharp knife to cut. The way you hold the food (correctly) when you chop/slice, the blade really cannot cut into your fingers, dull knife or sharp knife. Carelessness and improper knife skills, IMHO are the main causes for accidents with a knife.
I am not sure for non-organ cuts, clean cuts or jagged cut will make that much difference in healing time. I think there is a possibility that a much deeper cut with a sharp knife will take long to heal than with a dull kinfe.
My point is, if you tend to be careless, with minimum knife skills, get distracted easily, DON'T use a razor sharp knife, use a not-too-dull knife instead.
More of a nuisance than anything. Doesn't hurt unless I bend it to far. I removed the stitches myself, I wasn't spending money on the doc, gas to drive 50 miles etc to cut 3 little pieces of string and pull them out! Doc said the sharpness of the knife was a good thing, clean cut versus a ragged edge that won't heal well.
This happened because of the ruptured discs in my neck, right hand went numb and I dropped the knife, had no finger control. Fun left over from the car accident a year ago when I bent the door frame in the car up an inch with my skull and compressed my neck.
I am not sure in fact you have to use that much more force with a not-as -sharp knife to cut. The way you hold the food (correctly) when you chop/slice, the blade really cannot cut into your fingers, dull knife or sharp knife. Carelessness and improper knife skills, IMHO are the main causes for accidents with a knife.
I am not sure for non-organ cuts, clean cuts or jagged cut will make that much difference in healing time. I think there is a possibility that a much deeper cut with a sharp knife will take long to heal than with a dull kinfe.
My point is, if you tend to be careless, with minimum knife skills, get distracted easily, DON'T use a razor sharp knife, use a not-too-dull knife instead.
I have to disagree totally. MaryB's doctor confirms that a cut from a ragged edged blade does not heal as well (and from experience I can say as quickly).
Further there are plenty of knife skills where the blade is facing your hand or finger ie. Peeling potatoes with a paring knife is a really common example wherein the knife is drawn toward the thumb, there are many more boutique and asian cuts that seem extremely unsafe and would be even moreso with a dull knife.
Try this experiment: slice half an onion with your sharpest, thinnest knife. Then grab your beater and draw it once at 90 degrees on a steel. Slice the other half and tell me which knife required more downward force. I don't think anyone can really refute a dull knife cuts solely by way of pressure, whereas a nice sharp knife glides through even a carrot like butter.
What's more, a nice sharp knife and especially a quality japanese one, requires less pressure overall to achieve most jobs, this of course being due to a number of factors many of you are more familiar with than I. But I can attest to it first hand, you shouldn't be getting a deep cut with a japanese knife if it is well maintained, as you should be applying such slight pressure that any slight contact with your hand would be immediately noted.
Although in maybe 7/10 situations good technique and form will make cutting yourself a non-issue there are from time to time things that go wrong. I don't always use a bear claw grip- even when it's practical to. I have done stupid things with knives. The only instance where having a dull knife is going to save you is in dropping it (ie. On your foot), however this can occur any time and so it is impractical to always work with a dulled blade.
I have to disagree totally. MaryB's doctor confirms that a cut from a ragged edged blade does not heal as well (and from experience I can say as quickly).
Further there are plenty of knife skills where the blade is facing your hand or finger ie. Peeling potatoes with a paring knife is a really common example wherein the knife is drawn toward the thumb, there are many more boutique and asian cuts that seem extremely unsafe and would be even moreso with a dull knife.
Try this experiment: slice half an onion with your sharpest, thinnest knife. Then grab your beater and draw it once at 90 degrees on a steel. Slice the other half and tell me which knife required more downward force. I don't think anyone can really refute a dull knife cuts solely by way of pressure, whereas a nice sharp knife glides through even a carrot like butter.
What's more, a nice sharp knife and especially a quality japanese one, requires less pressure overall to achieve most jobs, this of course being due to a number of factors many of you are more familiar with than I. But I can attest to it first hand, you shouldn't be getting a deep cut with a japanese knife if it is well maintained, as you should be applying such slight pressure that any slight contact with your hand would be immediately noted.
Although in maybe 7/10 situations good technique and form will make cutting yourself a non-issue there are from time to time things that go wrong. I don't always use a bear claw grip- even when it's practical to. I have done stupid things with knives. The only instance where having a dull knife is going to save you is in dropping it (ie. On your foot), however this can occur any time and so it is impractical to always work with a dulled blade.
This topic will remain in the realm of opinions. It is not possible to scientifically proof one way or the other. You can't test this on human beings.
I have not found a not-so-sharp knife (not talking about a completely dull blade) requires that much more pressure for cutting. I can argue that more pressure secures the food more and causes less slippage.
My observations have been that most cutting accidents are caused by carelessness and lack of proper cutting skills.
My observations have been that people with very sharp knives are better in using knives and less likely to cut themselves, people with dull knives are people with less skill and cut themselves more often. This gives the impression that sharp knives causes fewer accidents.
My observations have been that sharp knives causes very serious damages in accidents.
And I thought I was alone in thinking the dull knife vs sharp one training was wrong.
Companies do lot of stupid training. They tell you a dull knife is more dangerous, rather than state why a dull knife *can* be more dangerous. If you know the specific dangers; you can be safer. The times I've been cut wouldn't have been as bad (or even been an injury) if the knife was dull. It's all circumstantial. A dull knife can also cause increased exertion which can lead to stress injuries.
Another thing they tell us is to lift with our legs and not with our backs. -They don't say why. There's 2 reasons; Bending your knees slightly will prepare and secure your back muscles for lifting. If you are constantly lifting with your back and not working your abdominals in balance (antagonist muscle group); you can run into problems. Body builders still do dead lifts; it's safe if you know what you're doing. I believe the original advice was improperly paraphrased and suggested bending your knees to lift; not lifting with your legs.
I could go on about how inadequate our safety training is. It's not like they don't pad meetings with fluff.
This topic will remain in the realm of opinions. It is not possible to scientifically proof one way or the other. You can't test this on human beings.
I have not found a not-so-sharp knife (not talking about a completely dull blade) requires that much more pressure for cutting. I can argue that more pressure secures the food more and causes less slippage.
My observations have been that most cutting accidents are caused by carelessness and lack of proper cutting skills.
My observations have been that people with very sharp knives are better in using knives and less likely to cut themselves, people with dull knives are people with less skill and cut themselves more often. This gives the impression that sharp knives causes fewer accidents.
My observations have been that sharp knives causes very serious damages in accidents.
I have one that I won't share. I never figured I'd get to see my own subcutaneous fat. If I were a chicken I'd be a tasty one! Suffice it to say a four wheeler and DOT guard rail are a bad combination.
I have one that I won't share. I never figured I'd get to see my own subcutaneous fat. If I were a chicken I'd be a tasty one! Suffice it to say a four wheeler and DOT guard rail are a bad combination.
Brutal... Isn't it illegal to drive those on the road like everywhere? I've seen these kind of things happen before though, those guard rails will shred you right up.
Brutal... Isn't it illegal to drive those on the road like everywhere? I've seen these kind of things happen before though, those guard rails will shred you right up.
I wasn't actually on the road. I was next to a road running along where a 90 degree bend in the road had the gaurd rail. I tried to run up along a steep incline and got pushed down into the backside of the gaurdrail, caught my thigh right above my knee on the I-beam and ripped my leg open.
A husband came home from work and found blood all over the floor and carpet. Strange foot prints. Wife and kid were missing. Front door was open, and wife's car was still on the driveway.
Panic! Called 911 to report possible kidnapping.
Long story short.
Husband is a knife nut, and every knife in the kitchen is "scary sharp". Wife was not careful making lunch, knife slipped and cut four fingers to the bone. Two neighbors helped the wife to emergency.
At this point, after a few surgeries two if the four fingers are still without feeling.
it would have been a better ending to the story if the knife was dull.
^ Well nobody uses a knife without an edge so assuming it was that dull shed have to have exerted more pressure ergo deeper cut. It's not like dull knives won't break skin, they will quite easily actually!
I have one that I won't share. I never figured I'd get to see my own subcutaneous fat. If I were a chicken I'd be a tasty one! Suffice it to say a four wheeler and DOT guard rail are a bad combination.
Oh I guess I didn't make it very clear kinda on purpose because it was so stupid, at some point I placed my middle finger near the edge of the blade and decided to push it against the stone that way. Definitely not one of my brightest moments. But the cut is healing pretty well I must say and is now painless unless I bang something (door frames etc...) with that finger.
I figured that maybe was it. I've gotten a few deep cuts doing silly things. Enough that I had to keep them wrapped in scotch tape for 3 days to knit.
Rick
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