I burned myself with a soldering iron

AnalogKid

Joined Aug 1, 2013
10,986
NSA is right - that smell...... You never forget your first ... zorch. Mine was at age 12.

I certainly don't try to make a regular habit of it, but when it happens, my wife can't understand why the smell doesn't bother me. No way to explain.

ak
 

R!f@@

Joined Apr 2, 2009
9,918
Soldering burns is not a problem. Most of the time it heals
On the other hand a 300VDC cap discharging via your thumb is another story.
 

#12

Joined Nov 30, 2010
18,224
Soldering burns is not a problem. Most of the time it heals
On the other hand a 300VDC cap discharging via your thumb is another story.
Yes. I still have a dotted line of carbon tattoos in my left hand from a horizontal output tube with a cracked anode cap. That happened in 1971.
 

ian field

Joined Oct 27, 2012
6,536
Today I was using my soldering iron and I moved my left hand and touched it by accident when I was desoldering. (I know it was stupid) It hurt for a while and I had my burnt thumb under cold water for 5 minutes. The burn made my skin turn white and I put on a band-aid. 30 minutes later I noticed it didn't hurt anymore and the white skin became a white blister. Should I do anything else to treat it? It currently feels a little numb but nothing to bad. I also applied solar Cain (again, I don't know why I thought that would do anything xD) I never burned myself before with a soldering iron and it would be nice toknow if I should do anything else. Thanks!
If you're a big girly wuss - you can buy a little can of burn-eeez spray, its used immediately and partly freezes the burn to take the heat out of it.

For a small burn, the biggest danger is infection when the blister breaks. Tincture of iodine isn't a bad idea, though these days the medics are advising use of aerosol spray povidone-iodine.

If you're getting your hands dirty, dress the wound to keep it clean - otherwise the wound bed forms a protective layer quicker in fresh air.

If you're diabetic - impaired circulation can delay healing and dramatically increase risk of infection.
 

ronv

Joined Nov 12, 2008
3,770
That smell, that burning skin smell on the finger tips is the sign of a true electronics addict.
Speaking of burning skin. When I was young and reckless I had a ham transmitter with 3000 volts on the plate supply. Well I got my right finger to close to the plate cap on top of the final output tube. I kind of remember the arc to my finger and somehow I ended up in my big easy chair with smoke from my left knee to match the smoke from my finger. Terrible smell and took forever for the RF burn to heal.
But it could have been a lot worse.
 

nsaspook

Joined Aug 27, 2009
13,079
Speaking of burning skin. When I was young and reckless I had a ham transmitter with 3000 volts on the plate supply. Well I got my right finger to close to the plate cap on top of the final output tube. I kind of remember the arc to my finger and somehow I ended up in my big easy chair with smoke from my left knee to match the smoke from my finger. Terrible smell and took forever for the RF burn to heal.
But it could have been a lot worse.
We saved a guy once who did much the same thing. He touched a live transmitter tube that ate part of his hand and cooked the spot on his arm at the exit point while we were working inside the HF transmitter room of a ship. The smell of the smoke from the RF burn inside his arm (there was little blood and skin where the current flowed , just a burned tunnel of thick dust) was something you never forget. He had an almost total recovery of the usage of that hand and arm after about a year of surgery and skin grafts.
 

ian field

Joined Oct 27, 2012
6,536
Speaking of burning skin. When I was young and reckless I had a ham transmitter with 3000 volts on the plate supply. Well I got my right finger to close to the plate cap on top of the final output tube. I kind of remember the arc to my finger and somehow I ended up in my big easy chair with smoke from my left knee to match the smoke from my finger. Terrible smell and took forever for the RF burn to heal.
But it could have been a lot worse.
Similar thing while adjusting the horizontal oscillator on an old hybrid CTV - a long thin arc had found my knuckle, the first I knew of it was the smell of burning flesh. It was seriously sore once I noticed it, and the burn took ages to heal.
 

ian field

Joined Oct 27, 2012
6,536
He had a post in both, I picked this to stay.

It does seem to be one of the early learning experiences a lot of us go through with this hobby/profession.
Not just early learning - couple of days ago the side of my thumb found a dollop of hot melt glue I didn't notice I'd spilled!

Being a bit slow wiping it off, I de-roofed the blister at the same time.

Its had a day dressed with a squirt of povidone-iodine, and a day in fresh air - but its still pretty sore.
 

Glenn Holland

Joined Dec 26, 2014
703
A hot iron is like a loaded gun and if you are careless, you (or someone else) can get hurt big time.

Unless it's being used, I always keep it in the holder.

The worst case is when you have to do soldering "in the field" instead of on the bench and the iron just gets laid someplace. Get a holder with a magnetic base that can be attached to a vertical surface.
 

djsfantasi

Joined Apr 11, 2010
9,156
Sometimes if you're not careful, a holder won't help. My iron was safely put away, but the power cord draped over the front of the bench. My knee caught it and the iron became airborne. My quick reactions (I don't know where they came from; I'm normally a klutz) motivated me to catch the iron. D'oh! Now, I had a 50/50 chance of grabbing the handle, but I grabbed the hot end (perhaps I am still a klutz). THAT was a good burn (if there is such a thing).
 

strantor

Joined Oct 3, 2010
6,782
I quote myself from 2011:
I was holding the soldering iron like I always do - like a pencil. then, like I always do when I'm holding a pencil (and deep in thought about something), I flipped the iron over and palmed all 750 degrees of it. I actually held it like that >1sec. I heard the sizzle and actually had to look to see where it was coming from. Then I dropped it in my lap.
That burn turned white and yellow and black and continued to feel like fire for a long time. In the center, the skin was burned too badly to really "blister"; it blistered around the edges, but in the center it just bled and scabbed over. I ripped the scab off (as I always do) and saw hand meat inside. It was pretty gnarly. Then I healed like a champion after getting grease and filth in the wound.
 

ian field

Joined Oct 27, 2012
6,536
A hot iron is like a loaded gun and if you are careless, you (or someone else) can get hurt big time.

Unless it's being used, I always keep it in the holder.

The worst case is when you have to do soldering "in the field" instead of on the bench and the iron just gets laid someplace. Get a holder with a magnetic base that can be attached to a vertical surface.
The best soldering iron holder is the one that you slot the iron into a spring that encloses the hot bit.

Last time I bought an iron from Maplin, I got one of those holders in the set, but it was a bit lightweight, so I stuck the base to a scrap hard drive to stop it falling over.
 
allenph pretty much has it right. get cool water on it ASAP. Try to keep it cool like from an ice pak or a bag of frozen vegtables.

Protect it. There are some nice "burn pads" that act as a "2d skin" that work really well.

Worry more when it breaks the skin.

Yea, had a power failure once and my foot pulled the soldering iron. Don;t try to catch it. It seems to be instinct. Kill that instinct when the item will hurt you.
 

tindel

Joined Sep 16, 2012
936
A joke my dad always tells...

You know how to tell the difference between an engineer and a tech? Engineer has scares from the iron on his hands.

Dad was a tech... I'm an ee... i can confirm the joke.

I always tell this joke to the techs i work with. It helps them know that i know my place and usually i get a little laugh out of them!

Tinman
 
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