Raise your hand if you've ever hit your hand with a hatchet making kindling.....

Runs With Scissors

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Well about 10 years ago I was "up north" at my buddies place chopping some kindling and of course, WHACK...... I layed my hand wide open with a hatchet.

I should have gone to the ER, but I hate those places......So some "judicious use" of "surgical grade electrical tape" and some towels and I was drinking by the fire in no time.....LOL


Well thats a thing of the past for me boys!!!!

After we bought the cottage and made a "bon fire" area, and installed the wood heater, kindling became a common necessity.

"Pain" is an outstanding teaching tool and motivator, so I made this.






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skeets

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Nope I dont think I have ever thought about that when adult beverages were involved. Did some other stupid stuff but never that :)
 
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Flintknapper

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Never hit my hand with a hatchet, but did manage to 'hack' my leg (shin bone) with my machete once. Never done that before or since.

I was swinging at a pine sapling and somehow caught the blade in a green brier vine which redirected the machete. It went DEEP into my shin bone.

I was about 100 yds. away from my truck. I had a small 'sweat towel' tucked in my pocket so I wrapped that around the wound and held pressure in on as it walked back (humped over holding the towel) to my truck.

By the time I got there.... that towel was completely soaked through and blood was squishing around inside my shoe. Grabbed a second towel and wrapped it around my calf. The bleeding then just starting to stop.

sharp machete.jpg
 
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North Idaho Wolfman

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You know if you put a hydraulic ram on it it will work much better....
Oh wait with your past experience strike that! :p:ROFLMAO:
 
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Vlach7

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Got my left index finger caught in my 37-ton log splitter, told the Dr. to just cut it off but they happened to have a visiting hand surgeon who saved it. Sorry no pictures, takes a while for the nerves/feeling to come back.
 
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RCW

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Gosh - - this thread gives me the eebie-jeebies..... ;)

I've had a lot of stitches, and injuries that likely needed stitches. Most self-inflicted.

Commercial kitchens have a lot of sharp stuff, and don't have much for safety controls.
 
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trial and error

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Got my left index finger caught in my 37-ton log splitter, told the Dr. to just cut it off but they happened to have a visiting hand surgeon who saved it. Sorry no pictures, takes a while for the nerves/feeling to come back.
Beat me to it don't remember what finger, but got the top knuckle section pinned between the log stop and the log I was splitting thankfully not on the wedge end. This was just a few months after my father did the same thing and I was wondering just how in the world he did it, the answer is simple pay don't lay attention for just a second or two while holding the lever.
These new splitters with the sub 12 second cycle times are no joke
 

GreensvilleJay

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no ,never, but only been making kindling for 6 decades....
A friend gave me his 4T electric wood splitter ( he needed someplace to store it....)
tried 12" long 'mini logs' ( OK, tree limbs.8" round or less). it actually does a GREAT job,fast ,clean and QUIET..
for a lark ,I split some off cuts of 2by lumber...dang it's FAST at making kindling ! and clean and QUIET.
Nice thing is it's on the bench so I don't have to squat down or kneel to make kindling anymore. OK, it's the getting up that really is a challenge.
Only fires I have now are 'cleanup campfires'...to get rid of scraps and the odd falling limb.
 

cthomas

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I always have a supply of waste gas/diesel from work that is either gas with diesel mixed in it or diesel with gas. Very rarely get a supply of diesel with DEF mixed in with it. Also have quite a few Amish wood workers(think flooring, furniture, and sawmills) around me that I can get wood scraps cheap.
 

trial and error

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Forgot to add I used to use the hatchet for splitting kindling, now that we have a hydraulic splitter I just split a few months kindling at a time a couple times per winter, doesn't take long and it's in my opinion safer then swinging a hatchet anywhere near my didgets
 
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DaveFromMi

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My brother was visiting us in Michigan a few years back. We were getting ready to grill out some pork steaks. I had some hickory chunks that needed to be split for the grill and he split a few before he hit his thumb and wound up in the ER. He was using a hatchet.
 
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Yooper

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Stuck a hatchet in my knee at 11 years old. Was kneeling in the snow and the hatchet glanced off a piece of birch and went in just to the side of my kneecap. Then I had to hike about a mile out of the woods to get to a phone to call my mom to take me to get stitches. And it was snowing heavily at the time. Oh, the memories…