Thank you for this simple yet effective technique demonstration. I work with a Moh's surgeon & ended up with sutures yesterday when trying to put a blade on. Both techniques here I will use.
Thanks for your comment, Stacey. Sorry you had to get an injury to find out about the video but great to hear it was useful for you so hopefully that will never happen again.
Thank you so much! I’m a Wildlife biologist with minimal training in handling this equipment, and you saved me much frustration and probably an ugly injury too. I had struggled with the stupid scalpel for 10 minutes - watched your video, and popped it right off. Safely. Thank you again!
Have been examining this darn blade for half an hour hahahahahah and found your video. Thank you very much, saves me killing myself in the process of removing the blade. Works like a charm.
Likewise here -- thank you! I'm a hobbyist and just got a scalpel in with some used electronics bits, and figured the first thing I should do is take the blade off because I knew it was most of a decade old and had no idea what it had previously been stabbed into. Other videos showed me how to do it (which was fairly obvious once I got the "use a tool, not your fingertips" advice), but this one showed me how to do it easily, and it worked just like it should. Also, my handy sharps container to put it in was the tiny one that's part of an X-Acto #11 knife-blade box, which was slightly too short to accept my #11 scalpel blade. So I tried to see how breakable they actually were -- holding the sharp end in some pliers and bending the back end against the table, with a small box held over everything so the broken piece wouldn't fly off. That also worked like a treat, the broken halves fit in the container, and I can report that the amount of bending force it takes to snap one is remarkably low. The idea of using small muscles for small movements is a good general principle to be reminded of, too. It makes a lot of knife-motions safer.
Thank you for this video! I am a first year vet student, did my first dissection today and the safety blade removers they gave us were being temperamental so I tried with haemostats instead, the blade snapped. Hopefully that’s the first and last time it ever happens in my career.
Pretty sure you spared me a nasty cut just now. Not being any type of surgeon, I did not have any experience replacing scalpel blades. I bought a great titanium folding knife handle that takes scalpel blades. Unfortunately, that thing was wedged in there. I did end up snapping it. The tolerances are so tight I wonder if heating the blade to expand the metal a bit would make it a bit more forgiving. Anyway, thanks for the very useful tip!
Thank you Adam for sharing your experience on how to remove a scalpel blade manually. However, do you know that a scalpel blade is best removed with a single-handed blade remover, to reduce the risk of scalpel injury? Authorities around the world have also urge for better safety-engineered sharps devices with no resheathing, recapping and the need of two-handed operation in removing scalpel blades.
Thanks for your interest. I do agree that it may be even safer to use a device such as you describe, and indeed I do use one of your products myself. Another alternative is the fully disposable blade and handle of course. However not everyone has access to these alternatives and so many people must resort to a manual technique.
Thanks for your reply Adam. We are working hard to integrate scalpel blade removers into the common procedures so everyone can be protected from scalpel injuries. Safety scalpels have their own risks and can be more dangerous than a traditional scalpel blade and handle especially when it is not activated properly. To continue this conversation, we would like to get our representatives in the UK to get in touch with you to discuss how can we get to more healthcare professionals in the country. Will this be okay with you?
Thank you, I bought one of these to cut bread dough but I had a hard time getting the blade off. I even washed it in the dishwasher cause I didn’t manage and then the blade rusted 🤣
Hi. Thank you very much. I am trying to prepare for dissection but I can't manage to put the blade in the scalpel neither remove it. I use tweezers and they just bend and slide off the blade. Am I holding it wrong or should I use a tool like yours? I don't even know what yours is called though. It is very hard to push or pull the blade in, it is really like stuck there. twice I could finally put the blade in, but then it was so hard to take it off because the tweezers kept bending and sliding.
much easier to use needle holder/driver (that’s what it’s called) if you can, because it locks with a ratchet. also check you have the angle on the non-sharp end of the blade lined up with the angle on the blade handle. some handles are just very stiff depending on the quality of the groove. also try first dipping blade in some water or saline as that lubricates it well. usually if you have to apply force you are not doing it right so watch the video again for technique tips. try not to force the blade on or off as it might snap and cause injury. best of luck
Just put it on a towel, slide a knife under the blade fold the towel over the top and push the blade off. Even if it snaps it doesn’t go anywhere , just stays inside the towel. Simple.
Any advice for removing #60 blades? They are much more difficult to remove than the #15. Got new blade holders for my grossing station. Not sure if the blade holder is the problem or they are just new. Wiped the tip with stainless steel wipes to lubricate it a bit and see if that made it easier but not much of a difference
