A cautionary tale. It has been nearly one month now. A new scar has formed.

Using hand tools such as knives and axes carries an inherent risk. Be careful. Stay focused. Be aware what you are doing.

WARNING: some of the following images my not be suitable for the squeamish

It was a Thursday and the sun was shining in the yard.

The thought was to get a spoon/ladle blank axed out so as to have something to carve over the coming easter weekend.

The next day was a holiday, Good Friday to be exact.

Though shalt not do any outside “work” on holidays is a maxim my better half insists. The list is extensive: No doing laundry, no vacuuming, no law mowing, no car washing. You get the drift.

Some Germans are weird that way. You see (for example), once upon a time not too long ago there was a widely accepted rule. “Mittags Ruhe”, a mid day quiet time, like in a library for those of us not used to this kind of rule. It is no longer a part of normal day to day life and yet many still try to impose this short period of calmly in a busy day. In part I believe it stems from the fact that in general the traditionally the main meal of the day was/is still prepared at noon, here in Germany.

In my experience, employed by a German landscaping company and working for private clients, I have not noticed this rule to be enforced or coerced; so … and living in a farming village, farmers will do what needs to be done, when it needs to get done.

Ok, I was feeling a bit of pressure to get shit done so as not to be tempted to desecrate the Good Friday by grabbing my carving axe and making noise and ruining a perfectly pious holy day for my neighbors and passersby with chopping noise. The only thought that might have kept me from the axercise, a wee afternoon nap … should have gone with that one.

I grabbed my axercise bag (axes, saws, marking and measuring tools, gloves), set up my axing block and got to work in the sunshine.

And then somewhere in the process of hewing out my ladle blank, something happened. I am still unsure what caused my blade to slice into the top knuckle of my thumb. Did my blank slip on the block, did my grip shift, did I lose focus, was my attention distracted? I don’t know. All I know is that the red stuff started to drip from my left thumb and I went into auto pilot mode. I immediately wrapped the thumb, packed my tools into the blood spattered leather bag and headed inside to wash the cut, rewrap it and drive myself to the hospital.

I am thankful for the health care system we enjoy, even while I waiting two hours for the emergency surgeon to see me. After just a brief look at the wound he suggested that I had indeed managed to damage my tendon and told me that he would not be able to do anything for me other than to anaesthetize the thumb. I would have to drive to a different hospital in a different town where they specialize in hand injuries. Damn … He made a call and off I went.

The local anesthesia in my thumb was working well, traffic was light and I got there in good time. The surgeon was waiting for me.

Again I experienced gratitude for specialists in my time of need. An hour or so later the tendon was sewn back together and the external bits had also been expertly stitched back together. Glad I did not have to watch that process.

Still a bit messy. A few days after being sewed up the good Dr. had a look at how his handywork was holding up. Thumbs up, all good.

Stitches were removed after approx. 14 days with no complications

I wore a partial cast for three weeks to avoid any further damage to the area.

The cast has been off for about a week and a half. Now it is all about regaining full function of the thumb and Ergo therapy is helping with that.

A huge thanks to a carving friend (and co planner of the Black Spoon 2024 spoon carving event) Dominik P. who immediately alerted me to necessary treatment of scar and digit in order to regain full use again. He gave me a name of a therapist and I was able to set up timely appointments. The kicker, said therapist is also Canadian and is from the same city I left to move to Germany. Small world.

My next thing as I work towards full thumb/holding mobility again is to get back on the horse that bucked me off, axe work.

And I will be using a cut proof glove on my left hand from now on.

More spoons to follow, later on.