Toenails and knife use

[coffeecup]

How's that for a subject line? I've been trying to come up with a funny one since Wednesday evening, but I'm afraid that is the best I can do . . .

Wednesday was "one of those days" for me. I headed out to mow the lawn and realized I was wearing a fairly-decent pair of shoes, so I went back in and put on my Official Lawn-Mowing Nikes (you know the shoes I mean--too worn to wear in public, but comfortable and well-suited to a task where they'll get covered with grass-stains and mud).

And I commenced to mowing. One thing lead to another, Mr. Official Lawn-Mowing Nike met Mr. Lawn Mower, and I found myself looking down at a rather torn-up and bloody mess. My left hand clamped around the ankle to try to slow the flow of blood, while my right worked to remove the shoe so I could assess the damage. Unfortunately, "shoe" and "foot" were pretty-much twisted together.

I don't remember taking the knife--a well-worn Camillus 69--out of my pocket. I remember holding the body of the knife in my teeth and opening the spey blade. Two quick cuts, and thirty seconds later the shoe was off. I must have folded the knife and put it back in my pocket, but don't remember doing so. Like any good tool, it did the job without getting in the way of doing the job.

I did a quick check: lots of blood but nothing spurting, so I used the sock to pack the injury, pulled what was left of the shoe onto my foot, and went to the hospital. I got home Thursday night and began cleanup on my knife.

I've always been of the school of thought that says the best knife is probably a fixed-blade knife, but since that isn't often practical we have our beloved pocketknives. Going further, to be useful and practical, a pocketknife needs to be something you can use without thinking and without a great deal of effort. In this case, my old Camillus stockman came through for me.

And that's why we carry pocketknives, eh?

Jim

[stockman]

Jim, How is your foot?

Stockman

[trail]

In addition to a pocketknife, you should carry a small camera so you can take pictures of the damage and post them to the knife board.

Really sorry to hear about your accident, sounds gnarly.

[coffeecup]

Jim, How is your foot?

I like to think of it as "creatively rearranged." The Nike did a pretty good job of protecting the foot.

Um, let's see. Little toe is gone. Three of the four remaining toes got chopped pretty good, one was broken and pinned. Foot feels like it was sprained. All in all, better than I expected.

Trail, I was distracted--other than x-rays, the first pics were 12 hours post-surgery. Not too bad on the gore scale, but I didn't want to gross anyone out. For the morbidly-inclined, send me a note.

Jim

[paulsvintage]

i wish you a speedy recovery !

[deanmm56]

Damn Jim !!!!!

Funny thing about mowers and toes ..... the mower always wins. Sorry to hear about the mishap and I hope with time you mend up very nicely.

I once knew a guy that was mowing the ditch , road side of his house ... from the top down and wearing flip flops ... he pulled back on the mower, lost his footing and lost all of his toes ...... Be careful !!!!!!

[chetr1200c]

ouch. a buddy of mine lost all the fingers on his natural right hand 3 yrs ago trying to dislodge a small branch from his snow blower.. but tell me, was this a walk behind mower or a rider??
i hope everything heals ok

[trail]

Pictures are A-OK! Usually its fingers that you sawmill guys are missing, not toes. Regardless, I hope you're up and running soon.

[coffeecup]

Chet, it was a walk-behind. I've been subject to occasional dizzy spells since a head injury last year; one came and I started to fall back--I suspect I didn't let go of the mower handle soon enough.

Trail, I don't work the sawmill anymore, just maintain the webpage for the owner. The beauty of band mills is that they are like bandsaws, you have to try real hard to lose fingers!

Jim

[caddyman1973]

Well Jim, at least you didn't tear up your good shoes! (Sorry about that, I just couldn't pass that one up). But seriously, Wishing you a speedy recovery!

[coffeecup]

Caddyman, while they were debriding the wounds I burst out laughing--and since I hadn't had any anesthetics they were concerned. When I told them about the shoes, they all cracked up too. Ya just gotta take humor where you find it!

[tjmurphy]

Man, really sorry to hear that. Hope all turns out well.

[vikingdog]

Sorry for your bad luck, best wishes on your recovery.

[big monk]

Get Well Wishes, from South Carolina !!!!!!!!!!!

[Miller Bro's]

Get well soon!

[Knife Nut]

Jim, speedy recovery, my friend.
After reading your ordeal, I decided that using a strip of velcro to squeeze the safety bar together with the push bar may not be as good of an idea as I once thought. Since I mow along two ditch areas, I think I'll quit doing that little trick.

Paul

[philco]

Wow Jim, I sure hate to hear of your misfortune.

I wish you a speedy recovery and hope you can wear your good shoes again soon.

Phil

[FRJ]

Jim,
sorry to hear about the foot injury, and the head injury that still troubles you.
I hope you compleatly recover from both injuries.
I helped a guy with a foot injury like yours while I was an EMT many years ago. It wasn't pretty.
Stay well.

[orvet]

Hey Jim, my wife says it is time for you to hire a gardener!
Sorry to hear of your mishap. I hope it heals up quickly for you.

You might also think about steel-toed Nikes if you are going to continue to mow your own lawn.


(I hope I don’t have to chop off my toes before I get a gardener!)

[Paladin]

Sorry to hear about your mishap. Hope you recover and get back 'on track' real soon!!

Ray

[coffeecup]

Thanks for the well-wishes guys! (Um, Knife Nut, yeah--that velcro might not be a real good idea . . . ) I'm off to the doctor in a little bit to find out how it is all doing.

When I sat down to write the original post I wasn't thinking about that aspect of things. It was more that I have trouble sometimes trying to get across to people the way I think pocketknives should fit into daily life.

I did some checking of my assorted EDCs, and every slipjoint I frequently carry can be opened like that. On some of them I can even pick which blade I want without looking. That's sort of what I look for in a pocketknife--one that I can use without having to think about it, without a struggle.

I think if people realized that--that using a traditional knife doesn't have to be a struggle--some of the demand for "tactical" knives etc might go away. People could go back to carrying a friendly slipjoint in their pocket, or a workman-like folder or lockback on their belts, knowing they were set for tasks that called for a handy knife.

Jim

[dcgm4]

Glad to see you've kept your sense of humor through the whole thing. Hope you have a speedy recovery!

[Gunstock Jack]

Sounds a little gruesome, Jim. Hope you heal up soon! Lawn mowers are a dangerous thing.


Not to upstage you or anything, but did you hear about the log truck driver in Idaho last week? He was alone when he got his foot caught between his stacked trailers and couldn't get to his cel phone. He had to cut off the shoe and toes to free himself... with his three inch pocket knife. It saved his life. The doctors were unable to reattach the toes as they were too mangled. Yikes!

Hope this story makes you feel a little better.

[RobesonsRme.com]

Jim; I'm glad it wasn't worse.

You really gotta keep on your toes when using a mower.

Charlie Noyes

[Gunstock Jack]

Was that an intentional pun Charlie?