Unexpected fire hazard in shop

[Ron Berry]

At boy scout camp we learned that steel wool and a 9v battery is one of the 
ways to start a fire. Dryer lint is the other stuff that you can start with a flint-
steel hotspark kit.

ron
On 29 Aug 2007 at 8:48, Rob & Helen Goodale wrote:

> 
> Steel wool is bare ferrous metal and prone to instant rusting under the right conditions. I've 
> opened new packages of steel wool in the past and found a slight hint of an oil residue on it. I'm 
> guessing that this is to prevent rusting by the time the consumer buys it in the event it remains on 
> a store shelf for a long time somewhere humid. I would speculate the wool you had may have 
> had an excess amount of protective oil. The sparks got it going. Weird! 
> 
> Rob Goodale, RPT 
> Las Vegas, NV 
> 
> 
>     Today I had a fresh roll of 0000 steel wool catch fire from grinder sparks. Just 5 seconds of 
>     low level flame (like alcohol flames) and another 5 second of glowing strands until it went 
>     out. Of course it went out -- steel is not a combustible material!!
>     
>     I was using an angle grinder (hand held, and this wasn't piano work). The sparks were 
>     shooting about 3 feet across my bench where the roll of steel wool was. If it had been 
>     resting on something like paper towel, that might have been more serious.
>     
>     Watch your sparks!
>     
>     John Baird 

----------------------
Ron Berry Piano Service
Indianapolis, IN 46220
317-255-8213
ron at berrypiano.com 
http://www.berrypiano.com