Splinters ?


wdwerker

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Ok so this topic is an occupational hazard. I noticed yet another splinter tonight at a neighbors home. She is a veterinarian and close friend for over 20 years. She took the sharp tip of a hypodermic needle and picked out the splinter without causing even a minor flinch !

I assisted by lighting the finger with my super bright LED flashlight. There is a sense of awe watching someone do something you have painfully done repeatedly without even once causing the slightest bit of pain. It is nice to witness such skill in action.

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I've dug out plenty between work and the shop with box cutters, exacto knives etc.

When I have the patience, the best way is to put a dab of Vaseline on it and cover with a bandaid. Works itself right out.

Especially good on the one's that break off under the skin. Best time to do it (if I can wait) is when you go to bed. Wake up, and the splinter is on th bandaid. Like magic.

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I have used triple anti-biotic like you describe using Vaseline. I saw a meme the other day that suggested a baking soda paste in the same manner. Not sure any of this is one hundred percent effective but are just things to try with what might be on hand.

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I once had a job on the docks.  I was showing the security guard (on a holiday night, so it was busy) how to tie off a boat, and got a splinter under my fingernail.  Approximately 1/8" wide, and slightly over 1/2" in length, it was right between the fingernail and the skin.  Didn't bleed, but I did finish tying off the boat before sitting down at a nearby bench and trying to pry it out myself with my pocket knife.

 

I could only get half, so I got a workman's comp claim to get a ride to the hospital and have them pull the rest of it out.  Four injections, two forceps, and I could still feel it.  (Still never bled.)  They let me go from the hospital, and said I could go anywhere.  So I went back to work.  (turned out to be the best thing I could have done; whatever could have gone wrong did that night.  They needed an extra hand, what with the accident, the drunk who decided to swim across the river -federal waterway, federal offense - and the two mechanical failures.)

 

But I'm going to have to keep that syringe idea in mind...  Now that snake-bite kits are no longer in favor/legal, I might try to use one as a splinter extractor.

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For those splinters that are neither 'huge' (that resemble nothing so much as the horizontals of a split-rail fence) nor 'tiny' (you can't see, but know they're there) --- there's a excellent purpose-made product: http://www.medipoint.com/html/splinter_out.html. It's good for about 80% of the typical woodworking splinters, it's inexpensive, it works and it's sterile...

 

For the small tough ones that are hard to see, but you know where they are, I pull a 29g x 1/2" 1cc BD syringe and have at it: http://www.bd.com/us/diabetes/page.aspx?cat=7002&id=7572. Sterile, single use, toss.

 

When the going get's rough, I go with a #11: http://www.swann-morton.com/product/65.php, but that's like once a year... Again, sterile, single use, toss...

 

One thing... When I'm pulling stock from the woodpile or setting-up for a full afternoon of milling rough stock, I wear thin upland shooting gloves: http://www.thegunglove.com/product.htm. The summer weight are excellent - protection without giving-up feel.... Once I started doing this, the number of splinters dropped dramatically.

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I've dug out plenty between work and the shop with box cutters, exacto knives etc.

When I have the patience, the best way is to put a dab of Vaseline on it and cover with a bandaid. Works itself right out.

Especially good on the one's that break off under the skin. Best time to do it (if I can wait) is when you go to bed. Wake up, and the splinter is on th bandaid. Like magic.

This definitely works. I remember my grandmother would put some kind of crap on mine and she called it draw salve. Also, if your wife and office can put up with it, put on a band aid right before a shower and leave in on and wet for a week or so :wacko:  The splinter will work it's way out

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