First Blood

D

davidf99

Gold Member
Joined
Sep 27, 2011
Messages
2,655
I finally cut myself on one of my khukuris, a 16" Chitlangi. First time.

I was wiping mineral oil off the blade and the tip caught me in the fleshy part of the first joint of one finger.

The blade is so sharp and narrow near the tip that the cut isn't visible and doesn't bleed unless I squeeze the finger. It's a surgical incision about 1/2" wide and 3/8" deep. No pain after the initial sting.

I cleaned the cut with antibacterial liquid, applied a dab of antibiotic ointment and put a tight bandage around the fingertip.

This Chitlangi was already one of my favorite blades based on beauty. Now it has the distinction of being the only one of my knives that has tasted blood.

Be careful out there.
 
Yikes! That is why I never sharpen my knives beyond "field sharp".
When I buy Benchmade folders, the first thing I do is cut something to take that keen edge back to just pretty sharp.
Razor sharp sounds cool, but I don't actually want them in my house... ;)
 
I've been bitten quite a few times;) The funny thing is that some bite and some never do. I have never, ever been cut by my first khuk, a Kumar-made villager. Sharp as the devil's tongue, but in a decade and has never broken my skin.
 
Yep. Wiping mineral oil off the blade scares me more than just about anything else I do with my knives. It's that moment whel I start to think about something else (which blade should I do next?) then...schhhickk.

Steely_Gunz said:
The funny thing is that some bite and some never do.
Click to expand...
Agreed, my AK Bowie is ferocious as a junkyard dog - it tries to bites me every time.
 
Last edited:
Be careful with sharp blade and be safe
 
I usually wipe my blades off from the spine to the edge rather than from the handle to the tip. I have not been bitten since I started to do that. Been bitten plenty of other ways though.
 
My Tirtha YCS gave me 14 stitches in my right leg. Always pay attention to what you're doing.
 
The *best* thing to close a clean cut like this is....

SUPER GLUE.

No kidding.

Dermabond is the medical name for it. Made to irritate the skin less...
But i am telling you. if he cut is clean *nothing* works better to close a cut.

(I have even glued the skin from a scrape back on with limited success.)

I pushed a very sharp knife into the tip of my thumb, about 1/4" deep.
Glued it back together and stopped the bleeding. (bled like crazy as you can imagine...)
SuperGlue keeps germs out. What makes superglue so great is that it keeps water and dirt out so it doesn't get infected. And *all* cuts get infected.. You will see how much when you use superglue on for the first time on a cut.
It doesn't get all red around the wound or inflamed at all. My thumb cut was just a little tiny line of dried blood. And there no scar today. you have to look with a magnifying glass to see the spot, and even that is nearly invisible.

I totally needed a couple of stitches, bro....

After a while the glue will starts to crumble and fall off, don't worry. just pick it off and glue it back together again.
Even protects when you occasionally whack the boo-boo again. We all do that.

And WATERPROOF.
This is your solution for cuts at the beach! Everyone should have superglue in the first aid box.
 
Lots of good advice here.

Bric got it right with this: "Wiping mineral oil off the blade scares me more than just about anything else I do with my knives. It's that moment whel I start to think about something else (which blade should I do next?) then...schhhickk." When I'm working with a single knife I'm always very careful. However, oiling the blade is something I tend to do with several knives at a time. That's when the attention can wander, and of course your hand moves quickly over the blade when you're wiping oil on or off.

Shinook is right (and Karda has pointed out on other occasions) that "razor sharp" is neither necessary nor safe. Of course someone who likes to shave his neck with a khukuri might want it razor sharp, but I don't think that would be covered by the warranty. :) In point of fact [no pun intended] my Chitlangi was sharp, just as it came to me from HI, but not razor sharp. The tip has a very narrow edge profile, and that's why it made a surgical incision.

Dirtbiker says: "My Tirtha YCS gave me 14 stitches in my right leg." Hmm, my Chitlangi was also made by Tirtha. Isn't that a coincidence? :grumpy:

GoodStuff recommends superglue: "Dermabond is the medical name for it." I would be willing to try Dermabond, whose formula is FDA-approved, but I'd be leary of the possible chemical components of other superglues, for application to an open wound. It's not what I know about them, but what I don't know, and what the ordinary family physician wouldn't know either. I don't trust the FDA so much either, but at least their approval is better than nothing. So far an ordinary bandaid is holding it together and there has been no bleeding, no swelling, no redness and no pain since I put on the bandaid. I changed it this afternoon, so I got a close look.

Thanks, Yangdu, for your good wishes.

-- Dave
 
It's funny. I carry a 5"-12" bladed fixed blade every day. I might nick myself once every few months requiring nothing more than a string of curses and a bandaid/duct tape dressing.

Last night while trying to sharpen the blades on my Ninja Blender (i would just buy new blades, but they don't sell them by themselves), I managed to put a 1/4" gash i have the tip of my finger. String of curses, 20 minutes of firm pressure, 4 or 5 bled throuh bandaids, and finally a super glue suture before the dang thing stabilized:p

I think I'd rather be bitten by the polished edge of one of my khuks than the rough toothy curved edge of that blender;)

Everybody mind your piggies.
 
davidf99 said:
I would be willing to try Dermabond, whose formula is FDA-approved, but I'd be leary of the possible chemical components of other superglues, for application to an open wound.-- Dave
Click to expand...

It is cleaner than dirt and germs friend. I thought you didnt trust the FDA anyway?
Trust me, and try it. Then i will get to say..."Told ya".:)
 
I use superglue all the time. Clean as the high dollar stuff from the doctor? I dunno, but it does a good job of keeping the red stuff in. Ive laid myself open enough to know when it is going to require the skilled hands of a professional. Super glue bridges the gap between bandage and advanced anatomy lesson;)
 
Steely_Gunz said:
It's funny. I carry a 5"-12" bladed fixed blade every day. I might nick myself once every few months requiring nothing more than a string of curses and a bandaid/duct tape dressing.

Last night while trying to sharpen the blades on my Ninja Blender (i would just buy new blades, but they don't sell them by themselves), I managed to put a 1/4" gash i have the tip of my finger. String of curses, 20 minutes of firm pressure, 4 or 5 bled throuh bandaids, and finally a super glue suture before the dang thing stabilized:p

I think I'd rather be bitten by the polished edge of one of my khuks than the rough toothy curved edge of that blender;)

Everybody mind your piggies.
Click to expand...

Having donated blood to my new Ninja Mega Kitchen, I can relate to you in this. I just got it over the holidays, and its tasted both my mother-in-law and me already. Those blades are wicked, and having several of them really increases the chance of getting cut. It's worth it though, by far the best blender I've ever used.
 
"This Chitlangi was already one of my favorite blades based on beauty. Now it has the distinction of being the only one of my knives that has tasted blood."
Years ago they used to say every blade that left the shop was blessed by Gorkha blood. I don't know if that is still happening, but it's a cool story!
 
GoodStuff said:
The *best* thing to close a clean cut like this is....

SUPER GLUE.

No kidding.

Dermabond is the medical name for it. Made to irritate the skin less...
But i am telling you. if he cut is clean *nothing* works better to close a cut.

(I have even glued the skin from a scrape back on with limited success.)

I pushed a very sharp knife into the tip of my thumb, about 1/4" deep.
Glued it back together and stopped the bleeding. (bled like crazy as you can imagine...)
SuperGlue keeps germs out. What makes superglue so great is that it keeps water and dirt out so it doesn't get infected. And *all* cuts get infected.. You will see how much when you use superglue on for the first time on a cut.
It doesn't get all red around the wound or inflamed at all. My thumb cut was just a little tiny line of dried blood. And there no scar today. you have to look with a magnifying glass to see the spot, and even that is nearly invisible.

I totally needed a couple of stitches, bro....

After a while the glue will starts to crumble and fall off, don't worry. just pick it off and glue it back together again.
Even protects when you occasionally whack the boo-boo again. We all do that.

And WATERPROOF.
This is your solution for cuts at the beach! Everyone should have superglue in the first aid box.
Click to expand...


Excellent advice. Superglue was originally made for the military to close up all kinds of nasty wounds out in the field until the injured could make it back to a medical center.
Anyone who has Superglued a finger to another part of their body know that stuff sets instantly on skin, no do-over. And it's not species specific, have a dog come home after being on the losing end of a butt whipping, it can save an expensive trip to the vet.
When I was in the military, a bunch of us had a few to many adult beverages and ended up waking up with safety pins through our nipples, something that isn't as surprising as it sounds to anyone who did a tour. Anyway, years later I was out doing yard work with my shirt off and the darn thing got caught and ripped clean through my right titty. It is pretty amazing how much blood can come out of a nipple that has been split in half, and equally amazing just how bad of an idea of having stitches in your man boob. Thankfully I remembered the crazy glue thing from my time in the military when I wasn't full of adult beverages and mangling my body on purpose.
One drop of crazy glue returned my two half nips back to one, stopped the unexplainable amount of blood flow, and allowed me to return to the yard work with a minimum amount of harassing from the wife. Worked much like dissolvable stitches, the crazy glue fell off much like a scab when the skin had healed enough to hold together on its own.
Oh, for the record, I do not advise trying any part of the story above!

Carl

The Only Easy Day Was Yesterday
 
Last edited:
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top