I have never had a fire extinguisher in wood shop. No need for it, or so I thought.

   I have been doing a lot of lathe work on my mini lathe. I like to sand down to a very fine grit and then use 0000 steel wool. I've done it for years and like the results really well. I was using the steel wool on a small piece and suddenly it caught on the piece, the wool came undone and stretched, while spinning at full speed. It was hitting the lathe bed with every revolution and very quickly  got very hot. The fine dust in the steelwool caught fire and started sending sparks and fire off in many directions. This all happened in a couple of seconds that it takes to reach for and turn off the switch. I was lucky that I was able to put the fire out by blowing and smothering it. Its a very good thing that I  had just cleaned the lathe area and there wasn't much dust to catch fire.

  When I removed the piece from the lathe, I found that I had dropped a drop of glue on part of the piece and that is what grabbed the wool............. I will get a fire extinguisher.

I'm going to get one, now...

Believe it or not, I have two.  One at the back of the shop and one right beside the door just in case I'm outside if a fire starts and I can't back it to the back of the shop.

I have a hose bib in the shop and a hose.

I keep one in my shop. Probably should add one more. I also keep a smoke and co2 detector in there.

 

Wayne

I alos have 2, one at each end of the shop.

I have one new one and one Brass antique one, but I don't think I could use the antique one. I guess I really need to add one or more to the shop. One is up front, so I guess I will pickup one and place it near the back of the shop.

 

Thanks for causing us to think about it.

got a an fire exstinguisher in house because of concintrator for me,guess i better get one for shop,will be adding water line so wife can water plants will hook up hose for in shop too

I have one hanging by the walk in door. Haven't had to use it but it's there.

You can never have enough fire extinguishers... Most fires if not put out within a few sec. will destroy your building. In my area the schools and businesses have to change out the fire extinguishers every so many years like it or not. Some are in very good condition. Our local junkyard has 1000's of them and you can buy them cheap. With any powered extinguisher you should once a year turn it upside down and smack it with a rubber hammer.