# Things never to use as an implement > Electrical cable, wire hangers, metal rulers, a swinging belt buckle, cracked wood and glass: what never to use for spanking, and why each one injures. - Canonical URL: https://consensualspanking.co.uk/implements/never-use/ - Section: Implements - Updated: November 2026 (2026-11-01) - Audience: consenting adults over 18 only. Everything on this site concerns consenting adults over 18. Most implements are a matter of taste and intensity. These are not. Nothing on this page becomes safe with skill or a lighter arm, and most of them turn up only because they happened to be within reach. --- ## In short - Electrical cable and flex, folded into a loop or not, is the worst thing people reach for. There is no safe version. - Metal does not flex. Metal rulers, wire coat hangers, buckles and anything with a metal edge or fitting are out. - Edges, corners, rivets and splinters put the force into a line or a point, and that is what splits skin. - Cracked wood, glass and anything breakable fail suddenly, and a broken implement is a sharp one travelling fast. Everything here is between consenting adults over 18. The three tests for anything from around the house, and the list of what does work, are on [improvised implements](https://consensualspanking.co.uk/implements/improvised/). This page is the short never list, with the reason for each, because a reason is easier to remember at eleven at night than a rule. One principle sits under all of it. A good implement spreads the stroke across a broad, flat, forgiving surface. Every item below does the opposite: it puts the force into a line or a point, or it breaks. ## Electrical cable and flex The worst thing on the page, and it turns up more often than anything else on it. Kettle flex, extension leads, charger cables, the cord off a lamp. A cable is a dense core inside a plastic sheath, which makes it heavy for its width. All of that weight arrives along a line a few millimetres wide. It wraps, because it is flexible along its whole length, so it curls round the hip and the outer thigh, where there is no padding. It cuts at a force that feels moderate in the hand. And any plug left on the end is a hard object moving at tip speed. Folding it into a loop, which some people online call a loopie, does not soften any of that. It puts two lines on the skin at once and adds a hard bend at the end of the loop. There is no gentle way to use one and no level at which it becomes reasonable. ## Wire coat hangers Thin steel wire, which is the cable problem with no give at all. The wire concentrates the stroke into a narrow line, and every time it bends it keeps a kink, so after a few strokes it has a point on it. The twisted neck usually ends in a cut wire tip, and the hook catches skin. Plastic hangers snap into shards, and wooden ones break at the shoulder and leave a splintered arm on a metal hook. Hangers stay in the wardrobe. ## Metal rulers, and anything metal Metal does not flex and absorbs nothing, so every bit of the swing goes into the skin. A metal ruler also has machined square edges, and a ruler that lands even slightly on its side splits skin. The same goes for a wooden ruler with a metal edging strip, which is why [the ruler](https://consensualspanking.co.uk/implements/ruler/) page makes it the single clearest do-not. Widen that to anything metal: spatulas, serving spoons, chains, keys, metal hairbrush backs, and the ferrule on a brush. Metal fittings on otherwise good implements count too. A stud or a rivet on a leather paddle is the part that lands hardest. ## The buckle end of a belt A belt can be a reasonable implement, folded, with the buckle and the tip both held in your fist. The buckle end never swings. A metal buckle on the end of a strap is a weight on a rope, travelling faster than anything else in the room, and it lands wherever the strap decides. It cuts, and it can chip a tooth or damage an eye if it reaches a face. Nothing about it is controllable. The folding method and the rest are on [the belt](https://consensualspanking.co.uk/implements/belt/). ## Edges, corners, rivets and splinters Chopping boards, books, picture frames, cheap paddles with unfinished edges, plastic spatulas with square-cut sides, and DIY offcuts. Anything that lands on an edge or a corner turns a broad implement into a narrow one, and puts the whole stroke through a millimetre or two of contact. Rough wood adds splinters, and a splinter driven deep into the buttock is a hospital visit rather than a pair of tweezers. Run a fingertip round the whole striking surface and along every edge. If anything catches on your finger, it will catch on skin. ## Cracked wood A good wooden spoon, paddle or hairbrush becomes a dangerous one the moment it cracks. Wood that has been through a dishwasher repeatedly dries out and goes brittle, and a hairline crack along the grain is often the only warning. Cracked wood tends to fail all at once, mid-stroke, and what is left in your hand is a splintered point. Look at it and flex it before every session. A split at the neck of a [wooden spoon](https://consensualspanking.co.uk/implements/wooden-spoon/), a crack across a paddle, raised fibres or a soft spot on [a cane](https://consensualspanking.co.uk/implements/cane/) all mean the same thing: it is finished. Do not glue it, and do not use it gently for a few more weeks. [Cleaning and caring for implements](https://consensualspanking.co.uk/guide/implement-care/) covers what to check and when to retire something. ## Glass, and anything else that breaks Glass chopping boards, hand mirrors, a hairbrush with a mirror set into the back, ceramic, anything stone or brittle plastic. All of them can break on impact, and none of them warns you first. A broken one sends sharp fragments into skin, and the [NHS advice on cuts](https://www.nhs.uk/conditions/cuts-and-grazes/) is that anything stuck in a wound means A&E, not tweezers. Check the back of a hairbrush before it is used, because the mirror is easy to forget. ## If one has already been used Look at the skin properly, in good light. A welt from a cable or a hanger can look like a thin line and still have split. Broken skin means the session is over, and what to do next is on [when the skin breaks](https://consensualspanking.co.uk/guide/when-the-skin-breaks/). Anything stuck in the wound, bleeding that pressure will not stop, or a cut that gapes needs medical help the same night. > **Where this meets the law.** Under *R v Brown* [1993] UKHL 19, consent is not a defence to actual bodily harm in England and Wales. A cut from a cable, a buckle or a broken implement is the kind of injury that can cross that line, and both people are exposed if it does. See [is consensual spanking legal in the UK](https://consensualspanking.co.uk/uk/is-it-legal/). ## Buy the proper thing Almost everything on this page gets used because it was there. The alternative costs very little. A plimsoll is a few pounds, a beech spoon is two or three, and a proper strap or paddle is less than an evening out. If the worry is the parcel arriving, [buying implements discreetly](https://consensualspanking.co.uk/guide/buying-implements-discreetly/) covers that. > ### If one of these was used on you without agreement > > > > That is not a scene that went wrong. The **National Domestic Abuse Helpline is 0808 2000 247**, free and 24 hours, and the **Men's Advice Line is 0808 8010 327**. Samaritans are on **116 123** at any hour. For an injury, ring **NHS 111**, or 999 in an emergency. ## Read next - [Improvised implements](https://consensualspanking.co.uk/implements/improvised/) - [The belt](https://consensualspanking.co.uk/implements/belt/) - [The ruler](https://consensualspanking.co.uk/implements/ruler/) - [Cleaning and caring for implements](https://consensualspanking.co.uk/guide/implement-care/) - [Where it is safe to strike](https://consensualspanking.co.uk/guide/where-it-is-safe-to-strike/) ## Sources 1. *R v Brown* [1993] UKHL 19, House of Lords. [bailii.org](https://www.bailii.org/uk/cases/UKHL/1993/19.html) > **Not legal advice.** Where this page mentions the law, it is general information written from an England and Wales position unless it says otherwise, and it is not legal advice. Scotland and Northern Ireland have their own law. If your own legal position matters, speak to a solicitor. ## Common questions ### Is it safe to use an electrical cable for spanking? No. A cable is thin, dense and heavy for its width, so it puts a great deal of force into a narrow line, wraps unpredictably round the hip and thigh, and cuts skin at a force that feels moderate. Folding it into a loop doubles the problem rather than softening it. There is no safe version, at any intensity. ### Can you spank with a metal ruler? No. Metal does not flex or absorb any of the stroke, and a metal ruler has machined square edges that split skin if it lands even slightly on its side. The same goes for a wooden ruler with a metal edging strip. If you want a ruler at all, use a plain wooden one and keep it flat. ### How do I know if a wooden implement is too damaged to use? Look at it and flex it before every session. A hairline crack along the grain, a split at the neck of a spoon or the handle of a paddle, raised fibres or a rough patch all mean it is finished. Cracked wood tends to fail mid-stroke rather than wear out slowly, and it leaves a splintered end travelling fast. Retire it and buy another.