Machete Safety learned the hard way

Similar to the machete accident an old boss of mine had except the machete plunged completely through the fat part of his leg and came out the other side. He yanked it out (hard to run w/ a machete through your leg), wrapped the leg in flagging and ran 1/4 mile to the truck and drove to the nearest post office where they called 911.

We need pics!

Glad to hear you're okay.

I've hit my shin hard enough to have to sit down for a few minutes but never needed stitches. 8" leather boots, heavy canvas work pants, and keeping the 3-4 inches at the tip of the machete dull have saved me many times.

Excellent safety reminder, not only about using the tool, but about communications and letting people know where you are. Chainsaws are even less forgiving, but machetes can easily and quickly bounce or deflect off the target and the legs are often the next thing they find. Glad you will be okay and were able to get help quickly.

Glad to hear you're OK.
I received stitches once from a self-inflicted machete wound...welcome to the club.

Ouch, hope you're ok. I was on a steep slope once using my machete as a hiking stick...I slipped and managed to run my hand down the length of the blade to the ground and got cut up pretty good. I was a young kid who didn't keep the knife very sharp, otherwise I might be typing this with nubs.

Thanks for the remind. I'll stick to chain saws! (Tongue in cheek) I have cut myself 2x with a chain saw.

N

I dropped the machete once while walking up a bank it sprung back and hit me in the middle finger knuckle and cut the tendon . doctor was able to repair the tendon , but took a year before I could make a fist. Also I agree do not sharpen the top of the machete .

That was a good reminder of real life risks in the field. Same would hold true to those of us who use bush axes as well. I used mine as a walking stick going up a steep enbankment and my foot slipped, knee went forward and cut to the bone on the blade. Looks like I have had knee surgery.

Glad you are ok!!

Stick with bush hooks - the blade is farther from your body as you swing it. Much safer for you... just don't swing it towards your co-worker!

Amen Trent

I always wanted 3 feet of wood between me and the blade. I never allowed machetes in the trucks, bush axes only. Ask Bobby Shupe about machetes.

Andy

Must have a hand strap on the handle. More than once I have had the entire machete slip through my hands and take off in forward motion.

Amen Trent

I find a bush axe a lot more productive in the woods, especially in briars, kudzu and privet. I can clear a path a lot faster than with a machete. It will also knock your you know what in the dirt after a good long day. I have since learned not to use it as a walking stick!

wow, glad you were able to get help. that is scary. I find that near the end of a long hot day, I'm more likely to let that sucker slip totally out of my wet hand. ironically, when the branch is much easier to cut than I anticipate so I use too much force and the thing flys between my legs. scary stuff!

Work smart not hard on machete work. I carry a folding saw for small trees and hand pruners for small branches.

I wear the same ppe brushing that I wear on a construction site including hard hat, safety glasses, heavy pants, work boots and gloves. I have had a couple of real woodsman surveyors scoff the hard hat but if I hit myself in the head with a machete I would prefer to have a hard hat on.

Used to work with a guy who could brush faster than anyone and usually without breaking too much of a sweat.

His technique was to first have a branch, like a little bo peep stick that he would use to hook a handful of brush, make a cut then move to the other side of his path and cut down a little there until low enough to walk over.

I asked him once how he got to be so good and he told me that when he was ten he had to cut sugar cane in order to have shoes.

Don't use a machete much anymore, do have a heavy short one in the rig, heavy enough to cut small trees, long ago learned to never swing where it could cut you, always cut away. Like a cruisers axe more and carry a pruner for brush and small limbs, the pruner works good in blackberry bushes and your face doesn't get scratched up like it does using a machete. Whatever the tool, when you start getting tired, rest.
jud.

OUCH...been there, done that, got the scars and bloody t-shirt three times. once in the right knee, once in the left shin, and one crazy one that bounced out of my hand, flipped around and cut my cutting hand across the top of my pointer and f-you fingers. not much fun, but it's the only things they have besides teeth x-rays to ID my body when i'm through w/ it. o.O

> ...one crazy one that bounced out of my hand, flipped around and cut my cutting hand across the top of my pointer and f-you fingers.

Worked with a guy that was cutting vine and brush in an area where someone had dumped construction trash years ago. He didn't see the toilet until he hit it. The machete bounced out of his hand, spun around, and caught him on the top of his hand between the thumb and index finger, severing the tendons running into his thumb. We told him he was the only guy we knew who had to go through months of physical therapy just to stand around the job site with his thumb up his a$$.

Glad you're O.K. As far as I'm concerned, machete and safety don't belong in the same sentence. I won't carry one in the truck, as I've seen more than one instance similar to yours. I'll take a Sandvik and a brush axe any day. Not that they don't require care when using them, but I just think they are a lot more controllable.