Saturday 24 August 2013

How Physically Dangerous is 40k as a Hobby?

I have just stabbed myself at the base of the thumb on my left hand with a games workshop hobby drill. Because it was a drill bit, as a penetrating stabbing instrument it was pretty blunt. It hurt quite a lot. It slipped as it was being used to drill holes to create an new slot for a metal mini in a 60mm base. There is a 2.5cm scar at the base of the first finger on my left hand where I sliced completely through the skin, down to the tendons with a very sharp hobby knife while working on a metal mini. Fortunately the tendons were not harmed. There are other scars from previous injuries from working with metal and resin minis. Is it just my bad luck or do other enthusiasts also get injured with this hobby.

Should GW get sued through a class action in the states for their culpability in encouraging people to get involved in the hobby. Been watching Damages.

5 comments:

eriochrome said...

I remember when I was doing a lot of work one plastics a few years back, I was cutting myself fairly often getting the models off the sprue.

My wife was at the hobby shop (it was inside the one of the malls in town) and mentioned it to the owner. He suggest and she got me a GW brand clipper. It is not a bad product but I could have just gotten it at Sears for like half the price.

Mordian7th said...

I've stabbed and drilled and perforated and skinned my hands dozens of times over the years, though nothing that's required stitches or surgery thankfully. I take the proper precautions of course, but some modeling-related injury is inevitable over time I think.

Our gaming group jokes that accidents like these are blood sacrifice to the hobby gods... :)

ColKillgore said...

I am in the same boat and have cut my self and drilled into my fingers many times. The strangest story is actually a near miss. I was in the buff (just out of the shower) doing some hobby work and just put a new scalpel blade in the knife. The knife slipped bounced off the wedding tackle and stuck in the floor between ny toes. Never work with a hobby knife naked.

ColKG

Artificer said...

Hi ColKillgore - hope the wedding tackle remains fully functional. The moral of your anecdote is surely dont do anything in the buff unless that is de rigeur for what is planned.

Hi Mordian 7th - Blood for the Blood gods. Yep. Has anyone been to the Emergency department with modelling related injuries. I was almost there with the slash across my finger competely through all layers except I refused to go because I thought I knew a bit of first aid.

Hi eriochrome - The GW clippers are quality. I use them all the time to clip through plastic and also metal.

Zzzzzz said...

Outsource your hobby to a commercial (or your friends) service. Hurts your wallet, but will save you from being slashed and punctured.