I know - "knife" is like the magic word in these forums...

Here's a piece of advice for persons on getting their first knife - use it a lot in the safety of your home before you take it out to the field.

Wear it on your belt (or where ever) and use it for every conceivable use (within safety limits) so that you would get use to it. Practice removing it from the sheath and replacing it numerous times.

Take it into the garden and use it as much as possible. Only after hours of use should you take it into an outdoors environment.

Why?

Most persons on getting their first knife will not be accustomed to carrying and using one and will eventually cut themselves. Most times it's a minor nick, but sometimes it's pretty serious and they'll need some medical attention.

Get accustomed to your knife in a controlled environment before taking it into the field. I've seen too often what happens when people are not accustomed to knives and then they're in a situation where they carry it as a necessity. Too many mistakes are made and this can be potentially dangerous.

Also I've seen people use knives and loose them in the field. Usually this is from the lack of habit in replacing the knife in the sheath when not using it - they usually leave the knife on the ground or somewhere like if they were in their own kitchen.

Oh yes - I've done some of these too...

Naseem.

It doesn't matter how much precautions you take, you're eventually gonna cut yourself

Good advice though.

Heh, I bouhgt my leatherman wave, opened the package and flipped open a knife balde to see how it worked and saw drops of blood on the desk. Hadn't even used it yet and cut myself.

Here is a little story for ya...

I had just received a package with a couple of nifty knives. So naturally I was checking them out. My son comes over and asks what I had. I start showing them to him and explaining the cool features. One of the knives just slipped out of my hand and embedded in my foot. That hurt. I was lucky there was no tendon or muscle damage.

My son and I now laugh about what a great example I was then.

IMHO: Yup. Learned that with my first knife (Cub Scouts official pocket knife, many years ago), and my latest knife (nice Wustoff chef's knife from DW for birthday). The intervening years of experience and practice have served to reduce the depth of the cut, thankfully, but that's about it.

Good advice, although in my experience, no matter how often/long you use a blade, you are still going to cut yourself, if you use it for anything other than cutting a piece of meat on your plate. I have been using knives for a really long time, and still manage to nick myself from time to time. Never bad enough to require stitches (well, a couple probably needed stiches, but never got them), but a cut all the same...

I've nicked myself more times than I care to admit. (I consider it "first aid field training" -- the essence of which is, don't faint at the sight of your own blood. :-)

Because I'm usually working with food, I find that most of my nicks come from the point at the end of a blade. So, unless it's a collector's item, the first thing I do is take that point off at a 45 degree angle. You still have a sharp point, but it points downward, sheepsfoot style. More practical in my opinion, and I find I don't reach for soap/bandaids nearly as much.

I agree, it takes a while to reach the point when your knife becomes an extension of your arm. I never really thought about that myself, growing up with a SAK and puuko since I was 7 or so. But looking at a lot of my friends and camping buddies I can also see that most urban dwellers nowadays aren't used to handling a knife safely and effectively. Which is a shame considering it's one of man's oldest tools.

As for knife safety, it's all about common sense. Never cut toward yourself, always keep the edge sharp, don't let any fingers get in the way and you'll be fine. Whittling sticks and carving wood when you have some spare time is excellent practice and will teach you almost all skills you'll need. Larger chopping blades or machetes are more dangerous but still entirely safe as long as you follow a few obvious precautions.

I have decided after carrying knives for a whole lot of years that they are not properly broke in till they are blooded and unfortunatly it's usually my blood. No matter how much you use them your gonna wind up cutting yourself sooner or later.

Same here, but I was cut by the f@%&! plastic packaging. I'm tempted next time I get a new leatherman to throw the whole thing into a fire and let the plastic melt/burn off.
Jason