I only skimmed the above posts -- all those cuts, yikes!!!

Guess I've been lucky, only a few little burns from pulling pans out of the oven.

When we have our knives sharpened, I always put a little reminder note in the knife drawer for a few days to remind us they are SHARP and to be extra careful. I rarely cut myself with a dull knife, more often with a freshly-sharpened one.

Perhaps you get used to a dull knife and handle it more casually and then when it is sharp it slices your skin.

The theory is that you press harder with a dull knife and it is likely to slip off of whatever food you are cutting and then cut your opposite hand.

Hands should be perpendicular with fingertips curled....so say the chefs.

Also...look out for frozen whole chickens. They can fly out of a freezer and land on your foot like a bowling ball.

Well, a couple Thanksgivings ago I was grating an apple (using a box grater) and my knuckles met the grater. God that hurt.

Speaking of razor-sharp Japanese knives: Last summer, I was unboxing my brand-new Shun paring knife for the first time (while sitting on the floor for some reason) and dropped it—point down, of course—on the top of my left thigh where it remained embedded until I pulled it out. 🥴

I feel your pain. I was particpating in a Chili Cookoff fundraiser for the local fire department and sliced the corner off my left thumb. Holy cow did it bleed and hurt! Fortunately the EMT's were there and took care of it. Since I sliced it completely off, they gave me the option of attempting to have it sewn back on or letting it heal without as long as it stopped bleeding. I opted for the later but I will tell you a year later it is still very sensitive.

I'm a klutz so this is just one of many kitchen injuries. LOL

Lacey, quite possibly the soy sauce has salt in it that drew out the water under the blister. Something of that nature seems to be most logical answer. Once that blister goes down, the skin under the blister will heal and the burned skin will peel off leaving a healed wound. Just my two cents worth .............

Beware the mandolin!!

I have nicked myself a few times using my mandolin--those blades are razor sharp!

But---after my sweet DIL cut off the pad of her thumb using one, I now ALWAYS wear one of these gloves when using mine. I also ordered an extra to send to my DIL.

PS: After 2 hours of trying to get the bleeding stopped-our son took her to urgent care where they put something (?) on it to stop the bleeding, and bandaged it up. She said it was super painful, and took a couple of weeks to finally quit hurting.

My young Grand-daughter is an aspiring chef and she uses those gloves. There is a pair at Grandma's house too.

Earlier on during the pandemic, I was taking a pot of boiled potatoes over the the sink to drain when some of the water sloshed out and scalded my left foot. A huge blister developed, and it was large enough that I thought it warranted some kind of medical attention. There was no way that I was going to go to urgent care, so I had my first telemedicine experience. It really wasn't bad; the doctor could see my foot and gave me advice on how to care for the wound. It's all healed now but still a little pink.

Elizabeth, I think become used to a knife as it gradually dulls is why some of use are more likely to get sliced with a freshly-sharpened one.

LOL flying frozen chickens! I have a great image in my head now (well, except for the landing on the foot part).

There‘s another thread going on about wearing shoes. Accidents like this are why I wear my slip-on house sneakers. It’s at least a little protection! Over the last year I have dropped and shattered a good half-dozen glasses, glass bowls, and a small planter, on the ceramic tile floor, and if I didn’t wear the sneakers I’d be sharing stories of shards of glass embedded in my heels and toes.

I keep telling myself to put those bowling ball chickens into rectangular containers and stack them for safety. But I haven't.

My Grandmother ( back in the 1950's ) washed her dishes by hand in a round enamel pan. There were lots of sudsy bubbles on the top and she reached down into the bottom to grab a handful of silverware, not realizing there was a butcher knife down there. She received a deep gash across the entire width of her palm that required stitches. From that day on, the sharp knives were put off to the side on the sink to be washed separately.

I've had a strict rule wherever I worked, no knives in the sink. Some of the junior staff thought I was a bit obsessive about it, but when several people may be sharing the washing up depending on who has to suddenly go do something else, you can't afford to have surprises under the bubbles.

I've nicked myself a bunch- dull knives are deadly, lol. I keep mine super sharp and don't get cuts :) Small burns galore- and tiny ones I call "paper cut burns" because they hurt amazingly much for such tiny things. Been steam scalded several times- it was the worst working in pro kitchens because I'm short and stock pots are tall, face level. Sugar burns suck too, that happened a couple times.

Worst was when I accidentally dragged my hand along with the meat into a frypan full of oil at school- I iced and wrapped it to continue on with class, but it was mighty difficult to cook one handed. Chef ended up sending me home for the day. Still got a faint scar from that one, only scar that stuck, lol.

I've seen a goodly handful of cooking accidents too. It can happen in busy kitchens packed full of people. Many cuts and burns, the occasional setting ones self on fire. One time a guy dropped his big knife and it stuck straight into his foot. But the worst was when someone used a gals cutting board without her knowing- for shellfish. She went into bad allergy shock and had to get rushed to the hospital. Unfortunately, that was the end of her hopeful career with food, she never came back to risk such a thing again.

I have countless burns on my knuckles from oven, broiler, toaster-oven. Hands will take forever to heal because you can't keep them dry.

Bpath -- Where do you get your knives professionally shapened? I have limited success with a steel. Can they do kitchen shears?

Chisue, I take them to the butcher at the grocery store across from the west train station. They do it for free while I shop. Not right before a holiday, of course, and if they are too busy they let me know a better day to bring them in. I just bring a couple at a time, and they don‘t turn their nose up at my Oxo knives mixed in with the expensive ones! I don’t bring more than three at a time. I don’t know if they do kitchen shears, though. But why not? Doesn’t a butcher use shears, too?

Ah, the danger of knives in a dishpan of soapy water... This was the story told to us as kids to explain why someone's mother was taken to hospital by ambulance one evening. When I was older, my mother explained that this was not her first suicide attempt -- and a poor way for a fading beauty to impress her straying husband...to say nothing of the trauma for their 8-year-old son.

I have done the boob in the coffee but luckily only sore for a week or so. The tissues I placed in the bra for padding did look a little strange but really helped.

Whatever the previous owners put on the kitchen floor and on the tiles in the basement becomes dangerous when wet. So far have been lucky after I have cleaned it to only slide across the floor into the cabinets with only bruises and a twisted ankle.

Chisue you would have to contact them but one of the local knife sharpening places Ambrosi Bros Cutlery used to accept things mailed to them for an extra charge. https://abcutlery.com/services/

Elizabeth, I use bins in my freezer for almost everything, keeps things from tumbling out! And I have yet to pull a bin out too far so it falls, knock on wood.

Knives in the sink or bottom of the dishpan are a definite no-no!

Another vote for shoes in the kitchen- Wet counter, outlet labelled gcfi, wasn't, something wrong with microwave = electric shock.

I have cut and burned myself numerous times. Here's the two worst: I was making Thanksgiving dinner, and I cut off the tip of my finger while cutting a sweet potato. I had to go to urgent care and have them glue it back on. I had left the turkey in the oven with the oven on!!! Fortunately, we called some friends and they came over and shut off the oven and pulled out the turkey.

The second case, I was making grape jam and was pulling the jars out of the canner. The bottom of a jar broke right off (thermal shock?) and the glass and boiling jam came down on my bare foot. Fortunately no glass went into my foot but I did have second degree burns on the top of my foot from the jam.

My friend had someone else drop a frozen turkey on her foot. She was loading her groceries in her car, and a good samaritan insisted that she needed help. The woman yanked up a turkey, the grocery bag broke, and the bird landed on my friend's foot. As I remember, nothing broken, but she was gimpy for weeks.

Frozen turkeys reminds me of the episode from the funny TV series "WKRP in Cincinnati". There had evidently been a tradition where the radio station would take turkeys up to a low altitude in a small plane and drop them out to fly down to waiting households. The station manager decided that live turkeys were too expensive, so he subsituted *frozen* birds. Brilliant.

I was in high school (in the 60's) when my biggest kitchen injury happened. I was making caramel apples - wearing shorts - somehow spilled hot caramel on my upper right thigh. Had a very bad blistery burn from it and still have the scar. We lived on a farm in the country - no emergency room close so we didn't go.

Chisue "As God as my witness I thought turkeys could fly".

Not exactly kitchen area, but hubs was taking out garbage. Really freak accident. Dropped in disposal can ,lid was open , lid came down on his arm and it sliced top layer of skin off about 7 inches long. He walked in house, happen to have a handkerchief and trying to cover. Blood was all over his arm . Got to bathroom and I was the one that was hysterical. Could not believe this had happened. Of all times, our doctor son is out of town. We FaceTimed and said we had to get to emergency. We had not been anywhere February and now we had to go to hospital. Son called ahead and someone was waiting outside and took us in less traveled area and straight to a room. Still to this day in disbelief that a freak accident could happen . Slow healing as hubs is 82. I am the worst nurse in world. Dressed it twice a day, I would take off bandage and say ohhh, it was painful to look. We laugh now, son was saying when he FaceTimed he was more worried about me than hubs. Oh, the joy of getting old.

I’ve only cut myself on extremely (razor) sharp knives. The sharpest knife ever was a new Victorinox 8” chef’s knife. I’ve sliced the tip of my index finger(s) off on several occasions. One time in 1970s with a very sharp bread knife and Ihad nerve pain for years after.

After other finger tip slices, I’ve quickly secured the bias cut tip back on with Steri Strips (use with tincture of benzoin to get best adhesive). One time the replaced tip stayed on and bonded to the finger. A second time it only half bonded, but the tip acted as a sort of flesh bandage until new finger tissue could grow beneath it. I did not put any ointment or peroxide on it and (gross) kept the same bloodied Steri strips on for about two weeks, letting it sort of grow off. I kept it from getting wet for 8 days and watched for any sign of infection. It’s a good idea to stay current on tetanus shots, BTW.

You can buy various sized Steri-Strips and tincture of benzoin online. I love the fragrance of benzoin. Local drug stores didn’t have any.

I badly cut/gouged/sliced my wrist one fall when working o a boat. I attempted to jury rig Steri strips (while dripping lots of blood everywhere) by using numerous adhesive sections of bandaids. I really needed suturing, but wanted to watch a meteor shower with hot chocolate on my front steps. In the midst of that show that cold evening, I felt my hand and arm cold and wet. The bandaid strips had let go.

I'm finding it interesting how many people are cutting fingertips. Fingertips should never be exposed when holding food for cutting, they should be curled in.

Also interesting is the dull vs sharp knife thing. I find dull knives are far more dangerous because they are not functioning correctly- only times I've nicked myself has been either usually dull knives or occasionally my own inattentiveness to knife skills.

The only bad knife cut I ever had was at our son's house one Thankgiving day. While helping to cut peeled potatoes into chunks, I discovered that the knife I was using was no sharper than a dinner knife. I pushed harder and harder to get through the potato until it slipped sideways and my finger got cut. I spent some time going to stores looking for butterfly closures. It really should have been stitched but I didn't want to make a fuss.

Had the knife been sharp it would have neatly cut the potato with no sideways slipage.

Oh boy - this is a really cringe-y thread!

Lots of scars on my hands - and arms too. I not only cook a lot, and worked in restaurants as a teen, but also do arts & crafts, and have cut myself plenty with razors, scissors and exacto knives - not to mention paper. Sewing is another activity that has produced any number of injuries from needles and pins and seam rippers.

Once I cut the back of my hand pretty good on the blade of a paper cutter by just brushing against it.

And I remember once stupidly trying to slice a bagel with my finger in the hole.

I've had a few where I had to hold my hand above my head to slow/stop the bleeding. Never needed stitches though, thank goodness!

Also never accidentally 'seasoned' anything I was preparing 😉

P.S. chisue - I think you remembered that WKRP episode backwards:

Anyone remember Dan Akroyd's hilarious Julia Child skit?

Julia

tvq, I swear my mandolin is the scariest tool in my kitchen.

My worst kitchen cut was when I was fairly newly married many many years ago. We had baked a fairly large ham and I was cutting slices for sandwiches. I’m fairly certain at that point in my life I wasn’t using the best, or maybe even the sharpest of knives. I don’t recall. Anyway, I was slicing away, the knife or the ham slipped, and I cut a nice ’v’ on the side of my finger near the knuckle. I didn’t think it needed stitches, so I just bandaged it up. I still have a small white v there.

I just remembered another bloody incident, ha. I was opening a can of cat food while in a hurry, dropped the can as I was picking it up and tried to catch it and the sharp can lid sliced through the webbing between my thumb and forefinger. That one did require about 4 stitches and I was the first person ever to come in with a cat food can lid injury and got a lollipop for my trouble. :)

I have the gloves shown in a previous thread. I have tremors and have to be careful around knives.

But years ago when first married, predishwasher, I did what my mother told me never to do. I put my hand inside a glass to wash it. Yep, the glass broke and I still have the scar to prove it!

And yes, this thread makes me shiver in fear of what comes next!

The week before the mandolin incident my DH was out fishing and caught a fishing hook in his finger. He couldn’t get it out. He paddled to shore and somehow was able to get the kayak on top of the car and drive to the ER to get it out.

Two weeks later he was using the mandolin to slice some zucchini strips for a recipe he was watching on YouTube. The woman who was using the mandolin was not using the guard and he turned to me and mentioned it. Next thing I know he had sliced his fingernail off.

i won’t use the thing and wanted to throw it out years ago! He wouldn’t let me.

OMG that reminded me of a crafting accident I had in a roomful of kids. I was struggling to tie a knot of plastic lanyard around a lanyard hook and my hand slipped and the hook went through my thumb and stuck there. I had to run out of the room, hiding my thumb with the hook in it from the children, so I could take it out in private. That was nasty! Those things are not sharp at all. I remember staring at it in disbelief, trying to figure out how to remove it...

I also have had two (count ‘em two) mandolin thumb end removals. Each time I neglected to use the guard that came with it. BTW, I had to look up how to stop bleeding, it was so bad. One recommended way is to put the fingertip in a dish of black ground pepper for awhile. It does sting a little, but works. It cakes on. I just left it for quite awhile, a few hours, lightly covered.

My SIL has a mandoline story. It was a holiday, I think Thanksgiving. It was in the morning, she was slicing potatoes with the mandoline. She cut herself badly enough to take off for Urgent Care.

Adult son, waking up and finding everyone gone, sees that food prep is in process. Takes up the mandoline and potato. Yep, cuts himself badly enough to need care.

I think she got rid of the mandoline.

I’ve been pretty lucky in the kitchen. One small scar from a hot cookie tray. However my friend dropped a blade from a food processor on her foot and ended up in the ER with a severe cut.

Well, I am not buying a mandolin now!

Oh, buy a mandolin!--hey are a wonderful kitchen tool. Just make sure to buy one of those gloves and use it every time!

I think my food processor has that type of blade and a lid on it.

A long time ago I was cleaning the back of the refrigerator and dropped something behind the grid guarding the motor.

I reached in and got a shock so hard it knocked me on my fanny.

I had been having a lot of heart palpations and the shock stopped them.

My doctor said he never heard of a person going an at home cardioversion.

Roy, that’s kind of funny. Glad it had a happy ending.

Squirted lemon juice in my eye once.

I didn't think I had a story but then remembered one of many decades ago. I was just married, very young just out of college, and had never been allowed in my mother's kitchen. So I was making Swiss steak (that was before I became a vegetarian) and flipped the floured steak over with a spatula instead of a large fork. Hot grease splattered on my wrist and skin the size of a silver dollar melted. We had no health insurance so went to a drug store and got some ointment the pharmacist recommenced. I still have that little porcelain jar as a remembrance. No scar though.

Having company for dinner and getting a late start, I was chopping onions rather quickly when my grip lessened on my newly-sharpened knife and sliced a neat 3-inch cut into my shin. Didn't even hurt. I'd never had stitches before and couldn't believe how much it freaked me out. The doctor who sewed me up was perfect: a man with the gift of the gab, who told the most hilarious stories that had both dh and me practically rolling on the floor. The tactic worked well and I can barely see the scar line.

I was cooking artichokes and swung around with the pot. Clipped the counter and spilled a pot full of boiling water down my belly! I refused to go to the Dr for a week, then saw evidence of infection.

Ended up being 3rd degree burns that required 3 months of treatment! Treatment thankfully ended when our 2017 fires happened and so many others needed much more care than I!

Oh yeah, the hospital people suggested I buy one of those pots with the collendar inserted into the pot. Still using it!

Also many cuts from sharp knives!

Wow sjerin, how did you get you shin while cutting? Did you drop the knife on your leg while cutting?

Yes, I lost hold of the knife as I was hurriedly chopping and it flipped up into the air and straight down in front of my leg.