Any knife accidents lately??

A near one--the 18-month old pushed the tower we have for the kids over next to the sink and had a knife out of the knife block. All in the 90 seconds it took for Robin to move clothes from the washer to the dryer. Needless to say, you can't take your eyes off this one at all.

Does a mandolin accident count? With my first use of one I slided off part of a knuckle. Clean cut, didn't hurt that much, stopped bleeding in about an hour. I've maintained a healthy respect for it ever since.

Fortunately we've never run into an accident with a kitchen knife over a Christmas present.

But if it does--I keep finger cots around. They're like a little one-finger condom--first apply a bandage and then one of those, and you can continue working and safely handle food.

We call them "Squirrel condoms."

rwj

Speak for yourself; they fit me perfectly.

Ah, yes, the good old mandoline. I've scored the outer layers of skin on my fingertips many a time, but I've never actually sliced or shredded my flesh deep enough to cause bleeding.

I have nothing but the utmost respect for my mandoline as a vehicle for causing grievous bodily harm if I'm not careful enough.

-Paul W.

I don't own one, but don't they have some kind of guard so you don't do that, Paul?

Most of them come with some sort of attachment that holds the item you're slicing. After a few days, the mandoline owner will think, "I'll be careful, I don't need this anymore." And half the time, that's true.

I don't use the holder and I haven't nailed myself yet. But TOS took a nasty slice off of one of his fingers while showing off how fast he could reduce a potato to slices.

I don't own one, but don't they have some kind of guard so you don't do that, Paul?

Of course they come with a guard. And of course no serious cook bothers with the guard, since it often gets in the way.

And so serious cooks end up with scored digits, or worse, from mandolines.

-Paul W.

I don't like to use the guards because you can never get enough of the object you are cutting through the blades. There ends up being half a radish (or whatever) left under the guard.

I just go a little slower when I get near the end of the veggie victim. But I have nicked my finger a few times. Still, I don't try and show off with one of these things because I have nothing to prove.

rwj

I don't like to use the guards because you can never get enough of the object you are cutting through the blades. There ends up being half a radish (or whatever) left under the guard.

Yes, exactly right. And so I end up with scoring of the fingers occasionally. Yes--this can easily turn into the sliced/shredded finger rather than potato or radish or whatever, if you're not ultra-careful. Treat your mandoline with respect.

-Paul W.

I find that I do better with a mandolin if I use a dish towel to hold whatever I'm slicing rather than the guard. This will get most of the item sliced, although there's still always that last little bit that needs to be done unprotected.

For the mandolin now I usually just leave the end unpeeled and stop well before getting there. Not foolproof, or even stupidproof, but hopefully self-regulating on when to stop.

I will say it was a surgically precise slice and didn't hurt that much until much later.