That Time With the Steak Knife

I'm sure you're wondering what the title of this post could mean.... The following is sure to be a quick, funny, "remember when" story that we tell at family reunions for years. About me, a steak knife, electrical wiring, and a sprinkler system. Sounds dangerous, I know....

Yesterday we worked on the sprinkler system again. Attached the sprinkler heads, adjusted their direction and water-shooting length (getting absolutely soaked in the process), and connecting the wiring to add it to our automatic system. We have wire cutters, but they're pretty dull and not very useful. We don't own any wire strippers, which were more important for this project anyways. So we improvised. With a steak knife and pliers....

It was working pretty well and I was on my last of 6 wires to be stripped and connected. All I needed was another eighth of an inch worth of space to work with. I went to make one last slice, slipped and proceeded to stab my finger with the steak knife. I swear the only reason it didn't go straight through is because it hit my knuckle bone.

I automatically shoved my finger in my mouth and soon started to feel a little vampirish with regards to the amount of blood that continued to pour out. Since we were almost done with the wiring work, I didn't want to go inside to take care of it, only to have to come back out into the grueling heat to finish. I had Justin grab me a paper towel and we made the most ghetto-rigged bandaid ever. Paper towel and electrical tape. But it worked!


So far today, a bandaid is managing the wound just fine. I might have over dramatized it in the moment, but for a split second, I thought I'd sliced my finger off. Lucky me, I only got the point of the steak knife. And I've learned my lesson. No more bare-handed electrical work on a water system using a steak knife.... (You'd think that would be a lesson I wouldn't need to learn by experience....)