Torch Safety Tip

A recent mishap showed me that I need to add another safety precaution. I was torch enameling and had several pieces almost completely fired atop trivets on a fire brick. For some reason, one of the pieces fell off to the floor (or so I thought). I just kept firing the others and was not concerned about the one that fell off. Strangely, my foot was feeling odd, but I just focused on the pieces on the trivets until I finished. After turning off the torch, I looked for the piece on the floor. I just couldn't readily see it, but then I realized my foot really did have a problem. It was HOT! I was wearing sandals and the hot piece fell on my foot. I'm lucky I wasn't badly burned.

Moral: don't go barefoot or wear open toed shoes when using a torch. I've now added that to my list of safety precautions.