I was burnt by scale, have you ever been

[Marc]

Shorts and sandals make an ouchy time at the forge. I get them all the time on my hands and arms. Pinching a hotty in the crook of my thumb is especially distracting. Almost makes me stop hammering. A couple chest and stomach burns. A few times on my face. But never on my ears. Nope, not the ears.

[Hoary]

so if you would catch one on the ear wouldn't it make it sound and feel painful at the same time.... ok that was a bad one...

[Mike BR]

When I forge pipe, I normally stuff a rag in the end to stop the chimney effect. But when the piece is short, I'll sometimes weld on a piece of bar as a handle. The first time I did that, I let my hand get below the pipe, and all the scale that had been collecting inside poured out at once. Now I flare the end of the bar and bend it 90 degrees, so it covers the end of the pipe when I weld it on.

[ThomasPowers]

Mike;
Rasptle snacks are real bad about pouring out scale when you have U'd and O'd their body---lots of surface area on a rasp. I hold them vertically and tap them on the anvil near where my scale collection can sits. You can guess how I learned that one...

Back in OH I could work up enough sweat that scale usually didn't do much at all; out here in NM it's dry enough that it does stick.

[ApprenticeMan]

Up the nose, in the mouth, on the eyelid, arms, hands and feet. it's funny when it flies up on your tongue, the steam from your spit is not an easily forgettable smell.

[matt87]

Scale burns are bad, but much more easily avoided than charcoal flea burns. I remember one session using particularly bad charcoal left me with most of the backs of both hands covered in red and white welts and tiny blisters.

[bipolarandy]

On your tongue??? what were you doing when that happened?

[Golden_eagle]

I've only been forging for six months and i have more scars on my left hand than i care to count.

[skunkriv]

Looking at my hands and arms I would say about 52,000 times.

[jimmy seale]

ain't it cool that chicks dig tattoos and scars!!