Yeah, flint cuts can be nasty. There is no such thing as a scratch -- they may not be big but they are real. Play on words intended: a Bandaid may not cut it! Pressure bandage maybe...
I am very careful and significantly used to handling flintlocks and smouldering matchcord but wounds are inevitable. And bleed you will -- the kind that puts you off your feed, especially if it was grits. I still have a few bloodstains on a linen/cotten I-think-it-is frock that will never come out. I remember my GF at the time saying it was good and I'm supposed to bleed doing the stuff I do...
I didn't have that opnionion at the moment, and wanted sympathy, but she was probably right.
When you buy a replacement wood rod buy one of the brown plasticee ones -- they work well, look sorta OK, and the wood one should be retired to a closet foe when you hang this gun over the mantle or sell it.
Or just buy the plasticee one and be done with it -- they're pre-made to fit.
