Rotary Cutter Safety
 

This morning I was cutting batting and was almost to the end of the cut when my Olfa cutter exploded cutting the thumb on my cutting hand. The blade on the cutter split into two pieces and the rest of the cutter was laying in pieces on my cutting board. My cut wasn't serious, but it could have been. Evidently the screw on my cutter had come loose. Just wanted to let people know to check the screws on the cutters before using.

Excellent advice. Sorry about your thumb.

Wow, good tip.....calla

Yes. A rotary cutter can really "bite" you, whether it's coming apart. I found out myself earlier this week! I probably should have gone and had my finger stitched, but I hate spending hour upon hour in the waiting room at the ER. I will simply take very good care of it -- I cut some butterfly pieces from adhesive tape to hold it together. Although, of course, it is sore, it's not painful now!

Again, I'll second the admonitiion -- be very careful with a rotary cutter. The one that bit me was a new one, Fiskars, and it doesn't really have a guard on it as I think it should. I guess we live and learn!

Jeanette

Ouch!! Sorry to hear about your thumb! Thanks for he warning :)

Woah! I've never heard of a rotary blade or cutter failing like that before - thanks for the heads up! I would never have imaged that was even possible. That must have been one heck of a shock! Glad you weren't hurt too badly, yikes.

Wonder how many of us have had incidents with our cutters? My finger slipped off ruler when cutting, took the tip of finger & nail off. DH took me to ER, had 4 stitches, they said it would protect the nerve endings. But it never really hurt. Be careful of those little round blades.

I used to have a problem with both my Fiskars and Olfa rotary cutters screw loosening up and almost had one fall apart on me. I started periodically checking the screw while I was using them. Then, someone told me there was supposed to be a washer to keep the screw from loosening. I guess I lost it the first time I ever changed the blade. So, I took one of the little red felt spool pin cushions, cut it a little smaller, and used it as a washer on each of the rotary cutters, and VOILA, no more loose screws.

I'm glad you didn't seriously injure yourself. One of my friends knocked a rotary cutter off her cutting table (yes, she hadn't closed the cutter) and cut her foot. She ended up having two surgeries -- the first to treat the injury, the second to correct the first surgery.

It sounds to me like you might be pressing *very* hard as you cut.

I know you must have been surprised and quite hurt when this happened; I'm so sorry!

Bummer that you got hurt! Glad it was serious. :)