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Harper1234's avatar

What is the appropriate way to get small wood splinters out?

Asked by Harper1234 (857points) May 7th, 2019

Even though I had gardening gloves on I got small splinters in my fingers from pulling prickly vines out of bushes. I have tried getting
them out with a sharp pin but now I have pricks that hurt and the splinter is still there. I can see it with a magnifying glass. One I picked at hurt all night. Help!

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10 Answers

Zaku's avatar

Tweezers is what I tend to use. I’ve also used a nail clipper.

KNOWITALL's avatar

I’d soak it, the wood swells out and is easily picked out with tweezers.

SQUEEKY2's avatar

Only one sure fire solution ,you have to cut the finger off.
(JUST KIDDING)
A good pair of tweezers and a magnifying glass should do it.

Tropical_Willie's avatar

Sharp point tweezers like these. They come with a magnifying glass.

SQUEEKY2's avatar

Those are cool,^^^^ @Tropical_Willie going to look at getting a pair.

jca2's avatar

Soak your hand in warm water, then pour hydrogen peroxide on the splinters. It won’t hurt. The splinters may come out on their own, if not, the holes will open up so the splinters are exposed better.

rebbel's avatar

Wood glue.
Put it on the spot, let it dry, peel it off.
Woodworker here.

Patty_Melt's avatar

@rebbel, having grown up on the farm, then my time in the Navy with wood hull vessels, I have experienced lots of splinters, I can’t believe such a simple solution and I never heard of it or thought of it before now. Cheering you.

LadyMarissa's avatar

Since .losing the use of my left arm & hand, I try very hard to never get a splinter; but, inevitably it happens every now & then. Of course, the splinter is enbedded in my working hand & I cannot hold the tweezers with my non-working hand. I read a lot about different ways to remove splinters until I finally found one that worked for me. I use a piece of clear tape. I press the sticky side of the tape onto the area with the splinter pressing the covered area well. Then I grab the corner that will pull in the same direction as the splinter & pull it really fast. The majority of the time, the splinter is stuck to the tape. I can do this one because I can grab the corner of the tape with my teeth & pull without needing to use my non-functioning hand!!!

Another I read but haven’t tried because I think it would keep the tape from sticking is to take a banana skin & place the inside of the skin onto the splinter, & leave it on for about an hour. This is similar to soaking in water in that it causes the splinter to swell & it also enlarges the hole the splinter made. Then you take the tweezers & slide the splinter out. I would think this would be easier than soaking the area in water as you’re not as limited to what you can do while waiting for the end result.

Back in the good old days when I could get the splinter out with tweezers, I found it helpful to take the point of the tweezers or even a sewing needle & press near the bottom of the splinter toward the entry point. This would often push a portion of the splinter up just enough that I could get a better grasp of the end of the splinter with the tweezers. The needle worked best at pushing the splinter up as I could roll it against the embedded end of the splinter & the splinter slid out easier.

The only thing worse than having a splinter to begin with is to have one of those tiny little suckers that you really can’t see very well!!!

Good luck getting yours out!!!

give_seek's avatar

Duct tape can work also, if part of the splinters are above the skin. Place the tape across the splinters and peel back. Good luck!

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