speaking of slashed wrists - well, palm of hand.

I get my knife sharpened at the local chef's equipment shop (ya should've seen the line of apprentice chefs & their teachers outside that little hole-in-the-wall shop recently!)

I've always considered that getting it back wrapped in newspaper after I take it in wedged inside a stapled envelope/pouch of thick cardboard a bit dangerous.

It was this time & I have a finger-length shallow cut across the base of my palm. It was all very exciting, with several gloops of blood which I treated with tea-tree oil & bandaids. Later I was chopping garlic & stabbed my finger, so more tea-tree oil & another bandaid.

The moral of the story is that I will take along my cardboard pouch the next time I collect it, tho a better moral might be might be that I keep it sharp so I don't stab myself.

ps. thanks Mudcatters & Guests for a lot of good info. I recently replaced one of my wooden boards with a plastic one, which has become very scratched. I'm glad I kept one wooden board, cos it seems cleaner & I just might consider getting rid of the plastic one cos hand-washing doesn't seem to clean those scratches.