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Tips, Techniques, and Questions -- Technical questions or tips

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  #1  
Old 2008-07-09, 2:44pm
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Default Ever "REALLY" burn yourself?

Boy I did it today. I was making a boro seastar that I coat with fine clear frit, heating and dipping it in the frit. Somehow in this I passed my hand thru the flame, WHAT a dumb ass. I burned my little finger all down the side and just a smidge on the next to it finger. My hand was on fire! Crap! It didn't even hurt ( then ) it felt cold. Wow. Now it hurts, like bad. I took myself to emergency, they said 2nd and maybe a little 3rd but mostly "just" 2nd degree burns. They gave me a precript for Silver sulfadiazine cream and put some on it there and said to keep it bandaged for 10 days.

I've been lampworking for 3+ years & done some little pick up a hot tool or rod things to my fingers, but this is far beyond that. Have any of you done something like this? How long did it take to heal? I can tell it will be a while before I can torch again.
I'm bummed. Be careful out there. I thought I was careful,
but not careful enough it seems.
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Last edited by Mary K; 2008-07-10 at 7:52pm. Reason: spelling
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  #2  
Old 2008-07-09, 2:54pm
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I did something similar once - passed my hand through the flame and had the cold then freaking burning up sensation too. Man, that was not pleasant. Mine was on one finger though and pretty small at that. It took a week to heal, but I was able to torch after a few days - as soon as the burn could tolerate the radiant heat from the torch, I torched. Hope you heal quickly!
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  #3  
Old 2008-07-09, 3:08pm
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Yep, working on a stupid little pig bead, I was concentrating on the tail and rotated the bead upside down and put my other hand right in the flame. Doesn't sound like I had it in there quite as long as you did thought. I had a big glass of soda sitting next to the table and shoved my whole hand down in there and only brought it out long enought to switch to iced water. I kept it in there for two hours. I really think it helped.

One finger was really burned bad and the finger nail was burned down to the skin. Ugly and smelled really bad when it happened. Like you said, it didn't hurt at the time but boy oh boy did it.

I hope yours gets better soon. Bad burns can be dangerous and very painful.

take care,
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  #4  
Old 2008-07-09, 3:15pm
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Yup, I've done it a couple of times. I accidentally stuck 3 fingers in the flame about a year ago. I knew it was bad when it happened...it was all I could do to get everything turned off safely so I could run upstairs and get ice!

It really sucks when it happens right before bedtime...then it hurts all night. I didn't go to the doctor, just kept putting a bag of icewater on it until it stopped hurting (mostly), which took most of the night. I wish I had had some of that silver sulfadazine stuff!

The good news is that it does heal! The only scar I have is from the time I was making divinity and accidentally poured some on my hand...none of my torching burns have caused scars, on my hands anyway (I do have itty-bitty scars on my chest, which is why I wear a leather apron now!!).

I'm sorry this happened to you---hope it heals fast!!
-Patti

-Patti
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  #5  
Old 2008-07-09, 4:08pm
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Yep! I have the pics to prove it too...nasty.. nasty!
but I love the challenge of playing with fire!

Cheers!!
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Last edited by adee; 2008-07-09 at 4:08pm. Reason: spelling..eheh
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  #6  
Old 2008-07-09, 4:34pm
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Yep, I've cooked a fingertip or two in the flame, before. I have also jammed the molten end of a thick boro rod into my arm.
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  #7  
Old 2008-07-09, 4:46pm
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Caught a about-ready-to-pull twistie between my first and middle finger, near my hand... Same spot I caught a hot soldering iron a few years prior... it did leave scars... Healed well, I'm stubborn - we wrapped the twistie burn and I was back torching later that night. (Probably not my best of moves.) It took a couple weeks to heal enough that I didn't need the Second Skin on it...
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  #8  
Old 2008-07-09, 5:08pm
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Yep...before I upgraded to a Minor, I was making beads on a Hot Head. Had a bead on a mandrel in my right hand and reached ACROSS with my left hand to get something and stuck my hand in the flame! Fortunately, I had a large glass of icewater sitting on my work table. I automatically stuck my hand down into the icewater and kept it there as long as I could. Mega-blisters on my index and middle fingers. I was afraid I'd have to go to the ED, but I really didn't have a lot of discomfort; I think Tylenol was the strongest thing I took, and it healed quickly with no scars. VERY fortunate!

Mary K, I hope you heal quickly, with minimal or no scars or pain.

Allen
Birmingham, AL
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  #9  
Old 2008-07-09, 5:18pm
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I had a shocky rod explode and jam a shard into my arm. I had to dig it out as it was burning. A small price to pay for being a newbie. Silvadene is the best stuff on earth. Everyone should have some handy.
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  #10  
Old 2008-07-09, 5:36pm
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Yep, put the web of my hand between the thumb and forefinger in the flame - almost had to have therapy after it healed. Healing took forever even with the silvadine.
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  #11  
Old 2008-07-09, 5:49pm
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Yep. About three weeks ago I stuck the back of my hand in the flame. Reached under the flame to pick up some silver that floated away.. stupid mistake that was!!!
A week after the burn, despite my diligent application of Neosporan and covering it, it got infected. Had a red line starting up my arm. Had to go to the doctor, gave me a shot (Ouch!) and some Silver sulfadiazine and some oral antibiotics and sent me on my way. Much to my surprise, he said it was a 2nd possibly 3rd degree burn.Its just now starting to heal good! Strange part of the whole thing is that the burn never hurt until it got infected!!!!
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  #12  
Old 2008-07-09, 5:52pm
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Oh. I forgot about this one..Last year I had a piece of glass flick off the end of Dk. Ivory rod and end up on my eyeball. I had my diddys on but somehow it got around 'em. Still to this day, I dont know how. Anyways, had to go to the eye doctor, he numbed my eye up and scraped the burn off. Three days and I was back to normal. Its amazing how fast the eye heals!
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  #13  
Old 2008-07-09, 5:58pm
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If you put silveradine on right away the burn will heal miraculously fast...like days! Mine is sitting right next to my bench!

crystal
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  #14  
Old 2008-07-09, 6:14pm
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I used to hold the rods between my first and middle finger and reach for tools. The hot rod slipped through my fingers. Ouch!
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  #15  
Old 2008-07-09, 6:16pm
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Yep, let's see I burned myself...

...within the first 3 months of lampworking, 2nd degree on the chest (but I saved the bead!)

...the second year when I got too close to the flame

...the fifth year when I grabbed a hot rod of glass by accident

oh yeah, and YESTERDAY when I reached for a pair of hot tweezers by the wrong end (can I get a round of everyone saying DUH CINDY? wink!)

But hey, what would we all be without our burns?

Cindy
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  #16  
Old 2008-07-09, 6:33pm
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I stuck my finger in the flame of a barracuda-inner and outer flames going. Burned so bad it didn't hurt. Finished what I was making then stopped to assess the damage. The end of my finger was leather. 3rd degree burn, still don't have full feeling in my finger tip....probably never will, seeing as it's been two years now.
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  #17  
Old 2008-07-09, 7:35pm
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Oh yeah! Reached over to pick up some foil and when my other hand felt funny looked down to see it against the torch with the base of my pointer finger in the fire. It burned so fast it was more like an electric shock up my arm instead of a burning. I was really glad I work in the ER that day - walked in, held up my hand and said "I need drugs!" and was seen immediately. I was really diligent with the Silvadene and it healed without even scarring, but the Orthopedist said I was lucky. I try and look before I reach for anything now.
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  #18  
Old 2008-07-09, 8:05pm
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I never realized how long and hot boro rods stay when you've pieced them together. My clear casing rod was getting short so pieced it only another one.. Made the color portion of the bead and picked up the clear casing rod and smoothly and swiftly slid it right down my hand.... Thumb and forefinger had white indents in them for weeks!!! Ouch!!!
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  #19  
Old 2008-07-09, 8:08pm
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The smell...
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  #20  
Old 2008-07-09, 8:08pm
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About a year and a half ago I was bending stringer into shapes for fusing and I wasn't watching my hands, I was watching the stringer. 3 fingertips of my right hand were toast and yeah! fingernails really smell bad!!! I love, love, love the silvadene creme! I feel really sorry for flameworkers with allergies to sulfa drugs. It healed very fast with use of the creme.
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  #21  
Old 2008-07-09, 8:12pm
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I don't even count it as a burn anymore unless the skin
sloughs off and all the neighbors ask if they can come to the
Barbecue .

I got me a nice 3rd degree-er when I passed my hand in
front of my torch. Horrifically ugly. It healed up so nicely
that there's no scarring, BUT there's also no freckles on
that patch of skin anymore either .
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  #22  
Old 2008-07-09, 8:13pm
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Haven't done it while making beads yet, but you never forget that "hot glass looks like cold glass" after picking up a hot rod and hearing the sizzle.....yum. Melting the ends of glass tubing in chemistry lab and forgetting which end is toasty.
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  #23  
Old 2008-07-09, 8:20pm
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Several smaller burns, but the one that scared me pretty good was fortunately just a close call. I was making a boro shamrock and the punty accidentally broke off. The shamrock hit the torch marver, which was at a downward angle, bounced off, and headed straight between my legs. I'm still not sure how I moved so fast, but the shamrock went between my legs and burnt a hole straight through the seat of my chair. Before the chair went up in flames, I got the shamrock out of the hole with hemostats and then poured water down the hole.

Before that, anytime something accidently broke off the punty it landed on the workbench. That close call has made me much more careful when doing off mandrel work. I still have a huge hole in my chair but am thankful it's not in my leg!

Hope it heals fast!!
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Old 2008-07-09, 8:22pm
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Yes. I was making a marble and was concentrating on rounding it in the mold and I rolled my finger directly into the flame. It was a very bad burn...

The siver sulfadiazine helped some, but the wound wouldn't heal until the nurse at work debrided it for me and showed me how to keep doing that myself. Now THAT hurt, but it healed pretty well. The skin is ok, but there is kind of a dent where the fat or whatever on my finger is gone underneath.
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Old 2008-07-09, 8:25pm
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Worst burn
glass blowing I was putting away a piece and one of the gloves on top of the annealer had a hole the size of a quarter in the thumb. right hand of course!
worst burn
lampworking picked up a hot rod ( white) by the wrong end. you only have to make that mistake once.
I have been keeping track of the number of burns from reaching in front of the torch. I hope I can learn from others on this one because that really does sounds very painful .
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  #26  
Old 2008-07-09, 8:28pm
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I was impatient trying to warm up a rod, ended up shocking it big time. Big ol piece flew and attached itself to my upper right arm.

It melted right onto my skin...........I had to scrape it to get it off. Now I have a dime sized, burn scar that looks rather narly. I hide it with make-up sometimes.

Learned a good lesson from that.

Shey
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  #27  
Old 2008-07-09, 8:53pm
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That SSD cream is awesome! I stuck my right pinky into the flame several years ago, also mostly 2nd degree. Burned my nailbed, burned away fingerprints. I used the cream religiously, no matter how gross my finger looked (and it did start to hurt a week later), and it healed beautifully. My nailbed is a little weird, but I got my fingerprints back and everything! Now I keep a jar of the stuff on my workbench, and get it refilled whenever it's about to expire. I get some minor zings now & then and a few worse burns sometimes, and always apply that cream immediately.
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  #28  
Old 2008-07-09, 9:20pm
charles hall charles hall is offline
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I've had two bad burns working in two different classes. Both times, I kept my hand in ice water for about 5 hours. After a while, you don't feel a thing. Both times, worked the next day without problems- no blisters, no scars.

Charles
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  #29  
Old 2008-07-09, 10:36pm
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I put my hand in the flame one about a year ago. It hurt like hell at first, but was not as bad as I would have thought.

I have had a serious 3rd degree burn from my steam iron. I had no idea your iron could get that hot. I have a triangular scar on the inside of my forearm with round circles where the steam holes were. I never went to the doctor about it. I was lucky I had some of those magic Canadian aprins with codeine in them or I would not have made it trough. It was 2 weeks of horror. I had to keep my hand up, the blood pressure when I put my hand down was unbelievable. I couldn't get sun on it either.

It's not that big a scar, mabye 2 x 2 x 2 inches, but I definitely figured out why people with horrific burns lose the will to live. And mine was nothing. Of course the scar is only where the 3rd degree part was, it was burned another 2 inches out from that with 2nd degree burns.

Be careful with your irons. Don't iron on the wrong side of the ironing board. It's dangerous.
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  #30  
Old 2008-07-09, 11:58pm
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Quote:
Originally Posted by indigoblu View Post
I was impatient trying to warm up a rod, ended up shocking it big time. Big ol piece flew and attached itself to my upper right arm.

It melted right onto my skin...........I had to scrape it to get it off. Now I have a dime sized, burn scar that looks rather narly. I hide it with make-up sometimes.

Learned a good lesson from that.

Shey
Yup, did that too. Fortunately, my arms (and the rest of my body) is pretty badly scarred from the "Chicken Pox Incident" so the scar blends in nicely with the rest...
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