Reel Dumb

My badge reel exploded today.

Actually, that's not quite true.

My badge reel was similiar to that of a janitor's keychain. Instead of a wimpy reel the diameter of a nickel with a nylon cord, mine had a reel the diameter of a silver dollar, with a 40" length of metal cable.

It wasn't quite in improvised garotte territory, but it was close.

On the reel, I carry my badge, security token, a Princeton Tec Impulse LED keychain flashlight, and a mini-Sharpie.

Anyway, the end of the wire was starting to wear and fray, so I decided to trim it.

I didn't have gloves. First mistake.

The frayed ends of a twisted steel wire are pretty sharp. Even though I had my Leatherman's pliers, I still managed to put a bunch of bloodless cuts in my thumb.

Then, I lost the bead at the end of the wire.

ZIIIIIIP, went the cable as it retracted into the reel.

No problem, I had my screwdriver.

SPROOOIIIIING, went the coil spring as it jumped out of the now open housing.

No problem, I went to rewind the spring.

This worked until I slipped. Fortunately, I was holding the coil spring down with my thumb.

Unfortunately, the edge of a coil spring is sharp. It was like running your thumb along the edge of a knife.

I cut my thumb again, this time not so bloodless.

Since the reel was in pieces scattered across my desk, my thumb was bleeding and I had an extra, backup reel at home, I tossed the remains in the trash and conceded defeat.