I always preferred to keep a nail clipper handy for removing splinters, tweezers often don’t seem to have enough grip. However, I have used my end nippers when neither my nail clipper nor tweezers were with me.<!—-> <!—-><!—->
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What I’m wondering about though is; what is it I see guys doing sometimes when they’re taking a utility knife to their hands? Are they cutting their hands open to remove their splinters? Or, are they pressing their skin away from the splinter so they can make way for their tweezers? Anybody use a utility knife to extract splinters?<!—-> <!—->
–T
Replies
JC,
I have used a utility knofe, and an X-acto many times. I have never had the luxury of a splinter that has not gone in below the skin and broken off where no tweezer could reach it. I have always had to resort to surgery :)
Bill Koustenis
Advanced Automotive Machine
Waldorf Md
Sometimes a little cut lets you coax the splinter out. Also, sometimes the blade will catch and drag a splinter out if you use a scraping motion. Also, you can probe a little wheere the splinter went in and sometimes extract the splinter with the tip of the blade.
i use a pocket knife, or a uitlity knife, or a straight pin
or some tweezers
if the splinter is buried and broken off.. you have to figure out wether it's going to come out backwards or push it out forwards
the instrument is to open the hole to make room for the exit.. or to get under it and lift
about half the time i'm walking around with a splinter in my hands, sometimes you let it fester and it comes out easier
There's a splinter remover extroardinair pair of tweezers that Electric Tool sells and the hardwood guy gives away with a decent order. Small, real pointed and comes in a plastic sleeve. Surgical quality-I'll have to investigate how to get some for the Fest. Don't know why I haven't thought about putting them in the Christmas exchange box.
I know there's one with your name on it. A Great Place for Information, Comraderie, and a Sucker Punch.
Remodeling Contractor just outside the Glass City.
http://www.quittintime.com/
I get those in the Army commissary. The points are sort of triangular and they work very well. Just need to remember to put a pair in the van. Usually end up digging them out with pocket knife.
Edit, here is the type I was talking about (TSE):
http://www.miraclepoint.com/tweezers2.htm
Edited 3/18/2008 1:07 am ET by rasconc
That's the tool!A Great Place for Information, Comraderie, and a Sucker Punch.
Remodeling Contractor just outside the Glass City.
http://www.quittintime.com/
There's nothing like the feeling of relief when you finally get that annoying splinter out that's been bugging you for a couple of days. Even if you have to cut a big slice to get it out.Relief at last. AhhhhhhJohn Svenson, builder, remodeler, NE Ohio
cut it open ...
glue it shut ...
and get back to work.
only hurts if U go deep and miss the splinter.
I will take the time and put in a brand new blade for surgery.
if it's a clean cut it gets superglue ...
if a "flap" is made ... squish some PL Premium.
like I always say ... the burn ... means it's healing!
Jeff
my methods have finally ben officially recognized ... coupla months back Cath dropped a glass in the sink while doing dishes ... got a decent gash on her finger picking it up. Bled like a stuck pig ...
anyways ... we stop the bleeding ... kinda ... under cold water, pressure and holding it up. Every time she moves it gushes again ... then she said the magic words ...
uh ... maybe U better glue me shut!
vindication! Buck Construction
Artistry In Carpentry
Pittsburgh Pa
"maybe U better glue me shut!"umm... ya - anyway - I've got a needle and a pair of dissecting tweezers and most important, an optivisor that lets me see what I'm doing - http://www.activeforever.com/p-369-donegan-optivisor.aspx"there's enough for everyone"
I knew better than to type that in the Tavern ...
we'll punch it up at the Fest!
Jeff Buck Construction
Artistry In Carpentry
Pittsburgh Pa
"uh ... maybe U better glue me shut!"Let's all keep the wives words in context now!;)
Welcome to the Taunton University of Knowledge FHB Campus at Breaktime. where ... Excellence is its own reward!
How did we go from splinters to birth control?John Svenson, builder, remodeler, NE Ohio
could be birth and audio control!
Jeff Buck Construction
Artistry In Carpentry
Pittsburgh Pa
I like multi-purpose tools, more bang for the Buck.......or lessJohn Svenson, builder, remodeler, NE Ohio
Yep, like Adrian says, a couple days of #### and it comes out easy, but what a relief!
Welcome to the Taunton University of Knowledge FHB Campus at Breaktime. where ... Excellence is its own reward!
"sometimes you let it fester and it comes out easier"
From now on you'll always be Uncle Fester to me. LOL.
Edited 3/18/2008 7:38 am by Hudson Valley Carpenter
Who jinxed me with the splinter post? Yesturday I was chamfering an edge on some 1/4 sawn maple with my block plane. I cought an edge and a piece went under my thumb nail. Talk about pain!!! Went all the way to the first nuckle. I got it out with a pair of dykes, Well my helper got it out! Pressure treated splinters are the worst ! They get infected in 2 sesconds.
My 2 cents, Lou
lou... how ya doing ?
those boys keeping you up ?Mike Smith Rhode Island : Design / Build / Repair / Restore
Mike, Been doing well (Landed a great job- Working for great people). The boys are sleeping well now!!!! I wish I could say that for myself, been getting up at 3:30 doing some shop work and then off to the jobsite. I'm home by 3 and have plenty of time for the family. Thanks for asking. Hope you and the family are well too.
Lou C
I have a kit I keep in the truck, needles, several different tweezers, some I have sharpened to a fine point. Sometimes It's in the shop and I didn't always have a kit. With a utility knife, you can put the sharp point under the splinter and pinch down on it with a thumb or fingernail and pull straight back. It works quite well for decent size splinters. The little hair ones can sometimes be removed by using the knife as a scraper. Straight in splinters may need a little digging around to expose the end. You can tell when you have all the splinter out since it is often followed by a nice drop of blood, not to mention the relief. You have to watch out for some of the deep ones that go into a finger joint. They can reach into the tendon area and cause infection that may travel up your arm. Surgeons often lay you open to find those.
Beat it to fit / Paint it to match
A callused skin traps the splinter down under so you have to slice away that hard shell to let the devil out
Welcome to the
Taunton University of Knowledge FHB Campus at Breaktime.
where ...
Excellence is its own reward!
I like to let em fester and get all ####, then they slide out easy....but yeah, I've resorted to all manner of surgical tools. Ever work with wenge? You just have to stand next to it, and you wind up with splinters.
Cabinetmaker/college woodworking instructor. Cape Breton, Nova Scotia.
Nippers! Jeez, sounds like a sunbaked SYP deck splinter. I've found that the ss tweezers on a swiss army knife are about as good as you can get off the shelf without doing some custom filing.
I got a steel splinter the other day off a GRK screw, holding the screw while getting it started into the wood, it went right through the finger of my glove. That fricken HURT, I swear it was barbed! Thing was so long that I was able to grab it with my teeth. I was up on a ladder with a cordless makita in one hand and a fistful of 4" screws in the other, good times, man, good times.
I use my utility knife most of the time because thats what I have on me. The best is to go to a farm store and buy fairly large bore needles for vaccinating cattle. The points are really sharp and are easier to work under the splinter or to scrape the dead skin off the top of it.
send your wife to bed bath and beond. the sell a set of tweezers for about 15 bucks that have such a sharp point you don't even need a needle.
bought them as a last resort for my daughter who had run a pc of lead pencil in her hand,straight in. got it out ,paid for themselves.... larry
if a man speaks in the forest,and there's not a woman to hear him,is he still wrong?
JC,
I found a pair of these about 20 years ago on the counter at a local lumber yard. I keep about 5 pairs in various hiding places so I will always know where I can find a pair.
Sharp enough to dig in deep and do surgery; grips slivers like a little pit bull.
http://www.medfordtools.com/unclebill/
Both. With a utility knife and a fresh blade you can often spear or hook the splinter end to pull it out. If not visible, and can't be pushed/squeezed to the surface, the knife will do what it does best and quickly cuts an access path.
I have Uncle Bill's Sliver Grippers on my keychain, they work great for your average sliver.
Thing about a bad sliver is that it hurts so much that do-it-yourself surgery is a great big Ahhhh.....the relief.
Feel sorry for the metal workers, now those are bad 'slivers'.
when i started a old master carpenter said you remove splinters at church on Sundays, And ya know that exactly what i did, No one mentioned the sucking method, But most of the time it bugs me so much i just cut away with my knife, my wife would use her fingernails to get a grip on the tip of the splinter and if i was lucky she pulled it out.
and if you were misbehaving she pushed it in further
....... oops....SORREEEE !Mike Smith Rhode Island : Design / Build / Repair / Restore
I do exactly the same as Mike Smith does. I want to be 3exactly like him, but not play golf.
If I can't dig the bugger out, I usually wait around a few days for the white cells to do their thing and then I lance the area and squeeze it out. Works for me.
I have three going at the moment.
I have three going at the moment.
Jer, they sell these things called gloves..........A Great Place for Information, Comraderie, and a Sucker Punch.
Remodeling Contractor just outside the Glass City.
http://www.quittintime.com/
Oh man..I thought you was gonna tell us how they got Splinty out of her basement........
You only learn who has been swimming naked when the tide goes out.......Warren Buffet
jjwalters
I read the title and thought someone was claiming to have pushed Splinter down the stairs, thereby extracting her from the discussion board.
Around here we call a small piece of wood in the flesh a sliver.
Rich
Sharp pointed tweezers with a built in magnifying glass. I think Rockler and maybe Lee Valley sell them.
In addition to the pointy tweezers and needles...I also carry one of these in the truck. Suck 'em out if possible cause it works and is better than cutting or digging.
This one had a product in it called Duralactin.... for the cat. This same product is also for dogs and horses. Your vet may have some empties laying around or will save one for you if you ask.
Has a nice wide throat (5/16") so placement over the splinter is easy. Easy enough to run one handed too if no one is around to assist. Push down to seal and pull back on the plunger. Tug up and down a little once it has a good hold on the skin to help coax the thing out.
The sooner you do this, the better. The longer you wait, the more apt the skin is to close back over the top. If that happens, you may have to create an opening with a needle or such.
Edited 3/18/2008 11:00 am ET by HootOwl
One time I bought the wrong pair of cheap reading glasses at the local drug store. I think I need something like 1.50 and bought 3.75 by mistake. They are like wearing Coke bottle glasses to read but they are fantastic for seeing small splinters. I keep the pair right beside the tweezers and never have trouble finding the splinter because with those glasses the splinter looks like a log. Best couple of bucks I ever spent wrong.
roger
read your post and stopped by the dollar place today and picked me up a pair of those 3.75.wow didn't know my hands were so dirty.larryif a man speaks in the forest,and there's not a woman to hear him,is he still wrong?
Pretty cool how they sometimes "sproing" right out with a bit of help. These sproingers are usually very painful.
Great ain't it. Such a simple idea from a mistake.
roger
Sucking might work because of the moisture. The nurse at Boy Scout Camp taught me to soak the finger (in water) for as long as needed to soften up the skin, and then rake it with a sturdy sewing needle. For buried splinters, obviously. Somehow that's not painful, or at least not compared to a nasty splinter.Any, yeah, SYP is designed to cause you pain! I wonder how much arsenic I've got in me...
Back when I had sissy hands, I got splinters all the time. Now I have the calloused hands of a working man.
I have learned not to slide my hand against the grain of cut lumber or along the edge of plywood to feel how smooth it is. A light stroke after final sanding is all the affection lumber is getting from me.
If a chunk of wood is able to penetrate these hands I can't get with my teeth, I use a utility knife and the bandaids in my vest pocket so I don't bleed over everything.
"Perfect is the enemy of Good." Morrison