I got to work about an hour ago and quickly realized that there’s a metal splinter in the tip of my left ring finger. It’s presumably aluminum since that’s mostly what I worked with this weekend. It wouldn’t be a problem if I weren’t a programmer for a living; tap-typing isn’t going to fly in the long term…
I need a Macgyver-type solution to this. Nail-pinching isn’t working and none of my coworkers have tweezers in their pockets. :ahh:
You’re at the workshop, right? There should be plenty of saws in the back
In a serious note, you can try soaking the finger in warm water for a while, then try squeezing it out again. Alternatively, I’ve heard of iodine or isopropyl alcohol used to cause the surrounding skin to retract a bit and make it easier to get out, though I can’t personally vouch for those methods.
(Please sterilize the saw before removing the finger. It will lower chance of infection)
If it’s aluminum, then it’s a real pain to remove it. If it’s wood, it will get infested after a day or two, and the pus will make it easier to remove. Iron sometimes rusts and that helps start an infection, allowing the pus to help it come out.
If you’re not comfortable cutting your finger open yourself to remove it, I suggest a visit to a doctor. And the cut will take time to heal, too.
I recently had an aluminum splinter stuck in my finger. This is what I did, please only use this process if you feel comfortable.
I used a tweezer and a needle. I used the needle to dig out some of the skins around the splinter, then used a tweezer to pull it out. It took a while and I had to dig in a little bit but it worked. Also, please burn the needle head for a bit before you use it.
two credit cards on a 30 degree angle opposite each other pinching the skin containing the splinter does wonders in the back-country, might do the trick for you (i.e ./ )
Years ago I got a metal splinter in a finger while sailing.
It didn’t hurt. I carried on for 12 hours.
By the next day, my finger was twice the size, required a hospital visit for some pretty painful lancing and a long course of antibiotics.
Our team solved the whole problem of metal splinters by building the whole robot out of fiberglass. Now we only have to deal with glass fibers, which are even more painful and harder to remove!