My first "Blacksmithing Tattoo"

I was recently at the forge working on a pair of “bolt head” tongs. I was preparing to make a rivet to assemble them so I put a heat on my rivet stock and cut a piece off. I accidentally cut all the way through the stock so a chunk of very hot steel fell on the wood floor and immediately began to smolder. I bent dawn to pick up the chunk with my tongs and put my hand on the anvil for support. Quite quickly I realized the error of my ways as I heard and felt the other section of stock start burning my hand. I yanked my hand off of it and immediately plunged it into my quench bucket. I went over to my lunchbox which was filled with ice, but some in a handkerchief and began icing the burn. I grabbed the two hot chunks of steel with my tongs and tossed them in the quench bucket; made sure nothing was on fire and applied some burn cream I keep in my first aid kit. I then made this video. I have spent the last 16+ years working in manufacturing and have been very well trained on safe working procedures. This video demonstrates that all the training in the world is useless if you ignore it. I was working with a scrap of steel less than 6” long and heated to around 1300°. I should have been wearing gloves. If I had been wearing gloves I may have not suffered any sort of injury. Instead I got a 3rd degree burn and if not for the first aid training I got at work and some advice taken from a blacksmith, whose class I attended last year, the results may have been far worse. I encourage everyone to take at least a basic First Aid and CPR class. I won’t go into a long and preachy sermon about preparedness here (I’ll do it here instead) I will simply ask that you please take the time to learn how to do whatever you do safely..and then do it that way!!