Today I got out my trusty retort so I could finish up a couple estate restorations. I laid out all of my gear and cleaned the workspace. The fire extinguisher was on hand as well as my protective gear and so I assembled it and went to work. A few minutes in I realized I forgot to put on my face shield. "I've done this a bunch of times with no problems, it's a piece of cake and has been perfectly safe." I thought. "I don't really need the face shield or safety glasses."
As soon as those thoughts formed I realized that I was getting over-confident and that's when mistakes happen. I put everything back down, snuffed the fire and put on my face shield as well as my other glove. I'm glad I did because 30 seconds after I started back in something wasn't right, it wasn't beginning to boil and it wasn't having the sort of "turbulent" feel it gets when it's about to boil. About 2 seconds later it made a popping sound and all of the alcohol in the retort was now in the pipe and some of it was on my freshly gloved hand.
It could have been much worse but it's a good lesson. Never get too confident in your abilities with fire and alcohol (or power tools for that matter) and always use your protective gear.
As soon as those thoughts formed I realized that I was getting over-confident and that's when mistakes happen. I put everything back down, snuffed the fire and put on my face shield as well as my other glove. I'm glad I did because 30 seconds after I started back in something wasn't right, it wasn't beginning to boil and it wasn't having the sort of "turbulent" feel it gets when it's about to boil. About 2 seconds later it made a popping sound and all of the alcohol in the retort was now in the pipe and some of it was on my freshly gloved hand.
It could have been much worse but it's a good lesson. Never get too confident in your abilities with fire and alcohol (or power tools for that matter) and always use your protective gear.
