burns

Hey, for the lack of traffic here, let me share what happened to me today!

I burned my finger! Yeah, I actually burn myself all the time working with hot metal, but oddly, this time was very different and has never happened to me before.

I had a rose in the coal fire heating the stem to forge weld a leaf stem on to it, and I reached down and adjusted it with my hand while I was slowly cranking the blower. This is something I basically do every time I work in the forge. But oddly, this time, when I moved the metal, a blast of hot air came out and hit my finger, which I instantly jerked back from (like when I get a spark that lands on the hand). But that air was hot enough, that it burned about a penny sized round spot of skin off my hand in that short instant! Like getting a penny sized blister which then later pops. Basic second degree burn in what seemed like 1/10th of a second with my finger a an inch or two away from the coal. I've never seen that much heat come out of the coal that fast before.

What seems to have happened, was that the coal was packed tight enough that there was not much air escaping so a little pressure had built up, and as I moved the rose, it opened up a hole that just happened to be pointed right at the back of my finger (because of how I had my hand around the already made rose bud).

What might have also happened (but this is speculation), was that there could have been a open pocket inside the pile of coal, that suddenly collapsed when I adjusted the rose from the top down, causing an extra amount of super hot air to shoot out. I was turning the hand crack so slowly (one rev every 4 seconds maybe) that the amount of air really surprised me.

The finger is fine, just another minor burn to heal, but it was yet another interesting lesson learned....

Reply to
Curt Welch
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I'm wondering if maybe some producer gas had built up in the firepot and, when you cranked, the gas actually lit up as it "squirted" out of the hole. Then you'd be burned by an actual flame, not just hot gases. When I run my Chinese gas producer, the flame is very hard to see unless it is quite dark.

Pete Stanaitis

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Curt Welch wrote:

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spaco

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Curt Welch

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