I thought I would post todays experience as a reminder to think about shop procedures, cleanliness, etc in order to avoid disaster or injury. I was working in my shop this afternoon, when I smelled the distinct odor of something burning. What I found was package of Liberon 4-0 steel wool on fire. It melted the formica countertop that it was set upon and burnt a nearby piece of wood. As it turns out, I had just finished grinding a plane blade on the same bench and apparently some wayward sparks ignited the steel wool. You can’t just blow that stuff out, it needs to be doused with water or it will smoulder forever. Good thing I didn’t decide to leave the shop after grinding the blade or I would be writing a about a real disaster right now.
Dan
Edited 4/14/2005 5:19 pm ET by dsantos
Replies
So what's that all about?
How could steel wool be combustible -- unless you had used it to rub down or wax a finish?
"I would never die for my beliefs because I might be wrong."
-- Bertrand Russell
"So what's that all about?" Does it really matter? It was definitely burning if it melted Formica.
I've tossed steel wool in the woodstove, it's actually kinda fun in there. Want me to do a test tomorrow?forestgirl -- you can take the girl out of the forest, but you can't take the forest out of the girl ;-)Another proud member of the "I Rocked With ToolDoc Club" .... :>)
Nikki,
Steel wool is VERY combustible. Coarse or fine, does not matter. Coarse will go up like a Roman candle, fine will smolder. Try touching some steel wool with a match or even a 9 volt battery.
Dan, good safety point !
Falco
Edited 4/15/2005 2:51 am ET by Falco
It works with a couple of D batteries, too. Hold 2 D batteries together, place one end of the steel wool on the negative end, one to the positive, and poof. I was a pyro Boy Scout once and I tried just about everything. That one was my favorite!!
>> How could steel wool be combustible ...Iron combines exothermically with oxygen. The only difference between burning and rusting is the rate of the reaction. Try it and see. I just now confirmed that you can easily light 3/0 fresh out of the package (i.e. with no finish or wax residue on it) with a match or not quite as easily with a spark lighter. I was going to try a battery, but I couldn't find a loose one and didn't want to take one out of my flashlight.
Edited 4/15/2005 6:59 am ET by Uncle Dunc
And you should see what happens when dunked in something flammable like gasoline....An old haloween thing - from when I was young, crazy and stupid - (now I'm old crazy and stupid :-)Mark
Measure it with a micrometer, mark it with chalk, cut it with an ax.
Well, I've got steel wool all over the place. What would cause it to suddenly start on fire?Is it anything like spontaneous combustion (with oily rags)?"I would never die for my beliefs because I might be wrong."
-- Bertrand Russell
"Is it anything like spontaneous combustion (with oily rags)?" Excellent question, NW. I think it got overlooked in all the frivolity here. Seems like caution is in order. Harder to spread them out flat and hang 'em on the clothesline, compared to a rag, eh?
While we're talking fire, a couple years ago, one of us Knotheads posted about hanging a few "oily rags" on his fence and coming out later to find the fence on fire. Ooooooooooooooops!forestgirl -- you can take the girl out of the forest, but you can't take the forest out of the girl ;-)Another proud member of the "I Rocked With ToolDoc Club" .... :>)
Jamie and Nikki,
"Is it anything like spontaneous combustion (with oily rags)?" Excellent question, NW. I think it got overlooked in all the frivolity here. Seems like caution is in order.
Steel will not self-combust like oily rags, but it will burn if something ignites it. In this case it was sparks from a grinder. As someone pointed out, oxidation and burning are the same process, only one is faster. A welder uses a cutting torch to burn steel, not melt it. He gets the cut started with acetylene and then shoots a powerful blast of oxygen to feed the resulting fire, thereby "cutting" the steel. Stainless steel and aluminum will not rust (oxidize) easily, and therefore will not burn, so therefore cannot be cut by a normal cutting torch. The reason steel wool will burn so easily without the oxygen blast is that the steel is very thin (and therefore easy to ignite), and it is fluffy and therefore surrounded by ample oxygen. It then burns very hot and makes a good fire starter, hence the reason it is used in fire starting kits.
Woody
I am "Woody", whose real name is Woody, not "woody", whose real name is Ken. I am so confused...
>> What would cause it to suddenly start on fire?Well, the original poster said he thinks it was probably sparks from the grinder. Sparks from my spark lighter, for lighting propane torches, also worked.>> Is it anything like spontaneous combustion (with oily rags)?No. Rust is exothermic, but it's not that exothermic.
Actually it is a great fire starter. In a survival class I took in college, it was an essential part of a survival pack. If you take a small piece of SW and make a little pocket in it, and you put hot embers from a bow & drill or a fire steel, you have a heck of a tender. Place that inside some dry brush and blow gently and you have one heck of a hot fire. Works like a charm.
nikki,
Steel wool is regularly used as tinder by boy scouts. It's as good as dryer lint for firestarting. It has to do with all that surface area I think, so the oxidation can proceed rapidly enough that it will combust. Good thing we don't use magnesium wool!
Be careful out there,
Ray
My dad showed me and my brother this when I was about 10. Took a small amount of steel wool and lit it to show us that steel will burn.
Of course being 10, I had to show my friends so I lit a whole pad. Wow, cool huh?! Well, as safe as I was so that nothing caught fire. All the iron deposited on my father's tools and rusted them.
You know, steel wool is good for cleaning off rust too. I spent a couple of weekends doing that. LOLHi, I'm Len and I'm a Toolaholic...
Now that's funny! Thanks for the laugh.
dsantos ,
I am glad that you caught the fire before it became a problem . I have always been under the belief that steel wool has a fine bit of machine oil on it from when it is being cut or how ever they make it . So I think the oil may be part of what makes it such good fire starting materials. As Joinerswork said Boy Scouts use it as do other survival fire starter methods . Try taking a 9 volt battery and touching the live end to the steel wool , it instantly begins to glow .
good luck dusty
>> I have always been under the belief that steel wool has a fine bit of machine oil on it ...I can confirm that. I think it's intentional, to keep the steel wool from rusting immediately, as it would otherwise do in all but the very driest parts of the world.Another experiment I tried last night was washing the oil off with lacquer. Then I pressed it between paper towels to dry it off and gave it a few minutes for the residue to evaporate. I didn't see any difference in how easy it was to light or in the burn rate.
Uncle Dunc ,
Perhaps when you washed the steel wool off with the lacquer thinner , the few minutes you used to allow the residue to dry was not enough time . I have noticed lacquer thinner sometimes leaves a whiteish residue that can be present for a long time .Maybe if a degreaser or the likes was used on the steel wool the results could vary . Try the 9 volt battery against the steel wool if you never have before , it is truly an instant glowing fire starter .
regards dusty
"I have always been under the belief that steel wool has a fine bit of machine oil on it from when it is being cut or how ever they make it "
Dusty,
One of the reasons I buy Liberon brand steel wool is that its texture is more consistent than other brands; I get a far more consistent scratch pattern.
The other reason is that Liberon steel wool isn't oiled in the package.
Had the steel wool cited in this incident not been Liberon, i.e., had been factory-oiled, it seems more likely to have burst into flames instead of just smoldering malevolently.
-Jazzdogg-
Whether you think you can, or you think you can't, you're right.
"instead of just smoldering malevolently." Sounds like a sulking child, LOL!forestgirl -- you can take the girl out of the forest, but you can't take the forest out of the girl ;-)Another proud member of the "I Rocked With ToolDoc Club" .... :>)
Shop fire.. Well. the Neighbor Lady walked in and said HI!
This forum post is now archived. Commenting has been disabled