Anyone catch themselves on fire while welding?

[BlackGMC]

Is it just me or does anyone else catch their clothes on fire while welding? This past week, I swear I have caught my pants (worn out pants w/ holes) on fire at least once a day... The scary part is that I don't notice until I start smelling something....

[Goatman]

Yep, caught my sweatshirt about a month ago. Nice 2" hole by the time I got it out...

[LowBuckX]

If youve never set your self ablaze welding your not doing it right

[harshman]

wear wranglers. they don't burn as fast. think of holes as kindling.

[EFI69Cam]

The best is when a hot blob of metal falls down your shirt, or gets in your shoe.

[harshman]

or sits on your ear drum. makes me dizzy for days.

[BlackGMC]

The best is when a hot blob of metal falls down your shirt, or gets in your shoe.

I had that happen once. The blob fell threw a hole in my pants and went in side my boot. The blob landed on top of my foot then I shook my foot and then it rolled underneath my foot. So I got burned on the top and bottom of my foot.

[formula]

Never caught myself on fire, but i have electrocuted myself (that was fun), and i think i still have metal embedded in my forearms.

Gardening gloves were not made for welding!

[Bow Tie 67]

I hate when your welding upside down and you shift weight onto a hot blob, they burn deep.

[parsonsj]

I have this perfect round hole in my shoe that matches a round hole in one of my socks that matches a round little scar on my foot.

No doubt I was freakin' hilarious as I jumped around trying to get my shoe and sock off to get the metal blob out of my foot.

Ah, such fun memories.

jp

[Modo Innovations]

or sits on your ear drum. makes me dizzy for days.

Yeah, and you can really hear it sizzle as it is sinking into your skin.

[Patrick]

Funny-- I set my jeans on fire twice last week. I was so focused on what I was doing that I didn't notice--until I got really hot..

They are old, worn out jeans with lots of ragged holes....

[jeffandre]

Is it just me or does anyone else catch their clothes on fire while welding? This past week, I swear I have caught my pants (worn out pants w/ holes) on fire at least once a day... The scary part is that I don't notice until I start smelling something....

Better question would be, "Who hasn't?" I was welding in the trunk one time and forgot to remove the newspaper I had used to mask off an area for paint. I had a pretty scary fire for about 30 seconds! I am a tard sometimes...:hammer: :pat:

[1sick65]

A few years back, and buddy of mine was welding a cab corner on my truck, while sitting on the ground. One of those hot little embers dropped into the hole in the crotch of his jeans, right on one of the boys. Never seen a grown man move soooo quick. :hah:

[StRacerDuke]

LOL, heck yea!
What always sucks is when you catch yourself or something around you on fire and you don't notice it until you start to smell it or feel yourself burning. That always kinda sucks.

I still have a scar on my big toe from welding in sandles. Again, not one of my finest moments but it happens.

Here's another one:
Dad an I were working on the Nova when the accedaline (SP?) torch handle cought fire, along with my dad's glove and sweatshirt. I dove for the tanks to shut them down while he put out his arm. After he put himself out we got to laughing so hard that mom came to the window (without having seen what happened) and said "What did you catch on fire this time?". Man, she really knows us, lol. Lesson learned, always check your connections when you get your torch back from a friend you lent it to.

[ProTouring442]

I have set myself on fire once or twice... but the funny story was;

I set the plastic I used to cover the frame on fire while welding something on the floor. It wasn't much of a fire as the plastic burned very slowly, so instead of the extinguisher, we used the readily available snow that was right outside the garage. My fiance (now my wife) was sitting in the garage with my dad and I while we were working. While we were jumping around killing off all of the small fires, my mom called on the phone. When asked what was going on, my wife replied; "well, the car is on fire, but nobody seems too concerned, so I guess it's OK."

She still doesn't get the whole car thing!

Shiny Side Up!
Bill
'72 442 "Inamorata"
www.FQuick.com/ProTouring442 (http://www.FQuick.com/ProTouring442)

[Bill Howell]

Man, I wish Matt was still around, he used to have a quote in his signature about only welders laugh when a fellow worker does this. He said it happened all the time with him.

[toxicz28]

LOL, heck yea!

What always sucks is when you catch yourself or something around you on fire and you don't notice it until you start to smell it or feel yourself burning. That always kinda sucks.

I could smell it, I just didn't realize it was me untill I felt the burning.




Man, I wish Matt was still around, he used to have a quote in his signature about only welders laugh when a fellow worker does this. He said it happened all the time with him.



Ahh, I believe it was "Welders, the only people who laugh when a coworker catches fire."

[colt zantop]

Better question would be, "Who hasn't?" I was welding in the trunk one time and forgot to remove the newspaper I had used to mask off an area for paint. I had a pretty scary fire for about 30 seconds! I am a tard sometimes...:hammer: :pat:


same question I was thinking....who hasnt! LOL. I got a few nice scars including one when I was getting certified by ICAR. I was doing a overhead weld and right at the beginning of the weld I had a nice blob fall down my shirt.....I couldnt do much becuase you only have 2 trys on each weld and it was my second try on this particular weld so I gritted my teeeth and finished the weld...ended up passing the test and also ended up with a nice scar on my arm! LOL

[BlackGMC]

Glad to see that I am not the only one.

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I recently bought a fire extingusher for the garage and I now always have a bucket of water handy..

[406 Q-ship]

When it goes in the ear, the sizzle and the smell of hair burning.....:barf:

[Kenova]

I remember welding classes in high school. The air was absolutely thick with the stench of burning hair and flesh.
Once worked in a shop that did production welding (travel trailer frames). When you heard someone yelling "fire, fire" you stopped what you were doing and checked you pant legs for flames.
The first time I read Matt's little quote I damn near fell out of my chair. It is so true.
Ken

[harshman]

Soak a rag in lacquer thinner and toss it next to a guy welding underneath a trailer. Helmet down for a long weld and a flash of fire next to him tends to get the blood pumping.

[Chad-1stGen]

I worked in a machine shop that built sprint car parts for a summer. I can't weld but man the stuff they did to eachother. They would electricute eachother on purpose, light eachothers clothes on fire, etc.

[LowBuckX]

Weld shops are fun. Did you know welder double as realy exspensive cigarette lighters.. lol

[CarlC]

1984, working my way through college in a machine shop building oil well equipment. Had to sit on an 8' high forklift/pallet to stick-weld a large diameter threaded pin. It stared getting a bit hot in the crotch area. And it got hotter. And smelly.

Corduroy pants+fire+no water+nowhere to go+pubes = Bad combo.

[Damn True]

1984, working my way through college working in a machine shop building oil well equipment. Had to sit on an 8" high forklift/pallet to stick-weld a large diameter threaded pin. It stared getting a bit hot in the crotch area. And it got hotter. And smelly.

Corduroy pants+fire+no water+nowhere to go+pubes = Bad combo.

No bueno

[Joey_H]

Years ago when I was working for my dad one of the workers had a big ol' head of hair. He had just finished welding something when we noticed his hair was on fire. A hot spark must have jumped up into his hair. We didn't see much flame, just smoke coming from his head. I yelled out, "Hey Danny, your hair is on fire!" I don't think he believed me, for he didn't do anything at first. Until he either smelled burnt hair or felt the heat. He practically knocked himself out whacking his head to put out the fire. Man we all got a good laugh that time!

[shmoov69]

Just small burns with weld slag. Now at work (flat roofer), big bad burns with propane torches (think of the dragstrip launchpad torches on steriods) and 550+ degree hot tar splashing on you when you got your head in your butt. THAT leaves some nice and big scars! Chics dig scars!

[ProdigyCustoms]

Two best ones I ever seen, I got a tiny hot cherry in my ear and a fame shot out of my ear, for real!

But the best of the best. When my 3 boys and I were building their race car (my street racer), were talking 15, 14 and 12 years old here. My oldest son, that never listened, and hated this stuff anyway, insisted of wearing these ghetto banger nylon basketball shorts to the shop against my extreme protest. I hated them on the basketball court let alone at the shop. I hated the look, and they are dangerous anyway as baggy clothes at the shop is not the hot set up, nor nylon clothes are not the hot set up either.

So he is grinding something on the bench waist level and sparks are hitting him. Those nylon shorts caught fire and burned so ferociously they were gone in 15 seconds, LOL! At first I was concerned watching him stop, drop and roll and patting them out, or trying to, and ripping them off. But it was only a mila second after I realized he was not seriously hurt that I was rolling on the floor in laughter.

I went across the street and bought him a pair of Wrangler work shorts and he wore them without resistance at the shop, LOL!

Would it be bad to admit I kinda liked it? LOL!

[myclone]

Ive got some pretty good scars from welding/cutting but the worst was when I was doing some welding on an early chevy truck (installing a sub frame) using an old stick 220v buzz box. I had made a few welds and needed to reposition myself but the ground clamp was in the way so I grabbed the ground clamp to move it only to touch the end of the hot welding rod with my fore arm. Not only did it burn the crap out of me I never turned the welder off so it shocked the crap out of me when my arm completed the circuit. That was ~20yrs ago and Ive still got a scar.

Back in the day when unlaced high top tennis shoes were all the rage I managed to get slag down my tennis shoe that left a nice scar on my foot. My grandfather who was teaching me to weld witnessed the whole thing and laughed until he had tears streaming down his face. Thats ok though since I got revenge when he was using the rose bud on the torch and instead of shutting it off to lay it down he handed it to me to hold while he repositioned what he was working on....I promptly used the rose bud that I was now holding to heat his steel toed boot up. Yes I got the beating of a life time but it was worth it at the time and years later before he passed away we both like to retell the story and laugh about it.

[Jim Nilsen]

I recall that flannel burns a nice soft blue flame to start and travels real fast on the surface, it's not the warm fuzzy feeling your looking for but it gets your adrenaline going!:hammer:

[Norm Peterson]

I've lost count of the number times I've set fire to things like flannel shirts and sweatshirts. Probably once or twice for each piece of clothing that's worked its way down the ladder from "brand new" to "one step above shop rag" status and I don't care what happens to it any more. So far, so good for my skin though - lots of BB-sized burns in various places but only a couple of larger ones.

myclone - you don't need to grab the ground clamp and touch the stick to get bit - the ~80 OCV from a buzz-box is entirely strong enough to get you just putting in a new stick if you're laying on concrete that's visibly moist. Hated it when that happened, but throwing down a heavy blanket or cardboard for electrical insulation (and going back to welding directly over it) didn't sound like much of a solution either.


Norm

[Mean 69]

Ah, yes. The burns. I haven't had it in the ear yet, I have been told by my bud's that this is the worst. Down the top of the boot with steel toe's sucks though.

A couple years ago, Matt and I were torching off a silly set of homemade subframe connectors that were on the 70 we're building. I am not a cutting torch kind of guy, but as most folks here know, there ain't any piece of metal that Matt hasn't either welded or burned, so he talked me into letting him whack it off. Think: undercoating, grease, grim, rubber, all the good stuff under a car. It didn't take long before the shop was getting filled up with some serious smoke, and I was dead afraid that we'd set the fire alarm off. Then a nice little flame popped out, and the sense of urgency increased. And more smoke. Looking for something to just spray on the thing to knock it down was pretty fun. Carb cleaner, brake cleaner, window cleaner, all the usual suspects you wouldn't want to use, especially in a panic, were all really close.

"Hey, does Simple Green burn?" "Dunno, but we better try somethin!!!"

It didn't burn. Thankfully.

By the way, I concur that holes in jeans is just like kindling.
Mark

[harshman]

The end all to stipidness in a welding shop.


We used to turn a 5 gallon bucket upside down, fill it with acetylene and watch how high it went.


Some guys thought it would be cool to fill balloons with acetylene and set them off in a field. They did however forget about static electricity.

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[Roger Poirier]

But the best of the best. When my 3 boys and I were building their race car (my street racer), were talking 15, 14 and 12 years old here. My oldest son, that never listened, and hated this stuff anyway, insisted of wearing these ghetto banger nylon basketball shorts to the shop against my extreme protest. I hated them on the basketball court let alone at the shop. I hated the look, and they are dangerous anyway as baggy clothes at the shop is not the hot set up, nor nylon clothes are not the hot set up either.

So he is grinding something on the bench waist level and sparks are hitting him. Those nylon shorts caught fire and burned so ferociously they were gone in 15 seconds, LOL! At first I was concerned watching him stop, drop and roll and patting them out, or trying to, and ripping them off. But it was only a mila second after I realized he was not seriously hurt that I was rolling on the floor in laughter.

I went across the street and bought him a pair of Wrangler work shorts and he wore them without resistance at the shop, LOL!

Would it be bad to admit I kinda liked it? LOL!


Guys please stop! I'm going to have a heart attack from laughing so hard. I'm on day two of reading the same post. :bananna2::bananna2::bananna2:

R.P.

[formula]

The end all to stipidness in a welding shop.


We used to turn a 5 gallon bucket upside down, fill it with acetylene and watch how high it went.


Some guys thought it would be cool to fill balloons with acetylene and set them off in a field. They did however forget about static electricity.



HOLY CRAP!! I hope it didn't kill all of them!

[myclone]

myclone - you don't need to grab the ground clamp and touch the stick to get bit - the ~80 OCV from a buzz-box is entirely strong enough to get you just putting in a new stick if you're laying on concrete that's visibly moist. Hated it when that happened, but throwing down a heavy blanket or cardboard for electrical insulation (and going back to welding directly over it) didn't sound like much of a solution either.
Norm

Luckily laying on the floor wasnt too much of a problem since the garage had a wood floor instead of concrete (old garage/long story on why the wood floor). I know that not only did it burn the heck out of me but the electrical shock rang my bell pretty good and that memory is ~20yrs old but the clarity of it is like it happened yesterday. The only thing I miss about that old wood floor is that once I moved to another shop with a nice concrete floor the splatter would travel for what seemed like miles just to get wedged between me and the floor. Not much out there gets a guys attention when hes sitting on a concrete floor indian style like a nice molten sphere of metal hitting the floor then rolling at what seems like the speed of sound between his legs. Anyone around is completely stunned and usually just stand there in disbelief when they see someone who looks like Herman Munster start flailing about...they dont know if they should laugh, run away, or put the fire out.

Frank,

Youre not alone in thinking that "droopy" pants are hidious and while Im glad your son wasnt hurt I cant help but laugh a little at the mental picture of him with his droopy plastic shorts on fire especially since you warned him and he didnt listen. My son a knuckle head just like his dad and sometimes you just gotta let em learn the hard way and theyll eventually figure out that ol dad aint so dumb after all LOL.

[Norm Peterson]

Frank - I'm still getting a chuckle out of re-reading about your son's "hot pants" experience (and glad it didn't end up serious). I can see that, or something like it, happening in my future - I'll bet money that the little guy in my house (who's not quite 4) is going to end up learning lessons the same hard way. Talk goes in his one ear and straight out the other without slowing down even a little bit in between. His dad would at least halfways pay attention, and didn't do too many stupid things (that I know of, anyway) . . .


Norm

[parsonsj]

Yeah, I'm wondering how to put a baffle in my own kids' heads to at last force what I'm telling them to make a turn or two before it comes flying out the other ear.

Love the stories! Keep 'em coming.

jp

[jannes_z-28]

I been through a couple of exciting moments with a weding torch.

Once I was welding on a friends car, it was in the winter and snow all around. The job was under the car and to prevent the cold I was on a matress, one of those cheap ones. Of course it caught fire while I was there, concentrating on the welding yo don't see it and my friend try to yell to me to watch out. The excitement made him misspronounce the words, fan!, fan!, jire!, jire!

Another exciting moment was under my own car, a driver that needed som e rustrepairs. Just close to were I was welding was the fuelline, made of plastic! And of course it melted through and gasoline poured out of it and caught fire. This time I saw it and wrestled myself out of under the car and tried to find the extinguisher wich of course wasn't were it should be. Found it before everything cought fire and was able to put it out. Went to the shop for a refill before doing anymore welding. This time putting it on the roof so it would be close by if a new fire would happen. Only this time the extinguisher fell to the floor and emptied itself. Back to the shop for another refill, the guy at the coubnter looked at me like "What is this guy up to?"

Another time a box with paper cought fire next to me when I was welding, not seeing it either.

Blobs in pants, ears, shoes. You name it... Been there...

Welding is fun


Jan

[Kenova]

Yeah, I'm wondering how to put a baffle in my own kids' heads to at last force what I'm telling them to make a turn or two before it comes flying out the other ear.
jp

Brain Baffles. Now there is something every kid needs. Especially mine!
Ken

[RobM]

usually wear ear plugs when I weld so I don’t get a spark all the way IN my ear.


had a good one today... I was TIG welding at work and I accidentally had a piece of filler rod leaning from the part I was welding to the table (where i had the ground clamp attached) and mid weld the entire filler rod went glowing hot right under my arm pit

[bookends]

when I was a welder in the airforce, we'd sneak up on each other while the other was tig welding and hit the metal welding tables with a small sledge hammer. worked especially well when the victim was welding a fuel tank. we'd also take plastic trash bags and fill them full of aceteline, tie a rag to them light the rag and run. sounds like dynamite