Scorched

[Lonsdale73]

My neighbour has cats and sometimes they like to have a nosy in the workshop. One popped its nose in the other day and after it went there was a bit of a stink so I wondered if it had left me an organic gift. Couldn't see anything but the smell was getting worse. Decided that was my cue for a break and went to switch off the music and the smell was even stronger in that part, bit too far in for the cat's usual foray. I went to pick up a wad of steel wool I'd dropped earlier and it damn near burnt my hand off. I kicked it away to reveal this scorch mark which was throwing out some heat. I poured a jug of water over it and it was hot enough to generate some steam. So did the block of wool. I'd been using an angle grinder earlier and I think some stray sparks must have fallen onto the wool causing it to smoulder. I would never have thought it would do that. Suppose it's a good thing I like to have music on when I work otherwise I wouldn't have needed to go down that end and who knows what might have happened if it had been left unchecked?

 

[Rorschach]

Wire wool makes an excellent fire starter as you have found out, a small spark is all it takes to get it going.

 

[duncanh]

Burning wire wool is used in fire displays for an interesting effect

 

[Bm101]

At the risk of sounding repetitive you can get a fire going from wire wool and a 9v battery. It's a well known camping trick if you grew up before the internet. These days it's a well known survivalist means of lighting a fire in case of zombie invasion.... :roll:
Glad it worked out ok.

 

[Phil Pascoe]

I used to invigilate exams in a very safety concious college - the exam officer nearly had a fit when I pointed out that it wasn't really a good idea to keep spare clock batteries in the bottom of a bag with scores of paperclips.