Be careful when splitting time fuse

[VickeA]

About a mouth ago i was preparing some timefuse to be used on my new years fireworks. When suddenly the razorblade slipped and went into my finger.[

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It took 6 stitches to fix it and even now when it is healed i still cant feel a thing on the top of my index finger.

So be careful when using razorblades.

Edited January 17, 2013 by VickeA

[Potassiumchlorate]

Oh, that hurts like hell. I have done that too, not when cutting timefuse but when cutting sausage - actually I also cut myself in the left index finger

[Mumbles]

This happens to the best of us. I switched to a pair of anvil cutters exactly for this reason. I never got myself all that bad while making pyro, but I've done it several times while cooking. It also is easier on the hands. Cutting more than a few pieces with a razor blade gets grueling.

 

I've found that the feeling does come back over time as everything heals up completely. It's slow, but it happens the more I use it and stuff. You should hopefully see a partial return in sensation within 6 months or so. The key is not to baby it, and use it as normal. I've been told that massaging it helps too.

[nater]

About 4 years ago I took a chunk off my thumb with a mandolin while slicing potatoes at work. The blade was dull, requiring more pressure to get the cut, the potato slipped and my thumb was grated across the blade. There was nothing left to stitch closed, so all I could do was manage the bleeding and let it heal. The pharmacist looked surprised when I pulled up in an ambulance with my thumb bleeding through a stack of 4x4s and asked for some clotting glue. I still don't have feeling in the tip of that thumb, and I have not used the mandolin since either.

[dan999ification]

ouch i hope you heal well, ive had more than my share learning butchery, a cm off the left index about the worst, the skin under the nail does not grow back.

Seen my middle right knuckle ( that took six months to close ) cut the pad off my left thumb in a similar situation to you with a stanley blade, split my right middle from nail to palm, probably stabbed my left hand more than a hundred times ( she tries to count them )

The feeling has never returned in some cases, phantom pains, poor circulation, when its cold they go blue even 10 years later.

I never split the fuse for this reason instead i pierce it with a very narrow bladed knife ( 3x1mm ) twist to enlarge the hole, insert bm.

 

Nater: always wanted a mandolin myself truth is im better with a knife now ( but i cant do waffle cuts )

yes blunt blades are the worst for healing lacerations take more time than incisions.

 

Yes dont baby it and do your own physio to help healing.

 

Dan.

[Col]

I did a similar thing when i accicentally dropped a food processor blade.. that triggered the "catch it" reflex which cost me a trip to hospital to reattach a chunk of finger

[nater]

Looks like cooking is dangerous!

[Bobosan]

Not so much cooking but dull knives definitely are more dangerous than sharp ones.

 

.......at least that's what I heard during a mumblypeg game.

 

Hope it heals quickly for you.

[FrankRizzo]

I did a similar thing when i accicentally dropped a food processor blade.. that triggered the "catch it" reflex which cost me a trip to hospital to reattach a chunk of finger

 

I have a friend that works on wind turbines, 200ft +. Part of their training is "if a tool slips, let it fall". It's amazing how hard it is to overcome that natural instinct to try and catch something, of at least attempt to declerate it with your food as it falls. This guy has lost many a cell phone; his Nokia Lumia 920 survived one time, dropping into a freshly tilled soybean field from 250ft up.

[cogbarry]

Ouch! I put my time fuse in a vice when I make the first slice. Of course it's in the shell for the second slice. I used both hands and slice with a "teeter totter" motion, stopping often to check that I am staying near center. This way you are never pushing the razor towards your other hand.

 

This thread caught my eye because I thought the concern may have been about igniting the TM somehow. Sorry about your finger but I'm glad it wasn't what I thought it was.

[mickyp]

I have not cut any yet, suppose one mounted a brass collet on a base that the fuse fitted into snugly then using a wedge shaped modelling knife slide the blade in through the slot until you come out the other side, or maybe a sharpened hack saw blade pulled through

[Algenco]

use "Handi cuts"

[marks265]

I don't split my time fuse and now I see one of the reasons why. Thanks for the post, now I know what I'm missing.

[Hoppy]

This goes right on back to the timefuse punch vs split discussion. I've also sliced open a finger with a similar tool making a homemade apple pie and my dad sliced his finger tip almost completely off and had similar pain and photos to prove its not smart trying to cut frozen sausages or you end up with a bunch of blood and stitches.

[Oinikis]

I have a friend that works on wind turbines, 200ft +. Part of their training is "if a tool slips, let it fall". It's amazing how hard it is to overcome that natural instinct to try and catch something, of at least attempt to declerate it with your food as it falls. This guy has lost many a cell phone; his Nokia Lumia 920 survived one time, dropping into a freshly tilled soybean field from 250ft up.

I do not know why, but when basic undangerous item falls i try to catch it, but when knife falls, i instinticly jump and spread my legs to save the feet, and get my hand out of the falling knife way. i do not know what might coused it, maybe that time when brother accidentaly struck my hand with a knife. i think that scarf will be with me forever.

[FlaMtnBkr]

I cut myself with a razor blade but it hit the back of my index finger and came in perpendicular so it hit the bone and stopped pretty quick. The skin is pretty thin there so it split and hitting bone actually made it not too bad.

 

I always question the sharp knife is safer than a dull knife. Of course knives are another hobby of mine so what I consider dull is probably most people's sharp. If a blade is butter knife dull, then I could see that being true. Unless mumblypeg has had a comeback in popularity, then Bob I think you are showing your age.

 

I will catch some things with my hands but a lot of time stick a foot out to break the fall. I think I use my foot more now that I have knives as a hobby, because it gives me more time to think and to stick my foot out or to jump back. I still have a good size scar on the top of my foot from a knife falling I didn't see in time.

[Bobosan]

eh...guilty as charged, FlaMtnBkr.

 

I've cut myself more severely with a dull knife due to lack of smooth control. At least when knives are sharp the cut is quick and clean and you wonder where the blood is coming from.

 

As for the mumblypeg, Uncle Sam takes blame for that experience via my all expense paid trip to beautiful post French IndoChina.

[Algenco]

I'm in the camp of "a dull knife is more dangerous than a sharp one"

As a Fishing Guide for many years I filleted an average of 1000 20lb+ Striped Bass per year, dull fillet knives get you hurt

[marks265]

One time, while holding a beer in one hand, I reached into the knife drawer with the other.............................ooooooouch!

[TritonPyro]

I split bickford time fuse after the fuse holder is hot glued into the shell. Turned over and stabilised , I use a single edged blade and split the fuse crosswise. Algenco is so right - a dull knife is the pits and it WILL cut you. I worked in a motorcycle shop for 25 years and the worst cut was from a dull gasket remover.

[RoGyver]

I started using surgical scissors for exactly this reason. After snipping the fuse a little too far, I moved on to a good pair of wire cutters. *Side Note : When I'm using time fuse to link fireworks together, I typically use a sharpened nail, a bit larger than the visco, to punch a hole directly through the time fuse, secure it in place with a bit of superglue. Practice makes perfect. Perfection takes time.