SlippShodd
05-09-2012, 09:41 PM
... on forum. At myself. Naturally.
Doing a small smelt of jacketed range scrap this morning, waiting for my partner to show up to go do a couple jobs. Single burner camp stove sittling on top of my table saw, 15 pounds or so of scrap in it. Partner showed up about the time it all melted nice, so I told him to hang out, I didn't want to have to waste fuel to remelt it. Skimmed the jackets out, dumped in some sawdust, lit it with a stick lighter, let it burn down, started stirring with a paint stick... fireball erupts from under the pot engulfing my arm, I jump back virtually unscathed, but trying to figure out what the hell is happening since there's no molten metal flying around, but there's this hissing ball of flame on top of my saw.
When I'd dropped the stick lighter, it came to rest on the back of the burner and eventually torched off all the butane in its tank, which was apparently considerable. Finally got ahold of the barrel and took the thing outside to burn itself out in the gravel. The plastic burned forever until it became an unrecognizable blob. I got the equivalent of mild sunburn on my forearm, but it just pissed me off.
NEVER reload, cast, smelt, work on a lathe, saw, drill press or any other piece of equipment that requires your full attention when there are distractions around. Turn 'em all off if you're gonna chat with someone. This is a rule that ain't worth breaking and I knew better.
mike
Doing a small smelt of jacketed range scrap this morning, waiting for my partner to show up to go do a couple jobs. Single burner camp stove sittling on top of my table saw, 15 pounds or so of scrap in it. Partner showed up about the time it all melted nice, so I told him to hang out, I didn't want to have to waste fuel to remelt it. Skimmed the jackets out, dumped in some sawdust, lit it with a stick lighter, let it burn down, started stirring with a paint stick... fireball erupts from under the pot engulfing my arm, I jump back virtually unscathed, but trying to figure out what the hell is happening since there's no molten metal flying around, but there's this hissing ball of flame on top of my saw.
When I'd dropped the stick lighter, it came to rest on the back of the burner and eventually torched off all the butane in its tank, which was apparently considerable. Finally got ahold of the barrel and took the thing outside to burn itself out in the gravel. The plastic burned forever until it became an unrecognizable blob. I got the equivalent of mild sunburn on my forearm, but it just pissed me off.
NEVER reload, cast, smelt, work on a lathe, saw, drill press or any other piece of equipment that requires your full attention when there are distractions around. Turn 'em all off if you're gonna chat with someone. This is a rule that ain't worth breaking and I knew better.
mike