Today I almost killed myself...

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We have seen several of posts of family members being injured when using a TS, a drill press or any other powered tool. Hand tools are dangerous as well but the kind of injuries on can get with them are usually small cuts or bruises.

Well, today I almost killed myself with a carving knife, so I thought I should post how it happened to warn everybody.

Some time ago I ordered this carving knife thinking that it was sharp only on the concave edge of the blade.

I was deceived when I got it because it was sharp on both edges, so I decided to grind off the convex edge to be able to put my index finger on it when carving to exert more pressure.
Thought and made, that was easy.


The I placed it in my carver's vise to remove the burr and scratches left by the grinding wheel using a strip of emery paper as if I was polisihing a shoe.

The tip of the blade was at he height of my diaphragm, just below my sternum, a comfortable height to do that job.

All of a sudden that chisel on the edge of my bench caught my attention and thinking it was going to fall I leaned forward to catch it without realising that the blade was at 3" from my chest.

Luckyly my brain reacted instinctively and I twisted my chest sideways or I would have dug the blade in my heart, and having it a hook shape I would have ripped off my chest when moving away from it.

Needless to say that I stood still for a minute with cold sweat running on my back.

Today I've learnt two things:
First: Whatever we do, WE MUST STAY FOCUSED ON IT and do not let anything distract us.
Second: Never leave the bench cluttered with tools that you are not using at the moment.

O yes we all know those, but how often we forget about them? Today I did, and I almost die. I still shiver when I think about it.
 
Toni,
Adding my sentiments to all those stated above...

On the note of your first statement of safety -- stay focused -- I posted on another forum in a thread about the safety devices for the stop saws... while I think the safety devices are a boon to the average joe, they also can make us complacent about our safety procedures and rely too much on the the devices... so to re-emphasize what you said... STAY FOCUSED...
 
Wow Toni had cold shivers just reading this. Glad you got fast reaction. Told Linda your story and she fessed up and showed me how she nearly cut her finger off yesterday while working in the kitchen and being distracted for a moment with a knife in her hand chopping. Only found out today after i told her your story she was hiding it from me.
 
Could have been very bad Toni. I'm happy to hear no harm was done. That's a sobering reminder that things we do routinely without a second thought can suddenly reach out and touch us when we least expect it.
 
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