It never fails...

[Anonymous-0]

You get a nick or a small hole in your welding glove and it acts like a funnel for the hot sparks to go into! Was doing some vertical up 7018 and 5 seconds after I get a nice weld going my darn finger is burning. You can't stop when you have a nice puddle going. I was going around a curve and when I moved my hand the spark jumped to the next finger and then the next. Ouch!! It looks like I got a tattoo across my Knuckles. 3 little burns on the first knuckkle, a water blister on the second and 3 evenly spaced larger burns on 3rd knuckle. I've had worse burns but it still hurt like he!!!

 

[Deere Scotty]

Thats why I dont even own a welder!!! Ive got one really mean bench vise; but no welder!

 

[Anonymous-0]

try hanging onto a rig derick with one hand and cuting of bolt head with cuting torch with other hand overhead bout 20 feet up there, when big glob of red hot metal drops down your neck, burns you there so you dance on a 8 inch by 1/2 inch derick rung, and slag drops to your belt line,realy starts to burn there, dance some more, slag drops to high boot top, burs you somemore there but is cooled of some by this then, all this while I was still holding a lit torch, thought I was going to pass out and fall.

 

[D7 fever]

Find yourself some emu oil, when you get a burn like that, put some on asap, then put some more on later, amazing stuff takes the pain away, takes away the blister and the next day is almost healed up.
Had the same thing happen to me about a week ago, put some emu oil on it, 12 hrs later didn't even know I had gotten burned.
Might sound like snake oil, but it really works, I keep it in the shop all the time.

 

[Harold Hubbard]

Worst I ever did was roll a big HOT goober down inside the back of a cast I had on my wrist. I just stood there and waited to see if it was going to set fire to the cotton inside. It didn't, but when that burn started healing it was one more serious itch inside the cast, that I could not scratch.

 

[Dick L]

Welding on a ladder one time and somehow my pant leg got above my boot and slag fell down inside my boot. Nothing you can do quick but leter burn. All that stuff heals up in time. Just like the stitches I got in my butt crack last Thursday, I am hoping at least. Been fun mowing and crimping hay the last coupla days. Almost wish it was a welding burn. Sweat from our 98 degrees yesterday really helped dontchyaknow.

 

[JD Seller]

When I was a little kid my Dad was given an overhead truck hoist out of the local feed mill. He was up on a ten foot ladder cutting the welds off over his head. A big piece of slag hit him right above the belly button. It burnt through his shirt. He was jumping around pretty fast. Every time that he jumped the slag would go a few inches lower. So he had a row of little burn marks every few inches. This row when right down his "man parts". It took that piece of slag about three feet of jumps to cool. LMAO He was really jumping then. I can still remember my Mother about dying laughing that night when he was getting ready for bed.

 

[Anonymous-0]

I've had hot slag drip down the back of my neck from cutting, left a scab about 3/8" thick! I also had a big chunk of spatter from hard facing go through my coveralls and burn my arm, come back out, burn through to my leg and then fall in my boot. I got a 3rd degree burn right above my ankle. I had to go the medi-center every day for a week so they could put a special burn jelly stuff on it. They said the last thing you want is a scab on your ankle. It would never heal cause the scab would get ripped off from walking. It's not easy keeping your hands steady when you're burning.

 

[NCWayne]

The ones on the hand aren't that bad, it's the ones that get in your ear or in your pants that are the mean ones.

Worst I can remember happening to me was a drop of slag from a cutting torch. I was standing on the joint in the leg of an concrete aggragate bin, reaching out to cut a piece off just over my head. A drop of slag went down my shirt pocket, burned through, and laid against my right niple...... just laid there burning. The way I was having to hang on I couldn't let go with one hand and the other was holding the torch. Worse still I couldn't turn the torch off and couldn't just let it drop either because there was a guy standing right under and behind me holding the weight of the hose. Anyway, I tried to get the piece to move with my 'free' hand, ie, the one I had the torch in, and that didn';t work so good. All I accomplished by doing that was that the flame got close to my shirt and caught it on fire on my left side. There I was, niple burning, shirt on fire, both hands tied up, and couldn't just let go of the torch, so I was pretty much stuck there suffering. Took the guy under me a few seconds ((seemed like hours)) to get the idea he needed to reach up and take the torch from me and get the heck out of my way so I could get down and get my shirt put out. Got down alright and got everything extinguished but that was nearly 15 years ago and I still have burn scars in both places......Guess when you do any welding or cutting there are always going to be days like that when you catch as much heat as the object your welding.....

 

[AlinArk]

that must have been terrifying!!!

 

[Inno]

Those stories sound horrible!
I'm pretty new to welding but I am finding myself buying more safety equipment all the time. My first pair of welding gloves got a nice hole in them from a brand new 36 grit flap disc on a 4.5" angle grinder. Didn't stop it from taking a chunk of my finger either!
Today I bought a set of welding sleeves so I don't look like an IV drug user from slag dropping down and sitting in the inner bend of my elbow. Wife asked me what the heck I had been doing.

 

[Anonymous-0]

Anyone that claims to be a welder has to have at least a dozen ventilated T-shirts and look like an IV drug user. 6010 overheard isn't too fun.

 

[Billy Shafer]

Not a welder. But that sounds like the same fun we generator techs have. When doing load bank test.When you get the sludge buildup in the exhaust pipe hot. It breaks loose and right down the back of your shirt. Makes a real nice burn mark down your back.

I also remember doing the Levi dance when I was a kid.

 

[Inno]

I also find myself wearing leather boots with a steel toe a lot more now........and the last time I bought new welding gloves, I bought an extra pair to have on hand (no pun intended) in case I get a hole in the ones I am currently using. That's cheap insurance right there!

 

[Ludwig]

Come work on computers. Every server room I've ever had to work in the monitor/keyboard/mouse is always right under an AC vent. By the end of the day you can barely move your head...

 

[Ludwig]

My dad told me I couldn't be a welder until I'd set my pants on fire. Been there done that!
Pants, shoes, shirt, hat, hair...