Skin incision and internal incision scalpel blades used during 40 clean canine orthopedic or neurologic operations were cultured. A biopsy of skin was taken from the incision edge and cultured aerobically and anaerobically. Culture of five skin blades, eight skin biopsies, and nine deep dissection blades resulted in bacterical growth. Results indicate that the skin blade does not add significantly to bacterial inoculum contaminating clean wounds.