Thread: First blood shed! Restoring accident

I've been trying my hand at some basic restoration. Instead of buying the high priced razor I really want, I am starting with some cheaper ones to get the hang of what is going on.

I was polishing a new purchase (Geneva, Pyramid 1903) with some 1500 paper. At about midnight, I had been hand sanding for the past couple of hours and was literally just getting up to head to bed. As, I leaned forward my hand obviously switched positions... and my push in, pushed the top of my thumb up the edge.... Ouch! Cut from the inside of my thumb nail, down past the joint. For a moment, I stared at the open, white wound, and thought of the

It is a good thing that I had sanded over the edge and removed at least some of the sharpness! With blood running down my arm, and me wondering if I just did nerve/tendon damage to my thumb, I woke my fiance (the ER nurse) up with my situation. Of course, she's seen limbs hanging, so my sliced thumb was no big deal.

Bled like hell, but no serious damage! With her gear from work, we cleaned it, applied several steri-strips and wrapped my thumb like a mummy. She wanted to put some stitches in... But, having had stitches in my thumb before, and knowing how it hurts worse than the injury, I vetoed it. Today she is at work, and I promised that if it opens back up, I'll come see her.

I have survived my first restoration injury!

Welcome to the club!
Did the same thing with a few razors. Only takes a split second of not paying attention to do some damage. I found that its good to have a crushed up styptic pencil near me when I hand sand. Add a little water and put it on the cut like a salve. Burns like hell but usually does the job.

I've gotten tons of cuts. Nothing too serious (i've done worse with a cheese grater). The pads of my fingers look brutal, although those cuts are only superficial. I have a bad habit of using my finger pads to test sharpness.

Just remember fellas...chicks dig scars!

Ouch! Glad to hear you did not do any permanent damage.

There are several of the restorers here that hand sand, or did so in the past. Do a search for "hand sanding jig" on these forums, or check out the sanding jig at Bill's Straight Razor Info. It is a neat way to keep your fingers intact with hand sanding. At least use some wood block and lay the blade flat on that while working, at the very least. I find that hand sanding for a while actually can produce a surprisingly sharp edge, even to a previously blunt edge, so stay safe

Here is a thread on hand sanding, with mentioning of the jigs.

Thanks, guys! I can't help but laugh a little.... nothing serious.

Thank you for the links, str8fencer. On my final set of strokes of the 1500 I end up almost pinching the blade, with spine facing palm, and runnning it back and forth. Works well for me and gets really good coverage of the blade. Always happy to learn something new, though! I'll check them out.

Ditto on sanding helping with the sharpening process. I took a dull Red Injun, to almost store bought steak knife sharpness, by accident, with just paper.

haha damn, good thing you didn't get too banged up. hopefully you can still work on the razor with your thumb all wrapped up!

Originally Posted by Theseus

Welcome to the club!
Did the same thing with a few razors. Only takes a split second of not paying attention to do some damage.

Same here :-).

Yep, been there and done that. I don't know about a crushed styptic pencil...but I do know that superglue will close up a gash rather well...something that I picked up in the service and keep it in the shop diligently. Every first aid kit should have at least one tube...

The crushed styptic pencil thing came from my old doctor. He didn't like using stitches too much because of the ease of infection. He'd make the styptic into a paste and slather it onto cuts, leaving an antiseptic crust on the cut. It would slow or even stop the bleeding long enough for it to start to heal without stitches.

Superglue is in all my emergency kits! Its in our med bag, so it was the first thing I rooted out. She is more familiar with steri-strips. So far they seem to be holding it.

Superglue can work wonders, though.