In the US, in 2020, there were an estimated 8,250,914 knife injuries treated in emergency departments. Comprehending that number is impossible. If that doesn’t frighten you, I don’t know what will.
As a general rule, cutting your non-knife hand is the most common injury from knives. Additionally, losing a sense of fingers is typical. Because of that, ensure you’re familiar with the technique of using a knife prior to cutting with one.
Although using a knife is a typical action, you shouldn’t treat it as one. There are many actions you can take to avoid knife-related injuries. Following that, we’ll discuss how you can use these actions to keep yourself secure.
What are the dangers of using a knife?
Although cutting an object is common, it may cause severe injuries. Consequently, we want to avoid such beatings. How do we do it? We’ll discuss just that later. So, what are the dangers of using a knife?
First, cutting your non-knife hand is the most common injury. Therefore, we want to have that in mind. Secondly, having the knife slip from your grip is extremely dangerous. Not only can it cut your body, but the momentum of the knife may cause severe damage as well.
A misconception people have is you can’t cause permanent damage when cutting yourself. Yet, that’s as far away from the truth as it gets. Thus taking safety steps to ensure you don’t do so is remarkably essential.
The best solution to avoid the dangers is to have them in the back of your mind.
Knives have plenty of benefits and uses. As a result, we tend to use them plenty. For that reason, the more we use them, the higher the chance of cutting ourselves. Therefore, if you notice you’re using your knife for a prolonged period, ensure you take safety steps.
Additionally, pocket knives have many other threats. The knife opening when you carry it, for instance, is risky. Because of that, many companies design their products with safety mechanisms. To avoid that, buying a pocket knife that won’t open itself is crucial.
Lastly, the knives you use the most are kitchen knives. Consequently, the chances of hurting yourself when using one are higher than usual. From now on, pay additional attention to your actions when you’re making food. Most of the knife-related injuries happened while cooking.
How to Avoid Knife-Related Injuries
Usually, you won’t see Gordon Ramsey cutting himself. Now, why is that? Because experienced chefs have had plenty of practice with the skill of slicing. Consequently, their hand knows the motions of the knife.
As a whole, practicing using the knife will assist you in avoiding knife-related injuries. For that reason, experienced individuals will not cut themselves as much as inexperienced people. Lastly, ensure you pay extra attention when using the knife.
First, assure you have plenty of practice with the knife. By doing so, you’ll memorize the motions it takes to cut objects. That will allow you to know the amount of pressure you need to cut different things.
For instance, slicing through a tomato will take less pressure than a steak. Once you begin cutting many objects, your subconscious will instantly remember how to cut the entity you just sliced.
Secondly, pay additional attention when using a blade. In many cases, people have their knives slip from their hands. That causes the sharp knife to have momentum towards your body. If you’re unlucky, you may end up permanently injuring yourself, which we don’t want.
Before you start practicing with the knife you just bought, I advise you to read the following section. We’ll discuss different tips you can implement to ensure you’re not going to cut yourself. That way, you will keep your body a single piece.
Respect the sharpness of the blade
Once you begin using the knife, you’ll realize how sharp it is. With a knife, you can complete most actions with ease. Therefore, if you end up having the knife cutting you, permanent damage is inevitable.
Respecting the sharpness of the blade is essential. That way, you’ll keep a constant grip on the knife. Consequently, cutting yourself will become challenging. In addition, individuals with no respect for the lethality of the blade will hurt themselves with ease.
You may have noticed many experienced people working with speed and ease. You most likely don’t have the background they have. Therefore, you would have a difficult time using it.
Consequently, you may end up losing grip on the knife, thus causing permanent damage.
A misconception many people have is that knives bring more harm than benefits. However, that’s far away from the truth. From my experience, a knife is a fantastic tool you can use for various actions. Defending yourself and others, for instance, is the leading use of blades these days.
Pay extra attention when operating the knife.
A typical knife injury is cutting your non-knife-hand. Unsurprisingly, that may happen to you when you’re not paying the attention the knife needs. That point brings us back to respecting the knife matter.
Paying extra attention when operating the knife is remarkably important. Not doing so will increase the chances of injuring yourself. Consequently, when slicing various objects, ensure you know the pressure needed to cut appropriately.
Apply the right amount of pressure.
Experienced knife users know how much applied pressure they need to cut various things. Consequently, they’ll avoid a typical injury usually caused by involving too much pressure with the knife.
To keep yourself safe, ensure you’re not applying too much pressure on rather easily cut objects. In doing so, you’ll avoid having the knife slip from the piece you’re mowing, solely ending up cutting yourself. Therefore, involve the appropriate amount of pressure on different items.
Additionally, that tip will come as you use the knife. Because of that, you can’t expect to know how much pressure you need for certain items until you’ve tried cutting them. Thus ensure you keep practicing with your sharp blade to master this tip.
Lastly, experimenting with the knife you own is essential to avoid cutting yourself. How do you do that? Start by cooking your food using it and feel the blade. As a result, you’ll begin to memorize the right amount of pressure for the different types of pieces.
Purchase high-quality knives
As much as it sounds like I’m trying to sell you knives, I’m not. I have plenty of experience in the field. Therefore, my goal is to help you as much as possible. Every morning I wake up to write additional articles on knives, so you have all the knowledge you need.
Buying high-quality knives may be the difference between cutting yourself and not. A blade of low quality will become worn more quickly. Surprisingly, dull blades are more dangerous than a sharp ones. Consequently, if you have a dull knife, you’re increasing the odds of injuring yourself.
I have an entire post on the topic of dull knives. Additionally, when to sharpen your blades and why dull knives are more dangerous than sharp ones.
Because the amount of pressure you need to apply on a dull knife to cut an object is higher than with a sharp one, the odds of the blade slipping are higher, consequently causing unwanted injuries. Hence ensure you keep your knife sharpened at all times.
Constantly sharpen your knives.
I don’t want to repeat the previous section. Yet, emphasizing sharpening your blades is particularly essential. Because of that, although the last piece of advice is related to this one, nevertheless I wrote it.
Dull knives are more dangerous to use than sharp ones. Consequently, sharpening your blades is remarkably necessary. Not only are the knives going to end up more deadly, the chance of causing injury will decrease.
I know it’s somewhat contradictory. However, differentiating between sharp and having increased chances of causing injuries is essential. When a knife is unsharpened, the amount of pressure you’ll need to apply when using it will improve. As a result, hurting yourself will become less complex.
Learn how to hold knives properly.
This advice will come naturally. Learning to hold a knife appropriately before using one is essential. Because of that, I’ll include a video on the different ways you ought to grip a sharp blade.
Having the proper knowledge of how you should grip your knife is essential. Not learning how to hold one eventually will cause injuring yourself. Consequently, before using a sharp blade, ensure you know how to carry one.
Know that knives provide plenty of benefits
Knives can cause pain. Yet, there are many benefits such a tool may provide. Having the ability to defend yourself, for example, is a fantastic benefit to having a lethal weapon.
Although we’re discussing how knives are harmful and avoiding blade-related injuries, understand that they provide plenty of benefits. In doing so, you’ll start to understand why using such a tool is essential. Hence you’ll greatly respect knives.
As discussed, comprehending the force such a tool can have will be extremely important in avoiding injuries. Consequently, if you apprehend the benefits blades provide, you’ll begin respecting them and understanding what they’re capable of doing.
Because of that, I highly suggest you start looking at the bright side of knives.
Conclusion
The number of people who end up in emergency departments from knife-related injuries is massive. Because of that, we discussed how to avoid the different injury types from blades. If you read the post to its fullest, I ensure that the odds of you hurting yourself have decreased.
The most ordinary ways of injuring yourself with a knife are applying too much pressure on various objects and having the knife slip from your grip. Both will cause an injury on the non-knife-hand. Consequently, ensure you sharpen your knife.
Additionally, there are plenty of ways one can dodge cutting himself. In this post, we went through the most prominent ones. These are ensuring your blades are sharpened, learning how to grip them, applying the right amount of pressure, and lastly, paying extra attention when using knives.
Lastly, buying high-quality knives will decrease your odds of injuring yourself. I’ve written two posts regarding the best blades for self-defense and the best tactical knives. I highly encourage you to check them out and buy a knife of high quality.