Make sure you tetanus shot is up to date. Cut my finger and the first thing they did in the emergency room was to ask when I had my last tetanus shot and when I told them 10 years, the first thing they did was give me a shot and actually, the tetanus shot hurt longer then the sliced finger but they assured me that working with fabric and metal and threads from all over the world, a tetanus shot was very necessary!!!

Thanks for the warning. I will be checking more often. I too like the Olfa cutter that I have where the guard automatically retracts once I let go of the cutter. I don't have to worry about it falling off the table and cutting my foot or picking it up the wrong way. I had one where you had to slide the guard over the blade and more than once forgot to do so. I won't have any other kind than the Olfa ergonomic again.

I can feel when my screw is loosening, it get wobbly. So I stop and tighten the screw. If I have to use a lot of pressure, it usually means I need a new blade.

I continually check the screw on my cutter, something I started when i began quilting. Glad you were not badly injured.

Yes it is important to be careful with your rotary cutter, and please wear shoes. I heard about a lady who dropped her cutter and cut a large vein/artery in her foot and was out of commission for a while over it. Had to stay off her feet until it healed.

Sorry about your thumb....and thanks for the heads-up!

I was cutting some strips and the cutter went up over the ruler and cut off part of my index finger on the left hand, ended up going for treatment , could not stop the bleeding, also got a tetanus shot. I still have a problem with it sometimes, it has numbness and also is very tender, so please be careful or you will end up in the flat finger group, lol.....not funny at all, I am now very careful.

Dull blades, like dull knives, are even more dangerous because we bear down on them more. Thanks for the reminder.

Thank you for this reminder. I always put the sheath up after each cut but never thought about the screw except when changing a blade. Now, I'll be checking that too.

These are all very good reminders of what to do, and what happens if you don't do it. I recently held a sewing/quilting class for my Texas GKs; and every other reminder was "be sure you close the rotary cutter when you lay it down" and "right sides together when you get ready to sew your strips together" and "rip it now, or your effort and fabric will be wasted, and quilters don't waste anything"--so many little sayings and reminders were happening that weekend. Fun moments, and they are all looking forward to my next trip to Texas for a working weekend.