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Read Thread: OW!!!!!!

OW!!!!!!
Board: Traditional Letterboxes
Dec 5, 2006 8:45am
Thread (disabled) Board
So I was making my very first letterbook (I know everyone is wincing, knowing what is coming). I was doing really well, it was an old book so on the down stroke the pages started to tear weird, so I used my dremil. Okay that was working good, but I had to lift these pages. I stuck my exacto knife under the edges of the pages (uh oh, see it coming) I stabbed myself in the thumb, really hard. OW. Luckily it was only a small puncture wound, but a little deep.

Watch out for those exacto knives, they're sharp.

Alaska HSM (Whose thumb really hurts)
Re: OW!!!!!!
Board: Traditional Letterboxes
Reply to: #55151 by Alaska hsm
Dec 5, 2006 9:03am
Thread (disabled) Board
I feel your pain...I was working on another craft project (gasp is there such a thing) I jabbed myself with a nice new blade and started to bleed. My husband full of sympathy says quick get a bandaid...you dont want to bleed on the project!!

My thumb hurts too!

vicki
Re: OW!!!!!!
Board: Traditional Letterboxes
Reply to: #55151 by Alaska hsm
Dec 5, 2006 9:08am
Thread (disabled) Board
Quote Alaska HSM (Whose thumb really hurts)

Sorry to hear about the thumb, but thank God it was only
the thumb, so you can still check AQ mail and type!
Six Stars *who cas cut or stabbed almost every finger and both thumbs befor taking up boxing*
Re: OW!!!!!!
Board: Traditional Letterboxes
Reply to: #55151 by Alaska hsm
Dec 5, 2006 9:18am
Thread (disabled) Board
I'm glad you're okay.

But this is a good reminder to everyone to be careful and pay attention to what you're doing while making art.

As you're working, be aware of the position of your hands and tools. Think about which way you are cutting, poking, et cetera. Consider your digits before you start to slice. A moment of inattention, slip of the knife, and you're gonna need stitches (or worse)!

I do think that we tend to be a lot less careful when working in our own homes.

And, I may as well take this opportunity to remind people to think twice about the art materials that you're using in your homes (ESPECIALLY in your kitchens). Is the material hazardous to human health? Are you creating fumes or vapors or dusts that could land on cooking surfaces?

A good example of this would be the use of Sculpey or Fimo. These art materials contain pthalates, which cause birth defects and other very, very serious health effects. Do you REALLY want to bake this in the same oven that you'll be using to make the Christmas cookies?

For more information:
http://tinyurl.com/yjd6mr

Think Safe Thoughts!
Lisascenic
Re: OW!!!!!!
Board: Traditional Letterboxes
Reply to: #55156 by Crazyolis
Dec 5, 2006 9:24am
Thread (disabled) Board
Quote I feel your pain...I was working on another craft project (gasp is there such a thing) I jabbed myself with a nice new blade and started to bleed. My husband full of sympathy says quick get a bandaid...you dont want to bleed on the project!!


OK, war story time. I used to work at Pratt & Whitney Aircraft in S FL, where we did development work on military jet engines. I was a test engineer, meaning I would be charged with building an experimental engine and then running it to see how well it worked. These engines would be heavily instrumented, meaning they had pressure and temperature sensors in various places inside with tiny little metal-sheathed wires or metal tubes leading out. These metal lines were labelled with tiny printed labels that were slipped around the tube and held in place by transparent heat-shrink tubing. The guys applying these labels would cut out the labels with an X-Acto knife. They worked on metal tables.

Everything is always behind schedule, and the bosses always want to know what the holdup is. One day we had to report a holdup in instrumentation. Seems the guy applying the labels was sitting there concentrating on a label when his X-Acto knife decided to roll off the table. It landed, point down -- well, let's just say he has two, and it skewered one. To the hilt.

He was back at work the next day. Apparently it really didn't cause any serious damage, just a few stitches or whatever to fix him up. He also claimed it didn't hurt as much as you might think.
Re: OW!!!!!!
Board: Traditional Letterboxes
Reply to: #55169 by Kirbert
Dec 5, 2006 9:29am
Thread (disabled) Board
I am not even a boy and that made me cringe!!
Re: OW!!!!!!
Board: Traditional Letterboxes
Reply to: #55151 by Alaska hsm
Dec 5, 2006 9:32am
Thread (disabled) Board
OOOO...I do stuff like that more often then I should mention! Why, just the other night I was using just plain old scissors, and ended up snipping the top of my pointer on the left hand! Now that it's healing, I can tell it was a little longer than I had originally thought!

But, luckily, it didn't have any effect whatsoever with my typing, or my ability to decopage!! ;)

moonshowr ~~who wonders if she could still craft while wearing gardening gloves ~~
Re: OW!!!!!!
Board: Traditional Letterboxes
Reply to: #55171 by Crazyolis
Dec 5, 2006 9:36am
Thread (disabled) Board
Tell me about it!!!! Whoooo!!! I can't wait to see the look on my hubbies face tonight when I retell that one!!! :D

moonshowr
Re: OW!!!!!!
Board: Traditional Letterboxes
Reply to: #55151 by Alaska hsm
Dec 5, 2006 9:45am
Thread (disabled) Board
Ooooooh! My sympathies! *wincing* Blood, sweat and tears is only an expression!

In college I worked in the Preservation Department for the University Library System, and I got to fix books. It was fun, rewarding work that really felt like accomplishing something (as opposed to working int he stacks where you reshelve and straighten an endless stream of books day after day after day...). It was great to do something manual and that allowed me to decompress after class.

Anyway, part of the repair process is scraping off all the old glue from the book block after you remove the cover and spine, to prep it for repair. To do this we would often used the chisel tool. Of course during training I was warned to always scrape away from my body and to watch fingers. Of course within the first week I scraped toward my left hand, which was grasping the spine. Got it right in the web between thumb and forefinger. Didn't get any blood on the book though!

I earned the eternal respect and admiration of my boss when he applied rubbing alcohol to the wound to cleanse it and I didn't so much as flinch.

And about once every two years I manage to slice my thumb when making mockups b/c said thumb sneaks over the edge of the ruler as I trim a page.

But then again I'm accident-prone. My mom says I didn't realize I had feet until I was five b/c my knees were always scraped up as a child, and I joke that you can always tell it's spring/summer because I have bruises and scrapes from yardwork and playing with the boys. And I have a fairly permanent bruise on my left quad, right at the height of the footboard of our bed from bumping into it at night when I get up to re-tuck in one of the boys.

-AG
Re: OW!!!!!!
Board: Traditional Letterboxes
Reply to: #55151 by Alaska hsm
Dec 5, 2006 10:42am
Thread (disabled) Board
I have to reply with a story about my DW. He had sprained his ankle falling through a floor, and we decided to take an early vacation. The kids and I set up camp (pop up trailer) while he "rested." He brought a plastic model (many years before Lb) for something to do. First night, he cuts his index finger with the exacto knife, down to the bone! SO, I packed him, his crutch and bandaged finger into the car and took him to the nearest ER. THe doctor while putting in stitches teased him! Upon leaving, the doctors instructions were: Keep the finger/ hand elevated! Well, picture this - walking out of the hospital with a crutch under one arm, and his other arm elevated!!! It was a picture perfect moment (only I didn't pack the camera!!!)

LtW
Re: OW!!!!!!
Board: Traditional Letterboxes
Reply to: #55151 by Alaska hsm
Dec 5, 2006 1:50pm
Thread (disabled) Board
oooh sorry for your booboo....

but i'm glad to hear you're using the dremel... i just got myself one today!! WOOHOO!
now.... if you hear screams and then later sirens coming from the middle section of the east coast later this evening..... just say a prayer.. then you can roll your eyes! LOL
Re: OW!!!!!!
Board: Traditional Letterboxes
Reply to: #55169 by Kirbert
Dec 5, 2006 4:19pm
Thread (disabled) Board
Have you ever jabbed a Speedball curved carving knife blade into the end of your thumb? I went to Misery...no, wait...that's Missouri with my wife to visit her parents and while we were there I wanted to plant a couple boxes. So, there I was at my mom-in-law's kitchen table just a carving away when the knife slipped and I sank a #2 V blade into the end of my thumb. I jerked and it wouldn't let go. I slung (didn't have the fortitude to pull it out) and it wouldn't let go. I yelled obscenities and it wouldn't let go. Finally my 9 year old daughter came to see what was wrong and before I could even react she had reached up fast as lightening and yanked it out. Then there was blood. Not much but it was my blood. Be careful carving.
Re: OW!!!!!!
Board: Traditional Letterboxes
Reply to: #55193 by Lighting the Way
Dec 5, 2006 4:26pm
Thread (disabled) Board
That is too funny. It sounds like a sit-com episode. I expect to turn on Nick at Night and see Tony Danza walking out of the hospital like that with Judith Light behind him yelling "Who's the boss, now, Mr. Macho?"
Re: OW!!!!!!
Board: Traditional Letterboxes
Reply to: #55209 by Alyson Wonderland
Dec 5, 2006 8:16pm
Thread (disabled) Board
Quote but i'm glad to hear you're using the dremel... i just got myself one today!! WOOHOO!
now.... if you hear screams and then later sirens coming from the middle section of the east coast later this evening....


I'm an old hand with a Dremel -- in fact, I think I'm on my 3rd or 4th one.

I must strongly advise not to get one particular accessory. It's a little nose extension. Around the front end of a Dremel is a black plastic nut that holds the halves of the housing together. This accessory replaced that nut and provided a bit of extension out forward. The idea is that you can grip the Dremel closer to the cutting tip when doing fine work. Sounded like a good idea to me.

This particular item provided two "arms" extending forward. This allows you to still use the little wrench to change bits, since you can fit the wrench between the arms.

Here's the problem: When holding the Dremel between thumb and forefinger on these extension arms, my middle finger -- tucked up underneath the forefinger -- got caught between one of those extension arms and the bit itself. It grabbed the finger and wouldn't let go. In about a half second, it ground all the way through the fingernail and down into the meat underneath. Unpleasant in the extreme.

That extension piece got tossed immediately. And I recommend that anyone else with one do the same.