Stop cuts vs. blade length

[Vanmack]

I cut myself 3 times learning this. Don't use a short blade knife to make deep stop cuts. Although the short blade looks safer the problem is...you start pushing really hard on the knife and the short blade slips off the wood and into your "holding" hand (generally cuts you close to the fingernails.)
If I can get to the cut, I now use a 2" blade and make the cut up close to the handle of the knife. If it is a tight area I use the knife tip and make several rather light passes to "draw" the cut in.
Band-aids don't necessarily mean you're a carver.
Van

[Eddy-Smiles]

The secret is...

1. Not to use brute strength...let the tool do the work!

2. Only make half the stop cut and then reverse the piece of wood to make the other half so that the blade never threatens the holding hand!

3. Wear a good glove!

[Old Scout]

1 Use a cut resistant glove
2 Never muscle a cut, thats when you slip
3 If a cut on an edge ,use the other hand thumb to apply press for the cut
works for me teaching kids , no bandaids!!

[Vanmack]

Thanks for the tips guys. They all sound helpful. I take blood thinners and every time I cut myself it really bleeds a lot and scares my wife. She has threatened to keep anything sharper than crayons away from me.
Van

[Eddy-Smiles]

Your wife does that too, huh?? That's how I ended up wearing a glove, having the world's largest collection of thumb guards, and buying a full length leather apron! It was the only way to keep peace in the family! You know how it works. If mama ain't happy, no one's happy!

[Claude]

As Eddy says, wear the glove, wear the thumb guard, and get a full-length leather shop apron. The apron keeps dust and chips off your clothes so you don't track them into the rest of the house, and the leather will slow down the errant knife stroke or gouge thrust that might otherwise ensure a trip to the E.R. Another little "trick": When you're doing a stop cut with the short-bladed knife, look at the wood, the knife blade and the holding hand and ask yourself if the knife will hit the hand when it slips. If the answer is YES, then reposition the wood in your hand, move that finger out of the way, until the answer is NO, then make the cut. Takes practice (!) but if you always assume the knife will slip, and make sure nothing is in the way, then you won't get hurt.

I still keep several bandaids and a roll of paper towels near my workbench. Don't use them much, but they are there if (when!) I need them.

Claude

[gtech]

We all learn that way, by a blood sacrifice most of the time. Then we learn how to keep control on the blade, and we all end up wearing gloves in the end...

What I like to take the first chips of wood off is a long rounded blade to make nice sliding cuts. Then I use a long straigh blade, and I keep going shorter for the detail cuts.

I have more control of the blade and where it goes these days... but when I get too confident or when the wood splits, I still cut myself again. So I go back to the gloves, and the leather apron, and don't cut myself anymore for a while.

The last times I cut myself is just by manipulating the gouges or the knives It must be because I am also getting better at keeping them sharp...

You're right about the band-aids. I also use blood thinner, so I have to watch myself too. But you're on the good road, now that you learned all this by yourself.

Gilles

[jpittssr]

It's amazing how fast we learn when we see blood! Especially our own.

[gene-messer]

I have used a short blade knife for years to make deep stop cuts .. the blade length isnt the problem .. anytime you have to use alot of pressure to do a stop cut .. you are either cutting too deep at first or your knife isnt sharp enough .. why not make a shallow cut .. then go over it again several times until you get the depth you want .. much safer and easier

try that next time

Gene

[Gulf Coast Handyman]

Sharp short blade works for me, several shallow cuts. Always have on my glove, thunb guard and leather apron. I also learned the hard way.

Dave