Wednesday, March 10, 2010

Burnin' down the house

I keep a propane torch under my desk.  What?  Don't you have a propane torch under your desk?  If you don't have a propane torch under your desk, that's just plain weird.  I don't like weird people, so if you fit into the no-propane-torch category, well, just stifle yourself.  I didn't ask, so you don't tell, okay?

Anywayyyy, a lot of the commercial engraving I do is on plastics used in things like industrial control panels. The plastics are prone to scratching;  I am prone to laziness.  Some people buff out faint scratches; I prefer to just "flame-polish" them away.  Hence the value of having a torch handy.  But today I was a little negligent with the flame.  As I was inspecting the part to see if I'd "polished" it enough, I kinda lost track of where the torch was pointing.  If you've ever taken one of your clueless liberal friends to the gun range - (you know, you yell "cease fire!" and they slue about saying "what?" with their muzzle pointed everywhere but safely downrange) - then you know what I'm talking about. 

Luckily, I "ceased fire" before the desk burst into flames.  But not before it smoked a little bit.  Heehee.

6 comments:

  1. I am so glad your okay and you got the fire under control.

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  2. Teresa - 'preciate the concern, but it never really caught fire. More like it just made a dark blotch on the trim of the desk.

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  3. funny. i just got back from one of our fascinating safety meetings. torches were not covered. i keep mine in the window sill. does that still mean i'm weird?

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  4. Oh I've never done anything like that myself.

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  5. labcat - yes, it does. But it is a good kind of weird.

    Woodsterman - Heh. You should see me try to use a soldering iron. Nobody is safe!

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  6. I sat my torch down once and burnt my shop stereo's chord, resulting in a breaker tripping (leaving me in the dark)and the sweet smell of burnt plastic.

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Family-friendly phrasing heartily encouraged.

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