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Do I have a splinter

Don C Davis

Don C Davis

Joined
Feb 15, 2018
Messages
256
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64
Location
Canton, GA
I don't recall specifically getting a splinter, but I think I have gotten a couple splinters--they are not easily accessible, meaning they are down below the surface of the skin, if anyone has advice of how to deal with them, I would appreciate it.

Thanks--Don
 
In those situations, I have used a sterilized needle, opened up the entry a little until I could get the point underneath the head of the splinter, and then manipulate it out a bit until I could get a pair of tweezers on it to pull it out. Sterilize the wound with alcohol, and maybe even a bit of antibiotic ointment like Neosporin. By the way......you have my sympathies! Ouch!
 
This sounds completely nuts, but...if you know where the entry point is, just before going to bed, put a very small piece of bread soaked in milk on it, cover with a bandaid and in the morning it will have migrated to the surface and be easy to pull.
I know, sounds like an old wives tale, but it does work.
 
I use the needle, but I sterilize the tip with a match, or lighter. When it glows, it's sterilized. (This is the way my Mom did it back in the day......and, I've been doing it this way ever since! She also taught me some basic sewing by hand......and, that comes in handy once in awhile!)

Once had a splinter in the crotch of two fingers. It was deep. I wasn't sure what was causing the pain. It infected and I squeezed it.....the splinter popped out! :eek: If I had known it was a splinter, I would have dealt with it a little sooner! :oops:

-----odie-----
 
I've spent many hours working on foreign objects that got into various parts of people's skin and have several hard won observations.
First, it's literally the needle in the hay stack. They sometimes are easily found and come right out, and other times they're impossible to locate even though you know exactly where they are. The important lesson from this fact is to know when to give up to avoid making a problem worse than what you started with.
Second, excellent light and plenty of magnification are huge helps, especially given the average AAW demographic.
Third, good tweezers are extremely important. The best ones cost $150. Most drug store tweezers are terrible but can be made better with a little time and emery paper. You want the surfaces flat without nicks, and ideally meeting right at the edge. (think two tiny hollow ground chisel backs meeting at the edge) I have jewelers forceps and they have such a fine point it's hard to keep them from bending, but they have the possibility of getting into the track of the splinter and grabbing the wood (though don't county on it)
Fourth, afterwards wash with soap and water, and watch like a hawk for infection, usually showing up about 48 hours down the road.
Finally, sometimes you just can't get it. Letting the splinter 'fester' (develop a foreign body reaction) and pop itself to the surface in 4 days to 3 weeks, is a very acceptable course, but it can be hard to distinguish from infection. In my experience, common domestic woods don't cause much reaction and the body tends to accept them. If the splinter doesn't hurt or get in your way, leaving it in there is OK. (you'd be amazed by what we see on x-rays of feet!)​
 
A soak in Epsom salts (dilute salts in warm water) can help bring em to the surface. Very good, bright light also can help to see them.

Metal splinters are the worst...the smallest little thing can drive you nuts. I swear I've gotten a few metal splinters from sharpening lathe tools...I know it sounds nuts, but I've had metal splinters when I wasn't working with metal other than sharpening gouges.

My dad is a retired machinist, and he has always said it can take a few days for them to reach the surface. Sometimes you have to be patient. Or in the extreme, he had one come out more than a decade later!

I also agree with conventional wisdom that sometimes morning is the best time for getting out a stubborn splinter.

And to add to Dean's post: even cheap tweezers can be improved by sharpening with a very fine file or sandpaper. The goal is to just get the working ends dead flat with angles meeting sharply.

Oh yeah—and heat can also help bring a splinter to the surface, especially a fine metal splinter.
 
john lucas said:
I'm old school. I just take my exacto knife and make a small incision. Then I can usually use dig it out with the point of the knife.
Click to expand...

That is what I usually use. Sometimes I even sterilize them by wiping the blade on my jeans. If you haven't tried the Xacto #11 Z-series (zirconium nitrided) blades, they are amazingly sharp and stay sharp much longer than the standard blade.
 
A long long time ago Michelle and Carey two neighborhood 4 year olds asked to help me stack firewood.
I said sure and told them to be carful not to get a splinter as they picked up the first stick.
Carey said “I have a splinter”. I asked to look at it
She said “ it’s okay I’ve had it about 3 days”

Maybe the 4 year old outlook works.
 
Sterilized on your jeans??? Heck, I don't even bother with that..... An X-acto knife, a dental pick, a push pin, they all work, or the over night to 3 days works too. Some times I don't even know they are there till they fester a bit...

robo hippy
 
Thanks for the input folks-these responses are a wealth of information, Dean where do you get $150 tweezers--from a medical supply house?
I will try the exacto/pin/tweezer approach--I was finishing milling up some cedar--notoriously splintery IME
 
A while back at a symposium I picked up a sliver handling the wood candy.
I bought a two pack of Uncle Bill's sliver gripper's http://www.slivergripper.net/
Kind of handy to have around, and they work.
Better than the ones with the attached magnifying lens, although those seem to have sharper points. ( good for extra punctures ).
 
Apparently, dentists don't have to pay as much for their tools. ($7.19) Or more likely, these are cheapies, with softer, non-stainless steel, commonly from Pakistan. In any case, they have the same appearance as the $150 jobs. The latching part near the finger holes is important to keep a solid grip on wet, slippery splinters (or nerves, tendons, arteries--collateral damage)

One additional caution--people with diabetes or a compromised immune system should probably not use the xacto/push pin/sewing needle approach, at least not without sterilizing the 'tool'.
48-966_3.jpg
 
I get to see some impressive splinters in my clinic practice. My main tool has been Splinter Forceps--much like what Dean has shown above. Cuts down on the digging and cutting. Biggest one yet is a 4-5 incher from the foot of a kiddo that got it from a deck.
 
My biggest fear on a table saw is a nasty kick back catching the wood kicking back driving a wood splinter several inches into your hand. Those kick backs happen fast and it is hard to get your hands out of the way when it happens. Using a push stick on a table saw is a good practice to learn early on when working around them.
 
Mike Johnson said:
My biggest fear on a table saw is a nasty kick back catching the wood kicking back driving a wood splinter several inches into your hand
Click to expand...

Something worse to fear.
I shop teacher I know had a kick back shoot into his midsection. A life threatening situation.

Sure makes taking the time to clamp on a a feather board seem like a prudent use of time.
 
hockenbery said:
Something worse to fear.
I shop teacher I know had a kick back shoot into his midsection. A life threatening situation.

Sure makes taking the time to clamp on a a feather board seem like a prudent use of time.
Click to expand...

Those can be very dangerous based on the shape and size of the wood being cut, I had a large billet being trimmed into an octagon shape to fit on the lathe that incurred a nasty catch on the table saw and bounced off my chest knocking me to the ground years ago, cracked several ribs and left a large bruise that took a number of weeks to heal. You do something like that once and learn not to repeat the mistake, if not you end up with nick-names like Stubby, Lucky, The One Eyed Wonder and No-Thumbs.
 
JeffSmith said:
This sounds completely nuts, but...if you know where the entry point is, just before going to bed, put a very small piece of bread soaked in milk on it, cover with a bandaid and in the morning it will have migrated to the surface and be easy to pull.
I know, sounds like an old wives tale, but it does work.
Click to expand...

My initial question was skim, 2% or whole milk(?), but this sounds like a recipe to speed up the infective process, giving the bugs lots of food to flourish on.

I wouldn't try this without a supply of zithromax.
 
David Hill said:
I get to see some impressive splinters in my clinic practice. My main tool has been Splinter Forceps--much like what Dean has shown above. Cuts down on the digging and cutting. Biggest one yet is a 4-5 incher from the foot of a kiddo that got it from a deck.
Click to expand...
Once I had a guy come in complaining of a splinter in his palm. Not a favorite place to work as there is a great deal of very important stuff all crammed in there. Anyway, it was easy to feel the splinter, so I decided to give it a try and without too much trouble removed the splinter, of about 2" in length!

But wait, I could still feel the ridge where the splinter was. So with great trepidation, I explored a little more, and removed ...(drumroll)...3 more 2" splinters! :eek: Boy I sure hope I got them all.
 
Matthew Ferriter said:
My initial question was skim, 2% or whole milk(?), but this sounds like a recipe to speed up the infective process, giving the bugs lots of food to flourish on.

I wouldn't try this without a supply of zithromax.
Click to expand...

fyi - Zithromax not the best choice--but I get the gist about having an antibiotic---also don't think I'd try this as it looks to be an ideal culture medium
my free 0.02 $
 
geez some scary stuff folks--makes me realize I need to make serious efforts to learn certain safe behavior on the table saw--I have only been using mine for about 6-8 months, I bought it (a Grizzly 1023 RL) about 2 years ago.
Would anyone recommend a video to watch or a book to read on table saw use. I don't have a mentor of any type really.
Thanks==Don
 
JeffSmith said:
This sounds completely nuts, but...if you know where the entry point is, just before going to bed, put a very small piece of bread soaked in milk on it, cover with a bandaid and in the morning it will have migrated to the surface and be easy to pull.
I know, sounds like an old wives tale, but it does work.
Click to expand...

Very Interesting!

Bread and Milk: https://www.homeherbals.com/bread--milk-poultice.html

Soap and Sugar: https://www.homeherbals.com/soap--sugar-poultice.html
 
Don C Davis said:
geez some scary stuff folks--makes me realize I need to make serious efforts to learn certain safe behavior on the table saw--I have only been using mine for about 6-8 months, I bought it (a Grizzly 1023 RL) about 2 years ago.
Would anyone recommend a video to watch or a book to read on table saw use. I don't have a mentor of any type really.
Thanks==Don
Click to expand...
View: https://youtu.be/07uHhrYKDLA
 
Don C Davis said:
geez some scary stuff folks--makes me realize I need to make serious efforts to learn certain safe behavior on the table saw--I have only been using mine for about 6-8 months, I bought it (a Grizzly 1023 RL) about 2 years ago.
Would anyone recommend a video to watch or a book to read on table saw use. I don't have a mentor of any type really.
Thanks==Don
Click to expand...

This is a book I really like for Tablesaw and lots of jigs also.
https://www.thriftbooks.com/w/jim-t...YASABEgLcmPD_BwE#isbn=1558705120&idiq=4999840
 
About a month ago I had to go into the emergency room to have a deer tick removed from a very intimate part of my male anatomy, so when the doctor (thankfully a male) picked out a tool and pulled the entire tic out in less then a minute. I wish I had asked the doctor what the tool is called so I could maybe get one to use it to pull tics and slievers my self that is if I could see them. By the way the visit cost a total of $774.01 but it was a slow night so I am sure it gave the staff something to talk about or snicker.
 
I know a joke about a tick, fire and an ice pick but I won't go there. The nail polish works. I've used it on my dog and myself although most of the time if you grab the tick and just twist gently it will let go. You are a lot stronger than it is.
 
I try desperately not to imagine Don at the emergency with pink nail polish on his private parts. And before admin looses his temper: I will go straight to my room NOW and NO supper!
 
This day and age the emergency rooms see all sorts of things that come in, pink nail polish is down at the bottom of the list of crazy town. My daughter is a charge nurse for an emergency room in a metropolitan city and she has recited some bizarre details of "stuff" that comes into the emergency room on a daily basis.
 
john lucas said:
I know a joke about a tick, fire and an ice pick but I won't go there. The nail polish works. I've used it on my dog and myself although most of the time if you grab the tick and just twist gently it will let go. You are a lot stronger than it is.
Click to expand...
The problem with this approach is you can rip parts of the tick off in the wound and it can get infected. If you can convince the tick to let go on its own you are much better off.
 
Yeah, splinters we all get them......but let's get a bit more serious.

In my thirty some years I've had three hand cuts serious enough to need stitches. First one was a Saturday evening. My wife panics and drives me to the ER. I get checked in and waited and waited in the lobby. Since the bleeding had ceased and I was in no immediate health crisis I was low priority. Saturday nights can be interesting watching anyway, police bringing in all sorts, gun shots, traffic accident, etc, etc.

Finally they call me, I'm escorted to a small room for more waiting. This waiting is not so interesting though, nothing to see. After what seemed like all night a couple teenagers posing as residents show up (at least that's what they looked like). Do I want to watch the stitching or would I rather watch TV. I chose TV and there was an interview with Woodward and Bernstein. They ask me, weren't those guys '60's rock stars? Yeah sort of. Six plus hours of waiting before we were out the door.

The next two cuts I decided to stitch the myself. Both on my right hand (I'm right handed). Wife refused to participate so I was stitching with my left hand. Less than an hour without the ER bill.

My other self doctoring was for wacked fingernails. Swelling with a blood blister underneath. Talk about painful. My nurse neighbor said doctors pierce the fingernail with a hot needle to relive the pressure. Not having a hot needle type setup I went for a small bit in the drill press. Again right hand injury. Set the DP table so my finger just below the drill tip. I used my left hand to feed the injured finger up into the drill bit. Bit going in slowly and all of sudden it breaks through the nail to the blood. A little squirt of blood and instant pain relief.
 
Lars Hansen said:
I try desperately not to imagine Don at the emergency with pink nail polish on his private parts. And before admin looses his temper: I will go straight to my room NOW and NO supper!
Click to expand...

I'm ruling that on a technicality, Don's post meets the requirement for being about "wood". :rolleyes:
 
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