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Way O/T easy to use bandage?

F

fixerupper

Well-known Member
I know this is a simplistic subject, but we've all dinged a finger and have needed a bandage to stop the flow. Do any of you have a suggestion for an easy to open bandage wrapper when your thumb is throbbing and bleeding? Is any brand easier than the rest? Your offending thumb is preventing you from using that hand effectively to assist in getting the wrapper open so you end up using the good hand and your teeth. All of this goes on when you aren't in the best of moods.

Had it happen to me this afternoon. I found out a T15 Torx driver bit CAN go deep into the side of your thumb if there's enough force. I managed to mangle two bandages into oblivion before I finally got one unwrapped and useable. By then I had to re-wash and dry the thumb so the bandage would stick. It doesn't hardly hurt now but it was complaining loudly for awhile this afternoon. Jim
 
All kidding aside, I stick a cotton ball on it and hold it until I can wrap it in tape.
If I'm in the shop, I use whatever tape I have.
Electrical tape works well because it gives and can be cut/torn with your teeth.
 
I used to cut my hand or thumb on a regular basis splicing telephone cable. Steel inner wrap will sneak out and cut you. Many times I would wrap paper towel on it and use black vinyl tape to hold it on. Stopped bleeding and kept it clean.
 
My favorite is VET WRAP. Designed to be used on animals, kind of like a cross between gauze, an Ace wrap and velcro. Goes on easily, sticks to itself, Holds on real well on animals, should do OK for human use. Available at TSC, other farm stores with a selection of horse and vet supplies. Available in several colors to match your outfit!
 
I usually I have a roll of paper towles. I just grab one and hold it on with black tape until I get home at quitting time. The only time that didn't work was when I opened up my finger with a chain saw. I just grabbed a towl and headed for the house. Sometimes anything laying will work if it is somewhat clean. Of all the years I have wounded my self I have never had a infection from dirt. I guess it happens. Stan
 
Grandpa never used a bandage. He poured gasoline on it and then packed axle grease on it. No lie. Never remember an infection.

Only gets a bandage if it is going to fill my glove with blood. I will walk to the house if it might mean ruining a work glove!
 
I'll have to check it out at Walgreens. It's kind of handy to have a few in the glove box. I've used paper towels and tape too and it does work OK. Never have had an infection. I wouldn't know what an infected wound looks like on a human, so I'm lucky there. Well, there was that burst appendix back in '75 but that's a horse of another color. LOL. Jim
 
That blood kind of stiffens up your glove, doesn't it? My old neighbor talks about a farmer from years ago who got his hand in the machinery, took off his glove and two of his fingers stayed in the glove. I don't see how that can happen with the glove still intact, but who knows? Jim
 
Lot of good answers and to be honest I've yet to find anything myself that beats electrical tape (Super 33 works great),and a piece of a rag that's at least semi clean. Like everyone else no infections to date from doing this for years. I only know of one person to get an infection from being cut, and that was my Dad. In his case he caught the web of his thumb between a chisel and the face of the hammer while working at a land fill. Germs from the garbage got in it and it became infected to the point they had to do surgery and put a drain in it that stayed for a good while. Needless to say he was out of work the whole time....

That said none of the answere actually answered your question. Thing is I've wondered the same thing for years and have yet to find a combination of an easy to open bandage and one that would actually stay in place. Many of the cheaper brands have packs that are relatively easy to open, but don't stay stuck worth a crap. On the other hand the Bandaid brand Tough Strips aren't necesarily the easiest to open, but they stay where you put them almost as good as the elecrical tape does. About the only ones any better are marketed by ZEP. They stayed put and weren't that hard to open. I haven't seen any of them lately to know wether they are still the same or not.

So, go ahead and buy a pack of paper towels, and a few rolls of electrical tape, and you'll be covered for life.....LOL
 
I keep a good stock of black tape and tend to just tape up any thing short of needing to be sown back on. I just make sure something goes between me and the tape. Paper towel, paper, shop rag, etc....

A good supply of Jersey gloves are handy too have too. They can be used as rags, bandages, toliet papper and such in a pinch.
 
Lot of good answers and to be honest I've yet to find anything myself that beats electrical tape (Super 33 works great),and a piece of a rag that's at least semi clean. Like everyone else no infections to date from doing this for years. I only know of one person to get an infection from being cut, and that was my Dad. In his case he caught the web of his thumb between a chisel and the face of the hammer while working at a land fill. Germs from the garbage got in it and it became infected to the point they had to do surgery and put a drain in it that stayed for a good while. Needless to say he was out of work the whole time....

That said none of the answere actually answered your question. Thing is I've wondered the same thing for years and have yet to find a combination of an easy to open bandage and one that would actually stay in place. Many of the cheaper brands have packs that are relatively easy to open, but don't stay stuck worth a crap. On the other hand the Bandaid brand Tough Strips aren't necesarily the easiest to open, but they stay where you put them almost as good as the elecrical tape does. About the only ones any better are marketed by ZEP. They stayed put and weren't that hard to open. I haven't seen any of them lately to know wether they are still the same or not.

So, go ahead and buy a pack of paper towels, and a few rolls of electrical tape, and you'll be covered for life.....LOL
 
No opinion on the bandage options---I just use the various manifestations of the Bandaid. But, being the victim of countless self-inflicted wounds through the years, I have made it a practice to always and as soon as possible douse the wound in rubbing alcohol. Not only does it protect against infection, it keeps the wound from getting as sore as it would otherwise. Keeping a bandage on the wound---especially on the fingers---also keeps the soreness to a minimum.
 
Vet wrap is excellent- don't know the commercial name, but VA uses it every time I have blood draw in the lab.
 
I actually stock both bandage types, black electrical tape as well as traditional gray duct tape. Each has their unquie benefits. The black electrical tape is easier to apply to fingers, while the gray duct tape rips from the roll easier. Make sure you place a semi clean shop rag over the would when using gray duct tape to bandage over a hairy arm or such to help make removing without pulling the hair. If you are sheetrocking, I know there is a temptation to slap some mud on the wound and cover with paper drywall tape, but, it doesn't stop the bleeding as much as one would think.
 
Probably workes like a Burdizzo for castrating animals. It just crushes the cord and doesn't cut the sack. (ouch)Don't know if they still use this method? Stan
 

You note that you have the bandage material so you don't need elec. tape or any of that stuff. What I have always done in that situation is just grab a rag or cloth of some sort and bury the wound in it and hold with some fingers, then open the package. Much easier without the blood making it slippery.
 
I've gotten so good at it, I just pull the boogernest out of my pocket, wrap the offending digit, and leave it there till I have all the peroxide, bandages, scissors, tape, and other implements of destruction lined up! Also, don't pull anything out of the wound, like steel, or wood splinters, till you are ready to bleed, in a area easily wiped down!
 
Fixerupper,
One thing I do is to let it bleed while I'm getting a paper towel or semi-clean rag. I'll shake my hand around to encourage it. I figure if the blood is coming out, infection ain't getting in. My wife's a nurse and just shakes her head when she sees how little I do in "wound care". Sometimes I won't even know I've got a problem until I see blood dripping on whatever I'm working on. I'll eventually wash it up with soap and water but that might be a while after the initial injury.
 
Seems I'm in good company with the shop rags and tape. Any tape close by and a hopefully clean shop rag.
 
This is not a simplistic subject and I thank you for bringing it up. Every time I need a bandage it's almost a panic situation - or maybe I just don't handle pain and blood so well. We have the technology to see sand grains on Mars but we still need our teeth and a hand to open a bandage. I've told my grandson that if he can invent some kind of dispenser that will give me a ready-to-use sterile bandage, he will become a rich man. I'm waiting.
 
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