Date: November 11th, 2008
I've been known by some as the "McGyver of fly tying"....Well that's partly true. If there is a tool, or gadget I need to complete a task, I can USUALLY make it. Well on this date I found myself in need of an alcohol lamp. Well kids, here's how NOT to build an alcohol lamp if you need one.....
I needed a lamp to do some "quick drying" of some hook finish I was experimenting with so I decided that I would just build one from some stuff I had laying about. I figured I needed a reservoir to hold the alcohol. A baby food jar would do for that (My daughter was still eating the stuff). A chisel punched through the lid would suffice for holding the wick. And for a wick....Well a ladies feminine product would do nicely!
So I assembled my makeshift lamp and pulled apart the "wick" and filled the jar up with alcohol. I lit the wick and had a nice little blue flame burning. But, the flame got a lot bigger quickly! The wick was really wicking, and soon the whole baby food jar lid was ablaze with a foot tall flame, about 3" in diameter at the base. Well, now I was concerned, and knew I couldn't just blow the flame out like normal. Meanwhile, this is happening on my ever-cluttered, WOODEN work bench with piles of assorted dirty laundry nearby on the floor, cause I was working adjacent to the clothes washer. So, the flame was growing, and soon the wick was wicking more than the jar lid would hold and it overflowed onto the workbench. Now I had some real trouble, and a 3' high flame, a foot wide on a wooden work bench, with the potential to burn down my garage.
I looked about for something to smother the flame with, a cotton rag was near by, so I threw it on the flame, nocking the the whole works off of the workbench and onto the garage floor, spilling into the laundry. Now I had a workbench on fire, the cement floor ablaze and the laundry pile quickly going up in smoke. I was cursing explicatives that would make the most salty of sailors blush. I grabbed a towel near by and extinguished the work bench and ran into the house and opened the fridge and grabbed the pitcher of water, I ran back to the garage and doused the flaming laundry pile, narrowly putting it out.
Needless to say, I was a bit excited. If not for some luck, it may have ended up alot worse. I now keep a fire extinguisher handy, and no longer use my makeshift alcohol lamp.
As an after thought.....It MAY have worked if I had used a different brand of tampon, maybe one for lighter days...
I've been known by some as the "McGyver of fly tying"....Well that's partly true. If there is a tool, or gadget I need to complete a task, I can USUALLY make it. Well on this date I found myself in need of an alcohol lamp. Well kids, here's how NOT to build an alcohol lamp if you need one.....
I needed a lamp to do some "quick drying" of some hook finish I was experimenting with so I decided that I would just build one from some stuff I had laying about. I figured I needed a reservoir to hold the alcohol. A baby food jar would do for that (My daughter was still eating the stuff). A chisel punched through the lid would suffice for holding the wick. And for a wick....Well a ladies feminine product would do nicely!
So I assembled my makeshift lamp and pulled apart the "wick" and filled the jar up with alcohol. I lit the wick and had a nice little blue flame burning. But, the flame got a lot bigger quickly! The wick was really wicking, and soon the whole baby food jar lid was ablaze with a foot tall flame, about 3" in diameter at the base. Well, now I was concerned, and knew I couldn't just blow the flame out like normal. Meanwhile, this is happening on my ever-cluttered, WOODEN work bench with piles of assorted dirty laundry nearby on the floor, cause I was working adjacent to the clothes washer. So, the flame was growing, and soon the wick was wicking more than the jar lid would hold and it overflowed onto the workbench. Now I had some real trouble, and a 3' high flame, a foot wide on a wooden work bench, with the potential to burn down my garage.
I looked about for something to smother the flame with, a cotton rag was near by, so I threw it on the flame, nocking the the whole works off of the workbench and onto the garage floor, spilling into the laundry. Now I had a workbench on fire, the cement floor ablaze and the laundry pile quickly going up in smoke. I was cursing explicatives that would make the most salty of sailors blush. I grabbed a towel near by and extinguished the work bench and ran into the house and opened the fridge and grabbed the pitcher of water, I ran back to the garage and doused the flaming laundry pile, narrowly putting it out.
Needless to say, I was a bit excited. If not for some luck, it may have ended up alot worse. I now keep a fire extinguisher handy, and no longer use my makeshift alcohol lamp.
As an after thought.....It MAY have worked if I had used a different brand of tampon, maybe one for lighter days...
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