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Embarrassing incident with a small knife this afternoon. I was driving to the grocery store to pickup lunch. I stopped the car in the parking lot and was listening to a news story on the radio. While listening I noticed a hangnail on my finger so opened the scissors on my small knife which is attached to my car keyring. I clipped off the hangnail, then got distracted by the radio for a moment.

The news story completed and I shut off the car and exited to walk to the grocery store. I had my keys in my hand and started pushing them into my jeans pocket. They resisted briefly just as I felt a sharp pain in my right hand.

I looked down and the scissors had punctured the muscle between my thumb and index finger. I pulled the scissors out and closed the knife and put it back into my pocket.

Right away the wound started bleeding pretty badly so I held my right hand up and applied pressure with the left hand as I continued to walk into the grocery store.

Luckily the doors were automatic so I was able to walk all the way to the restroom without touching anything. As luck would have it the water was turned off as they were doing some kind of maintenance. There was still enough water in the pipes for me to be able to wash the wound with cold water and soap. Once I cleaned it I got enough tissue paper to apply pressure to the wound, with a second batch in my pocket because at this point I wasn't sure how long this would bleed.

I walked to the salad bar and prepared my lunch. My right hand was still bleeding so I attempted to do everything with my left hand. When I went to pay I had to use both hands and it was awkward as I tried to not make a scene with my bloody right hand.

Finally I was able to get to a table and keep my right hand slightly elevated as I ate. After a few more minutes the bleeding stopped. Then the water was turned back on in the building so I was able to run cold water over the wound to bring down the swelling.

About two hours later the wound had closed and appeared to be small (1/8th inch) and should heal quickly. I was lucky that I did not push the scissors into my leg. Or some other part of my hand where more damage could have occurred.

I think I may make a new rule. Only use the small knife on my keyring when the keyring is not in the car ignition. Put the scissors immediately back into the knife after use! Same with any other blade on this knife.

On second thought -- maybe having a knife on a keyring is just a bad idea? Your thoughts?

alan007 wrote: On second thought -- maybe having a knife on a keyring is just a bad idea? Your thoughts?

That's nonsense. Accidents can happen in all kinds of situations. Just be careful. :)

It can definitely be dangerous. I've always had a Ladybug on my keys and one day it managed to open while in my pocket. I carry my keys clipped to my belt loop and tucked into my back pocket. I reached in to get a folded up paper out of that pocket and the blade slit my pinky open. After that I tightened the pivot down to where it takes considerable force to open it.

Evil D wrote:It can definitely be dangerous. I've always had a Ladybug on my keys and one day it managed to open while in my pocket. I carry my keys clipped to my belt loop and tucked into my back pocket. I reached in to get a folded up paper out of that pocket and the blade slit my pinky open. After that I tightened the pivot down to where it takes considerable force to open it.

That's one of the reasons I make sheaths for the ladybugs. I haven't personally had it happen, but a buddy got bit.

A knife in the pocket can be dangerous, for certain. You can never, ever, simply blindly and unthinkingly shove your hand in your pocket if there is any kind of a knife in there.
What is ironic is that I think a small fixed blade would be safer than a folder, but there are many locations that a fixed blade in the pocket of any size is illegal. Smart law, huh?

More like handling sharp or pointy things absentmindedly can be dangerous.

Have had a small knife on my key ring for rolling years. For the last thirteen of those it's been a Jester. Never had a problem and don't expect to but, if I do, it will probably be my own dam fault, not the knife's.

FWIW, if I ever saw anyone at the salad bar in a grocery store dripping blood, I'd cause one heck of a scene.

I have a LBK hawkbill on both of my car keys, and no accidents yet.
It's like Deacon said, if something happens, it's a user error. :D

saw anyone at the salad bar in a grocery store dripping blood

I may have embellished my initial post a bit to make it more of an adventure. After I finished rinsing the cut in cold water the bleeding had pretty much stopped. My hand was also wrapped and in my pocket at the salad bar. I definitely was not 'dripping blood at the salad bar'!. :)

Definitely was not blaming the knife either. It was clearly my fault for not paying attention. After a bit of reflection I think the issue for me was using the knife (scissors) while the key was in the car ignition. It was too easy to get distracted and forget that the scissors were not safely folded back into the handle.

I've carried a knife on my key ring for 15+ years with no issues before. I'm going to try and remember to not use the knife if the key is in the car ignition.

I don't have a knife on my Key ring but I do pocket carry lots of fixed bladed knives and never had an issue...There is a Ladybug in the watch pocket of my jeans that comes in handy now and then. I think it not a good idea to have a knife or anything that can puncture and make a wound in flesh attached to your key chain, too many things could happen that I consider dangerous. Doc:)

I don't carry my ladybug or manbug on a keyring because I feel like the spydie hole is just begging to get snagged by the keys and open. For this reason, my lady/manbugs go into my watch pocket all by themselves, where there's nothing else to accidentally leverage them open. I also carry my regular pocket knives with the blade spine against the rear seam of my pocket, so there's no empty space for the blade to open into. That means tip up goes in the right pocket, and tip down in the left (when set up for right hand carry).

In regards to this, have any of you ever had or known of a situation where a larger folder (say Delica or Endura sized or larger) was inside your pocket, in closed position, and due to some material or cloth of the pocket getting stuck between the blade edge and handle, the knife not fully closing, and then opening up or cutting when you or they reached into the pocket? That was always a concern of mine.

I guess one remedy, though it would limit your speed of opening if necessary, would be to keep the folder inside a pouch or something, when inside your pocket.

alan007 wrote: .....On second thought -- maybe having a knife on a keyring is just a bad idea? Your thoughts?

No offense intended, but the lesson here is to always EDC a small, personal FAK (First-Aid Kit).

Or, at the very least, a handful of Band-Aids in one's wallet or credit card case.

Monocrom wrote: to always EDC a small, personal FAK (First-Aid Kit).

Or, at the very least, a handful of Band-Aids in one's wallet or credit card case.

+1 to this. band-aids at least.

I believe all of us who have keychain knives like to live dangerously :)

"Danger" is my middle name :D

Now I'm even more leery of salad bars... . Don't let one incident change your way of carrying. This was 100 percent oversight on your part not knife malfunction or failure. Knives/scissors are sharp and they will cut you... I accidentally cut myself all the time. Get yourself some bandaids, guaze, steristrips, nitrile gloves, alcohol wipes, and some neosporin. Put them all in a ziploc and throw it in your glove box and you're good to go for the next mishap :)

+1 on increased salad bar phobia :eek:

Need to make up a Ziplock Kit. Smart advice, Spydergirl88.

I opt for a keychain flashlight. With a mid-size EDC, I'm all set.

Blood on a salad bar...yum, yum. I am glad I was not the guy coming behind you. :eek:

Doc Dan wrote:Blood on a salad bar...yum, yum. I am glad I was not the guy coming behind you. :eek:

DANG!!! I thought it was hot sauce for the taco salad!! :D

Safety First

SpyderEdgeForever wrote:In regards to this, have any of you ever had or known of a situation where a larger folder (say Delica or Endura sized or larger) was inside your pocket, in closed position, and due to some material or cloth of the pocket getting stuck between the blade edge and handle, the knife not fully closing, and then opening up or cutting when you or they reached into the pocket? That was always a concern of mine.

I guess one remedy, though it would limit your speed of opening if necessary, would be to keep the folder inside a pouch or something, when inside your pocket.

Didn't happen with an Endura, but my first para 2 ended up cutting the tubing running from my insulin pump to the first connection point of the infusion site. Mostly due to the open back design. Cut a pair of headphone cords too. Just dont leave any long stringy items in the same pocket as the Para :rolleyes:

Touching on the carry of fixes; I would really like to carry a CRKT minimalist in my back right pocket. I have almost bought one several times. Here in CA though, conceal carry of any fixed blade is illegal, even though, you can carry any size folder concealed. Most police around here don't really give a flying hoot about knives though so it probably wouldn't be that big a deal to carry a fixed blade concealed, so long as its small. It'd be really nice if it was legal though...

EDIT: In traditional me fashion, I didn't even talk about what the thread is about :D I think carrying a slip joint with a traditional nail Nick or something of the like is better than the Spyderhole. I carry a leatherman style CS on my keys and it has a pair of pretty robust scissors for its size and a nice little 420HC FG chisel ground blade. It also has a nail file, tweezers and a little flathead. Everything is under tension so no need to worry about it opening accidentally, but everything is easy to access.

I had my Ladybug come open in my pocket once.

I bought a kydex taco sheath for it. Problem solved.