Noticed Something Last Night

Was pulling the shocks last night and in the process I managed to reach over the radiator hose and cut my hand pretty good on the clamp. Now as usual, I look at it and go "Hmm, I should clean that up because it might get infected." But do I? Hell no, wrap it with a dirty rag and finish what I'm doing. I know a lot of you do this too. Now here's the kicker...

Has anyone ever gotten an infection from doing this? I asked the old man last night and this baffled him too. Is there something about the combination of rust, old dirt & fluids that prevents infection? Perhaps the next time I injure myself doing something I should run out to the car and rub on something dirty?

 

seems like the odder the way you get hurt... the less likely you are to get an infection... you only get infections by doing normal things like... hopskotch... and football

 

If it ain't killing ya, it'll make ya stronger. All that rust and **** running in your blood can't transport germs!!

 

Did you wrap it up with a piece of rag and electrical tape? That is the ultimate mechanic's bandage. Clean 'er out later, get the job done!
Later, Peroxide can be your friend....

Flatman

 

I never get Tet**** Shot's but my doc was telling me it's good to have when you get steel in your eyes from grinding, I think rust must have something to do with it. Put that Neosporin stuff on it....that stuff is like skin maker.

 

Blue PVC glue makes a great second skin. Of course you want to clean it up with carb cleaner first.

 

Let it bleed out nice and good. Self-cleaning.

 

It's because you (we) are real men and real men don't cry. Walk it off.
I'm always humbled by a story about my great grandfather who died before I came along. At some point in the mid 60's, he managed to saw 90% of the way through his thumb with the tablesaw, bone tendon, etc. Walks in the house and has my grandmother cut the thumb off a work glove. Takes it out in the garage, shoves his mangled thumb in and pours pine resin in the glove tip , cinching it shut with a twist tie. Dries hard as a rock and he continues working. 6 Months later he cuts the hardened glove off to reveal a pale shriveled thumb that stuck straight out for the rest of his life. ****ing hard core. No infection.

 

- That is all I have to say.

 

How up-to-date are your Tet**** shots?

I'd be more concerned about getting "Lock Jaw" (which is apparently irreversible) from the rust than an infection.

 

We all have done this. If the injury gets in the way of doing the job then do the first aid thing and finish the job. You do need to get it cleaned out because you can get a bunch of little visitors that will cause you a bunch of problems down the road. By the way, has anyone ever known or heard of anyone with tetnus(sp?)? They always ask you at the doctors office if you had a tetnus shot later. I say no and nothing ever happens. Anyway, clean it up guys and gals besides blood drops all over the floor and tools ain't cool.

 

Wow Gigantor I am speechless. That is one of the most ******** things I have heard. Tough as nails...

 

I've made that comment to my wife....just yesterday as a matter of fact...I was bustin bolts on the old truck and the last 8 years have not been kind in FL....one broke loose and I cut the **** out of my pinky...prob should have gotten a stich or two...wife asked me if I cleaned it out real good, I said no, I let it bleed and it would be fine...

Last infection I got was from a splinter sweeping the deck...stupid...I thought my finger was going to fall off

 

I wonder what a doctor would say about this style "treatment." And even better, I want a doctor to explain why there's no infection....

 

Ok I got this advice from an old timer that lived to be 96. While working in the shop if you suffer a deep cut clean with spray carb cleaner and wrap tightly with black electric tape. The carb cleaner has a dissinfectent in it and the gooey **** on black tape is actualy a hidden ointment>>>>.

 

Not car related but still hard core...a guy I work with took a chain saw to his thigh and "fixed" it with some super glue.

 

It's an automatic process; what happens immediately after you stop cringing and get back to work?? Inevitably, something nasty...gas, carb cleaner, permatex...drips right into the wound. You get an immediate wave of psychedelic grade pain, but imagine how it feels to the bacteria in there! Hasta la Vista, bugs!
Super glue does wonders in re***embling loose flaps of self to body, stopping bleeding, and can be used to put a hard skin over that finger that has mysteriously become too sensitive to use since it touched the exhaust header. Before it existed, I retreaded a finger tip or two with hardening grade Permatex...
Car grime certainly seems antiseptic...I have a couple of filthygrease tattos where reattaching a flap of finger included some spare parts. The dark spots have shrunk a bit in 10 years...I think occasionally an inexperienced white blood cell takes a bite off of the crud.
Cyano--whatever in super glue was supposedly developed in Vietnam period for combat first aid, to cover/stick together horrible wounds until they could be seen by a surgeon. Gonna go research that...
Ultimate do-it-yourselfing ancestor, possibly Norway: From a Viking source. Viking dude in fight takes a shallowish sword slice which opens up his belly and dumps his innards out in a pile. Annoyed by the mess, he decapitates the slicer, piles the intestinal loops into his shirt, and waddles back home clutching the 50 pounds of giblets. Wife stuffs everything back in and gets out the needle and thread...soon all is well again, and our friend lives to a ripe old age and decapitates many another alleged perp.

 

No time to chase down actual medical sources, but this from internet seems reasonably good: http://www.straightdope.com/mailbag/msuperglue.html

Next tech week: Build yourself a new liver using standard Fram parts and GM catalytic converter beads. Pick up some starter spray for the anaesthesia...

 

I'd get it checked out and get a Tet**** Shot. When I get cut while working on rides I spray Windex on it that's what my Grandpa does and he always healed fast, but then again I'm up to date with my shots so I don't care.

Go get it checked out or your new Indian name will soon be Lock-Jaw Starchief 1959.

Remember work smarter not harder.
Take care.

 

Fram? This has been discussed to death. We have to use Wix.

 

That's some funny **** right there!!

Flatman

 

I've done some good ones on cars, usually an angle grinder is involved..best part is the heat tends to seal the cut before too much blood leaks out. Got my thumb the other day with a table saw (got REALLY lucky, just took a chunk of meat off the top, no cable or bone contact)--superglue and masking tape made a new thumbtop. At work, however, I've done some super ones (I'm a Chef)--worst took the top of a thumb off, I could look down into the thumb and see the open blood vessels like looking into the end of macaroni...walked over to the flat top (it's a 4x2 sheet of 400 degree stainless steel)--smashed the thumbhole down onto it, sealed it up RIGHT NOW--hurt like a ***** though. After two weeks I barely even had a scar.

 

Super glue works just like s***ches. Make sure you use it like s***ches though. Small dots to close the wound with space between 'em. If you just seal the whole thing up, it can't weep and will get infected almost immediately.

The finished result looks better than s***ches too. The scars are much smaller from super glue.

I'm partial to electrical tape too. There's some kind of magic, in the sticky part.

 

Wow...self-repair with WELDING is REALLY impressive! I'm sticking with superglue...

 

I got rust in my eye, and had the eye doc grind it out with his special "no safety gl***es tool". He said you big guys always flinch at this part, little girls take it no problem.

 

Did he tell you to hold your eye still while he was doing it?
My doctor did. I still think he carved his initials up there somewhere.

And I was wearing safety gl***es. The damn metal bounced off of my cheek to the gl***es and straight into my eye.

 

Ihad a blood test a few years ago for the chemical company I used to work for and they asked if I had a recent tetinus shot because I still had the antigens (?). I told them I have't had one since i was in highschool.

The next question he asked was if I worked on old cars....

 

crazy glue and masking tape, have'nt had a bill from the walk-in medical center in 15 years! keep it in the first-aid kit with the band aids and the .45 in case of emergency's!!

 

You can use lacquer thinner on bee stings ,poison ivy and itchy stuff.

 

sounds crazy but if i get a cut, i try to clean it with laquer thinner if it's available. the laquer dries the cut and also keeps it from being sore the next day. seems to heal considerably faster too. not sure though how good this is for you but it does work.