Umbilical Knife, now never to be used

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PegLegPeat

Joined
Sep 19, 2009
Messages
46
Here are some pics of my latest knife. It was designed and intended for use in cutting the umbilical cord on the baby my wife is expecting. However since the baby doc gave me a big fat "NO WAY!!!":jerkit: and SWMBO has forbidden me from pushing the issue properly, I have chosen to let this one go and fight the good fight another day. So now I have a purpose built knife but no purose. I would sell it, but I am not sure if anyone would want my work, let alone pay for it. I have thought of giving it away just because I am angry about the subject and do not need reminders.

Anyway blade is 3" with 6.25" overall. 3/16" thick 01 Steel from Pop's. Handle is Maple burl that I won in a giveaway BurlSource did a while back. It has been a while since I got it, but this was the first project I had done that waranted such nice wood. That is the part that turned out the best IMHO. Thanks for the wood Mark!!!







Comments and Criticisms welcome.


Peat
 
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I was wanting to go down the same path coming up in Feb, and cut my baby's umbillical cord with one of my knives. Wife was actually on board but the baby doctors are not so much in agreement. I even promised to autoclave it at work for sterility and leave it in a sealed container until delivery time. Too afraid of being sued I guess.

Beautiful work, I'm sure it would have been an awesome umbillical cutter.
 
I wonder what the Doctors or Mohel would say if somebody wanted to make an izmel knife for a brit milah? If you don't know what I'm talking about, google it :-)
 
Spare parts - I'm kinda in the same boat, wife works at a doctor's office and was going to sterilize for me. Still no go

Tx Bass Tech - I think you could probably sweet talk the Mohel into using your knife, as long as he thought it would do the job cleanly. However being a heathen in the technical sense I am a big proponent of not doing that.
 
Keep the knife and rembember the story behind it, then when the child is old enough to understand, Tell the story and give the knife to the child. My daughter and son has the knife I made them to cut the wedding cake with. Now I am working on three more of them for my grand daughters........
 
I'm with Mike Wilson. If you gave this knife away your child would surely want it back.

Lemonade from lemons. I understand you do this a lot once you have kids...!
 
Give it to the kid man.
Really, put it in a box, and hide it away for years, then give it to the kid.

Bastards wouldn't let me do it with my own knife either...
 
For those who wish to make their own knife for surgery...be it a scalpel for umbilicals, or a izmil ( scalpel in Hebrew).....it needs to be something the the Doc will recognize. Even then the hospital may say no to any foreign tool.

Made it from 440C stainless and make it all metal (without any handle).
Make it thin and small bladed. .060 to .100 is more than thick enough, and a 1.5" blade is fine.
Make it sharp. A zero edge flat grind with a touch of secondary edge.
Make it full polished.
Engrave the details and names on the knife. This might help the officials understand the personal significance to you and your wife. After the birth, engrave the child's name and birth info on the knife.

Don't spring this on the Doc and hospital in her ninth month, either. Make it and take it to the proper people and see what you can do. If all fails, just engrave the info on the knife and box it up for the child, when he/she is older. Tell them the details and say that it represents the one you used to cut the cord.

Now, I don't give this much chance ( short of working with a midwife, and delivering at home), due to the severe regulations from every side imposed on delivery hospitals and especially OBGYN doctors.
 
Just have the kid at home. I was born at home, and look how well I turned out. :D
 
bladsmth said:
For those who wish to make their own knife for surgery...be it a scalpel for umbilicals, or a izmil ( scalpel in Hebrew).....it needs to be something the the Doc will recognize. Even then the hospital may say no to any foreign tool.

Made it from 440C stainless and make it all metal (without any handle).
Make it thin and small bladed. .060 to .100 is more than thick enough, and a 1.5" blade is fine.
Make it sharp. A zero edge flat grind with a touch of secondary edge.
Make it full polished.
Engrave the details and names on the knife. This might help the officials understand the personal significance to you and your wife. After the birth, engrave the child's name and birth info on the knife.

Don't spring this on the Doc and hospital in her ninth month, either. Make it and take it to the proper people and see what you can do. If all fails, just engrave the info on the knife and box it up for the child, when he/she is older. Tell them the details and say that it represents the one you used to cut the cord.

Now, I don't give this much chance ( short of working with a midwife, and delivering at home), due to the severe regulations from every side imposed on delivery hospitals and especially OBGYN doctors.
Click to expand...

You'll want to shape it something like this:

umbilical_scissors.jpg


There is a reason why the pro's use scissors. They work better.
 
Bummer they won't let you use your own blade. Let me tell you from experiance those cords are damn tuff the medical scissors took some effort to cut through them with all 4 of my daughters.
Chris
 
Umbilical knife? Is this a common thing in foreign countries to use a ceremonial knife for cutting the cord and pass on to your kin later?
 
funny

my doc / midwife didn't even blink when I asked, just handed me an alcohol wipe.

my brother in law just did the same thing last week with a knife I made him
 
Just give in, then when the brat pops out, crowd in and look, when they pass you the scissors, take them, pull out your knife and cut it as you want. It's your kid too!
 
Use a midwife instead of a doctor! Midwives don't have god-complexes! ;)

Here's my "umbilical knife," a Fiddleback Forge Bow Legged Joe. I used it to free up Lillian, my 6th baby and fifth little girl! The midwife just handed me a bottle of rubbing alcohol to sterilize it before use. Gotta love it.

DSC06183.jpg


DSC06198.jpg


Here she is 3.5 months later...

IMG_4706.jpg
 
Man that baby is cute as all get out! I openly giggled and as most say im emotionally challenged individual most of the time.

Give the knife to the kid,
 
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