The Fresh Loaf

A Community of Amateur Bakers and Artisan Bread Enthusiasts.

safety snafu - don't try this at home

yy's picture
yy

safety snafu - don't try this at home

I was shaping some dough when I thought I'd kicked the corner of my baking table and felt a sharp pain. Turns out, my scoring lame was on the floor, and it had just sliced into the outer part of my foot about a third of an inch deep and an inch long. As Anthony Bourdain would put it, most of the pain came from the knowledge that I'm an idiot (for not storing it securely).

Anybody have any tips for safely yet conveniently storing a double edged razor that's mounted on a metal handle? My problem is that I'm kind of lazy and impatient, so I don't want to have to put the thing in some vault encased in cement to prevent a similar thing from happening again. How do you guys store your sharp cutting tools?

mrfrost's picture
mrfrost

I just rinse mine, then just plop into a cup or glass, in and at the back of the cabinet, blade end down. This leaves the handles(coffee sticks in my case) as the only part one is likely to grab. Guess it might not hurt to wrap the blade end with a little piece of napkin or towel to help pretect the edge a little.

Seems like a pretty bad cut. Hope you're ok. Stitches?

flournwater's picture
flournwater

My lame (a razor blade threaded with a whittled down popsicle stick) is housed in a lidded glass jar, along with a packet of extra blades.  It only comes out when it's time to use it and it goes right back in when I'm finished.  No cuts, no bruises, no problem.

MichaelH's picture
MichaelH

You might have answered your own question. Safety is a full time job.

Michael

 

sparklebritches's picture
sparklebritches

My razor goes in a shot glass in a high up cabinet above the stove and goes right back.  Easy peasy.

GSnyde's picture
GSnyde

And I really, really, don't like blood on my floor, especially my own.

So, I keep my lame in a small zip-loc bag in my kitchen tool drawer.  When I'm done using it, I rinse it, dry it, and put it right back in there.

Keep safe.

Glenn

Chuck's picture
Chuck

There are drawer organizers for sliverware readily available. They're plastic trays, about two inches wide and various lengths (longer for knives, shorter for spoons). I have an "extra" one of those in my bread tools drawer. The razor blades and lames all go in it. Since they're a bit "separate" from the rest of the tools (thermometers, scrapers, scales, spare batteries, etc.), my hand can't accidentally find one of them while rummaging through my other tools. And since nothing else goes in the drawer organizer, there's nothing to accidentally muck up an edge. It takes a little more space  ...but only a little. And I clearly see them (or the absence of them:-) all the time, so I won't ever forget them.

SylviaH's picture
SylviaH

It is such a small dangerous instrument and can be easily misplaced, so caution needs to used at all times...not only for your own safety but others and pets.  My razor supply and lame with foil/ wrapper on razor, stay inside a ziplock baggie. In my bread gaget drawer.  Like Glenn, it also gets put away promptly.   

Sylvia

Yumarama's picture
Yumarama

Fridge Magnets

Use one of those business card type all-magnetic fridge magnets, stick it to the side of the fridge or oven hood and it will grab and hold your blade nicely and out of harm's way. 

If the lame is too heavy for these skinny little magnets, you can often find those teeny tiny super-powerful little magnets and glue one to the lame. Same deal: stick it to a metal appliance out of the way.

I also have some old metal magnets, circles and rectangles, from bag clips and other larger items that I have salvaged when the clip broke. They can hold a fair bit of weight.

If you want to throw actual cash at this, there are slightly more professional versions of this: knife magnet bars. Enough ooomph to hold large kitchen knifes and usually more pleasant looking.

Happy baking,

Paul 
MellowBakers

 

Karen Guse's picture
Karen Guse

Maybe you could try and find one of those plastic travel containers that you put your tooth brush in, havn't tried it, so I don't know if it would fit.  Worth a look.