Wire Brushes

[gamanet]

Thats why its important to let the tool do the work for you. the more pressure you add the more resistance there is between the metal and the wire wheel.

[romandybala]

One time I was cleaning up on the workbench and there was a little pile of the wires that had been flung out of the wire wheel on my bench grinder. I swept my hand across them and felt a stab of pain as one of the wires went straight through the tip of my middle finger about a quarter inch from the tip. It looked funny but I remember an old square rigged sailor told me why knives have a blood gutter on them . He said that the body holds on to a flat blade and the blood gutter lets in some air to overcome the vacuum. Well I grabbed the little wire with my teeth and yanked it out.Dull pain for a couple of days. Now I have a brush lying next to all my machines.

[primtechsmith]

This is an article I wrote for my monthly article in "The Virginian". The monthly newsletter for The Blacksmith Guild of Virginia. I wanted to share this with everyone here as well. Sorry for the length...but hopefully the read is worth it.

President's Corner: "When wire Brushes Attack" July Newsletter. "The Virginian" Vol. 2, Issue 7

I recently switched out blowers on my forge. The new blower was bought at Quad State last year and was near perfect except for all the years of rust and crud. I decided to pull out the power wire brush and clean her up to get ready for the installation and a new coat of paint.

Maybe now is a good time to add that this was not my first time wire brushing. One of my main responsibilities is wire brushing, and I actually enjoy it.

Back to the story… I pulled out the saw horses and a short sheet of plywood and made a table outside. There was a breeze blowing, and I wanted to use that to carry away the dust and debris I was about to create. I also grabbed my safety glasses off the desk. I plugged everything in, slapped on my safety glasses, and got down to work.

I was getting close to finishing the blower up when I noticed I missed a spot where the fan housing meets the gear box (Champion hand cranked blower). I had squeezed the brush down into the corner to clean it out when the wire brush had enough – it decided to leave my hands and try to take a break on the ground. Unfortunately I was between it and the ground. In a heartbeat, I had a very powerful power wire brush mangled and tangled in my shirt, dead-center in the middle of my chest. I was surprised to say the least. I have had wire brushes hop and bump around while working but this was the first time it actually left my hands. This was also the first time I did not wear my full front apron. Luckily I had two shirts on. My top shirt had a hole in the front big enough to stick my head through. I went and got my apron and finished the job.
I am always hearing about safety from things I am reading in books and on internet forums. I also hear a lot from the blacksmiths I have seen demo and in class I have taken. Some of it I think is over kill but there are some basics that we can all use to keep us safe. The two big ones are safety glasses and wearing the right clothing for the job. Whether that means wearing steel toed shoes, aprons, or work gloves. Anything has the potential to harm you if used in the wrong way or if laziness gets in the way. I was lazy. I knew what could happen, and knew what I should have been wearing but failed. It brought something to my attention about general safety rules and advice. The things we are hearing about are not due to the everyday injuries of people doing the job and having freak accidents. We are hearing about people who knew better or were too lazy to take the proper steps to avoid an accident. Laziness is much more dangerous than ignorance. Lets all persevere to keep both out of our shops by knowing the equipment and taking the time needed to be safe.

Peyton

[jeremy k]

One thing I was always told......ALWAYS GRIND (or WIRE BRUSH) OFF AN EDGE. There could be a whole chapter on how to grind or wire brush using an angle grinder as a power source. Mostly I'm talking about the areas that actually make contact and how thats related to the direction of the wheel and placement of such. - JK

[evfreek]

Hi Jeremy. This is a very interesting thread. What do you mean by "always grind off an edge"? Do you mean run the wheel so that it is pulling away from the metal? Or, do you mean, if there is an edge, make sure to grind it off? I think it is the first one. Thanks.

I am very scared of power wire brushes and have removed and discarded any from garage sale grinders that I have picked up. But when I was in metal shop, the teacher did not stress the risk much. He said that abused screwdrivers caused many more injuries.

[cheftjcook]

From time to time I work a little with two of my brothers, who are mechanics.
Got used to using large high speed angle grinder with a various brushes to clean off stuff. Tried the same with forged stuff, works fast but, always with the same results. Being pelted and many time injected with the flying mini wire knives as they left the wheel. Until I saw one of the Bill Epps dvds. I was an instant convert!!! Went to "HB Freight" and bought a VS Polisher, set it up and tested with different wire wheels, works great and life is good. (Thank you, Mr Epps!!)
A pain full side note to those little flying wire knives, as mentioned before, they stick in clothing and can be transfered to other clothing in the wash. Not just socks either, under ware can be a very rough place to find a stray piece of wire from a wire wheel!!!!!!!! hehehe Go ahead laugh, I think its funny now too...but when it first happened..... WOW!
Tim

[jeremy k]

Evfreek - Yes I meant to have the wheel turning toward the edge or "off" the edge. Hard to explain, somewhere I used to have a very good pamphlet on grinding that had pictures of "do's" and "dont's" - haven't been able to locate it as of yet. If I remember right that pamphlet was from back when I went through the auto-body class at the vocational school many years ago. With a little research, I'm sure one could find similar info on "how" to correctly use an angle grinder(whether it's with a hard wheel or wire wheel). - JK

[John N]

ever seen the film ' The Fly' ?

I spent an hour wire brushing with a pistol drill a load of old spring swages, a couple of days later a hair on my arm seemed unusually coarse...
.
tweezers and yup, wire, fired stright into the muscle. over the next couple of weeks about 6 appeared, very lucky not to get blood poisioning.

I NEVER use them now. full stop. im scared of them, and I use some hardcore machinery

[Pault17]

I semi-regularly use a small flat 3.5 inch wire wheel in my drill press to quick-clean scale off things. I have a few things grab and leave my grip, but so far have been luck with no loss of limb. I have read many of the various stories and the one with Paw-Paw was the scariest to me. I don't have a bench-mount grinder yet, so the temptation is not there. I also typically use a flap-disc for rapid removal, on my 4.5" grinder.

[Candidquality]

Originally Posted by HWooldridge

A very usable hand brush is the butcher block style, which has fairly large, flat wire blades set into a big block, usually with a handle on top. These are sold in butcher supply stores to clean wooden cutting boards.

I'm so glad you mentioned this. I have been hunting for this kind of brush for several months now and no one seemed to know what I was talking about. I used these as a kid and really prefer them. Now I know where to start looking.

And as far as power wire brushing. I don't use it, ever. Did a few times as a kid on bodywork for my '53 merc. I think I'm still picking out needles from my arm occasionally. With lots of PPE it might be doable, but I prefer to leave that kind of work to someone else. Don't have it in my shop and don't plan to. But that's just my opinion. Like any tool it can be extremely dangerous in the right hands and worse in the wrong ones.