first aid

[schmism]

So now that im around the hobbyfarm 24/7... (layed off from my 9-5) i find myself having to bust out the first aid kit more and more.

SO im wondering is this an issue with me, or something in general.

Now im not talking about "serious" stuff... just regular cuts, scrapes etc. Things that require a bandaid for a day, perhaps 2 tops.

As a desk jocky for the past 5 years, and not doing much of the side work i always did in school, i wasnt reaching nearly as much for the bandaid box....

How about the rest of you? Normal?

 

[CurlyDave]

How about the rest of you? Normal?

Ever since I started building in the country & got a tractor, I have had a few more scrapes & minor cuts, but I have always been pretty active and have gotten my fair share along the way.

I have gotten a lot more careful over the years and now find that I spend more time patching up others than myself.

You really need to spend more time thinking through how a job is going to go if you are getting injured too often.

20 years ago I built my house with just me & one helper. He said that after a few months he could tell by how I yowled whether I had hit my finger/thumb with a hammer, cut myself with something, or gotten an electric shock...

 

[dmccarty]

Steve,

Sorry to hear about the job...

I dont use bandaids. I will bang up my hands unless I'm doing something risky then I slow down. I tear up my hands getting dishes from the cabinets or food from the fridge. I just move fast and scrape my hands.

I don't move fast with the chainsaw, tractor or other stuff that can really hurt and draw blood. I force myself to slowdown.

If you really are bleeding a good bit then maybe you do need to slow down. 99% of the time I work alone so its easier for me to slow down if I need too. I always think about the safety side and often HOW am I going to get something done by myself. Without breaking something including me.

I had a leaning tree that need to come down. I bet I studied that tree off and on for hours on quite a few days before I finally did the deed. The day I did it I spent more time pondering than doing. Even having to use the comealong to pull the tree off another tree's limb I still spent more time thinking than doing.

Later,
Dan

 

[Egon]

Hope all goes well in the employment department.

Every time there is a change we probably get a little nervous, anxious and may have thoughts in other places as we do damage to ourselves. As mentioned, slow down and concentrate on the job at hand. If that isn't happening delay till it does.

A couple of weeks ago the Doctor had me donate some blood for the Lab. to analysis. The person taking the sample made the comment, " You must do a lot of work outside by the number of scars on your arms"

So not all of us follow our own advice.

 

[TheKid]

If I don't draw blood when at some point when I'm fixing or building something, I know the jobs not finished yet. I haven't used a lot of bandaids, but I've used more than my share of duct tape, masking tape, electrical tape, or any other type of tape that's nearby.

 

[RobS]

My injuries are way down as my desk jockeying is occupying too much of my time! I do keep a small first aid kit in my shop and one in my garage. Go through band-aids and first aid tape more than about anything. I find that the tape over a band aid stands up to the work better.

My hands a looking pretty soft, better start a project!

 

[Wayne County Hose]

You get used to it. After being a mechanic for 20+ years, I'll see blood on whatever I'm working on. Then I have to stop and check myself to see where I'm cut. It makes for an anxious few moments until I find out the damages.

 

[Ridgewalker]

I wear shorts almost year round (unless I am on sales calls, etc.) and always end up bloody because I get busy working in the woods and forget that I have a great crop of sawbriars on my place. I must have a high pain tolerence because I never notice the briars until I happen to look down and see all the blood running down my legs.

I nick myself constantly because I am always in a hurry to get things done on the farm since I only get there on weekends and there is always to much to get done in the time I have.

I have decided to invest in a pair of chainsaw chaps as soon as TSC gets them in stock. My dad has been on me to do that for years and I recently saw my uncle open a nice slice in his leg with his husky.

 

[Soundguy]

I'm a hobby farmer myself.. and as far as i can tell... anything with the letters 'farm' usually equates to 'injury'


soundguy

So now that im around the hobbyfarm 24/7... (layed off from my 9-5) i find myself having to bust out the first aid kit more and more.

SO im wondering is this an issue with me, or something in general.

Now im not talking about "serious" stuff... just regular cuts, scrapes etc. Things that require a bandaid for a day, perhaps 2 tops.

As a desk jocky for the past 5 years, and not doing much of the side work i always did in school, i wasnt reaching nearly as much for the bandaid box....

How about the rest of you? Normal?

 

[Onthesauk]

Interesting question Schmism!

My wife use to tease me that anytime we walked into a drug store I headed straight for the 1st aid section to brouse. As I've gotten older I seem to have gotten more careful or maybe less aggresive? Just fewer cuts and bruises then even 5 or 6 years ago. I've got some health issues so my blood won't clot quite as quick as it use to and I sometimes wonder if I am subconsiously more careful because of that.

Scabs use to be kind of a badge that I was accomplishing something. Maybe I just outgrew that stage or maybe I've just got enough other aches and pains to make up for it.

 

[turnkey4099]

Constantly banged up when doing things. I am using more and more safety equipment, e.g., safety glasses. That came about by not wearing glasses when starting a 16d nail in a bouncy 2x4. short story, 50% vision left eye and artificial lens.

First aid kits are fine for the small stuff but for a big cut you need something big and you need it _now_. Standard in chainsaw useage is a couple kotex added to the kit. That kit goes on the belt. Some even tape the kotex in their hard hats.

I never wore chain saw chaps up until two years ago. Yes it was stupid. Never cut myself but...started wearing them and now I won't pick up a saw without it. Incidently for people into cutting firewood, the chaps also work as great shin gaurds when splitting/stacking. My legs are scarred from knee to ankle from using them as backstops for 30 years.

Harry K

 

[keeney]

As I read this thread, I am counting the visible scars on my hands and I notice that there are many more serious injuries to my left hand then my right. I presume this is all about the left hand typically being the workpiece holder and the right hand being the hand holding the sharp tool...

So I am now resolving myself in the future to go get a vice grips, or some clamps, or carry the pice being worked on back to the vice.

On another note, anybody else have the first thought come to their mind when injuring themselves that its a damned inconvenience to have to stop working and fix up your wound? Nothing about the pain. Nothing about long term consequences of the injury. Just "Darn! I won't be gettting this project done tonight because a trip to the emergency room always takes at least 4 hours!"

- Rick

 

[Wayne County Hose]

On another note, anybody else have the first thought come to their mind when injuring themselves that its a damned inconvenience to have to stop working and fix up your wound? Nothing about the pain. Nothing about long term consequences of the injury. Just "Darn! I won't be gettting this project done tonight because a trip to the emergency room always takes at least 4 hours!"

- Rick

We must have been brothers in a past life. When I almost cut off my hand on the table saw, with blood running from my armpit (where I was clutching my hand to try to stop the bleeding) down my body, and off of my foot, all I could say was, "Darn, this is going to put me out of work for a long time! How am I going to finish my floor with one hand."

 

[Treemonkey1000]

After reading all of the postings about scars and such you might want to consider this link. Although I have to admit using masking tape to cover a puncture wound from my climbing spurs while climbing out of a tree. I put the tape on it and kept working. My wife at the time about shot me for not getting it checked out.. It healed up fine despite shoving the gaff about an inch into my calf..
http://www.tractorbynet.com/forums/safety/67642-wearing-gloves.html

 

[Blackbird_BX]

On another note, anybody else have the first thought come to their mind when injuring themselves that its a damned inconvenience to have to stop working and fix up your wound? Nothing about the pain. Nothing about long term consequences of the injury. Just "Darn! I won't be gettting this project done tonight because a trip to the emergency room always takes at least 4 hours!"

- Rick

I know what you're talking about. Before I was married, I sewed myself up after an X-acto knife slipped off the piece I was working on and buried itself in my left thigh so I could keep working (a butterfly wasn't going to do it). Discovered then that sewing needles have rounded points so they don't pierce the skin worth a dang. I picked up some sharp curved needles in case I needed to do that again. The wife wouldn't go for that kind of self reliance, so these days it is off to walk in clinic down the road. Luckily the school nurse at the high school works there on the weekends, so I can call ahead and get a "reservation" .

 

[davitk]

I always stock my wallet with a bandaid, maybe two. Takes about 45 seconds to whip one out and plug a hole. As a remodeling contractor I want to keep the blood in and not on the finished project

That said, I go through one bandaid about every six months now, whereas when I was much younger you would've thought I owned stock in Curad