lampworking started a fire

[kirrakat123]

Hi, My lampworking started a fire today & I need ideas on how to make sure it doesn't happen again. I was useing my Peter's tweezers to put a glowing hot glass pendant into the kiln & it fell off, landing in a plastic container full of glass rods. The plastic started melting & the paper tags on the rods burst into flames. The fire alarms blasting & I am screaming for my husband, who missed all the excitement because he was outside. Clearly it was up to me to do something. I have a fire extinguisher handy, but decided to pick the hot pendant up with tweezers & blow out the flaming paper tags. I am sure many of you have had worst fires, but it was a first for me. Now, I need to find a safer way to get the red hot off mandrel pendant thru the bead door & into the kiln without dropping it. I have searched alot of store websites but can't see anything suitable. It can't be too big because of the size of the bead door. Please give me some suggestions of what to use. Thanks for listening & there was no real damage done-- just some rods with no names, hopefully I can figure out what colors they are.
Sincerely, Cynthia in Australia

[BugNerd]

Tried hemostats?

[earlbacher]

you can heat up a large set of locking hemostats, and use those to put you pendants in the kiln..

no worries, it happens.. i had something i was working on fall off a punty into my hand, after tossing it, then grabbing some hemostats, and picking my work up, and starting to work again, i realized that the hot glass has started a box on fire.. had to use my fire extinguisher... very exciting... and messy

[SadiesJewels]

Hi Cynthia ... glad all is well. What a fright you must have had!

I've had pendants fall onto the floor and burn a patch on the floor before I was able to find my mashers to pick it up and get it in the kiln, so I began to look for things for this job. I ended up getting some hot fingers (don't get them in the flame though - ask me how I know) ... but those grab the pendant (make sure it's not still molten) and allow you to get it to the kiln. Before I bought some I made some copper wire tong things with a coil on each end of the copper to nestle the pendant in - they sort of worked but not ideal.

hth
Sadie

[honey*bee]

I have burnt my floor and chair a couple of times like that. When I make a pendant off mandrel I slip it onto the end of a clean mandrel and put it into the kiln like that. With hemos I am always worried that I will break the pendant.

[Karen Hardy]

Regardless of your "holding method", you need to be sure that the
area AROUND your work station AND your kiln is kept free of anything
flammable or melt-able. I have two trash cans in the studio, a metal
one on the floor next to me, and another one for everything else
on the far side of the studio.

[teachertracey]

That big old jug with the water in it comes in handy too. Well, once you get the mandrels out of it.

[Kevan]

I used a fire extinguisher in my kitchen once. You will not believe the mess they make.

I set a bag of groceries on the stove which I accidentally turned on while doing so. I stood there for some time watching the flames while I tried to figure out how to use the damn extinguisher. I couldn't figure it out. I was the only one home so I realized I had to figure it out or the house was going to go up in flames.

Figure out your fire extinguisher before you need it - moral of the story.

[kbinkster]

Originally Posted by Karen Hardy

Regardless of your "holding method", you need to be sure that the
area AROUND your work station AND your kiln is kept free of anything
flammable or melt-able. I have two trash cans in the studio, a metal
one on the floor next to me, and another one for everything else
on the far side of the studio.

Exactly.

[menty666]

First off, walk your path to the kiln from the torch and make sure there's nothing flammable in the way. It's tough, I know; every bit of space is valuable. But if need be, fireproof the rest. Hardibacker over the plastic rod holder, for example, but make sure if something's going to slide that it goes somewhere safe.

I've had marbles fall off the rod and roll onto the floor. Normally they come to rest and scorch the floor a little. It's important to stay calm and pick it up as quickly and safely as possible. That way when they fall off somewhere less than ideal you can respond with the same calm, collected manner. I had a marble roll under my concentrator and come to rest against the wooden support for my table. Recently one fell off and managed to make it onto a plastic bag I have a wooden block in, filling my shop with smoke. But, keep your wits about you and take the steps you need. Extinguish a fire if there is one, get the piece off the floor after that.

You might consider intentionally latching two beads onto a mandrel about an inch or so from the and. You can use that as a lance to carry stuff to the kiln.

I find 'being careful' to be just as effective

[FyreFiend]

Originally Posted by BugNerd

Tried hemostats?

I'll chime in with a story on this: I was using my Hemos to hold a short piece of a large diameter rod one time, and just as I was ready to drop the hot glass onto the mandrel, the rod slipped out. That glowing thing literally went spinning past my left ear (fortunately not taking any hair with it), and landed on the floor somewhere behind me. Needless to say, I said a prayer of thanks! This incident earned me the nickname of The Artful Dodger.....I actually saw it coming and got out of the way. Time slows down in a car wreck, too.

My Mom was less fortunate. She received a substantial burn on her forearm because a hot rod slipped out of hemos and hit her. The burn healed nicely, but she does have a scar there.

The moral is, I guess, have the 2nd Skin Burn Bandages handy and never forget where you put the fire extinguisher. Having a fully charged phone handy is also a very good idea.

Desa

[jamie lynne]

ahhh, yes. the reason i was moved to my basement... cement floors can't catch fire! i used to work upstairs but when i had a large chunk of really hot glass go flying and land on the newly refinished wood floors, ummm yeah. i was moved promptly to the basement. i still light stuff on fire pretty regularly, i've burned some holes in shirts, jeans, shoes... luckily no major injuries, but i've had my fair share of burns. it happens. keep a fire extinguisher handy is the best advise i can give.

[lampworker1]

I still keep a large container of water and a fire extinguisher nearby. Thanks for sharing your experience. It is a reminder to stay on my toes!!!!

[Jenfire]

To move pendants with loops from one place to another I use a homemade tool. I take an old mandrel and bend it like a shepard's hook. When I am done with the pendant I hook it nice and secure with the warmed mandrel and place it in the kiln. I also work in a cement area with NO FLAMABLES near me. Fire is Fire.
Jen

[DesertDreamer]

I'll echo Karen H on this one...keep your area clear. I used to torch in my basement, back to back with the laundry area. One time I had a pile of bedclothes and tablecloths waiting for their turn when a rod popped on me. I knew a piece went flying but assumed it was cool enough (never had a problem before). Moments later I smelled something funny and turned around to discover that pile sending me smoke signals.

It all got dumped into the laundry sink and thoroughly wetted. I ended up with a few small holes in one tablecloth. Luckily is was some kind of semi-synthetic blend so it didn't flame up. Had my cotton sheets been on top of the pile, it would've been a very different story.

Now I'm upstairs (new house). I have a porcelain tile floor, and only have to swivel in my seat to put stuff into the kiln. I make sure the immediate area is clear, and if I'm working with "risky" glass, I even put a metallic-y tarp over the end of the sofa behind me. There is a small area of carpet at risk, and DH gave me a piece of plywood to set down where that meets the tile. So far, I've had a few bits go that far, but never large or hot enough to cause any trouble. And I DO have a fire extinguisher right by my bench.

[glassexpressions]

I have sheet metal flooring & table, and try to keep anything that could possible set fire away from work area, using glass jars for everything.

[Paul Ewing]

As people have said, keep flammable things out of the area. As far as securely moving items to the kiln, get a pair of metal salad tongs. Then wire a piece of fiber blanket around each side of the tongs. Now you have a good gripping tool to move off mandrel sculpture, pendants, and marbles to the kiln that isn't as shocky as metal tools.

[fireside glass]

I used to wear double ply carhartt welding pants when I was lampworking till one day I dropped a marble on my lap, which promply burned through the first layer of leg protection and as I stood up to make marble fall off me, it fell in between the two layers of welding pants... I managed to rip off my pants before they burned me too bad, then threw em outside and watched a pretty pants fire in my boxers in the snow lol.... I guess I'm more apt to set myself on fire than my studio cause I work on a screened in porch with astroturf flooring (1970's build aframe cabin lol) with some work mats over my area....

[Elegance_1]

oh gosh, staring fires on the floor of my shop seemed to be my M.O. until my DH put some flashing on the edge of my worktable. I've not had a fire since!

[JoeDeM]

Originally Posted by fireside glass

I used to wear double ply carhartt welding pants when I was lampworking till one day I dropped a marble on my lap, which promply burned through the first layer of leg protection and as I stood up to make marble fall off me, it fell in between the two layers of welding pants... I managed to rip off my pants before they burned me too bad, then threw em outside and watched a pretty pants fire in my boxers in the snow lol.... I guess I'm more apt to set myself on fire than my studio cause I work on a screened in porch with astroturf flooring (1970's build aframe cabin lol) with some work mats over my area....

I had something similar happen, I now wear a split suede welding apron, it will still burn but it won't catch on fire.

similar to this

[PaulaD]

What Karen said. there should never be anything flammable near your torch unless you are ready to deal with what could happen!
Paula

[tt4st]

I use slightly heated loop hemostats to move my hot glass pendants to the kiln. They are usually flat and, so far, no problem with it slipping or dropping.

I ALWAYS wear a heavy split leather apron similar to the one Joe has. You can get them from Harbor Freight cheap on sale($10-$15). It's absolutely the best investment I've made because I work off-mandrel alot. I have had to throw hot glass out of my lap many times so keep your area clear of flammables.

[blong2001]

I have burn marks on the floor but have only started 1 fire. Stupid me had a paper towel on my work area. I stuck a piece of glass in the flame and had a good bit thermal shock with it. A piece hit the papertowel, but by then I was working on a bead and did not know it was burning until I smelled it. Again stupid me tried to blow on it to get it out. I usually have a pitcher of water next to me. The one time I didn't I started a fire!
Beth

[LaurieBSmith]

In nine years of torching I've never started a fire....burned the carp out of myself, not no fire...

Hot Fingers.....you need hot fingers....Peter's Tweezer aren't meant as holding tools.

[glassshaper]

You can buy kevlar pads to carry your hot glass to the kiln. They can withstand up to 2000 degrees heat. This way you can set the piece in the pad and carry it safely to your kiln with out dropping it.

[murf]

salad tongs for things that hit the floor. chances are the dirt or what ever will do more damage to the piece that me grabbing the hot object with the tongs. they might seem to be over kill in size but they are great scooping things up

[kbinkster]

Originally Posted by blong2001

I have burn marks on the floor but have only started 1 fire. Stupid me had a paper towel on my work area. I stuck a piece of glass in the flame and had a good bit thermal shock with it. A piece hit the papertowel, but by then I was working on a bead and did not know it was burning until I smelled it. Again stupid me tried to blow on it to get it out. I usually have a pitcher of water next to me. The one time I didn't I started a fire!
Beth

This is a good way to check your ventilation.

You should not have been able to smell the burning papertowel, btw.