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Sliced my thumb open cutting carpet on a Friday job in Austin

I was out in Austin last month doing a quick bedroom install for a nice older lady. Got in a hurry around 4pm because I wanted to beat traffic and my carpet knife slipped right off the edge of the seam tape. Cut my thumb pretty deep, blood everywhere on this beige plush carpet she just paid $3,200 for. I grabbed a rag from my truck and wrapped it tight but I knew I had to finish before I lost too much light. Ended up taping a shop towel around my thumb with duct tape and just powered through the last two seams. Took me twice as long cause I was being careful not to drip on anything. Has anyone else had a close call like that and had to figure out how to keep working without ruining the carpet?

2 comments

2 Comments

joseph52921d agoTop Commenter

That duct tape move is exactly something I'd do myself. Did you get any blood on the carpet at all or did the shop towel hold up? I've been there with a different kind of cut - slipped with a utility knife doing linoleum and had to wrap my whole hand in a plastic bag just to finish the last corner section. The worst part is knowing you're bleeding but you can't stop because the client is watching and the clock is ticking. Hope your thumb healed up alright, those deep cuts take forever to close.

spencer_perry7721d ago

@joseph529 that shop towel held up pretty good honestly, I kept it wrapped tight with electrical tape under the duct tape so it wouldn't soak through. Still got a couple drops on the carpet near the door but I hit it with that Folex spot cleaner before it set and you can't even see it now. For real though next time I'm gonna keep a trauma kit in my truck with those quick clot gauze pads, those things stop bleeding in like 30 seconds and you don't have to mess around with duct tape bandaids. That plastic bag move for the linoleum cut is brutal but I get it, sometimes you just gotta finish the job and deal with your hand later.