How do I find a broken tip of an exacto knife/box cutter? (medical info needed too)?

Question

Basically, I was cutting into something hard with a relatively dull exacto knife, and before you know it, i found that a small corner of the knife is broken clean off. when i measured it against a new blade, i found that the length of the broken bit is no more than 1.5mm in length. The problem is compounded by the fact that this was done in a carpetted room. Other than vacuuming and hoping for the best, is there a more reliable way to locate the lost bit? I tried using a few fridge magnets and running thru the ground repeatedly, no luck. My preference is to find the bit, so I know it's completely safe again.

And second thing is, how dangerous is this relatively speaking? Do I section off that part of the house until i've: located-the-bit/vacuum-the-h**l-out-of-i... And the knife is not "rusted", but it's "stained".

Answer 1

Use a magnet that they use for picking up roofing nails. Much stronger than the fridge type.

The fragment itself isn't really dangerous, it'll just be annoying if you step on it. It's not in soil so you won't get tetanus from it. It's probably buried deep into the pile by now so not likely you'll come in contact with it anyway.

Answer 2

With those exacto knives, if you step on it it's gonna be bad. Your lucky the tip didn't get you, my stepdads best frined was in a situation where he lived with us and the tip of the blade he was using broke off and it went toward him and cut his finger, he was lucky it was a clean cut, otherwise he would have had to get stitches.

I took him to emergency care because it wouldn't stop bleeding and they put pressure on it and glued the wound shut.

but if you step on the blade, I would imagine it would be like glasss and get stuck in your foot, and when they try to get it out it would tear more, itll go thru skin easier than glass would.

I would say vacuum it like crazy, maybe get in there with a scrub brush, with the thick hard brissels and scrub at the carpet to see if its maybe just stuck in the loops or what.

Good Luck and be safe.