Review: Samurai Studio - FinShield

I was sent one of these by the good folks at Samurai Studio, who have just launched a Kickstarter (yes, I really do back a lot of things from there) and this is their current project. This is the FinShield, a wearable guard for fingers in the kitchen.

The design is very elegant, and simple. A classical heater-shield shape with a split finger ring, which can be stretched to adjust to fit a variety of finger sizes.

Samurai Studio say the FinShield's design motto is “Always be protected, never cut yourself again.” and it seems that the design is pretty spot on to that.  I've been cooking since I was about 6, and over the years, I've nicked myself many, many times. My off-hand is covered in little nicks and scars, I even picked up a couple more over the weekend whilst camping. A wearable guard like the FinShield is a lightweight and elegant means of protecting against this, especially when a lot of repetitive slicing or chopping is in order.

These few little cuts I has over the camping weekend weren't serious, but they did annoy me throughout the whole event, and in a time where first aid or even good personal hygiene is hard to come by, such as on long camping trips, or after a disaster, keeping safe from this kind of incidental injury could become quite a significant concern. Those little stinging cuts to finger tips, and knuckles and be both distracting and if left to get infected, a considerable safety issue.

The ring is spot welded to the shield, and is probably the greatest source of weakness for the system, especially if you are going to be adjusting the sizing, but once its set, I cant see it being overly at risk of breaking.

The steel is ferromagnetic, so you can simply stow it up on a magnetic knife rack (if you have one) or on a fridge magnet. Keeping it with your knives would be a good reminder to use it, especially if you're long in the habit of cooking and cutting without having had finger armour before.

I didn't find I had any issues with it dulling my knives, as the blade edge never came in contact with the shield, only the flat of the blade. the curved sides ensures that the blade stays off your hands, and into your food (or whatever it is you are cutting).

I also found it was useful when I was honing knives (which I do a lot of) so it serves double duty.
Check them out of you're forever nicking yourself, or just want to avoid it.