Now that was Dumb

[SVanderkolff]

Yesterday I finally had some time in the shop, got the honey do list down to a manageable length, and wanted to finish off a small dagger sheath I had been working on. This was a replacement sheath since I wasn?t happy with the original. The sheath was a really tight fit so I wet the sheath to help form the shape to fit the knife properly. Once I got the little dress dagger into the sheath I simply could not get it back out. (can you see where this is going) This little dagger has gold lip scales inset from the edges, the blade is fully fileworked Matt Walker Damascus. Not something I wanted to take a chance on ruining. So after looking around the shop at the various and sundry equipment I decided that the vice would be the best bet to help get this out. I very carefully put the knife into the vice and put pressure on the top and bottom edges of the handle. Gripped the sheath with both hands and gave a mighty tug. ?.. grabbed my left thumb in my right hand , squeezed tight and ran for the stairs. Now my wife, she of endless patience and a very strong aversion to blood, was just making lunch for the girls. I asked her to please turn on the tap water and not to look. It turned out not to be nearly as bad as I had thought, I had simply sliced the top ?? off the top of my thumb , actually it was still attached on one side. So after running it under water for a while I had my 7 year old get out the bandaids and wrap it up and I headed back to the shop. So first things first I needed to check the sheath and the knife to make sure I hadn?t damaged either one in any way. As I am checking there seems to be more blood showing up on the things that I am checking than there was when I first looked. Sure enough I had also sliced the ball of my right thumb. Back up the stairs, at a slower pace this time. ?Not again? was all I got from my wife, ?Nope, same time different thumb?. Once more my daughter got to play doctor. So now I am walking around with bandages on the end of both thumbs. Not one of my brightest moments.
Steve

[Ray Rogers]

I just don't know what to say - 'better luck next time?', 'buy a pair of gauntlets?', or 'lucky you had a doctor in the house'. Anyway, glad you're OK .....

[Andrew Garrett]

We need a whole forum called 'Now that was dumb' dedicated to exactly these kind of tales. Steve..., would you be so kind as to moderate?

Great story brother! I hope you heal quickly.

[pipecrafter]

I'm glad it ended well! I had a similar incident on Sunday. I went to put final touches on a Sgian Dubh before packing it up for shipping and had a fumble-fingers moment. End result is that I sliced the tip of my left index finger right into the fingernail. This was before my wife was up, and I managed to get bandaged up and finish what I was doing. Unfortunately, I didn't realize that I was bleeding a lot more than I thought I was, and apparently made a real mess of the floor next to the bathroom sink - which caused my wife no end of distress when she got up.

I just figured it was all part of the blood sacrifice that blade required. Each one seems to demand some small amount.

[AcridSaint]

Steve - you need to keep some CA handy for such occasions. At least you can glue your thumb back on next time

[Matt Walker]

Sorry Steve! When you add the bandages into the price add some for ointment too because I probably got burned somewhere making the steel .
Better luck next time. Look forward to seeing the knife.
Matt

[Kostoglotov]

My hands are about to the point that I can get back at it, so I feel for ya

Heal up quick

[Major]

Steve, hi there, hope your thumbs heal quickly, but were the knife and sheath OK?

[SVanderkolff]

I checked both the knife and the sheath. The knife was fine, just had to make sure I got all the blood off the blade. The sheath looked fine too, but when I put the knife back in the sheath it still would not let me take the knife back out. Hmmmm, lets see, how do I get this knife out of the sheath.
Steve

[dbalfa]

one thought....leather can be easily replaced, thumbs are not as easy...