Warning: My cousin thought the quenching trough was a foot bath...

So my cousin visited my workshop yesterday... he saw the water trough I use for quenching and thought it was for soaking tired feet. He almost stuck his foot in before I stopped him. Imagine if he did that with hot metal nearby... it could have been a disaster. Now I keep a sign up that says 'Hot Metal Only'. Just a reminder to label everything clearly when non-smiths are around. It saves a lot of explaining and prevents accidents.

4 comments

4 Comments

alice_allen51mo ago

Signs for everything are too much. Your cousin should have asked before putting his foot in. Workshops are not for relaxing, and visitors must think. Labels can make a place look cluttered and might not help. People need to watch out for themselves in new places. Carelessness causes problems, not a lack of signs.

noahsanchez1mo ago

Wow, thanks for the safety lecture... So workshops should be like surprise obstacle courses where you figure out the dangers by stumbling into them... Labels might clutter the view, but so does blood on the floor from a careless step... I guess we could just replace all signs with a giant "good luck" poster at the entrance... That would really make people think.

thea6021mo ago

Kinda like my friend drinking glue, no label.

brian_taylor1518d ago

Alice makes a fair point about visitors needing to think. I get that a workshop isn't a spa. But calling this a disaster feels like a stretch. It was just water, right? Unless he was actively quenching at that exact second, the worst outcome is a wet sock. Sometimes we make a bigger deal out of near misses than they really are.