By Shawna Kulpa
When you work with open flames, caustic chemicals, and sharp tools, keeping a first aid kit nearby is mandatory. Alongside the bandages, antiseptic wipes, and yards of gauze, there’s one other thing you may want to keep stocked in your shop’s kit: clear nail polish.
Seattle-based jeweler and metalsmith Andrew Cooperman learned this firsthand and shared the lesson in his blog. He was teaching a class and after demonstrating a difficult soldering job, accidentally placed his hand on a soldering pad that had been heated. His self-acknowledged schoolgirl shriek alerted his students, one of whom was a registered nurse.
The nurse jumped into action and pulled a bottle of clear, plain nail polish from her purse. She explained that she had learned this tip from a glass artist and then went to work applying three coats of the polish to the burn on Cooperman’s hand. After applying the final coat she assured him that all was well and that he could go about his day as usual, letting the nail polish gradually flake off.
He admits he was skeptical. “I smiled and nodded, trying to figure out how to best explain to the attending ER doctor why my burn was covered with cheap, clear nail polish,” he wrote. But that skepticism didn’t last long, as he soon noticed that the burn no longer hurt, and the large blister he was anticipating failed to arrive. “I was a believer!”