Burns..

[keykeeper]

So far, the worst I have burned myself smithing was when I first started. I had decided to make an eyebolt and hook hasp for my shed out of 1/4 in. round. I finished the eyebolt and had laid it on the anvil while I went in my shop to get some other tools and such I needed to finish up. I came out, and started to get back to work, and Yep, you guessed it, picked that dad-gum eyebolt up to move it. With my HAMMER hand, nonetheless.

I immediately dropped it and proceeded to get intimate with my slack tub. There were chunks of ice in it, so I kept grabbing those and holding them between my fingers. The fellow that helped me get started had told me to immediately quench in this situation, and keep it quenched for at least 15-20 minutes, and I am thankful for that advice.

I had the prettiest round burn on the pad of my thumb and an arc on my index finger. The hurt went away after a couple of days. I think the extra cold water helped to suck the heat out of the burn quickly, and stop the cooking process. The skinned just peeled away after about 6 days and I have very little scarring to show for it.

Like a few people mentioned earlier in this post, I never did finish that hasp up. I still have the offending piece hanging up on the entry doors to my shop shed, as a reminder.

(As an aside, I worked for several years in a pizza shop, we ran the ovens at 550 degrees, and I kinda built up a tolerance to heat on my hands. Got a few burns there, but Never was prepared for what this felt like, though.)

[Phil Patrick]

The worst burn I ever got was not from smithing, but from cooking. I just finished roasting a whole chicken in the oven. I pulled the deep pan it was roasting in out (with a potholder), put it on the range top carefully. Closed the oven. And then proceeded to pick up the pan by the handle and set it on the butcher's block in the center off the kitchen. Without a pot holder. I branded the handle into the palm of my hand. I did it so quickly without thinking, I was pretty much to the butcher's block before the stunt caught up with me.

[Candidquality]

Blacksmithing, never had a major disaster. Think I learned young to be a bit more careful....
I had a stuffy nose so we'd started up the evaporator(humidifier). It was time to fill it up to last the night again and being the big boy I was(7) I knew how to fill it up. So I unplug it, off to the sink I go with this 1 1/2 gallon tank. I reach the edge and set it down. Only to find out that I hit the perfect spot to shatter the amber colored glass base(now they are plastic for a good reason). This proceeded to spill a quart of boiling hot water on my stomach from the top of my elastic waist band, 8 inches across and 3 inches down. Temperature dropped enough to not burn anything lower (luckily). 1" Blisters and a trip to the e.r. later, I gained a respect for heated things. Suprisingly, no scarring.

[KevinD]

Originally Posted by KevinD

grabbed the working end.

I did it again... Ring finger tip.

[Brian C.]

I dealt with several burns when I was an EMT. Picked up a toddler one sunday afternoon who had pulled a crock pot off of the counter, it shattered and scalded the top of one foot. I think the worst was an 18 yr. old boy who worked at a fast food joint. While cleaning up, he slipped and went arm first into a deep fryer, way up the arm & when he recoiled away he swept the grease out all-over his front. Luckily it had been turned off for about 15 min. or so & did no permanent damage.

And, I too have picked up black parts that werent quite as cool as I thought. Here at the plant they call that "inattention to detail".

[Ted T]

You guys are hot (pun intended).
Like the "Great Finnr" said; "ya got to earn your burns".
Finnr would know!
But Frosty's experence made my hand want to curl up just reading about it.
This thread just re-enforces the concept of why we need to keep writing posts like this one to remind each other, Over, and Over, and Over again about safety issues!
Be safe!
Old Rusty Ted

[rthibeau]

Haven't had a burn yet I couldn't crawl away from, cried only a couple times. The one that hurt the most was the one that would take the pride right out of ya....reflexes like a cat and caught the flipping hot steel in midair without batting an eye......until the tears rushed out and I dropped tool steel into water followed by my hand..luckily the glove took the brunt of it all, but the episode ruined the whole day....plus the glove, a block of O1, a little skin..and a lot of pride. But I didn't bleed.

[Dan OHare]

Worst burn? Well the bad ones are the ones we never forget. My "worst" came from a sputter ball while mig welding. Amazing how those little gobs can fly this way and that... This was a really big one, about 1/8th in. dia. or so. I was mig welding on some galvanized roll-up door track when this sputter ball flew at me and blew right through my jeans and skivvies like they weren't even there and well, I learned in a hurry that skin CAN be welded.
One part of me got welded to another part of me, as in third degree welded to another part of me.
Bad, yes, but I really felt bad for the guy next to me on the same job. Sputter balls are EVIL, this guy some how got one inside his boot and couldn't get his boot off... The nasty smell of burning hair X10. Rude.
At least mine was accessable. I had my pants to my knees and was pouring coca cola on the fire before my gloves hit the floor.
The other guy? That boot was not coming off... He rolled, he jumped, he grabbed, he yelped... By the time he got his boot off the fury had run its full course. Me, I got a pair of bad burns where I peeled the parts apart, but he had a really nasty hole in the top of his foot the size of a dime. Ouch! Dan.

[Glenn]

Just by chance, a foot and boot fits nicely into a 5 gallon bucket water.

Bringing a 5 gallon bucket of fresh water to the forge is just one more safety precaution. The effort pays dividends when a flaming appendage is thrust into the "clean" water.

A 5 gallon bucket of water can be moved to a fire, where you would have to go locate a garden hose, locate a spigot, connect the two and etc etc, or find a container (larger than a water glass) to transport water from the slack tub to the fire.

Quick quiz: In the excitement of trying to put out a fire, how many trips with a water glass equals a 5 gallon bucket of water?

[Ecart]

Originally Posted by Glenn

Just by chance, a foot and boot fits nicely into a 5 gallon bucket water.

Bringing a 5 gallon bucket of fresh water to the forge is just one more safety precaution. The effort pays dividends when a flaming appendage is thrust into the "clean" water.

A 5 gallon bucket of water can be moved to a fire, where you would have to go locate a garden hose, locate a spigot, connect the two and etc etc, or find a container (larger than a water glass) to transport water from the slack tub to the fire.

Quick quiz: In the excitement of trying to put out a fire, how many trips with a water glass equals a 5 gallon bucket of water?

Too many! Got a nasty little burn on the palm of my left hand today. I was punching a RR spike that I was turning into a nail header. I was moving from the shelf? (forgot the name at the moment) of my anvil to the pritchel hole when I wrapped my hand around the punch that I was using. As I sat with my hand in the slack tub, I thought to myself, "You're punching a piece of steel that is at an orange almost yellow heat. Why wouldn't the punch be hot!!?" I used it as an opportunity to tell my son that one moment of letting your mind wander will get you hurt.