whats that smell?

[jsmith6752]

This has got to have happened to others as well. Anyone ever been welding, cutting, grinding and smelled some thing burning? Yep, you guessed it. My shirt or pants or socks. Flannel really burns well by the way. It's a serious subject but others may learn from our past experiences.

 

[red baron]

Flannel is usually one of the first things to go up, that or carpeting and the insulation that is under it in cars!

 

[Torque1st]

Burning clothing smells better than burning what is under it...

 

[Boyd Who]

Been there, done that, lost the t-shirt. LOL

 

[JC23]

When I was racing, I'd use the winter to either build a new car or go over the old one. Either way, there was always a bunch of weldiing to be done. It got to the point that when my ex looked out the window and saw me rolling around in the snow putting the fire out, she wouldn't even ask anymore.

And yeah, flannel does catch easily. Denim seems to take longer but not if it's old and frayed. Then, it's lights up like flannel. Must be a cotton thing.

 

[MattT]

Being left handed I've set fire to a lot of long sleeved shirts with angle grinders. I've also cussed a couple women out for using fabric softener. Cotton clothing catches easier and burns hotter with that junk on it

 

[kursplat]

Being left handed I've set fire to a lot of long sleeved shirts with angle grinders. I've also cussed a couple women out for using fabric softener. Cotton clothing catches easier and burns hotter with that junk on it

i think the anti-static sheets have wax in them. you NEVER want to use them on anything that's fire rated

 

[blue dog]

We have all done it, and i will even admit to running a 4.5" grinder with a 36 grit flapper wheel across knuckles on my left hand. Ouch Or better yet, helping fix a trailer at a friends house at night with a arc welder [ i have about an hour of arc welder experience ] anyway, i am welding while laying on my back and get a friggin hot bb past my collar, and down the back of my shirt, all while under the axle of a trailer, no where to go, bang, forehead, trailer frame. Ouch.
Have a good evening gentlemen.

 

[Stinger]

I've caught the bottoms or worn out jeans on fire twice...flames up past my knee. I've caught my roll of paper towels (the blue ones for shops) on fire twice...just last night I caught a plastic bag on fire.

 

[Jack Olsen]

First it's the top of your boot or sneaker -- then it's the top of your foot.

The hair on your head, too.

 

[Greatbear]

The hair on your head, too.

I don't have to worry there.

My longish beard, on the other hand...

 

[BHR4CE1]

I don't have to worry there.

My longish beard, on the other hand...

Ah... What's a BEAR without a nice beard!!!!!

 

[Nealcrenshaw]

OOOOHHHH That smell.. Can't you smell that smell? The smell is all around you..

 

[Fudge]

Did that few month ago. I was using a cutting wheel, look down an thought oh **** I'm on fire, kept cutting. Then it registered oh **** I'm on fire and I padded it out and laughed at my dumb ***!

 

[Licensed to kill]

A friend was cutting out a bearing on a piece of farm equipment years ago with a torch. He was sitting under the piece cutting when a roller or ball from the bearing (red hot of course) fell out and went right down his coveralls. Being a hot summer day, he was only wearing his underwear under his coveralls, he scurried out and stood up and the ball went all the down to his junk. He grabbed the ball through his coveralls and held it away from his jewels. It burned a hole in his coveralls and made a nasty burn in the palm of his hand but the alternative was worse. He had 'chicken tracks' all the way down his chest sowing the balls path.

 

[mad57]

When i built my welding corner in the garage i caulked all the seems along the floor with a couple of layers of caulk then put my diamond plate 4in trim over that figured i had a pretty good clean fire proof place to weld, also added the back plate edge on my table to catch fire balls and sparks.... well the pulling pot i was installing on the concrete floor was pretty wet from core drilling and hose so i put a bunch of paper towel in there to absorb it yep i guess it dryed and i had a bit of a pit fire

 

[Cuda]

When I was a young-un I took some welding classes at our local tech school. Our instructor was an older gentleman who had really really bad hearing. One day in class he told us why. A past student had brought a car in to have some welding done underneath it. He had asked the instructor to use this as a demonstration of overhead welding. So he was doing some cutting with a torch when a piece of hot slag fell in his ear. Although he was wearing ear plugs, the slag quickly melted right through that and went on down through his ear drum. Can you imagine the pain? Anyway, it destroyed the hearing in that side and affected it even some on the other. (not sure how or why)
Lesson. Wear full cover ear protection when welding, especially overhead.

 

[54FordPanel]

(Stories above: Ouch!)

It's amazing that you smell it first, before you feel it.

I was welding on my vise next to my bench, and the sparks started a rag on fire next on the workbench. It smoldered for a good 30 seconds before I noticed it was burning. Put a big ole burn mark on my work bench. I was just about to walk away for a time and it would have burned down everything.
I still shudder about what could have happened.

 

[crankshaftdan II]

Older does not always mean smarter!
Had a leaking wheel cylinder on rear of auto-jacked it up with stands for safety-pulled wheel-scoped out the cylinder-was rusty and soaked with brake fluid-slid nice new yellow plastic catch pan underneath and sprayed down the cylinder with brake clean! Wheel cylinder studs were rusted bad-got the makita 4" grinder out and zipped them off! Felt the heat-no flames-started to walk away and realized the drip pan was on fire-pulled it out and started to do a dance inside the pan (brake fluid mixed with brake clean on fire) shoes smell like burned rubber-vinyl pan warped and still usable-stinkey-finally got it out-singed cotton work pants-minus some leg hairs!! Lucky I got it outside the garage before it burned the car/garage down! I like to dance but not to that tune!!!

 

[istephen]

Ah, I lit my 4runner on fire with the welder once or twice. In this case, the rubber drain hose that came down to drain the sunroof channel. Sure I got all the wires and stuff out of the way before I started tubbing my inner fenders, but I didn't see that black hose way in there.

What's that smell?

Oh ****. Truck is on fire and I can't see where. Then I saw the dripping, flaming rubber through a small hole in the inner fender and ran for the water after the CO2 from my mig welder wasn't enough to flood the cavity and displace the oxygen. Another close call for me.

Oh yeah, and I've lit my coverall sleeves on fire with the welder a time or two as well. I now wear leather welding sleeves every time I weld stuff. I don't seem to have trouble being a lefty with a grinder, but I can see where your cuff would catch a lot of sparks.

I was on a hockey team named, "What's That Smell?"

 

[haugy]

Fleece. I no longer own any fleece work wear. Wasn't paying attention and just threw on the first sweat shirt I found. It was a fleece shirt.

10 minutes later out on the grinder, that mofo went up like it was soaked in gas. My neighbor happened to be out with his dogs when he saw me hauling *** out of the shop on fire like a stuntman trying to get it off and roll around too. He was laughing his *** off. After my mild epileptic dance routine I was laughing with him as I watched the rest of the shirt go up in flames.

 

[Test Tech]

Fannel does burn very nicely, but I've always prefered to "light up" the guy next to me!!

 

[Tantara]

My personal best is being on fire seven times in one shift at work. The old cotton military shirts worked good for welding until they were frayed. I went to work with full length shirt and came home with a shirt that came half way to my belly button.

Brad

 

[Call me the Breeze]

Keep sparks away from steelwool too...

 

[Lou N]

I must be tired, but that story cracked me up. My wife thinks I'm crazy...

I've had the infamous hot foot a time or two.

Lou

 

[Greatbear]

Ah... What's a BEAR without a nice beard!!!!!

Indeed!

While I have yet to set my beard on fire, I have had some smolder-y experiences from flying sparks and slag finding their way in. I guess the bonus here is it kept the slag from falling into my shirt. The biggest problem is snagging or catching it in places when working in close quarters.