[Jessi]

I was just wondering if anyone has ever been injured while carving pumpkins.

I experienced the usual cramped up carving hand again this year. I also acquired a mean slice on my thumb from an Xacto knife. More uncomfortable are the sore muscles I acquired from hauling 13 pumpkins up and down 2 flights of stairs.

I'd like to hear other stories of blood shed for the sake of pumpkin carving!

[Mush-Mo]

Oh yeah - I slid my entire right hand down the blade of a knife while carving pumpkins when I was a teenager. Got pretty bad cuts on three of the fingers, and sliced through all the muscles and nerves in my pinkie finger (I sliced it right down to the bone.) Passed out twice, and went into convulsions. I can no longer bend my pinkie finger at the top.

Now I stick with those little saws - much, MUCH safer!

[mesmark]

I use a pretty sharp saw for my carvings since i can't get a pumpkin carving set so readily here and graze a finger or two every year. But, that's just because I'm careless.

I also forget that I'm not 18 anymore and like Jessi had a sore back and legs for a couple days after hauling my pumpkins outback to be carved, to the wood stack for pictures, to the front porch for display, to the car, and from the car to the upstairs of the community center for my Halloween party.

[Joey]

Last halloween I made the mistake of using one of the tiny saws to cut open the lid of the pumpkin. It was also one of the saws from the previous year. Sliced my index and middle fingers up really well. I had fun showing that one off. On one of my mid-winter pumpkins I broke a second saw while carving the design, and it sliced right over the first two wounds. Sadly the scar is rather faded...