A modification of the braithwaite knife

Abstract

Since this time several modifications have been made. In x949 Bodenham reintroduced the disposable blade, doing away with the tedious sharpening previously necessary. In I955 Braithwaite published his modification of the Humby knife, which incorporated a cam action control of thickness, and a shorter, more rigidly held blade to control whip. When cutting thin split skin grafts, however, with the Braithwaite knife there is a tendency for the skin to roll up round the guard, and although this can be corrected by an assistant's traction on the cut skin, this man(euvre is liable to tear the sheet of skin or cause the knife to cut out. To remedy this disadvantage Watson in I96O produced a knife with a fixed, polished, stainless-steel guard and a simpler, more rigid thickness adjustment. While this fixed guard effectively dealt with the problem of skin rolling around the guard it introduced a considerable degree o f drag , due to the inability of the guard to slide to and fro with the skin surface. This drag is only partially eliminated by lubrication with liquid paraffin, and the edges of both graft and donor site tend to be rather ragged when a Watson knife has been used.