I have several of the Chinese free moving blankets. According to the net I can soak them in Borax Detergent and make them fire resistent. I want something to throw on seats or painted stuff when I am welding nearby . Any one ever do this? Thanks
If it is on the web, it must be true. This might work, and I did look it up to see what is out there. The draw back I see is getting the padding to dry out. I guess it will stay wet for a long time, unlike a piece of cloth which seems to be the type of material referred to in the article I read.
Old trick from the early jalopy days of racing, dipping your white coveralls in a drum of borax and water, dried out made it somewhat fire resistent
I wish I had know about that last year. I was doing some welding lift my helmet and hey my pants were on fire
My local upholsterer has a stack of junk leather he stripped off old couches and seats. He uses it for welding blankets at his shop. He gave me some. If you ask nicely maybe your local guy has some too.
The cost of a genuine fire resistant welding blanket is a hell of a lot cheaper than that of a fire, increase insurance premiums, etc.
The Harbor Freight 8x8 blankets are around $30 each with the 20% off coupon. Even the blankets won't stop large drips if laying flat.
Never heard of that before. I got one that became illegal where I was working. Cheaper to give it to me than to legally dispose of it. If you were closer you could use it. They used to sell spray bomb fireproofing. I guess it was for furniture and the like. I am not sure where you would look for it maybe google knows. Google knows everything.
The harbor freight blankets work well as many have stated. I use them myself. The only potential down-side is they are treated with a known carcinogen or cancer-causing material. But the warning they have is probably the usual "CYA" that most product labels have. I think if you're not using it everyday and not covering yourself with it, you're fine. - EM
Used to be in the NHRA rule book... Each pit crew was required a fire blanket for smothering carb and engine fires. Their instructions were to soak a blanket in water along with baking soda, then let it air dry. They worked real good too. But.... Every time you moved it you created a cloud of baking soda around it... Lol Sent from my Moto G Play using The H.A.M.B. mobile app
For no other reason than my own curiosity, how much borax to how much water to make them fire resistant?
The water just makes the borax thinner so it would get into the pores of the cotton and then the water would dry out and the borax was impregnated, otherwise just dry borax you would be a walking cloud of dust. Everything burns even Nomex, its when you take the flame away and the flame goes out - not stay burning. A single layer firesuit is nothing but color for the driver and skin damage occurs after 5 seconds, a -20 fuel suit is good for 20 seconds because it has to penitrate a lot layers, but in the meantime you steam yourself to death
I believe the formula for the Borax fireproofing is in the early 60's N H R A rule book. Remember reading it, but don't remember the formula.
That's for the walmart crowd that reads the description as "wedding blanket" and intends to "sleep" under it.
I have a proper welding blanket. It is a weird fibreglass impregnated stuff that has the feel of rough canvas. It works very well but sheds glass fibres. It doesn't burn. Even a heavy grade uncoated canvas tarp would be better than a cotton or polyester moving blanket.
i have a couple of kitchen fire blankets about 3 foot square...they seem like fibreglass ??? use them often when welding and they work well...cost me about 4 bucks each at a disposal shop
Considering the grief that an accident would bring, cheaping out on a safety item like this would probably not be a good course of action.
Did some repairs on a tarp for the fire department. They used it to put over items that are on fire. They gave me an old one to use to make repairs. I used it on a couple seats for a friend. He loves it. He can put his cigarettes out on his seats.