Blacksmithing for Beginners - Metal Fume Fever

Blacksmithing for Beginners - Metal Fume Fever. Welding or burning galvanized metal can pose a great health risk. This video is a brief overview of the problem.

Death from burning galvanized metal:

More information on metal oxides and health risks:

[windhelmguard]

Just welded galvanized for a full day and checked this video to see if i should be worried and this is the first thing i hear 0:15



Nice

[cintulator]

Not just for blacksmiths, it is for every metal worker on this globe.


Thanks, really!

[egyptianamericanpatriot]

What an awesome and important video, especially to newbies just getting started. Thank you so much. Big Thumbs up.

[ChAri]

thanks mate, it's nice to have a more in depth understanding of the dangers involved in blacksmithing

[SantasWorkshop]

Great Videos, today I feel better after 5 days of suffering, always stood upwind but this time it finally got me and I didn't feel it until the next morning. Your teaching methods are awesome and thank you !

[olofjansson]

Also, be aware that brass brazing rod contains zinc which will fume when melted. Indeed the effects fume disease are cumulative and may not be immediately noticeable. Make sure to have good ventilation when torch brazing, especially if you're doing a lot. I discovered this the hard way and have been extremely cautious since. Whether or not there's any scientific basis for it, drinking a quart of milk did seem to rapidly alleviate my symptoms but probably not a substitute for proper medical attention.
This video is very important advice for anyone working metal!

[andrewblack]

Thank you indeed for the information! Now I know why and how my friend got ill from welding up our corral. We made it with guard rails and galvanized I beams. He didn’t wear a respirator. Made home sick for a week. And that’s outdoors with wind.

[allendesteiguer]

I've been using muriatic acid to remove zinc coatings (galvanizing and zinc/cadmium) from metal before welding.

[drason]

Jim "Paw Paw" Wilson. May he rest in peace. He helped me with suggestions to get my first real anvil

[patrickkelly]

Thank you.
I have welded galvanized pipe. Small quantities, outdoors, only occasionally.

[Felenari]

Very nice video. I had no idea about the 400 degree off gassing. Much, much thanks.

[spinaway]

i once smelted a crucible of silver in an enclosed barn without any immediate effects, later on around midnight i began to shiver and i had little stabbing pains allover my body, i thought iwas dieing, i began vomiting and the shivers became uncontrollable, it was terryfying it lasted for around three days, thankfully i survived.

[torbjornahman]

Good info!! But I doubt the "400 degree off gassing" statement. The issue here is zinc or zinc oxide reaching your lungs. For this to happen it needs to get airborne, either mechanically (grinding/cutting) or as a "gas". The boiling point for zinc is around 1500-1600 F and it's not until then a gas of zinc is produced. To my understanding this gas is immediately oxidized to zinc oxide which forms very small white particles - this is seen as a white smoke. So there is no such thing as an invisible zinc gas, apart from solid zinc particles floating around from grinding/cutting....

[isaiahramirez]

Is there anyway to identify galvanized steel or any warning signs that I might see while forging?

[joemmams]

galvanized steel made me so sick(the cure back then was to drink milk)when I was a young welder I learned my lesson and stayed away since...my first big-time welding job was building giant stainless sewage tanks...the company would send us for chelation treatments annually to remove chromium and other metals...bit different than nowadays

[brianleabo]

Thank you I been welding for years and never knew this

[luckylarz]

I've been watching your videos for the past few hours I have learned a lot on a little time. you're very knowledgeable, teaching me a lot of things I am new to smithing I've had an interest in it for a while trying to learn everything I can before I jump into it. I've been welding for years and I thought once you grind it off the top coat on the galvi steel it was fine guess I was wrong. so all sheet metal is toxic then? I guess I'm just trying to understand what metals are safe and which are not. if I would have build a hood for my Forge what kind of thin metal should I use? I've always been the guy wearing the respirator having fans on with doors open when everybody else is just breathing everything toxic in. so I've always tried to take the proper precautions but I'm sure I've inhaled stuff I shouldn't who hasn't. thank you for your videos and all your knowledge

[bigbomb]

Good i listened to this before trying to forge zinc bolts

[oljames]

Wow! Very Good demonstration Mr. Denis. to think, this could wind up in your body...

[sheepewe]

Wery good video, i also discovered this the hard way back in time when i was younger and welded galvanized steel and i got a terrible headace... In the forge it´s as You say even more dangerous since for example an oven can get contaminated by strange metals for a long time without any distinct visible signs.

It P*** me off a bit when i telling about dangerous things on internet forums and some people start f***k with me just because they can, instead of listen, but honestly i don´t care about them if they refuse to listen anyway, unfortunatly there is no cure against stupidity... I wish there was more people like You in the world, but inteligence does not grow on trees.