Accident report

Orchid will suffer some interruptions in broadcasting due to high
floods in Thailand. 

Stay dry - hope you guys are OK in the end…

I can trade gruesome accident stories with the best of them, but I
don’t unless there is some “don’t follow in their footsteps” reason
to. Like now, a new one on me…

Tapered spindles, like on polishing machines, are designed to thread
into the hole on a polishing wheel, and then essentially bore
through it and pull that wheel up tight. Well, a friend of mine who
actually has many years experience (not enough…) had a
bristle brush fall off the spindle. He picked it up and started to
put it back on, with the motor rnning.

Instead, he touched the tip of the spindle with the fleshy part of
his thumb, and the spindle did what it was designed to do…
Be careful out there…

I cut my index finger pretty bad this week, I slipped when replacing
the duplex spring in my quick-release handpiece. I was feeling pretty
sorry for myself and my terrible injury. Then later I sat down with
Bernard Corn wells’, The Burning Land, an historical novel that takes
place in the waning years of the ninth century when England was born
on bloody battlefields. Where the Scots, Danes and Saxons endlessly
fought with shields, swords and battle-axes in a never ending quest
for land and plunder. It made me feel like a real pansy with my
little band aid on the tip of my finger.

Mark

Mark- I don’t hurt myself too much at the bench any more. I’ve
learned my critical distance over the years.

However, when I do nick a finger I ALWAYS have to hurt another
within a day or so. My first injury will slightly alter how I hold
things, thus leading to yet another injury. Sigh.

Anybody else notice this phenomenon?

Have fun and make lot of jewelry.
Jo Haemer
www.timothywgreen.com

Jo,

I recently added a Meiji microscope to my collection of tools so I
am in the process of relearning MY “critical distance”. heh!

Keith Hible

However, when I do nick a finger I ALWAYS have to hurt another
within a day or so. My first injury will slightly alter how I hold
things, thus leading to yet another injury. Sigh. 

All too true, I guess that having lots of fingers was to compensate
for a small brain. A finger patched with paper towel and masking tape
(my standard minor fix) will throw me off. My hands were programmed
to function without thought, mess that up and disaster looms.

jeffD
Demand Designs
Analog/Digital Modelling & Goldsmithing
http://www.gmavt.net/~jdemand

A finger patched with paper towel and masking tape 

Super glue works for me. Sometimes I use cotton from a cotton swab
with the super glue for a more durable bond.

Richard Hart G.G.
Denver, Co.

Under “Don’t try this at home kids” I use super glue. It’s right
there on m bench for pearls, and if done right is a great first aid
tool. I bleed the cut out and the squirt some glue on a plastic
little baggie. Never directly on the cut. I then dip a tooth pick in
the glue and run it the length of the cut. I actually played a three
hour guitar gig after cutting the tip of my right index finger with
a super glue patch. I am NOT a doctor. I don’t even play one on TV.
Don’t even think of trying this:)

Have fun and make lots of jewelry.
Jo Haemer
www.timothywgreen.com

I keep a bottle of super glue on hand for minor cuts… clean the cut
then apply super glue and a band aid and go back to work… works
great been using it for 30+ years… better then stiches and hurts
much less… trick is the skin needs to be dry for it to stick so you
have to stop the bleeding use a ice cube to help stop the bleeding
works sometimes… They use it for surgery now… who knew I should
have patented the idea would not have to work now :slight_smile:

Vernon Wilson

I bet there are all sorts of ways to treat minor injuries while
working.

I recently burned the middle finger of my right hand. A very large
blister developed. Breaking the blister is a no no. I drained the
blister by running a needle into the good skin near the blister then
running it into the inside of the blister.

To protect the blister I cut off a 1 inch tip of a rubber glove and
placed it on my finger. The medical tape I had would not hold while
I was cutting stones so what to do?

The solution was to tape the rubber finger tip to the finger with
electrical tape. Electrical tape is water proof and sticks well to
the rubber tip and the finger. The rubber tip should be pulled
tightly on the finger.

I wrapped the tape so that the end was on top of the finger not on
the pad of the finger.

That technique worked well when I cut a small part of the tip of my
left thumb. After the bleeding stopped I added a dab of Neosporin,
slid on the rugger tip and taped it with electrical tape.

Works very well.
Lee Epperson

I had a bad cut on my forearm from a big shipping staple sticking out
of the lid as I removed a Microwave. Went to the local ER and the Dr
said she would mend it with Super Glue… that my skin was too think
to stitch. I told her I use Super Glue all the time, but her reply
was that hers was Sterile!!! I use Super Glue all the time for cracks
in my thumbs and fingers - and remember me recipe: Saliva will help
release the super glue! HA Rose Marie Christison

Jo,

It's right there on my bench for pearls, 

I am curious, the majority of pearl re-glues we do appear to have
been done with super glue. Some of what we sell that have to be
re-glued were made overseas and I can see the superglue residue. We
always have used two part epoxy and we do not have to deal with
redo’s.

Is there a special super glue you use? I thought super glue was not
shock resistant, and a pearl on a ring would seem to be subject to
shock whenstruck against something.

Richard Hart G.G.
Denver, Co.

You are in good company - the best plastic surgeons use super glue.
In fact, it comes in a surgical quality now.

They use it for surgery now... who knew I should have patented the
idea would not have to work now 

Sorry, but you’re too late. :slight_smile: Kodak got FDA approval for this use
in 1964. It was used during the Vietnam War.

Al Balmer
Pine City, NY

There is also a product called Skin Shield actually made for this and
probably brands others as well. It says it is an antiseptic and pain
reliever as well as a “liquid bandage”.

Catherine

Yes, Super glue works well. When I had my first Pacemaker implanted,
my surgeon actually used Super Glue to close the skin.

Margaret

Hospitals use super glue. Also buy some steri-strips. In my neck
surgeries (3 of them, both anterior and posterior), the doctor used
steri-strips. You can get them wet. Some companies call them another
name, like surgi-strips, suture strips, etc…

You cut them into strips like they would give you stitches. Apply
over a cleaned, dry cut. Just leave them for however long. Mine were
left on for a week. They stay. And if one does come loose, just cut
another strip and apply it.

If you let them get old (in storage), I know one brand that was
"non-reinforced" dried out. The ones that specifically said
"steri-strips" worked better.

A regular pharmacy should be able to get them for you. I haven’t
seen them at Wal-Mart, though.

Val

I suspect all superglue is sterile although no claims are made except
on the surgical ones. But it’s sort of like the vet use antibiotic
eye ointment and the human use antibiotic eye ointment - major
difference is the label.

unless the container and the manufacturing process are sterile, the
product in the glue container will not be sterile. that does not mean
that the chemical composition of the glue is not antibacterial, I do
not know as I have not researched the topic.

John

Medical and vetinary “superglues” are slightly different compounds to
the type you buy at the stationary supplier or tool shop. No idea if
that makes them less toxic, but they are not exactly the same.

Jamie Hall

I suspect all superglue is sterile although no claims are made
except on the surgical ones. But it’s sort of like the vet use
antibiotic eye ointment and the human use antibiotic eye ointment -
major difference is the label.

Sterility aside, I believe that medical Cyanoacrylate is also less
toxic than the types made for other purposes (DIY etc). Model
aircraft builders fairly often develop allergies to either Cyano or
the additives in it.

http://www.ganoksin.com/gnkurl/1e1

gives a description of various types of Cyano used in surgery:
apparently another issue is that some types are quite brittle and
are therefore liable to break as the healing tissue flexes. Newer
types with plasticisers are both stronger and more flexible.

As an aside, in the UK veterinary medicines often seem to be more
expensive than their human equivalents… Still trying to figure
that one out!

Kit