[TheForge] Cure for a bad burn?

Mon Mar 28 10:36:41 EDT 2011

Ron, anything cold applied to a closed burn will help. Flour, in that
context would be fine, as would cold stone, cold metal, or anything
else with enough mass to keep drawing the heat out of the injury.
However, going past the water spigot to get to the flour or the marble
slab is counterproductive ;-)

Water has one characteristic that makes it invaluable for burn relief
(aside from being liquid) and that is that the number of calories
required to make it do anything is larger than the number of calories
required for almost anything else, mass for mass. What that means in
this context, is that water will keep things cooler longer, heat for
heat. When, in addition, it's so cheap, and so readily available,
using it for first aid on a burn just makes sense. After all, the
object of first aid on a burn is to stop the flesh cooking (cool it
off) and keep it clean (because burns are so easily infected).

On Mon, Mar 28, 2011 at 10:06 AM, Ron Childers <ron at munlaw.net> wrote:
> I think that "cure" would apply only to a milder burn, like gabbing the
> wrong end of a piece of black metal, not burned down into the meat. I
> had a pretty bad burn during a demo, but "the show must go on". It was
> still cool weather and I'm glad the water in tub was cold....
>
> -----Original Message-----
> From: theforge-bounces at mailman.qth.net
> [mailto:theforge-bounces at mailman.qth.net] On Behalf Of Bruce Freeman
> Sent: Monday, March 28, 2011 9:36 AM
> To: Blacksmithing List Sponsored by ABANA
> Subject: Re: [TheForge] Cure for a bad burn?
>
> I think Phlip's got it right.  Flour could would be tough to debride
> from a burn, and in addition may carry all sorts of undesirable stuff
> along with it.  What's fit for consumption is not necessarily fit for
> direct introduction into a wound.
>
> That said, it wouldn't surprise me if flour milled fresh in a clean
> mill would help a burn or wound, the same way that a bandage can help,
> and possibly more so.
>
> If you  need an emergency remedy for a burn or wound, consider using
> honey.  The sugar seems to be the active ingredient, here, but some
> people consider honey to be something special.  (I don't.)  Sugar is
> fairly resistant to microbes, as is evident by the minimal care it
> takes to put up jellies.  And sugar requires washes off.  (Insofar as
> the starch in flour is a polymer of sugar, it is conceivable that it
> would have the same effect.  The objections to flour remain, however.)
>
> I recommend the book, "Honey, Mud, and Maggots" as an entertaining and
> useful read.  It debunks the modern myth that bleeding was nonsense.
> Apparently, it remedied what it was used for about 7 times out of 10,
> which is probably on par with modern medicine.  It is no longer
> appropriate because people don't suffer the same ailments they did in
> the 18th century and earlier, and because medicine has progressed so
> far.  This is not to say bleeding couldn't kill the patient, but the
> same may be said for many treatments.
>
> On Mon, Mar 28, 2011 at 9:05 AM, Saint Phlip <phlip at 99main.com> wrote:
>> What that will do is dry it up and put more crap in it, so that if you
>> DO go to the Dr, they'll hafta debride it deeper than they'd prefer-
>> at a great expense in pain to you.
>>
>> First Aid for any closed burn is to immerse it in cold water. \Even
>> open burns are to be covered with a sterile (if possible) cloth and
>> cold water applied, (the cloth is there to prevent tissue being washed
>> away).
>>
>> If you want something that REALLY works on burns, get your Dr to give
>> you a prescription for Silvadene.
>>
>> http://www.drugs.com/mmx/silvadene.html
>>
>> That stuff is wonderful. I tested it a couple years ago, when I had
>> managed to get more or less matching nasty burns on both hands (I was
>> teaching, ands I grabbed to prevent the kid for getting a bad burn, so
>> I figured I'd test the stuff. I put the Silvadene on one burn (the
>> worst of the two) and just used cold water and cussing on the other
>> one. The one with the silvadene healed in half the time. I now keep it
>> handy at all times, despite the need to get a Dr to prescribe it for
>> me.
>>
>> On Mon, Mar 28, 2011 at 8:21 AM, Ron Childers <ron at munlaw.net> wrote:
>>> I received an e-mail stating a cure for burns is to immerse the
> burned
>>> area in a box of flour. (Don't wet the burn first). Keeping the flour
> in
>>> the refrigerator is supposed to be even better. Has anyone ever heard
> of
>>> this, or tried it? I have kept aloe plants for years but they keep
>>> dying.
>>
>>
>>
>> --
>> Saint Phlip
>>
>> So, you think your data is safe?
>>
> http://www.cnn.com/2010/OPINION/01/23/schneier.google.hacking/index.html
> ?hpt=T2
>>
>> Heat it up
>> Hit it hard
>> Repent as necessary.
>>
>> Priorities:
>>
>> It's the smith who makes the tools, not the tools which make the
> smith.
>>
>> .I never wanted to see anybody die, but there are a few obituary
>> notices I have read with pleasure. -Clarence Darrow
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>
>
>
> --
> Bruce
> NJ
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-- 
Saint Phlip

So, you think your data is safe?
http://www.cnn.com/2010/OPINION/01/23/schneier.google.hacking/index.html?hpt=T2

Heat it up
Hit it hard
Repent as necessary.

Priorities:

It's the smith who makes the tools, not the tools which make the smith.

.I never wanted to see anybody die, but there are a few obituary
notices I have read with pleasure. -Clarence Darrow