A Word of Warning...Caution, Somewhat Graphic Images

[lostwithagps]

Ouch! Looks like quite a cut A friend of mine managed to sever the tendon right at the upper joint of his middle finger while opening a oil can, not only knives are sharp!
Good advice, thanks for sharing, and hope your hand heals well! I have a nice scar in the soft bits between my thumb and index finger on my right hand from playing with knives.. Nailed my hand to the desk with a penknife, trying to "fix" some thing

lol i have that kinda scar on my left hand. held what i was cutting wrong and the knife slipped, opps well i learned a leason

[Hachiman]

*cough* I killed a car hood once and was "bit" in the process. Yeah, we all do things without thinking it completely over sometimes...

Hope you have a speedy recovery

[leatherheadskin]

thanks a lot that made my balls hurt for some reason...

[superkord]

So the tendon graft was successful. I'm back in my old brace again until about Thanksgiving. I counted about 40 stitches. To attach the tendon at the tip they drilled a socket into the bone and then drilled two smaller holes through the bone and into the nail to tie the tendon in place. Its pretty gnarly looking.



And yes, it hurts as bad as it looks. Ice packs and keeping it elevated are my best friends right now. Oh, and the percocet is nice too.

-c/Kord!

[shrapnel]

That is SO. FUCKING. COOL.

Not that you were hurt, or needed the surgery, but that they can, you know, DO that.

Heal well.

[Bad Penny 08]

"Why, yes...this is my hand... made of a wrist."

http://youtu.be/4cCAB8x_FwQ

[Dak Kovar]

Superkord: It sucks that yoiu have to do all of this but, again, thanks for posting it. I'm going to have the boys read this again. I hope you heal well and quickly.

Regards,
DK

[Sledgecrowbar]

This is exactly the reason I didn't buy the Bushman, even though I liked the idea of a strong tang and no scales to break/rot/wear out. A spear point is a spear point and a sheath knife is a sheath knife. I've been shopping lately (both pocket knife and fixed-blade) and I toss out a lot of otherwise *really* nice-looking knives because they either don't have a true guard or at least a really good index finger hollow. I just know I'm clumsy enough when it's time to hurry that I need one less source of having to stop to break out the FAK. Sutures, even more so.

That's awesome what they did to fix the OP. Nasty access hatch they made in your hand, though.

[TDW586]

This is exactly the reason I didn't buy the Bushman, even though I liked the idea of a strong tang and no scales to break/rot/wear out. A spear point is a spear point and a sheath knife is a sheath knife. I've been shopping lately (both pocket knife and fixed-blade) and I toss out a lot of otherwise *really* nice-looking knives because they either don't have a true guard or at least a really good index finger hollow. I just know I'm clumsy enough when it's time to hurry that I need one less source of having to stop to break out the FAK. Sutures, even more so.

That's awesome what they did to fix the OP. Nasty access hatch they made in your hand, though.

Disagreed; some knives (most bushcraft knives, IMO) are not made for stabbing, hence, don't stab things with them. If you're looking for a stabby tool, by all means, a guard is necessary.

[ITGuy]

That's looking pretty rough. Hope you heal up well.

[Sledgecrowbar]

Disagreed; some knives (most bushcraft knives, IMO) are not made for stabbing, hence, don't stab things with them. If you're looking for a stabby tool, by all means, a guard is necessary.

I wasn't actually thinking about stabbing, but I imagine you could certainly want to stab a can of oil or a melon to open one up, not (hopefully not - damn cans) a combat motion, and certainly something you could come across in less than apocalyptic situations. If you had a serrated knife and were sawing with it, you could slide your hand up onto the blade if it got caught. Some knives have high-friction grips to help prevent this and counter a wet, muddy, or bloody handle (think dressing game, not Rambo combat), but nothing is as sure as a guard or finger notch.

[squinty]

Nothing wrong with a guard. I like a little bit of guard ahead of my index finger. But too big a guard gets in the way of some tasks, and displaces the useful part of the edge further ahead of your hand, and - a guard is not a substitute for safe knife handling. Stabbing forcefully downward onto a hard surface can make your hand override a guard, if you put enough force into the stab.

[Apocollapse]

A good way to keep your hand from sliding onto the blade is put a good strong 550 paracord lanyard on the knife and put your hand through it before stabbing. If you watch Cold Steel's Proof videos, they usually do this whenever demonstrating stabbing, and that's where I learned it. Safety first, dudes.

I made a similarly less-than-smart mistake once .... I was flipping a butterfly knife around when I was about 16 years old, dropped it, and was stupid enough to actually try and catch it before it hit the ground. Got to see what my finger bone looks like for that one. From then on, whenever I dropped a knife, I let that sumbitch fall. Better the concrete dings the blade than the blade dings my hand.

Thanks for sharing, though, dude. Sorry about your pain and your med bills. The Cold Steel Kukri .... wow .... just about anything made by Cold Steel is in the "last fuggin' knife I would want my hand sliding onto" category, especially the Kukri. Of all the knives in the world to have this happen with.

[LBB]

Know what amuses me?
If OP had posted to this same forum that he'd SHOT himself in the hand, every single post would be battering him for being negligent and careless. But since it's a knife, we all relate to it.

I didn't see this posting, but I know some people learn with pain only.
A friend of mine cut himself badly with a sword when he showed how not to use one!!!

[Valarius]

Well I suppose an update on my hand is in order. Last week I was taking an afternoon nap (Ive either been sleeping or working lately) and just before I woke up I guess I stretched my arms out involuntarily. I woke up to this loud POPing sound and intense pain in my hand. I went to the doctor and his diagnosis was, and I quote, "you're fucked." I ruptured the tendon even though it was secure in the brace. For the next day or so, I could feel the tendon contracting down into my hand. Nothing so far has hurt as bad as that.

The three options I have now are:
1) Re-repair the rupture. If the initial surgery had an 80% chance of success this would be more like 40%.
2) Do nothing. I'd be the guy who looked like he was always drinking tea with the queen.
3) Tendon graft. There is a tendon in the wrist that is not used. Some 20% of people dont even have one. They will remove it and attach it above and below the damaged tendon.

Im opting for #3. It will be harder, and much more expensive, but it will be more likely to succeed. The other thing is I wont break my finger everytime I get into a fight or anything like that. My next appoinment is this Friday and Ill let everyone know what the plan is after that.

I really appreciate all the comments and stories that everyone is sharing. That was the main reason I wanted to share this with everyone.

-c/Kord!

The same 20% are inevitably the people who don't fuck around with knives.


Your thread is both cringe-worthy and informative. I'm glad it was stickied. Try not to rupture your hand anymore.

[Gun_Nut_2k1]

Look at it this way, you can now improve yourself. You get to learn to be right handed.

[squinty]

cold steel kinda has a bad track record with cutting people. I know more then a few people that have cut themselves with a bushman (also no guard)

maybe their knives are unsafe...or maybe their just cheap enough all of us dumb-asses can afford them

Cold Steel knives are unsafe for the same reason all knives are unsafe: they are sharp. A knife that you can't cut yourself with is useless.

[squinty]

Know what amuses me?
If OP had posted to this same forum that he'd SHOT himself in the hand, every single post would be battering him for being negligent and careless. But since it's a knife, we all relate to it.

I didn't see this posting, but I know some people learn with pain only.
A friend of mine cut himself badly with a sword when he showed how not to use one!!!

"I'm the only one in this room that I know of, professional enough to hold this gun!"



Actually, most of the negligent discharge threads on this board end up with everyone patting the NDer on the back and congratulating him for manning up and admitting his error, and expressing confidence that he (or she) has learned a lesson. There's little bashing.

In some peoples' opinion, not enough censure is applied to people who ND. You'll notice JamesCannon pointed and laughed at the OP in this thread.

[Apocollapse]

Cold Steel knives are unsafe for the same reason all knives are unsafe: they are sharp. A knife that you can't cut yourself with is useless.

Couldn't have said it better myself.

[squinty]

Thank you. I'm here all week!
That's a modified quote from a science fiction story I read years ago. I remember alomst nothing about the story, except the scene where some native guides are escorting westerners through a future Siberia full of dangerous game to photograph white tigers or something.
Only one of the guides, the boss, appears to speak English. The other hangs back from the group with a rifle at the ready, just in case. One of the tourists nervously asks the boss "He's got the safety on, on that rifle right?"
At which point the silent, rifle toting guide looks up, as though his feelings are hurt, and says "Is not safe. Is gun!"
Stuck with me because of the comic effect, and because it was such a succinct safety lecture. As with guns, knives.

That said, I certainly do prefer at least a small hilt or guard on my knives to prevent finger slidy. It's the only thing I dislike about using my Wave as a pocket knife.

[tonytwotimes]

So, I work at Harbor Freight. Those of you (un)lucky enough to shop at one of these stores will get a kick out of this. We sell ceramic kitchen knives in our cheesy bullshit section that are razor fucking sharp. They are actually pretty damn good kitchen knives. Well, we all know that people who shop at Harbor Freight must open all the boxes on the shelves in search of that famed HFT golden ticket.

I come walking around the corner one day to find a ceramic knife broken on the floor, but whats all the red stuff everywhere? I never did find the customer but I did track what their next frantic moments must have been thanks to the blood trail. (made we wanna get out and hunt) From housewares, through fasteners, to the back of the store. Some quick pacing and then a wild right turn towards the bathroom. Oh but wait, thats a good deal on a rake, let me fucking bloody that up.

[catalyst]

This is exactly why you do not play with knives - they are not toys. The kukri was not designed to be thrust into a hard wooden table.

I guess I look at this thread like I look at self-inflicted gunshot wounds from miss-use threads posted at my firearm forums - Its a good wakeup call. I think you're quite lucky they were able to rebuild the tendons and that you'll still have use of the digit, because if you were thrusting that down into hard wood, you must have had a pretty solid grip on the pommel, which means you probably had a pretty solid grip on the blade as your hand went down it. Ouch.

[cmxterra]

Ouch.

Glad you are o.k.
That is something that only happens once (or at least you hope so)

[NGshooter17]

I have simikar damage done before. Not from a knife but fingers hurt when they get all f'd up...