Following a chisel sharpening suggestion from JC2, and without any negativity towards him, I want to share details of my shop time this evening…
Wrapped up work, hit the shop, flattened the nortons and shaptons and decided to FINALLY do justice to an iron from a #4 1/2 that I retired for a Hock replacement. Thought I’d put in 30 min rub time before working on dinner. After a few passes on the dmt lapping plate it was obvious I needed a re-grind. Being lazy, I took it to my 6×48 belt sander rather than spend maybe a minute to pull the grinder from under the sink.
Reflex did what it does and I hit the switch for the DC before the belt sander. The shower of sparks from the old Stanley steel was impressive enough that Scooby Doo whispered in my ear: “Ruh-roh!”.
I shut everything off and waited. As it happens, the innards were coated with hardwood baby powder and smoke started wafting from the sander. I dumped half of a large fire bottle into it, then turned on the DC and emptied the rest into a 4″ gate.
The machine is out on a concrete pad, the DC has been emptied, and my house is safe until I f*** up again. The fire extinguisher’s inspection tag was 2 years overdue, as was the backup I brought in from my office. All 6 in the house will get serviced this week.
My minute saved is a cloud of yellow dust on my entire shop. I’ll blow it down a dozen times and still find that powder when I move something. Take a minute to see that you have yourself properly covered. As it turns out I did. 2 bottles in easy reach…BUT both out of date.
My longest post ever I think, be safe everyone. I may swap the order of these…
Rule #1: no bleeding Rule #2: no fires
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Rule #3: check your insurance policy. Check it early, and check it often.
Glad you — and the shop — are OK. Human nature that sometimes it’s a near miss like that which gives us the kick we need to get those chores (like fire extinguisher admin) in order. They also say it’s a unique human superpower that we are able to learn from others’ mistakes, and a unique human tragedy that we seldom do. But thanks to you, a quick fire extinguisher census is on my list for today…
I hear you.
I set my belt sander on fire re-grinding a chipped kitchen knife.
It was not connected to the DC though, so no harm done.
This is a dumb question but Just for my own safety can someone explain what you mean connected to the DC?
Dust Collector
Oh wow so a spark got sucked into your dust collector !? That’s scary
Sander was smokin, not sure about the DC but I put it out anyway.
Yikes. I never connect the dust collector, or any kind of vac, while working metal. I figure that forges use blowers, and suction does pretty much the same thing.
It's a good warning, regardless. Now I should go check my fire extinguishers. In fact, I'm going to start a new thread about types of extinguishers for the shop.
This post is a great reminder. There have been too many reminders about fire safety in the shop lately.
Along with SPOG's advice to check your insurance policy, I'll add to keep an updated inventory with photos, dates, model numbers, and serial numbers. Preferably off-site or on-line. I recently upgraded to a Laguna BS and have no idea where I put the invoice. If I had to claim it's loss, it would be uphill the whole way.
I use a ten-gallon galvanized, lidded trash can for all my flammable rags, etc. Last summer I put a couple old cloth towels in there I had used to wipe up excess stain while staining the deck and neglected to put the lid back on. The next day the inside of the can was empty and charred with black soot. I had set it out on the patio to be safe, but sure enough the towels must have heated up and caught fire during the night. Now I make sure the lid is always on the can.
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