Builder and an A&E visit

[George]

Anyone watch the program thats on ITV in the wee small hours of the night, called The Nightwatch? its about the Police,Ambulance and Fire services on night duty.

On Friday they showed the Hospital Services A&E section with an alledged builder who came in with a really bad rough cut between the thumb and index finger. Anyway as luck would have it not much damage was caused and was treated for infection then stitched.

Two weeks later the builders back at work and they showed him cutting a piece of 2x2 and you now from that clip how he managed to aquire a bad cut...the stupid sod was cutting the wood and holding the wood down far to close to the saw blade teeth for my liking.

Sheesh! will some people never learn.

[Stuart B]

There used to be a theory going around when I were a lad that such a cut caused lockjaw .

[Bob Eager]

I remember that too...

[George]

Funny, I always got told it was a bacterial disease.

[The Natural Philosopher]

It did. Before antibiotics tetanus was a real killer.

[Brian G]

It's more stupid not to guide the saw using your hand near it!

You stick your thumb above the saw teeth on the 'smooth' part of the blade as a guide [1], with the hand as close as possible to the saw holding the piece to be cut [2] and your nose directly in line with the back of the saw with both eyes open to ensure that the saw is cutting square.

If you hold your hand too far 'away' from the saw then if it 'jumps' you cannot control the movement and it takes a chunk out of you!

[1] This also 'pushes' the saw away from your hand if it 'jumps' during the cutting process. [2] But not so close that you end up cutting your hand - experience and the size of your hand dictates the actual distance.

Brian G

[mogga]

What is tetanus?

Tetanus, commonly called lockjaw, is a bacterial disease that affects the nervous system. As a result of widespread immunization, tetanus is now a rare disease. Who gets tetanus?

Tetanus occurs more often in older people and in agricultural workers for whom contact with animal manure is more likely and immunization is inadequate.

You get the bacteria in you through cuts exposed to the bacteria which live in soil and other things.

[George]

Well you do it your way and I'll do it the way my woodwork teacher taught me in the latter part of my schooling. He said said that the only need for the other hand to be used is for getting the cut started and if you have to use the other hand to navigate the saw then you are useless with a hand saw. In 25 years of using a hand saw Ive never had a cut or abrasion from sawing.

[Brian G]

Yep, you do it the way your school woodwork teacher taught you and I'll do it the way I was taught by my apprentice master and the tutors at the local technical college during a *FIVE* year carpentry and joinery apprenticeship - along with some forty years out in the great wide world.

All the best George

Brian G

[George]

Finishing the Cut. -- After the groove has been started, a few short forward strokes will deepen the cut so that the left hand may be moved away free of the blade.

[David in Normandy]

Yes, but my teachers bigger than your teacher and if you don't believe me I'll get my brother on to you!

(Sorry - couldn't resist :-)

[George]

Thats oky,because you can't bellyband walls

[Bob Eager]

Yes, yes...we were discussing the myth, though.

[David in Normandy]

I just know I'm go1. A band passed around the belly of an animal to secure something, such as a saddle.

1. An encircling band for holding in a baby's protruding navel.

[George]

Tis an old saying when I was a lad(locality slang) meaning to jump from one wall to another ie entry walls at the back of terraced house.. the object was to find the widest walls apart and you had to do it(amongst other things) if you wanted to be in the local gang. ;-)

[nightjar]

Your hands are more likely to have come into contact with the type of materials that carry the bacteria. People who have not been trained in the proper way to wash their hands hygienically are likely to leave bacteria on the web between their fingers, even when using anti-bacterial soaps. So, a cut between the fingers or the finger and thumb did carry a higher risk of infection before anti-tetanus shots were common.

Colin Bignell

[Skipweasel]

From my own experience, it opens up a pocket in your skin. There isn't much connective tissue in that area - that's why the skin is able to part from the flesh below to make a web - which opens rather gapingly when cut.

It also hurts!

Mine got infected, and from the way it gaped I can well imagine that infection in such cuts is common - and of course in days gone by tetanus was quite a common infection.

[Bob Eager]

Aha. A good explanation!

[geoff]

In message , Stuart B

[geoff]

In message , George writes

Or escape the police ..