Got my first iron burn today.

[Hiwatt25]

I was turning a cirucuit board around so I could get my iron on it at a better angle and actually pushed my own finger into the hot end.  It was on the back of my left hand middle finger for about .027 seconds and that's all it took to wake me up.

On the positive side, I'm glad I got the first one out of the way and I didn't blister.

Just thought I'd share. 

[Paul Marossy]

Instant 3rd degree burn! 

[caress]

did it get nice and white?  that's what happened to my two burns...ugh it has that stingy itchy feeling all day.

[petemoore]

  Long ago I rigid-mounted the iron, moving the board to the iron instead of reverse, this keeps the tip right where I want it at all times, well illuminated by the the high and low intensity lighting, and under the exhaust tube inlet.
  Excellent method, of course imoho, though I'm the only I know of who has tried it.
  Allows quick and precise board approaches and retreats, instantly, from all possible angles.
  And prevents the possibility of dropping the iron, I haven't got burned since I adapted to the 'speedy pete' method.

[ulysses]

iron burns can be nasty

i now use goot irons that supposedly focus the heat on the tip and away from the rest of it. ive accidently come in contact with the arm of them both (13w/46w) without a scratch.

when i was younger i used the use a cheapie 25 watt $12.95 nightmare.

one time i was using it - it was sitting on my desk hot and ready for use (no iron holder as i was a broke student). the cable was under the desk and suddenly it decided to pull the iron off the table (weight of the cable must have finally pulled it) - anyway my first reaction was to grab it as it was falling - big mistake - will never do that again - couldnt play guitar for a week.

cheers
ulysses

[Meanderthal]

 Burn = Learn. Rest assured, you won't burn yourself quite the same way twice. I've managed to find a few ways...

[MKB]

I tend to burn my left hand fingertips a lot, but since they are so calloused from playing guitar, I hardly ever feel it.  The burns do turn white but never hurt very much, and a little of that funny smelling smoke is generated.  Now the right hand is a different issue altogether, any burns there hurt bad.

I once had a hot soldering iron on the floor while working on a TV, and my dad stepped on it with bare feet.  Now THAT caused a commotion...

[Ronsonic]

That hurt just reading it.

I'll go try to not think about that one.

Ron

[JonFrum]

Now you are a man.       



When I did tool and die work, i would have to weld up dies to replace surface they had lost, and then machine them back into shape. We had heavy insulating gloves - mittens, actually - but sometimes I wouldn't wait long enough for the block to cool off, and I'd pick it up to carry it to the milling machine or surface grinder. The blocks could be 50-100 lbs, and sometimes, half way across the room, the heat would start working its way through the gloves. Unfortunately, there's this nasty tendency to grip something tight when you're afraid of letting it fall, so I'd be burning up my hands, but I couldn't get my brain to tell my hands to let the thing fall. A few of those and you learn a little patience.

[The Tone God]

I'll say it again, gloves.

Andrew

[petemoore]

  The tendancy to just grab instantly, especially for those of us with 'catch the ball' training, is too great, we've trained ourselves to be able to catch stuff before it hits the ground, great for 'saves', not always so good for safety.

[sfr]

In the past, I've injured myself in various fun ways reaching out for dropped items, both my hands and feet.

I've now conditioned myself to step away from dropped objects rather than intercept them.  One of the first things they've stressed in several jobs I've had, actually - step away rather than trying to grab. 

I'm really awful at sports now, though.

[Paul Marossy]

The couple of times that I burned myself, I was desoldering something and using the iron to put pressure on the part I was desoldering, and it slipped off and onto my finger - just for a few milliseconds! That was enough for a white spot, which was on my left hand with calloused fingertips. Really no big deal. 

[petemoore]

  Mark finally went away where I did a palm jab. Nice loaded, dirty tip too..lovely thought.

[jlullo]

i've never burned myself too bad on a soldering iron, but one time when i was a kid, i was using a woodburning kit.  i was wiping the carbon buildup at the tip of the burner off with some sandpaper, and then at one point forgot to grab the sandpaper.  Needless to say my thumb and index finger didn't work as well as sandpaper would have.

[petemoore]

  About sandpaper and tips.
  Some tips have a coating that prevents the solder and core from eating it.
  Course for a junk tip that's already been compromised...I just clip the hook off if it gets one, have used sandpaper but like 'save it' to let the soldering do all the tip reduction.

[markm]

I hate burns. 

[Meanderthal]

 Oh- forgot to mention- the goo from a live aloe vera leaf will help stop the pain.

[Somicide]

Oh- forgot to mention- the goo from a live aloe vera leaf will help stop the pain.

...which is why my mother used to wonder why her aloe plant looked like hell...

[mattpocket]

You cant beat that catch-it reflex...

I tried to stop a twelve inch kitchen knife falling to the floor when I was washing up... I tried to stop it with my foot, I had slippers on... great idea... the point didnt bend, probably stabbing through my slippers and socks and into my foot helped stop that.

You cant wear gloves, the type of work we are doing is too fiddly for gloves... i'd probably burn myself more from dropping things and trying to catch them! haha

I've burnt myself a couple of times... the best one was when I grabbed the iron at the hot end, all across my palm... lovely smell of burning flesh and thinking "hang on, what's that?..... arghh! this iron isnt turned off"....