A CRAFTSMAN has spoken of his lucky escape after an accident set light to highly-flammable lacquer in his workshop.

Furniture finisher James Taylor, 30, of Benfleet-based Nostalgic Pine, was working on a cabinet when he accidentally dropped an electric sander in a pot of lacquer.

He quickly pulled the sander out again and threw it on a nearby workbench, but it was still plugged in and a spark set light to lacquer on the tool and the bench.

The fire soon engulfed the rear part of his workshop on the Manor Trading Estate, causing thousands of pounds of damage.

Mr Taylor of High Road, Benfleet, was lucky to escape with minor burns to his face and hands.

He said: “I had a fireball on my hands.

“The worktop was covered in lacquer, too, so I knew I had to get it outside.

“By the time I got back in, the whole room was on fire.”

The blaze quickly took hold, as the workshop was stacked with pots of lacquer and wooden furniture.

Mr Taylor said: “I wanted to pull some of the furniture out, but the fire was incredibly hot and the smoke was so black I couldn’t see past my face.

“If the fire brigade hadn’t got here so quickly, it would have burned through the wall of the workshop and into my display room.

“If that had happened, my whole business would have gone up in smoke.”

However, Mr Taylor is quite philosophical about the experience.

He explained: “At the end of the day, I walked away with a couple of minor burns and singed hair.

“It could have been much worse.”

Now he is determined to get Nostalgic Pine back on track and is already back at work, using a friend’s workshop on the Manor Trading Estate.

He said: “I’ve been going eight years and it’s a good business, so I don’t want to see it fall. It’s going to be a long haul, but I want everyone to know I’m back and open for business.”