This is an example of a choice that ends in tragedy. https://www.kctv5.com/news/man-usin...aicIUVfclR_PZagsKlakJx7-BDX2KQ9fpuuu9wp_CBXOI
Think through what you are doing
- Thread starter D2Cat
- Start date
Duh, methanol fumes are highly explosive. Guess he didn't read the drum label. I've cut a few suspect drums with my Hypertherm plasma but I fill them with water first.
North Idaho Wolfman
Moderator
Staff member
Lifetime Member
Equipment
L3450DT-GST, Woods FEL, B7100 HSD, FEL, 60" SB, 743 Bobcat with V2203, and more
OUCH!!!!!! 
I've got 10 drums of that here, not something you want anywhere near a spark or flame!
I've got 10 drums of that here, not something you want anywhere near a spark or flame!
85Hokie
Moderator
Staff member
Lifetime Member
Equipment
BX-25D ,PTB. Under Armor, '90&'92-B7100HST's, '06 BX1850 FEL
Common sense....is no longer COMMON....
and maybe the label telling him the contents was torn off......ok, making excuses for him......
then again - the CS would be to find out WHAT the #@@##@ was in the barrel before cutting it......
I am not sure it is lack of common sense, but lack of science education? Kids are not taught any chemistry or physics any more, except those that intend to be science "geeks", so many don't know what is or isn't flammable. A shame really. The attitude that I don't need to know that stuff to make money....
This man was 41. I did something just as stupid when I was 21, I was just lucky.
My FIL and his brothers owned a machine shop one block away for our house. He lived on the other side of the shop. I had a push lawn mower that need a repair to keep a rear wheel on. I went to his front porch where he was setting, told him of my dilemma, he reached into his pocket and handed me the keys to the shop.
I knew next to NOTHING about welding (He had showed me how to bend a rod, put it in the stinger, ground clamp on the plate, and let the rod burn and do all the welding without touching anything).
I took the mower over by the welder, got a rod, clamped a ground and started making sparks. I don't remember if I ever got it to glue, but I realized later how stupid it was to even try. I think about that most everything I'm grinding, welding or working with metal. I am very fortunate in that incident. Stupid, yes. No common sense, yes. Uneducated about it, yes. I'm guilty as charged, but alive!
My FIL and his brothers owned a machine shop one block away for our house. He lived on the other side of the shop. I had a push lawn mower that need a repair to keep a rear wheel on. I went to his front porch where he was setting, told him of my dilemma, he reached into his pocket and handed me the keys to the shop.
I knew next to NOTHING about welding (He had showed me how to bend a rod, put it in the stinger, ground clamp on the plate, and let the rod burn and do all the welding without touching anything).
I took the mower over by the welder, got a rod, clamped a ground and started making sparks. I don't remember if I ever got it to glue, but I realized later how stupid it was to even try. I think about that most everything I'm grinding, welding or working with metal. I am very fortunate in that incident. Stupid, yes. No common sense, yes. Uneducated about it, yes. I'm guilty as charged, but alive!
CaveCreekRay
Well-known member
Lifetime Member
Equipment
L3800 HST, KingKutter box scraper, KingKutter 66" rake, County Pride Subsoiler
We all make mistakes. The critical part is that you learn from them. Mary is correct, the "edjumication" system today has little science in it and has failed our society.
I was lucky enough to go to high school at a time when we had four different shop programs to choose from. We started out watching the "Ohio State Trooper" versions of shop accidents. That scared the living CRAP out of me and I remember one film every time I turn on my grinder...
A guy is making a "how-to" movie on using a grinding wheel when the wheel disintegrates. They had film of the doctors pulling rod out of the guys eye. That image will stick with you for life, I am here to tell you. Another was a guy doing a table saw film and on a test run they had the cameras going for, he had a kickback that shot a four foot 1 by 1 through his gut like an arrow. Think of that every time I turn on the saw.
They have proven in recent studies that male brains do not get fully wired until their late teens or early 20's. The very last part of that wiring has to do with consequences. The average male teen brain makes no connection between action and consequence. This is why boys are always doing insanely dangerous stuff, much of which they post on YouTube for everyone else to watch.
I was just an average kid. But somehow, the training I got in shop class stuck with me and has kept me safe. I did other stupid stuff like ride motorcycles with no brakes but, Hey! You gotta learn, right?
I feel bad for kids today. They grow up into middle aged people like this guy who had no idea what he was about to do would end his life.
Reminds me of what I told my daughter when she started taking flying lessons in high school. I told her they would show her a dozen ways to kill herself. If she didn't do those, she'd be fine. It stuck with her. Then I laid my biggest advice on her when she started flying instruments:
"While we learn by doing...
We remember by screwing up."
Some things in life are unrecoverable.
I was lucky enough to go to high school at a time when we had four different shop programs to choose from. We started out watching the "Ohio State Trooper" versions of shop accidents. That scared the living CRAP out of me and I remember one film every time I turn on my grinder...
A guy is making a "how-to" movie on using a grinding wheel when the wheel disintegrates. They had film of the doctors pulling rod out of the guys eye. That image will stick with you for life, I am here to tell you. Another was a guy doing a table saw film and on a test run they had the cameras going for, he had a kickback that shot a four foot 1 by 1 through his gut like an arrow. Think of that every time I turn on the saw.
They have proven in recent studies that male brains do not get fully wired until their late teens or early 20's. The very last part of that wiring has to do with consequences. The average male teen brain makes no connection between action and consequence. This is why boys are always doing insanely dangerous stuff, much of which they post on YouTube for everyone else to watch.
I was just an average kid. But somehow, the training I got in shop class stuck with me and has kept me safe. I did other stupid stuff like ride motorcycles with no brakes but, Hey! You gotta learn, right?
I feel bad for kids today. They grow up into middle aged people like this guy who had no idea what he was about to do would end his life.
Reminds me of what I told my daughter when she started taking flying lessons in high school. I told her they would show her a dozen ways to kill herself. If she didn't do those, she'd be fine. It stuck with her. Then I laid my biggest advice on her when she started flying instruments:
"While we learn by doing...
We remember by screwing up."
Some things in life are unrecoverable.
Last edited:
I remember hearing this same thing happening to a guy that was torching an empty antifreeze drum (ethlene glycol). What I learned from that is don't torch/weld any empty drum. Period.
Guess you guys never rode a barrel rocket??? (google it).
I have....and I'm here to tell you that methanol ain't nothing to play with. I mean it's FUEL for crying out loud. The worst part about it is that there's no flame when it burns, at least not in daylight. In the dark, you can see a real faint pale bluish flame. Good part is, you can put the fire out with water.
I have....and I'm here to tell you that methanol ain't nothing to play with. I mean it's FUEL for crying out loud. The worst part about it is that there's no flame when it burns, at least not in daylight. In the dark, you can see a real faint pale bluish flame. Good part is, you can put the fire out with water.
When I was about 13, I took a motorcycle frame to get some welding done. While I was waiting, I saw one guy about to weld a automobile fuel tank. I left the area immediately. The tank did explode but not from fumes. The cap was on it and the water in the tank from being rinsed turned to steam, the one way valve would not release the pressure and the guy apparently failed to notice the tank swelling.
I always try to think three times and work once and I have still had minor incidents (hammer left on top of a step ladder sort of thing). I am super careful of sharp things, especially if they move.
Always take the extra five seconds to think it through.
I always try to think three times and work once and I have still had minor incidents (hammer left on top of a step ladder sort of thing). I am super careful of sharp things, especially if they move.
Always take the extra five seconds to think it through.
CaveCreekRay
Well-known member
Lifetime Member
Equipment
L3800 HST, KingKutter box scraper, KingKutter 66" rake, County Pride Subsoiler
We need more kids like this one...
https://www.zerohedge.com/news/2019-06-13/valedictorian-thanks-alcoholic-teacher-and-negligent-counselor-teaching-fend
https://www.zerohedge.com/news/2019-06-13/valedictorian-thanks-alcoholic-teacher-and-negligent-counselor-teaching-fend
So I wasn’t the only one to have an alcoholic teacher! And mine taught drivers ed! How did we ever learn to drive with him passed out in the passenger seat lol. Luckily we was in a rural area and most of us had been driving since we were old enough to reach the pedals, he would get so pissed when we would wake him up when we went to McDonald’s and ask him if he wanted anything (closest McDonald’s was about 45 minutes away).