skinnerj...I did something similar not so long ago. I "brushed" the blade past my ear and I had a tiny little bleeder. I've gotten "the feel," where you begin the CUT, and that at least fraction of the second before you expand the cut, you back off and the damage is minimal. Of course, the wealth of experience in order to get there is paid for in blood and stares by folks in public wondering how a grown man in a shirt and tie can appear as if he has recently survived a serious mugging day-in-n-day-out.