JimsShip Posted November 13, 2012 Share Posted November 13, 2012 I'm suprised no one has mentioned Duct Tape yet, it's a standard item in my first aid kit. I use the high grade stuff to get out all sorts of embedded pieces. I use a sterilized needle to open the entry way a bit and rub the tape on and peel off. It usually gets the offending item out, as well as a few hairs you'd never expect to be there! It's also great for packing bleeds and other wounds during transport to the hospital. (Wrap the wound in a cleanish rag first!) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ThomasPowers Posted November 13, 2012 Share Posted November 13, 2012 My favorite method for getting splinters out when I have problems with them is: my wife with a magnifier lamp, exacto knife, needle nose tweezers and a really good sense of humour for when I start confessing to the assassination of Lincoln, Garfield and Kennedy, the location of the buried treasure, etc. Then triple antibiotic ointment and a good band-aid if needed. I keep a rare earth magnet from an old disk drive in the bathroom cabinet as it's just the thing for getting out steel that hasn't embedded in the eye before it does! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Private Entrance Posted November 13, 2012 Share Posted November 13, 2012 I'm suprised no one has mentioned Duct Tape yet, it's a standard item in my first aid kit. It's also great for packing bleeds and other wounds during transport to the hospital. (Wrap the wound in a cleanish rag first!) I haven't used duct tape for pulling splinters/slivers, but I can recommend it for an improvised bandage. A wad of paper towel and a wrap or two of duct tape and you're good to go, at least for minor stuff that doesn't require a doctor. Thing I liked most about it was that it was water-proof. I could keep working on the wet belt sanders and not worry about losing my 'band aid'. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
War wick Posted November 13, 2012 Share Posted November 13, 2012 I have another remedy that you could try. Here in Moz if we step on a poisonous thorn or a sea urchin while bare foot. We draw out the splinters using a paw paw (papaya) skin. First we cut the paw paw open. Then we carefully remove the seeds from the centre of the paw paw. Once the seeds are removed we scrape the fleshy fruit away from the outer fruit skin. We then eat the fleshy fruit Once the fruit has been consumed the final step is to place the moist pulpy side of the paw paw skin against your own skin in the area of the splinter.Bandage the paw paw skin in place and then remove the bandage after 24 hours. Paw paw is amazing at drawing out organic splinters. Maybe paw paw could also work on steel splinters. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Old N Rusty Posted November 13, 2012 Share Posted November 13, 2012 I can remove steel splinters that are not too deeply in my skin that they cannot be felt on the surface with a very sharp knife dragged so the HAIR EDGE catches the splinter and pulls it out. Drag the blade , don't slice. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
rockstar.esq Posted November 13, 2012 Share Posted November 13, 2012 Back when I was an apprentice I was sent out to a jobsite on Christmas eve with a journeyman who had a doctor's appointment just after lunch. He went in to get a bump on his hand looked at. He came back several hours later in a cast and sling! He told me he must have gotten a metal splinter in that hand several years before. The splinter infected and started something called a "spiral cyst". The doctors scheduled emergency surgery for Christmas morning because they felt center of the cyst was septic enough that he'd get blood poisoning should it rupture. They didn't want him to leave but he wouldn't be dissuaded from collecting his tools before hand. I'm always impressed at how we're all durable and fragile at the same time! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ten Hammers Posted November 14, 2012 Share Posted November 14, 2012 A small Victorinox (or Wenger) knife with scissors and tweezers/toothpick is an essential thing on my keyring for 25 years anyway. The tweezers are for any splinters from pallet to metal and normally the knife stays sharp enough to drag accross and free the splinter to pick it. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Hayden H Posted November 14, 2012 Share Posted November 14, 2012 Hard drive magnets are my go to for odd ball slivers and kerf that get embedded. The little hard drive magnets when stuck to plate steel cannot be removed without breaking the magnet first, work wonders on anything stuck to your skin. Used em to get metal out of my eye a few times Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
seldom (dick renker) Posted November 14, 2012 Share Posted November 14, 2012 i have used and keep a can on hand all the time of watkins petro-carbo salve. does a real nice job of drawing out splinters. dab some on area and put a bandaid on. should be out the next day or so. have used this stuff since the mid 40s and have never been without it. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
macbruce Posted November 14, 2012 Share Posted November 14, 2012 Another good source of rare earth magnets is from sonic toothbrush heads. I keep one glued onto a 1/4'' brass rod about 3'' long.....It has saved me a couple of times getting steel specs out of my eyes.....If they're stuck real good it's off to the ER...... :( Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ThomasPowers Posted November 14, 2012 Share Posted November 14, 2012 And just a cautionary note: If you feel that you have something in the eye do go to the Dr in a timely manner! Steel has a nasty tendency to rust and having the rust ring ground off your eyeball can be avoided if they remove the splinter before it gets a chance to rust! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ianinsa Posted November 14, 2012 Share Posted November 14, 2012 Thomas, have you forgotten that muratic acid disolves rust in a jiffy :lol: Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ThomasPowers Posted November 14, 2012 Share Posted November 14, 2012 I assume you are blacksmithing by the Braille method now? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Alan Evans Posted November 16, 2012 Share Posted November 16, 2012 I have another remedy that you could try. Here in Moz if we step on a poisonous thorn or a sea urchin while bare foot. We draw out the splinters using a paw paw (papaya) skin. snip Aha! Now I know why it is called paw paw, getting thorns out of paws! Have to try and grow some in the polytunnel. A small Victorinox (or Wenger) knife with scissors and tweezers/toothpick is an essential thing on my keyring for 25 years anyway. The tweezers are for any splinters from pallet to metal and normally the knife stays sharp enough to drag accross and free the splinter to pick it. 20 years ago a friend took me into a vast outdoor equipment warehouse near Berkeley in Cal... about 5 acres of camping gear! The reason he took me in and the only thing I came out with was tiny, an "Uncle Bill's Sliver Gripper", I carried it in the car until I lost it last year, absolutely brilliant device. Precise sharp points and a broad hinge/spring which keeps the points aligned. Enabled me to dig out hundreds of mine, my assistants' and family members' splinters! Happily I managed to locate a source for them here in the UK so I have replaced them. They have improved them with a key ring clip, the only thing that failed (after ten years) was the plastic bottle of the first set! Thoroughly recommended. Best fiver you could spend. I assume you are blacksmithing by the Braille method now? Yes, he has got a real feel for it! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Grizzer Posted November 18, 2012 Share Posted November 18, 2012 A method I find very handy for splinters and cactus spines (especially those near invisible ones) is to put Elmer's glue over the area and let it dry. When I peel it off, the splinter has almost always come out with it. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Pulsepushthepopulace Posted December 17, 2012 Share Posted December 17, 2012 I have another remedy that you could try. Here in Moz if we step on a poisonous thorn or a sea urchin while bare foot. We draw out the splinters using a paw paw (papaya) skin. First we cut the paw paw open. Then we carefully remove the seeds from the centre of the paw paw. Once the seeds are removed we scrape the fleshy fruit away from the outer fruit skin. We then eat the fleshy fruit Once the fruit has been consumed the final step is to place the moist pulpy side of the paw paw skin against your own skin in the area of the splinter.Bandage the paw paw skin in place and then remove the bandage after 24 hours. Paw paw is amazing at drawing out organic splinters. Maybe paw paw could also work on steel splinters. ^ This is the best suggestion so far... Idea presented here is any foreign contaminants in the body get attacked by white blood cells... If so, infection battlegrounds (puss) surrounds the contaminant, and it eventually leaves the body... A hot compress, even something as subtle as sugar (papaya), aids in bringing the infection/contaminant to the surface... I was shoving a quartered bamboo stake into the ground once and it broke, sending my grip about 8" down the shaft... I had about 5 (visible) separate shards go through my middle finger... some went through the bottom finger joint...picked them out... Very painful to say the least... about 2 days later, I notice a zit-like abscess in the area (still painful)... So popped it and out shot a 1/2" splinter... it came out like a air pressure gauge you use to check a tire... gross!... At night I put a glob of sugar in the area, and wrapped it... next morning another abscess, another shard... I took for 1/2" splinters out that way... Last one, I let a SOST guy cut it out... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
nhblacksmith Posted February 21, 2013 Share Posted February 21, 2013 We used to use mutton tallow but it's hard to find these days. If Prid works anything like that, it is a miracle drug. It will draw slivers when all else fails! Growing up back in the 50's our family also used mutton tallow for years. We switched to Prid when we no longer could get the mutton tallow but I recently found it available again at Lee Valley (see link below)-$2.95 for a 1 oz. can. It will pull slivers from deep within and I use it a lot when I am sawing tamarack on my mill-those little slivers just plain hurt! http://www.leevalley.com/US/wood/page.aspx?p=69309&cat=1,43415,43440 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Woody Posted February 24, 2013 Share Posted February 24, 2013 The skin of the papaya is used for meat tenderizer, I recall that it was recommended to put meat tenderizer on some sort of insect sting or bite but I don't remember which one so I did a google search and found this for starts http://www.peoplespharmacy.com/2011/04/18/meat-tenderizer-for-stings/ Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
eric sprado Posted February 24, 2013 Share Posted February 24, 2013 Prid is a good one. I use "ICHTHAMMOL" 20% which is a good old black drawing salve.It is sold through veterinary supply outfits online. Simply Google it and a number of sources will come up.If you're an old guy like me,you will recognize the familiar smell when you open the jar! Works for black and blue areas and other skin problems too. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Recommended Posts
Join the conversation
You can post now and register later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.