OT - Gah! Modern packaging

Keeps product from evaporating off store shelves.

Huh? Did you cut it off? I've never gone out of my way to keep a cut from getting wet.

Just a long slice through the skin and a bit into the underlying tissue.

I find that if I let it get wet repeatedly, it always gets infected - not badly - but enough to be sore and take much longer to heal.

The other day I cut myself on the edge of steel flexible measuring tape

- didn't even know that was possible.

Sylvia.

Emergency rooms see a lot of bad cuts from people trying to open bubble packs, cut by a knife or by the plastic itself. And lots of bagel-related injuries.

I managed to cut myself on the edge of that ***** plastic packaging. I think it was for a MAPP torch or something from Lowes or Home Despot- enough blood dripping out that I got a bandaid from the cashier.

--sp

I can't use most kinds of band-aids because (a) they don't stay on and (b) I get them wet and the wadding makes my skin turn to a prune and (c) scabs don't form properly when they stay wet.

Athlete's strapping tape is the answer - without any wadding. It stays on, and it flexes, breathes and dries like skin. When I use it, it normally stays there for a week.

I lost most of the skin from the balls of both feet after a 5km barefoot beach run (on wet sand) and the strapping tape meant that my week away was not ruined. I don't use it for joint support, but it's good anti-abrasion on the heel if you do a big hike.

Only problem is after you do remove it, it takes a while to get rid of the excess adhesive.

Clifford Heath.

Sick, twisted bastards.

I used to use an X-Acto. I'd often considered getting one of those stainless steel chain mail butcher's gloves for my other hand.

Now, when I'm too lazy to go into the kitchen and grab the Cutco kitchen shears (those suckers do the job every time- not cheap, but damn good) I use a pair of Miltex Serratex surgical shears I got at a yard sale.

Mark L. Fergerson

LOL

Wiss sheet metal snips do the job too, and are not expensive (don't buy the cheap immitations, the Wiss ones will cut metal too).

Sounds like you need a better antibacterial.

NT

Ouch. By "not get it wet", do you mean the finger or the plaster? I hate most modern "sticking" plasters with a venom that is verging on the obsessive :)

Most modern sticking plaster is misnamed, because it doesn't stick. I don't know whether that is because manufacturers have decided they make more money if their products only last half as long, or because their customers are wimps that don't like pulling it off.

I've tried many many kinds found in local supermarkets and chemists, without success. I was almost going to resort to athletes's strapping with cotton wool underneath when I came across "Steroplast Fabric Plasters", e.g.

They are elastic fabric, so work well on finger joints or tips, or foot blisters - and they will stay on up to a week including soaking in a hot bath. Ideal when you don't want the wound disturbed while it heals, e.g. a broken blister. The fabric means it is breathable, which may or may not be ideal for a wound; sometimes hydrocolloid is preferable.

Anyway, highly recommended.

Well, a bit of both, though dampness in the wound doesn't seem to matter so much. Indeed, paradoxically, sometimes the problem seems to be that the wound dries out and then cracks, and the sticking plaster helps prevent that. So the sticking plaster has to stay on, which for the most part means not getting it wet because that usually necessitates a replacement.

Thanks, I'll take a look.

Sylvia.

Masking tape and a little pad of paper also works.

NT

Agreed.

The fabric will tend to allow moisture to escape, so there will be more wound drying than with waterproof (non-sticking) plasters.

Hydrocolloid dressings are based on the idea of keeping the wound damp, which minimises scarring.

I originally found them in a local catering supplier's shop. I only turned to Amazon when they (and it seemed everybody else) stopped stocking them. I have 4 untouched boxes, which should last me a while.

One solution to modern packaging, is the modern bandsaw.

The fabric plasters I've recommended don't have that problem. They are at least as breathable as the strapping tape I've seen.

I use cotton wool (etc) since I wouldn't want it to stick to the dried skin - especially a blister! That only requires a thin layer.

Ouch! Clearly small plasters wouldn't be useful for that!

The prophylactic anti-abrasion technique is also useful, although I've tended to use "moleskin". That can also double up as a plaster over broken blisters where the skin is intact.

And for the hair to grow back :)

Anyway, it is pleasant to hear there's empirical validity to my hypothesis about unorthodox uses of strapping tape.

The packaging that cracked me up... a package of scissors that needed scissors to open ;-) ...Jim Thompson

My all time favorite tool for opening packages or breaking down boxes is the Zip Snip rotary blade cutter. I got mine at Menards a few years back, but since then someone must have nicked a finger with it since they don't seem to be available new anywhere. Ebay has a couple listed. Menards still has the replacement blades.

Unbreakable toys are used for breaking other toys.

My sympathies on the finger -- I managed to stab a fingertip last week with a shard of cracked ice: "I'll just brush these chips into the sink... Ouch!"

As for today's "unbreakable packaging" (why don't they make toys out of this stuff?), I finally gave up using my pocketknife and stocked up on these:

At $1ea I can keep enough on hand to stay ahead of my ability to mispl... er, "put things away so I don't lose them".

Just be careful to keep one opened pair where you can find them. They come packaged in the same kind of plastic packaging that they're so good at opening, and you need to have one pair on hand to open the packaging on the next pair.

( I wonder whether you could use this stuff to store a Universal Solvent? )

Frank McKenney

This

is a wonderful, and dangerous, tool.