Modeler's Scars

[Rob Hall]

I still have a scar on my right thumb from an exacto knife cut 30+ years ago...was a teenager building the Revell '59 Ford Skyliner kit, and sliced my thumb deeply and it bled for a while...I remember running around the house screaming about cutting my aorta

[Tom Geiger]

37 minutes ago, Rocking Rodney Rat said:

Years ago the X-Acto knife rolled off the bench and landed (blade #11) point down in my thigh. I pulled the blade out quickly. I had a small tear in my Levi's for a long time.... -RRR

Old draftsman's tip for keeping pencils and exactos from rolling.  Just add a small "wing" of masking tape to it in a place where you normally don't touch it.    A lot of us worked on tilted drafting boards, so mechanical pencils and such were always rolling!  

[Tom Geiger]

48 minutes ago, Rocking Rodney Rat said:

 I had a small tear in my Levi's for a long time.... -RRR

We could have another thread on how we ruined clothing!

I was sitting at my daughter's house on Christmas day.  I looked down at the leg of my good jeans and saw a small dark spot.  I touched it and it was hard.  I immediately knew it was a drop of  CA !

[tbill]

1 hour ago, Tom Geiger said:

We could have another thread on how we ruined clothing!

I was sitting at my daughter's house on Christmas day.  I looked down at the leg of my good jeans and saw a small dark spot.  I touched it and it was hard.  I immediately knew it was a drop of  CA !

Or how well traveled about the house bmf can be. I always put the cut scraps in one spot on the bench when doing foil, when I’m finished, I peel it up, wad it up and toss it out. Yet, weeks later I find small bits in the laundry, on the couch, and anywhere else I happened to go in the house.....

[Tom Geiger]

2 hours ago, tbill said:

Or how well traveled about the house bmf can be. I always put the cut scraps in one spot on the bench when doing foil, when I’m finished, I peel it up, wad it up and toss it out. Yet, weeks later I find small bits in the laundry, on the couch, and anywhere else I happened to go in the house.....

I'm at work one day and someone says to me, "There is something shiny on the bottom of your shoe...."  

[espo]

5 hours ago, Tom Geiger said:

Old draftsman's tip for keeping pencils and exactos from rolling.  Just add a small "wing" of masking tape to it in a place where you normally don't touch it.    A lot of us worked on tilted drafting boards, so mechanical pencils and such were always rolling!  

Another thought for this problem. Any place with school type supplies usually has very inexpensive rubber teasers, the type that slip over the end of a pencil. These usually have a four sided area that slips over the end of a pencil or the handle of a #11 blade handle. They also offer several different colors so you can color code your blade handle and your saw handle oe what ever.     

[GLMFAA1]

I have a permanent scar in my left thumb from cutting a model with a razor blade which were my xactos for years. When I got exactos I put plastic tubing on them so that my fat fingers could hold them better. Fortunately I never shanked myself, but have had many stick in the floor mat. easy to pick up when they are vertical.

greg

[ToyLvr]

5 hours ago, GLMFAA1 said:

I have a permanent scar in my left thumb from cutting a model with a razor blade which were my xactos for years. When I got exactos I put plastic tubing on them so that my fat fingers could hold them better. Fortunately I never shanked myself, but have had many stick in the floor mat. easy to pick up when they are vertical.

greg

I’ve got a pretty big scar on my leg from a model building accident when I was a kid. Like Greg, I was using a razor blade - never heard of an “Xacto” or hobby tools in general back then. While wearing shorts, I was sitting on the floor (no workbench, either), trimming something on a model, and slipped, resulting in a nice *deep* cut on my leg. Probably should have gone to a doctor and had it stitched-up, but didn’t want my parents to know; they probably would have taken the models away. I managed to keep it bandaged up and hidden from them until it healed.?

I could write a book about all the other injuries from working on my rusty 1:1 cars, etc etc. To quote the George Jones biography,            “I Lived To Tell it All.”

[Rocking Rodney Rat]

Another reason not to do BMF...LOL...-RRR

[Brutalform]

I had my #11 hobby knife fall off the bench, and stab me right in the top of the foot. 
Make sure you have your steel toe boots on while at the bench. 

[Dave Ambrose]

I have a few scars in my hands from slipping knives. I couldn't afford new blades so often used the blades for too long. Didn't have the patience to sharpen them, tho I did eventually develop an OK technique. 

[mchook]

I can't count the scars on my hands from knife slips, not too mention drilling into my fingers with a pin vise, but I have a good one on my left thigh I had to get stitched up. When I was about 12 years old I was cutting the nose off of a 54 Chevy on my lap. When it cut through the fender it kept going handle deep into my thigh. I wasn't going to tell my parents about it until I tried to stand up, OUCH!!! it was deep enough that it hit muscle. You can still see it and if you run your finger over it you can feel a divot.

[Fat Brian]

I've started using these snap blade knives for non critical cutting, so much better as long as you remember to retract the blade. 

[LL3 Model Worx]

Not a scar... but I can tell you from experience that you do not want to be sitting on your bed (my bench as a kid) trying to remove a little enamel with a stolen bottle of your grandmother's nail polish remover (acetone) in your underwear, and then have that bottle turn over and pour the entirety of its contents onto your crotch...  I'd rather have laid my testis in a bonfire.

I did what any quick witted 11yr old would do... (after realizing water has no effect) I run to the kitchen and commence to pouring an entire gallon of whole milk all over my junk (and the floor) when my grandmother turns the corner...

You could imagine the conversation that followed...

Shame, let me tell ya, I know something about it.

[ToyLvr]

On 1/3/2020 at 7:32 PM, LL3 Model Worx said:

Not a scar... but I can tell you from experience that you do not want to be sitting on your bed (my bench as a kid) trying to remove a little enamel with a stolen bottle of your grandmother's nail polish remover (acetone) in your underwear, and then have that bottle turn over and pour the entirety of its contents onto your crotch...  I'd rather have laid my testis in a bonfire.

I did what any quick witted 11yr old would do... (after realizing water has no effect) I run to the kitchen and commence to pouring an entire gallon of whole milk all over my junk (and the floor) when my grandmother turns the corner...

You could imagine the conversation that followed...

Shame, let me tell ya, I know something about it.

I think this one wins the prize for best story so far.....?

[espo]

On 12/30/2019 at 8:28 PM, ToyLvr said:

I’ve got a pretty big scar on my leg from a model building accident when I was a kid. Like Greg, I was using a razor blade - never heard of an “Xacto” or hobby tools in general back then. While wearing shorts, I was sitting on the floor (no workbench, either), trimming something on a model, and slipped, resulting in a nice *deep* cut on my leg. Probably should have gone to a doctor and had it stitched-up, but didn’t want my parents to know; they probably would have taken the models away. I managed to keep it bandaged up and hidden from them until it healed.?

I could write a book about all the other injuries from working on my rusty 1:1 cars, etc etc. To quote the George Jones biography,            “I Lived To Tell it All.”

Sorry, I'm still trying to stop laughing. I'd love to have been a mouse in the corner when Grams arrived.  

[NYLIBUD]

If I had a dollar for every scar I have ever got from cutting myself with an (X-acto knife),I’d be a very rich man....Slice???Ouch!!!!!

The enemy.?

Edited January 5, 2020 by NYLIBUD

[slusher]

No serious scars other then a cut every once in a while but I have been blessed no cuts in a while.  That blade stings when it meets  flesh...

[stavanzer]

Y'all know that you have to throw away any Exacto (or any other) Blade that cuts you?

Old superstition I was taught by my Grandfather. Once a blade has tasted Human Blood, it wants more.

Unless the blade is a Fighting Knife or Sword, any other blade that cuts you, should be trashed. It may be silly, but I've never kept a Jackknife, Hobby Knife, or Razor that cut me. Never been cut by the same blade twice.

[Tom Geiger]

I did a good one on Christmas week... not modeling but cutting wood with a jig saw. Cut right down into the nail.  Kept me off the bench for a week. You don’t realize how much you use your left thumb until it’s bandaged! Pretty much healed in the photo 

[Lizard Racing]

During one of my previous-life jobs, I did some research and found that the X-Acto knife was statistically the most dangerous tool in the tool box. They were just thrown in the box with no protection.  The plastic end from a ball point pen over the knife blade stopped the injuries.  As long as the guys used them.

[Rodent]

24 minutes ago, Lizard Racing said:

During one of my previous-life jobs, I did some research and found that the X-Acto knife was statistically the most dangerous tool in the tool box. They were just thrown in the box with no protection.  The plastic end from a ball point pen over the knife blade stopped the injuries.  As long as the guys used them.

I keep mine stuck in an old wine cork (natural, not synthetic) when I am not using it.

[Mike Stem]

About a month ago I somehow stuck a #11 X-Acto knife in the outside of my left index finger into the bone. I had to pull like crazy to get it out. It's still sore!

At work on November 17 1919 at 8:35am I had my hand get caught & pulled into the outfeed rolls of an industrial planer mill. I was the mill manager & was taking my guys place when he went to the bathroom. I had turned the feed rolls off & reached in to get some splintered wood out so it would feed. The little finger on my left hand glove hit the roller which had resin on it & pulled me in. I fought the thing almost pulling my hand off. I about gave out & my forearm went in. When the rollers stopped coasting I was in up to my shoulder. The rollers were 5/8" apart. Got to hospital & they cut my jacket & shirt off & my arm was flat! But no bones were broken, just flattened them.  Next day my arm had swollen to the size of my thigh, my fingers size of golf balls. They kept it packed in ice most of the time because of the pain. I was on max doses of morphine. Stayed in hospital for 3 weeks, had 13 operations on hand & arm, 2 1/2 yrs. in physical therapy every day, over 100 nerve blocks just to go to therapy & a yr. in a pain clinic every day. Had major nerve & artery damage. 2 weeks after I got home Reflex Sympathetic Dystrophy set in. Look it up. It's hell on earth. I take 5 oxycodone a day, 6 gabapentin, 4 muscle relaxers & 3 Dilantin a day for pain. But I'm alive!!!

Forgot about this, I had skin grafts to replace the places where my skin was peeled off the bottom of my wrist & all over my forearm. Had over 400 stiches in the grafts. Took skin off my thigh & it felt like someone may have poured gas on it & lite it.

 

Edited January 7, 2020 by Mike Stem