Sunday, April 02, 2006

Burning It Up

Most of Saturday I kept wondering where this irritating rash on my arms came from. And why did it have a straight line across the top of it?

Sunday morning in the shower I look at it again and it all became clear.

Friday at work I was welding a new tip on a pick up rail. I cranked the welder up, grabbed some stoody, and let fly. I had gloves on but was wearing a t-shirt. When I used the arc welder back on the farm I always wore a long sleeved shirt. True, it was polyester and riddled with burn holes, but it HAD sleeves. So I'm building this fantastic tip out of the stoody and all I need to do is get the steel to flow so I can mix it up for a strong weld. The heat was getting real intense but the bead was just starting to flow. When you get a good bead going, you have to keep it flowing.

The end result was a rail tip that was passed around the shop for admiration Friday night and me finally realizing on Sunday that I have what is basically a sun burn on my upper arms. I think all the hair shielded my forearms.
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2 comments:

X said...

My dad always used to have a bright red 'V' on his chest between the bottom edge of his mask and his collar. To avoid that, I always buttoned up my shirt Vato-style. My favorite welding shirt is the one I stole from the Pantagleize props at MCAE.

4/03/2006 07:39:00 AM
List with Laszlo said...

When my step daughter was about 5 she got sent home from daycare with the "chicken pox." We took her to the doctor and everyone was puzzeled as to where the "rash" came from. The I realized she was standing near the stove while I fryed bacon in a frying pan a few days earlier and the "chicken pox" was only hot grease splatters.

4/03/2006 07:18:00 PM

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