Some things you just don't see coming.
A few days ago, I was welding. I wore gloves, because I am widely known as Mr. Safety.
After using a little paint thinner to wipe the residual oil off the pipe, I started to weld.
My old welding helmet was one I inherited from my father, and he might have inherited it from some of the guys who built the pyramids. So, even though it’s still perfectly functional, a year ago I bought a new helmet. This one has a little battery inside - along with a bunch of other stuff - that automatically darkens the lens when the welding arc starts.
It wasn't very expensive, I think because, as far as I can tell, it operates on black magic. I imagine there are a bunch of diodes, sensors and other doodads in there, but as far as I'm concerned? Magic.
I realize buying a new welding helmet every 60 or 70 years is a little frivolous, but I'm sort of a loser that way.
I worked for a bit, then stopped and waited for the lens to lighten so I could see how I'd done. Oddly enough it stayed dark, and my hand started to get hot.
Then hotter.
Here's the scenario. I'm holding the wire welder gun with one hand, the steel I'm working on with the other hand, and I'm completely in the dark - in more ways than one.
Turns out, there was a still a bit of paint thinner on my glove and the welding arc lit it on fire. The fire was bright enough to trigger the automatic darkening feature on the welding helmet. That little mechanism darkens the lens enough so you can safely stare at the arc, which is about 5,000 lumens, considerably brighter than the sun. Burning paint thinner on the back of a leather glove is not nearly as bright, so I couldn't see anything.
I don't think anyone could have seen that coming.
My wife disagrees, but I've been welding for almost 60 years, and I've never had that happen before so I'm going with my opinion.
A problem here is that quite often when welding, a spark or piece of molten metal will land somewhere it shouldn't, and there will be heat. After a few seconds, the heat goes away.
The situation here was that my glove was actually, you know, on fire, and I didn't know. So, as I waited for the heat to diminish...it didn't.
I flailed around for a few seconds, then jerked my helmet off and beat my hand against my thigh until the fire went out. There were a few singed hairs on the back of my hand, but nothing worse, so I'm saying, no harm, no foul. What some would call a teachable moment.
This is just a little parable to address the times we live in. A lot of us are sort of flailing in the dark. We're feeling some unsettling heat, but our experience is that after a moment or two, the heat dies down and all is well. And usually that's true.
But as it turns out, sometimes it's not a little passing heat, it's a real fire. Get out of the dark and take a good look at what's going on.
Copyright 2024 Brent Olson