Cattle Boss folding scalpel handle #3

Details

This is a number 3 scalpel handle that folds like a jackknife. Same small blade range as the fixed version, numbers 10, 11, 12 and 15, but the blade tucks into the handle when you are done, which changes where you can carry it. That is the entire argument for it. A fixed handle with a blade on it has to travel in a tray or a hard kit, and a bare blade in a coverall pocket is how people get cut reaching for something else. Folding means it rides in your chest pocket, in a saddle bag, in the door of the truck, and it is on you when you find the abscess instead of back in the barn. The trade-off is the pivot. There is a moving joint and a spring, so it needs drying and a drop of oil, and it will not last as long as a solid one-piece handle abused the same way. It also cleans less easily than a fixed handle, so if you want a scalpel that goes through the autoclave between every use, buy the fixed number 3 as well and keep this one for the pocket. Fit and strip blades with pliers or a needle driver rather than fingers, pull the blade away from yourself, and close it before it goes back in the pocket. Used blades go in a sharps container.