What gives with Cobalt?

[h12721]

I had a Cobalt cutter in my mill.
By reaching under it to get to the workpiece to wipe it with a rag I cut my Finger, I should say I put a small scratch in it. Just about as wide and deep as a hair.
Now the cut won't heal. It looks like a small Infection. In the past a small cut like this would heal in about 3-4 days. Is there something with the Cobalt or what do You think. No, No the machine was not running.
Hilmar

[tdmidget]

Get your affairs in order.

[Chip Chester]

Any coolant in play? From this job or the last one?

Chip

[RobbieKnobbie]

Wow, that's rough. Couldn't you break it a little easier?

[tdmidget]

He may not have time for sugarcoating. But I wouldn't worry about the cobalt. Something else will probably get him first.

[RobbieKnobbie]

yeah, I wouldn't go buying any green banannas till that cut clears up though.

[Paul Alciatore]

Did you,

1. clean with alcohol or other disinfectant,

2. bandage it with some of the ointment (first aid cream) for small wounds?

I find that if I do the above immediately and repeat as needed for a day or two to keep it clean, my cuts and scratches heal fairly quickly. If I don't, they can fester for days, get red with infection, and generally take longer to heal while bugging me the whole time.

Do it now.

[Duffy]

Cobalt is only an alloying element in the tool steel, perhaps up to 10%. It is highly unlikely that an alloy component would have any effect on the cut itself. Chromium is a much commoner alloy constituent and it is used in higher percentages without ill effect. Think stainless steel 18-8; 18 is the percentage of nickel and 8 is the percentage of chromium. Nickel is a well known hapten, but stainless steel apparently causes no reaction.
I suspect that some other factor is ruling the healing.
BUT WAIT!!! There will be two or three witch doctors jump in here.

[TexasTurnado]

I had a Cobalt cutter in my mill.
By reaching under it to get to the workpiece to wipe it with a rag I cut my Finger, I should say I put a small scratch in it. Just about as wide and deep as a hair.
Now the cut won't heal. It looks like a small Infection. In the past a small cut like this would heal in about 3-4 days. Is there something with the Cobalt or what do You think. No, No the machine was not running.
Hilmar

Probably an infection - soak in hot epson salt solution for about 40 minutes two or three times a day for a day or two. Bandage with something like Neosporin between soakings. It that does not get it, see a dr soon - it could be a serious infection, such as that flesh eating one that has been on the news. I seiously doubt the cobalt alloy had anything to do with it.....

[Dr Stan]

Probably an infection - soak in hot epson salt solution for about 40 minutes two or three times a day for a day or two. Bandage with something like Neosporin between soakings. It that does not get it, see a dr soon - it could be a serious infection, such as that flesh eating one that has been on the news. I seiously doubt the cobalt alloy had anything to do with it.....

Epson salt solution is a very good suggestion as is hydrogen peroxide. BTW, HP is one of the few disinfectants that will attack staph & MRSA. If you do not have epson salts, table salt will also help as it is a natural disinfectant.

[PeteM]

I used to use hydrogen peroxide on most wounds. However, I've heard increasing comments that it can actually slightly slow down the healing process. For example:

http://familydoctormag.com/first-aid...han-water.html

I still use hydrogen peroxide sometimes -- and haven't really had a problem with cuts healing. But soap and water and a bit of anti-bacterial cream might be even better.

[darryl]

It's probably because of the cutting fluid. When I had a mishap with a trepanning cutter on the mill, I managed to rip my hand out of the way before the tool came around twice. The cutter wiped across three fingers, making things very colorful. My hand was red, the air was blue. The gashes took several months to heal, and though they did finally heal there are distortions that will never go away.

[Evan]

I keep a plastic bottle of 96% ethanol on hand in the shop for immediate treatment of minor wounds such as that. Just wash it out well with the ethanol and apply some electrical tape. Later I put on a regular bandage.

[Black_Moons]

Isoproponal is also great for wounds.

I think its isoproponal for new wounds, Hydrogen peroxide for old ones.

And yea, iv used the electrical tape bandaid, but I put a little paper towl beween the tape and the wound.

And yea, Wounds that get the weird cutting fluids in do seem to take a lot longer to heal. a solvent like isoproponal to dissolve and flush it is likey a good idea.

I don't think they take into account wound recovery time when designing cutting fluids. There would be a nifty idea. Neosportap. The cutting fluid that helps heal/disinfect wounds when you accidently cut yourself!

[Lew Hartswick]

I think he'd be closer to the cause by blaming it on the phase of the
moon or even "global warming" than an alloying element in the
cutter. :-)
...lew...