smoke - fire ?

[Harry Goodwin]

I want to share my latest happening. I realize lots of dangers with woodworking but I found a new one.
I was turning a zebra and wenga blank for letter openers and as usual the soft wood needs a little help and I put a coat of Mylands celulose sanding sealer on it and it did it's job and hardened things well followed by sanding and then some more and more sanding and then a coouple coats of EZ cyyanote spell glue in preparatiion for triple E and then polish. I looked toward my sander table and there was the Scot rag actually smoking and by my interpretation ready to burst in flame. I never considered such a thing. I have burned fingers with Cy glue of course but this was a lot hotter. Anyone else ever had this problem. I didn't use BLO that I think will burn by itself also turn right into a scoup with a dust collector and the possibility of fire there. Help Harry

[Carole Valentine]

From your message, it's not real clear on what the rag was soaked with...was it the Mylands or the glue or both? Maybe a chemical reaction between the two? Was it a paper towel or a cloth rag? Was it wadded up tight or just loosely crumpled? Curious turners want to know!

[Jeff Sudmeier]

Harry, glad you caught it in time! I would be interested to know what it was soaked in as well. I have used many rags with CA and BLO, never had a problem with them...

A rag that catches on fire while turning would be even worse than most other times. Many more shavings on the floor to burst into flames!

[Mike Cyros]

Boy - this is a wake up call for all of us! Nothing like standing on several inches of widespread bowl shavings all over the floor, but if something like that did ignite, it would spread quickly and be very difficult to control. I'm heading down now to my lathe to remove several barrels of built up shavings!

Having said that, I am religious about hanging any oil or chemical soaked rag out in the full open with no folds so that there is no chance for heat to be trapped and built. I usually hang them on the metal extension rails of my tablesaw with no combustables nearby. Ideally, I should remove them completely from my shop. I'm looking forward to following this thread to learn more about what happened - this (besides an injury) is my biggest fear in my shop.

Thanks for sharing!

...mike

[Rich Stewart]

I was using BLO with a paper towel and somehow the paper towel ended up in one of my junk boxes filled with sandpaper and scotchbrite. The next week whn I started turning I brought out the box and the paper towel had caught fire and burned in the box. I will never know how it kept from burning my shed down and possibly my house. It was folded in quarters. My neighbor who is a cabinet maker had warned me about BLO a long time ago and I had been being very careful with it. Not sure how it ended up in my sandpaper box. Maybe wifey was helping me clean up. Whew!!

[Harry Goodwin]

Carole,Jeff and Mike: I didn't mean to an alarmist but my shop would burn in a flash.
I use scott rags , paper and come in a large box with pull out. They have worked great and if something catches who cares.
Now, My smoking towel was produced by mylands celulose sanding sealer and followed with the same rag by Ca glue. Then the smoke as it sat on my sander table. I made some magnifying glasses this morning and used mylannds sealer and Mylands high gloss finish and no heat. I used CA and beulens and no excess heat and triple E and no smoke so maybe your suspician between CA and Mylands is the source. Never the less the rags go in an old alluminum pot now. Thanks for your help. Harry

[Andy Hoyt]

And I'll bet your shop smelled wonderful and your eyes didn't burn at all:D

[Carole Valentine]

I keep a 10 gal metal garbage can with a lid on the gravel drive about 15ft outside my shop. All finishing stuff...paper towels, oil soaked sandpaper, goves, etc. go into that can.