Along with blue tape and paper towels, so-called “super glues” are often cited as a way to treat relatively minor cuts in the workshop. But the cyanoacrylates that are meant to glue wood, porcelain and plastics (and hardhats to I-beams – if you’re old enough to remember that Krazy Glue commercial) are actually harmful to your skin. Dr. Jeffrey Hill, author of “Workshop Wound Care” (who is an emergency room physician and a woodworker), explains the difference.
Find out what else you should have on hand in you shop’s first aid kit – and how to use it – in “Workshop Wound Care.”
You might have noticed that we’ve been having problems getting three new products up in the store and running smoothly. Well they are now up and available for immediate shipment. We released them simultaneously so you can save on shipping if you planned on buying more than one. Here’s what’s new:
‘Henry Boyd’s Freedom Bed’
For many years I have been obsessed with Henry Boyd, an early Cincinnati woodworker who invented a revolutionary bedstead, built a sizable furniture-making business that shipped work all over the country, helped enslaved people escape to freedom and then almost disappeared from history.
There’s been a little written here and there about Boyd. The Smithsonian has one of his beds (as does The Golden Lamb in Lebanon, Ohio). But this guy was so badass that there should be a school named for him. Plus a marker where his factory stood. And an exhibit on his life at the history museum (and there is now, thanks in part to Suzanne Ellison).
Years ago, Suzanne started digging into public records on Boyd because we knew we wanted to do a book about him. And what Suzanne found was a story that contradicted the fables about Boyd that have been spread around. And the real story – of an enslaved black man who survived and thrived despite all odds – is even more impressive than the fables.
To bring Boyd’s story to life, I sought out Whitney LB Miller, a local TV journalist, friend and woodworker. Whitney has the traits of every great author I know: an unfailing work ethic, incredible courage (because writing a book will change you), and a personality that is large enough to breathe life into characters on a page.
Whitney gladly took on the important task of both writing about and illustrating Boyd’s life for “Henry Boyd’s Freedom Bed.” The story is intended for children ages 3-8, but I think anyone would enjoy the tale – plus the three pages of biographical information on Boyd at the back of the book.
This book is – I hope – an important step in reassessing, acknowledging and celebrating the unheralded work that people who were black and enslaved played in the history of our country’s furniture. Boyd should be a name known to every woodworker, and I hope this book helps change that.
We have another book in the works that takes a more hands-on look at the achievements of enslaved black woodworkers. It has been in development for several years now. More information on that book is to come.
You can read all about the Boyd book (and a deluxe edition that is available) here.
‘Workshop Wound Care’
Woodworking is a hazardous pursuit – that goes without saying. So what is incredible to me is that there isn’t much guidance about what you should do when you hurt yourself in the workshop.
Yes, there have been a couple articles in woodworking magazines during the last couple decades. But these have been somewhat shallow and are most likely buried by 10 years of woodworking magazines in basements across our country. Good luck digging them up when you hurt yourself.
Scrapes, cuts, bruises and worse happen every day in the workshop. What we need is a quick and authoritative field manual. Do (this) when you (hurt that). And that’s why “Workshop Wound Care” by Dr. Jeffery Hill was born.
Dr. Hill is an emergency room physician and a woodworker. He knows exactly how you are going to injure yourself. And he knows what to do to help you get better fast.
When I first read Dr. Hill’s manuscript I was struck by how basic the first aid gear is that he recommends. You can get almost all of it in a quick trip to the drugstore. There’s nothing exotic or terribly expensive. And there’s not a lot of it, to be honest.
In fact, after reading Dr. Hill’s book, I threw away a lot of stuff in our shop’s first aid kit.
It’s a no-nonsense guide that quickly tells you what you need to do in almost every situation, from the most minor to the most dire. This book is important. At the least, it will help you heal faster and get back to work. And it might just help you save a severed digit. Or someone’s life.
And just in time for prime hat season (?), we have a new khaki twill hat that is embroidered with the English A-square featured on the front of “The Anarchist’s Tool Chest.” This is a dad hat in look, feel and fit. Fairly roomy. Six panel. And it has an adjustable strap for pinheads. We looked at a ton of hats, and this one rose to the top for comfort and fit. It is made in China (sorry we cannot find a USA hat that satisfies customers). The embroidery was done by a family business here in Covington. One size fits most.
Dr. Jeffery Hill and Harper Haynes, our summer intern, during a photo shoot in our offices. The new book will show how to apply dressings for a wide variety of wounds and situations.
I’m almost always an open book when it comes to talking about the books we are working on at Lost Art Press. But when we began working on “Workshop Wound Care” by Dr. Jeffery Hill, I decided to keep my mouth shut.
I did this because I was surprised that no one had published a book like this before. Sure, there are some magazine articles out there. Plus some general “first aid” books that cover everything from drowning to being trampled by livestock (both are rare injuries in the woodshop).
But a book that covers workshop-specific injuries? If it exists I haven’t found it.
I was worried that if I announced the book too soon, another publisher would beat us to press by pulling together a bunch of internet drivel and plopping it onto a print-on-demand service.
After many months of work, we are now in the final stages of working on this book. And with any luck it will be out in October or November. So now I feel comfortable talking about this new title.
“Workshop Wound Care” will be in our pocket-book series. It will cost about $20. And it will delve right into the heart of what you need to know when faced with a laceration, a blood blister under the fingernail or a puncture wound from a nail.
Dr. Hill is the perfect author for this book. He is an emergency room physician and an active woodworker (you can follow him here on Instagram – or if you are an ER nerd, here’s his blog). So he knows exactly what sort of information a woodworker needs to know when it comes to injuries. And he presents information in a way that a non-medical professional can understand it.
As Megan and I edited this book, we were surprised by how much we learned about wound care. We set aside our coagulant dressings and hydrogen peroxide and have instead been using Dr. Hill’s instructions for dressing wounds so they heal faster.
A double-bag system for dealing with amputated parts. (That’s a stunt finger.)
Also surprising: the first aid stuff you need is not exotic. Dr. Hill recommends items you can get easily at a good pharmacist or online. We are now building out our shop’s first aid kit to match his recommendations. And this process has brought a sense of relief. Off-the-shelf first aid kits are hit or miss when it comes to having what you need for the workshop. After reading the book, I feel we will be prepared for *almost* everything.
I know that “sex” sells better than “safety.” But I hope you’ll consider adding this important book to your library so that when (not “if”) you hurt yourself, you’ll be back at the workbench in the minimum amount of time, and with as little agony as possible.
— Christopher Schwarz
Table of Content
Chapter 1: Introduction
This will be a practical guide for triaging and managing wounds in a wood shop. Along the way you’ll learn a bit about anatomy, wound healing and the pathophysiology of certain types of wounds, in addition to learning how to stop bleeding, dress wounds, and, heaven forbid, store and transport an amputated finger tip for possible re-implantation.
Chapter 2: Building out a Proper First Aid Kit
Standard first aid kits that you buy over the counter contain some useful items but usually not in proper quantities or of proper quality. Collecting select high quality equipment will ultimately be more functional.
Chapter 3: How to Stop Bleeding
Stanching the flow of blood from an open wound is of nearly obvious importance but it is often done wrong. Here we will walk through the approach to stopping bleeding from various type of wounds
Chapter 4: Wound Healing Primer
The pathophysiology of wound healing is a series of biochemical cascades; understanding (in plain language) what is happening at a cellular level can give additional insight into expectations of the wound healing process.
Chapter 5: Anatomy Primer
Understanding the anatomy of frequently injured parts of the body can help on triage the seriousness of a particular wound. We’ll cover the anatomy of the hand and face primarily.
Chapter 6: Red Flags
Judging exactly when to seek care after an injury is very much situation-dependent, however there are certain things which will absolutely necessitate additional care by a medical provider (loss of function, neuromuscular compromise, wound healing, cosmetic concerns).
Chapter 7: Tetanus is a Bad Way to Die
This chapter will cover the risks of tetanus based on exposure type and immunization status with a brief primer on what tetanus is and how infections occur.
Chapter 8: Early Wound Care Principles
Appropriate early wound care and proper irrigation, in particular, is important for decreasing the risk of infection. We’ll focus on irrigation techniques with a focus on those that have the best evidence for preventing wound infections.
Chapter 9: Wound Dressings
If a cut/abrasion can be dealt with in the shop, or if a wound has been dealt with at a doctor’s office, an understanding of how to appropriately dress the wound to ensure a clean, not overly moist healing environment. We focus on care of sutured, taped, and glued wounds and focus on bandaging techniques that will lead to secure(ish) dressings.
Chapter 10: So You Cut Your ____ Off? Now What?
This chapter will give clear instructions on how to properly store an amputated piece of your body for possible reattachment. It will also cover the immediate care, and common treatment, of amputations.
Chapter 11: Lacerations
Among the most commonly encountered injuries, the initial care and triage of lacerations depends on the nature of the wound and what caused the tissue injury. Clean cuts from knives and chisels will generally be easier to manage than tissue-loss injuries caused by power tools.
Chapter 12: Crush Injuries
A misplaced blow of a hammer or dropped workpiece will crush tissues and possibly break bones. We’ll cover the general triage and pathophysiology of these injuries with special focus on subungal hematoma (bleeding/bruising under nails).
Chapter 13: Puncture Wounds
Puncture wounds may appear innocuous but pose the greatest risk in terms of wound infection. The triage of the wounds generally revolves around the site of injury, what caused the puncture, the cleanliness of your skin (and the object that punctured you). Splinter management is covered in this chapter.
Chapter 14: High-pressure Injection Injuries
These are a type of puncture wound where the puncturing object is the air and whatever was being sprayed. These injuries can seem relatively minor at first however they can be incredibly devastating with extensive tissue loss from necrosis that develops in hours and days.
Chapter 15: Eye Injuries
The eye deserves special attention as there is risk of permanent vision loss with some types of injuries. This chapter gives consideration to corneal abrasions, metal and organic foreign bodies, and puncture wounds/open globes.
