So… I’m in the basement working on a project for my father in law’s pickup. Entry steps, and not some skimpy steps, my father in law’s a big guy! Theyre made from 2x4x0.128 rectangle tube. Theyre coming along pretty nicely. So i was cutting what will be the plate that mounts the step to the frame of the truck. I’m cutting with an angle grinder, its the first cut on a piece of eighth inch steel plate that’s got a little rust on it. So I trace the shape i need to cut, measure twice, start to cut. I generally trace the line on the first cut, and sort of score the steel so i can then follow the same line on each pass. Instead of cutting straight through on the first pass.

So i’m cutting along, and I smell what smells like burnt marshmellos. A smell I’m very familiar with, after all of my years in boyscouts. I take a sniff, look around, dont see any smoke, or anthing that seems a good reason for alarm. I keep cutting. I still smell the smell, I figure it must be from the metal, something got on it while it was sitting on my basement floor, or the rust maybe? I keep cutting. Eventually I stop to take a look at my cut, and give my arms a rest… Holding that grinder in such an exact position tends to make the arms tired. So I’m looking at my cut, and I stand up straight to stretch my back out from being hunched over the piece. When i stand up, i notice something….

I realize quickly that while I was cutting, the hot metal shards that i thougth were hitting my jeans (which are rather heat resistant) were actually hitting my shirt, which overhung my jeans a bit, and the burnt marshmello smell? That was my shirt… I now have two nice scorch marks, along with holes, in my shirt… I laugh, and get back to cutting…

-War