What's your worst "bite"

[BLJace]

We've all been bit by a knife. Sometimes it's minimal, sometimes it requires a trip to the specialists.

Mine was early in my knife collecting career. I had a spring assisted knife and was flicking it open and closing it like i'm sure we're all guilty of. Trying to get a really loud snap out of it, i flicked it down and it slipped from my hand. In a rush to grab it as it was falling ( i already know, my first mistake). It actually landed on a table i was holding it over and i managed to plunge it through the nice meaty part of my hand, just under my thumb. This required a fun trip to the hospital driven by my father as the car i had at the time was a stick shift. I'm right hand dominant and guess what i reached for it with :). Luckily he only lives a couple miles away.

I have pictures of this incident, but i'm unsure how the forum feels about those kinds of pictures as they can upset some. I'll be more than happy to post them but i don't want make anyone uncomfortable. (if given the ok i will)

I'm asking though, what's your worst self inflicted knife injury? Do you have pics? What's the story behind it and where did you go wrong?


Maybe we can all learn a little more about safety from others mistakes.

[bearrowland]

Mine was actually from a Leatherman Rebar saw that slipped and cut my knuckle right to the bone. Four stitches later I was good to go.

[TkoK83Spy]

The culprit...

The still healing result...

This happened to me around 2 weeks ago. I went to the garage to chop up a bit of kindling wood for our fireplace. My wife's best friend and her fiance were coming over for dinner and I wanted to have the house all nice and cozy. I keep this Kershaw Camp 10 pretty sharp (great value for around $35). I prefer using it for this task over a hatchet. I can usually get it to bite into the pallet wood close to the handle and then just use my weight to push it down through for some nice, even sticks that fit perfectly into our container we keep by the fireplace.

Mind you, I have gloves in the garage. We only have a single car garage and my wife parks in there during the winter months...this is where I go wrong. Because she was pulled too far forward I couldn't pass through to get the gloves sitting 8 feet away on the workbench. I very easily could have walked around the backside of her car and to the other side to grab the gloves, but I figured "this will only take me all of 5 minutes, I'm fine"

After only 4 sticks of kindling chopped, I come across a small knot in the wood. Stupid me, I decide to hold the base of the slate of the pallet and give the machete a little chop. Sure enough, it hits the knot...but comes off the side of it, through the rest of the pallet and directly down onto my finger. I've cut myself many times over the years, but this one really hurt. I look down and see quite a gash, and then the blood just starts dripping. I go back inside and start running water over it. My wife yells "that was quick" and I had to tell her, I messed up. She then got annoyed and mad at me because we were expecting them over in less than an hour. I could tell it was deep, right to the bone. But, I got kind of lucky that instead of coming down at an angle and filleting my finger, it ended up coming straight down so the cut was a straight line. Once I was able to get the bleeding to slow we put some peroxide on it, a bit of newskin and a butterfly bandage. Wrapped it up and called it a night...though it was still very painful.

After a few days of caring for it and adding more newskin it began to heal. As you can see in the photo, there's some scar tissue or something going on there because there's quite a lump there. It doesn't hurt, and I can bend my finger and have sensation with it...but it looks a bit weird. Hind sight, we definitely should have taken a trip to urgent care for some stitches!

[bearfacedkiller]

Those Camp 10s are great. I don’t love the handle but it is a great value and chops well.

My worst bites have not been Spydies. I cut the tip of my middle finger off at Boy Scout camp as a kid with an Old Timer Stockman. They stuck it back on with adhesive strips and it healed up ok. Looks good but has no feeling.

I had a twelve inch Bowie fall off a whiskey barrel planter I had set it on. It fell tip first into my bare foot. It stuck into a bone or it would have probably gone through my foot. The knife weighs about 1.3 pounds. I didn’t have much of a wound but the tip of my foot was sore for about a month.

This isn’t knife related but I once put a 1/16 inch drill bit through my fingertip. I had my hand on the backside of a piece of ductwork and was drilling through it. I thought my hand was clear but when the bit finally punched through it went in the pad of my finger and out through the middle of my nail. I pulled it out as fast as it happened and the bit never stopped spinning so it was quick at least. I like to think that I have a high pain threshold but I almost passed out and I almost threw up. I was on the roof my house and it was about 100 degrees out. Bad day!

[ChrisinHove]

.... I once put a 1/16 inch drill bit through my fingertip. ...

Just reading that made me queasy.

A long while ago when fitting my kitchen, I was trying to be correct (ie too clever) fitting skirting boards with traditional flat, clasp nails, but late on in the job and evening hit a section where very hard engineering bricks had been built into the wall.

Rather than plug and screw, or glue, or anything sensible I was too tired to consider, I tried to drive the nail in with a lump hammer, missed and took the full blow on my forefinger tip between masonry and hammer.

I think my Mrs found me about half hour later still curled up in the corner!!!

[VooDooChild]

My spydiechef bit me pretty bad. Was missing the tip of my finger for a few weeks.

I have also planed the side of my thumb off with a power planer. But thats not a knife.

[Naperville]

I use to DO martial arts (escrima, and arnis) 7 days a week, ranging from 1hr to 12hrs a day.

One day I decided to try some moves that I made up with live blades. I probably did the moves thousands of times, but happened to be using 2 knives that were approximately 4 inches longer than normal.

I almost put a blade, tip first, through the palm of my left hand. Luckily, the knife was not that great of a penetrator or the knife would have been buried to the hilt in my left palm. The tendons, major muscles and blood vessels were not cut, but they were pushed above the normal boundary of the backside of my left hand.

The DRs at the hospital marveled. Comments were along the lines of "I bet you could not do that again without requiring major surgery!" I lucked out.

After around 3 weeks, all was back to normal and the stitches came out.

[BLJace]

this is the aftermath of of the one i told in the story.

[BLJace]

Those Camp 10s are great. I don’t love the handle but it is a great value and chops well.

My worst bites have not been Spydies. I cut the tip of my middle finger off at Boy Scout camp as a kid with an Old Timer Stockman. They stuck it back on with adhesive strips and it healed up ok. Looks good but has no feeling.

I had a twelve inch Bowie fall off a whiskey barrel planter I had set it on. It fell tip first into my bare foot. It stuck into a bone or it would have probably gone through my foot. The knife weighs about 1.3 pounds. I didn’t have much of a wound but the tip of my foot was sore for about a month.

This isn’t knife related but I once put a 1/16 inch drill bit through my fingertip. I had my hand on the backside of a piece of ductwork and was drilling through it. I thought my hand was clear but when the bit finally punched through it went in the pad of my finger and out through the middle of my nail. I pulled it out as fast as it happened and the bit never stopped spinning so it was quick at least. I like to think that I have a high pain threshold but I almost passed out and I almost threw up. I was on the roof my house and it was about 100 degrees out. Bad day!

sorry for the double post, but that drill bit scene is a nightmare, guh man sorry that happened to you.

[RustyIron]

this is the aftermath of of the one i told in the story.

Nice. Bet those ragged stitches left a cool pattern.
On the bright side, I'm sure you're MUCH smarter than you were when you didn't have that little reminder.

My stupi... uh... least wise... knife mishap was high atop a mountain in the dead of winter. We hiked all day to get to our intended camp. It was late. It was dark. It was cold. It was time to cook dinner. My friend was lighting getting the stoves and gear ready, and I reached into my pocket to grab my knife.

I'll bet you already know where this story is going.

My chosen knife was a a thin little Mel Pardue switchblade. It was button operated and there was a safety lever... which I never used. If you don't already know, I like my knives sharp, very sharp. As I jammed my hand into my pocket, I immediately knew something was severely amiss. It didn't hurt very badly, which is one of the benefits of slicing oneself with a very sharp knife. But it was clear what had happened. I recoiled in horror and grabbed the injured hand with the good one and squeezed tightly, because squeezing tightly is what you do in such situations.

It took several minutes of squeezing my hand, and cursing my foolishness, before I could muster the courage to look at it. But no matter how bad it might be, you eventually have to look. So look I did. And my hand was indeed cut. It was bad enough to need stitches, but walking off the mountain in the middle of the night in the freezing cold is even more foolhardy than carrying an unlocked switchblade in one's pocket. So I slopped antibiotic goop all over the wound, then taped it up.

After the first aid, wine was poured from the Platypus, fire built, and dinner cooked. Life returned to it's usual goodness, and everyone lived happily ever after.

[ThomC]

Minor bites so far :
- Sawed (because that's the proper term) through half of my left thumbnail with a bread knife that slipped on the loaf. PITA to heal when you're a guitarist
- Stabbed my right palm at the base of the thumb with my PM2 after it slipped from my hand and I tried to catch it with my ****** fast reflexes. The tip came back out hooked to tendrils of meat. The hole was clean and everything went back in but again, takes a while to heal because it's always rubbed on
- And finally I bit through the flesh on the inside of my left thumb again yesterday cutting bread. Might be time to change that bread knife.

Oh and I'm always terrified of using my mother-in-law's knives because they have never seen a sharpener. 'Sharp knives are scary' you know.

[soc_monki]

Chopped the end of my left thumb off while chopping ham when I worked at a restaurant. I was concentrating and one of the girls came around the corner and tried to surprise me. I was just cing down to dice the meat and I heard a crunch. Chef knife went right through my nail, and I instantly dropped the knife and went to the sink.

Of course there was nothing the hospital could do, and the end of my thumb has grown back. Can't even tell I chopped off about 3/16th of a digit. Man it hurt though! Got a little light headed, but drove myself to the ER. Probably not the best idea but I'm still here.

[DSH007]

this is the aftermath of of the one i told in the story.

Nice. Bet those ragged stitches left a cool pattern.
On the bright side, I'm sure you're MUCH smarter than you were when you didn't have that little reminder.

My stupi... uh... least wise... knife mishap was high atop a mountain in the dead of winter. We hiked all day to get to our intended camp. It was late. It was dark. It was cold. It was time to cook dinner. My friend was lighting getting the stoves and gear ready, and I reached into my pocket to grab my knife.

I'll bet you already know where this story is going.

My chosen knife was a a thin little Mel Pardue switchblade. It was button operated and there was a safety lever... which I never used. If you don't already know, I like my knives sharp, very sharp. As I jammed my hand into my pocket, I immediately knew something was severely amiss. It didn't hurt very badly, which is one of the benefits of slicing oneself with a very sharp knife. But it was clear what had happened. I recoiled in horror and grabbed the injured hand with the good one and squeezed tightly, because squeezing tightly is what you do in such situations.

It took several minutes of squeezing my hand, and cursing my foolishness, before I could muster the courage to look at it. But no matter how bad it might be, you eventually have to look. So look I did. And my hand was indeed cut. It was bad enough to need stitches, but walking off the mountain in the middle of the night in the freezing cold is even more foolhardy than carrying an unlocked switchblade in one's pocket. So I slopped antibiotic goop all over the wound, then taped it up.

After the first aid, wine was poured from the Platypus, fire built, and dinner cooked. Life returned to it's usual goodness, and everyone lived happily ever after.

Hahah, I enjoy the way you write Rusty.. this was the most entertaining thing I've read on the internet in a while and just another solid example of why the forum needs a "like" button.. :)

[Ankerson]

Got cut the other day, was minor though.

Stupid mistake, wasn't watching the tip while breaking down boxes and it bit me on top of my thumb.

Worst was when a Busse flew out of my hand and bounced then stabbed me in the leg.

[Sumdumguy]

I don't get bit too often, but last night was the exception. My Mantra caught me slippin'!



The funny part was that I stopped my wife from cutting something, because she was going to cut herself. Then I go over and cut myself doing what I stopped her from doing...

I'll call it a win, though. I took the cut so she didn't have to.

[Evil D]

I've got about a 3 inch scar on the top of my left thigh from a utility knife cut. Kinda hard to explain what I was doing, it was at a job making plastic film. I sliced right through my jeans and had to use duct tape to hold it shut for the rest of the shift. Never got stiched, I just kept it closed with steri strips but it probably needed a dozen or so stiches.

Another one on my right pinky finger from an old back lock knife closing on my hand. I was young and dumb stabbing the knife into a tree and squeezed it too hard and pressed the lock button enough that it allowed the blade to close on the next stab. I still have a numb spot on my pinky and that was at least 30 years ago.

Beyond that I just have lots of semi serious finger cuts. I still have a scar on my left finger from testing out my mother's Ginsu kitchen knives lol.

[Knivesinedc]

It honestly has to be the time I was cutting some thick plastic pallet straps with a Ladybug SE at work. Had a bit of poor hand placement and it soared through a strap, straight into my left pinky. Went far enough in I felt it give a nice tap to the bone hiding under my vulnerable flesh. Bled through 6-7 paper towels. Still have limited sensation in my pinkie. I have never been to the ER as a patient, and did not go in for the shanking that was my ladybug haha. I refuse to go in for something that doesn't necessarily need immediate treatment and that wastes valuable rooms in the emergency department lol

[FullScaler]

There are some scars that will never heal and will mark you until your last day.

In my grade 12 shop class, my buddy Bryan and I had finished all our main projects and the teacher allowed us to make a "decorative" sword and battle axe display. After welding and grinding some 1/4" mild steel into a 3-foot blade and a 20lb battle axe the shop teacher made sure they were thoroughly blunted before we mounted them on the big display plaque.

As soon as we left the school we ripped them off the display and took the grinder to them in my dads' garage and then proceed to launch ourselves into a "mock" axe and sword battle. Long story short, he ended up stabbing me in the chest just inside my left armpit and went about 2 inches in before quickly yanking it out.

We didn't want my parents to find out about the axe and sword so we tried taping it up but it ended up bleeding through my shirt at the dinner table that night and I spent a few hours in the emergency room getting a bunch of stitches.

It was a lot of years ago but I still smile about the stupid things we did as kids, and I still have that scar to remind me every time I see it.

[PineyBoy]

About 30 years ago I was newely divorced and living the life. There were a number of people sitting around my island as I chopped mushrooms for a dish and after consuming a number of bottles of wine. Being 1/2 in the bag I was playing the fool and snapping the knife like a food processor. I ended up processing my finger. Stupid ***.

[ladybug93]

carelessly file sharpening my ontario cutlass machete...