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. :)

I sold my 60mm Olfa rotary cutter because I feared cutting myself with it. I find myself using the small 28mm for a lot of paper piecing I am doing.

Yikes!!! I am glad that your cut wasn't serious!!! I will check and make sure the screw on my rotary cutter in snug each time I use it from now on. I have been lucky (knocking on wood) and not been cut YET. I hope my luck holds out for a long time to come.

I have tried to make it a habit of checking the screw (although you don't want it super tight) each day that I get my cutter out. I usually check to make sure the blade isn't wobbly which is the first sign that your screw may have gotten loose.

I never cut with a rotary cutter without a safety tool. Either a glove or the Quilters Slidelock. I use the Slidelock for all straight cuts even the two inch long ones. I had one bad cut and the trauma and pain not including the cost was enough for me to realize safety tools are a must. When I see someone cutting without a safety tool I get the same feeling in my stomach as when I see a motorcycle rider without a helmet.

Glad you weren't seriously hurt. Another thing I don't do anymore is cut bare footed. I dropped a rotary cutter on my bare foot one day and cut my toe badly enough to keep me out of shoes for a couple of days.

i am not ashamed to admit that i am always a little afraid of my rotary cutter.

i am sorry about your thumb :(

aileen

Wow Thanks for the heads-up. I just went and checked all my cutters and sure enough, the screw on my small 28mm was real loose. Glad your injury wasn't serious. So far I've been really careful/lucky - no injuries.

Glad your cut was not serious..and thank you for the reminder about the screw..I have never thought much about it, but I reminder checking it as a habit I guess :)

Judy in Phx, AZ

thanks for posting this warning. i used to teach quilting, and always made sure that my students knew how dangerous a cutter can be. Just earlier this week I yelled at #2 son because he was fiddling with my cutter while talking to me.. yet, I'm a bit lax when it comes to cutter safety. This is a timely reminder to me..

I have never run into my hand *yet* (smacks dining room table) BUT... I did one day, lay it down while cutting "for just a moment" to readjust the fabric, and neatly slid the side of my hand against it... OUCH!!! thankfully, not much deeper than a paper cut, but still made me say "&^^%%%$"

I cut myself more with my kitchen knives then my rotary cutter.

So far I thinks it is 20 cuts with a knives vs 1 rotary cut. :)

I was making a fruit salad yesterday and cut myself twice. Maybe I should start using my cutter in the kitchen.....haha

Thanks for the "thumbs up" :) Glad it wasn't serious!! I nicked my thumb the other day because I didn't close my cutter when I laid it down - and I always do - except this time.

I've slipped once with my cutter so far, fortunately not a hospital trip. Burned myself twice with the iron that day as well so decided it was time to put down the tools.

I was teaching my son to use a rotary two weeks ago. It was different in style from the two I have at home which have guards over the blade. As I watched he positioned his finger along the top of the blade - fortunately I was watching so that he didn't follow up by slicing his finger open. We won't be buying that style cutter for household use any time soon - would have been very easy to end both the hockey and lacrosse seasons for him in one swipe.

These are not tools for the faint of heart or for the sleep deprived.

Cheers, K

I try to remember to check my screw on my rotary cutters often. Cut my index on left hand and took side right off. Got me some super glue and glued it back on. Then taped. I was supposed to be at work within half hour and in a salon.

So very true.

I always wear a cutting glove to hold my ruler. Yes, it takes extra time. But I worked with X-acto knives and razor blades for years and learned long ago that the worst cuts are the ones you never saw coming. I had to have seven stitches once in a fingertip, and once was enough for me!

I wear a glove, too, but not on my cutting hand--yikes! I'm already afraid of my cutter (or most anything sharp, since I'm a klutz).

I was thinking the same thing. Maybe it's time for a new blade. :thumbup:

I like the rotary cutters that only extend when you are holding them. The blade retracts automatically when you set it down. I need to get my mom one like this; she has a very, very bad habit of setting her cutter down with the blade exposed.

I can tell when the screw is getting loose on my rotary cutters, just by the way it feels when I'm cutting. Give the screw a quarter turn and I'm back in business.

That's a good point...a lot of downward pressure shouldn't really be necessary.

I used to really shove on my cutter and hold it with a death grip until I read a tip somewhere (here, maybe? Or a magazine or some other site, I don't remember) that said to push FORWARD on the cutter, not down. Once I started thinking of it that way I started using less pressure and it works great. I cut through lots of layers at a time but now I push FORWARD and not down and I still get through all of my layers and I notice I hold the cutter looser too. This means less hand fatigue which translates to more cuts I can do in one go.

Remember to change those blades too. You should never have to "saw" through the fabric.

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.