Zinc fumes killed this guy

[924T]

http://www.anvilfire.com/iForge/tutor.php?lesson=safety3/demo

I couldn't find plain old steel screen material in town, so I bought some 'hardware fabric', which is zinc-coated
steel screen, figuring I would just burn off the zinc and finally have some steel screen.

Once I got home I remembered reading about metal fever on the forum, and decided to look into what hazards
I would be facing if I burned the zinc off of the steel screen.

Zinc fumes are far worse than I could have imagined, and can be lethal, as described in the linked article above.

So, I returned the 'hardware fabric', and will be ordering some stainless steel mesh from ebay.

Cheers,

Mike

 

[butcher]

As a welder, I have suffered many a night with fume fever (from welding on galvanized metal), it would normally begin with a metallic taste in the mouth, then later chills, fever like symptoms, and the feeling you get when flu attacks your body, I knew these welding fumes were dangerous, as most fumes from welding are, but it wasn't until I learned more about it here on the forum, and through study did I realize how dangerous this metals spider web of fumes are for the human body.

Mike thanks for posting this in our safety section.

 

[924T]

butcher,

I'd have metal fever right now if I hadn't done so much reading on the forum.

More people should heed the safety precautionary warnings from the senior members who have
seen it all-----the good, the bad, and the ugly (dangerous).

Cheers,

Mike

 

[rickbb]

I had an uncle that was a welder in a GM truck plant, mostly worked on galvanized truck bodies.

Notice I said "had" an uncle. He retired young on disability, spent his retirement mostly sick and died before he was 65.

This was in the days before the robots started doing most of the welding.

Fumes from even what seems to be benign metals can be quite toxic.