Nearly burned my shop down with a coal forge last Tuesday

I left a piece of rebar in the fire too long and it kicked out a shower of sparks that landed right next to a can of WD-40. Anyone else had close calls just from getting distracted for a minute?

3 comments

3 Comments

colegarcia13d ago

Yeah, I once had a buddy who left his hammer sitting on the anvil too long and it heated up so much the handle caught fire. That WD-40 can near you sounds like a real time bomb under the wrong conditions. Sometimes you look away for a second and the whole thing just goes sideways.

keith16412d ago

So did the hammer handle just smolder or was it actual flames?

faith2712d ago

Man I definitely feel that. My setup is in a little shed behind the house and I had a similar thing happen with a piece of angle iron that threw sparks into a pile of dry leaves I forgot to sweep up. What finally worked for me was keeping a fireproof mat right under the forge and a bucket of sand instead of water, because water just makes a mess with hot metal and grease. Now I also make a point to clear everything within four feet of the forge before I even light it, especially anything in a spray can or with a plastic handle. Jumped on me once and that was enough to make me real careful about the clutter.