OK guys;
This must be "confession time"..for each of us to admit doing the bonehead thing. Let this old blacksmith tell you of a bonehead trick each beggining smith does..unless seriously warned. I wasn't seriously warned!
I heated a 1" tubular steel piece about 3' long. I had been working it for some time and prepared the last heat so there were 6-7 inches which were a brilliant orange.. a couple taps..then plunge into the slack tub (water bucket). At bright orange, the steel is around 1500 to 1600 F... you can't imagine the blast of super heated steam that comes ripping out of the operators end of that pipe!
Fortunately it didn't go up a sleeve..the angle kept most of it away from my hand & arm..but it could have been right at my forearm. I didn't get away painless, but it could have been much worse.
That is one lesson I have never forgotten...