Personal Protection Equipment

Hello everyone, I will say up front that I do need to get a real respirator and that paper masks don't seal as well as a real respirator but this was what I had on hand. This is from 2 to 3 hours worth of work cleaning the funk and rust off of steel from the scrap yard, cutting with angle grinder and grinding to get ready to weld.

There was once a time when I didn't wear an apron around the shop, but one day I tore a brand new shirt and that was that. A leather apron is hot, sure, but I bet I've saved over a thousand dollars in t-shirts since I started using one regularly. Even when you're not forging things, there are plenty of stuff that can destroy a shirt, so the apron really does help. Plus, I liken it to a uniform; when I put it on, I'm in work mode until I take it off. The other day, I left my hammer on the anvil overnight and the devil came in to play. I've never seen leather give way like this, but leave it up to me to find new and interesting ways to ruin something. …

I have been putting off buying a shop apron to try to keep my clothes halfway clean but I couldnt find anything I liked with a price I liked. I must have dreamed this but when I woke up this morning I dug out a worn out pair of overalls and went to work with a pair of scissors. I cut the back off just below where the suspenders attached and down the outside of the legs leaving the tool pockets attached. Then I cut across at the knees and back up to the crotch. I punched a hole in the back suspender Y and attatched a 72” bootlace. It threads thru the side buttonholes and ties in the back. If i could sew I would patch the holes in the thighs that were worn out by keys …

Hey, I had the longest forging session I have tried so far yesterday. I was trying to draw a 2" round high carbon bar. I spent about an hour pounding it very hard and started to notice that the tip of my pointer finger started to get more and more numb. Nothing else hurt at all but I stopped after the feeling didn't go away for several minutes. It has been about 12 hours and it still feels a tiny bit strange but pretty much back to normal. I am thinking about wearing some type of glove that has some padding it like a bike glove next time I forge some. Do anyone use padded gloves or have any other recommendations to stop this from happening? Than…

Today I had to go get my eye drilled for metal and rust rings. This is the second time in my life I have had to have this procedure. And it is one of the most unpleasant experiences I have had to endure. I wear eye protection at all times, but I have been using glasses. I want to get a pair of goggles or similar since the metal had to slip underneath the glasses to get to my eye. I am looking for recommendations on eye protection that will provide the most enclosure. I am also considering a full face mask. Any opinions on what you use for the nest eye protection? I want to make sure I avoid a third occurrence. Any opinions are appreciated.

Are there any exceptionally tall smiths out there? If there are, which I hope there are, where do you buy your work clothes from? I am 6'7" with a 32 waist and 38 inch inseam. I have a very time trying to find regular clothes, finding work clothes is harder. Sometimes carheart caters to my tall and skinny frame but not always. I have looked through a lot of catalogs and usually the highest they go is a 36 inseam. I can keep wearing jeans but eventually im going to light myself on fire. It seems a lot of people wear tin lined pants, but most manufacturers of that again only go up to 36. Finding work shirts is also a problem. I am a large tall, which is hard to find…

I see many blacksmiths wearing a heavy leather apron while working. why? During the little work I have done, I didnt see any sparks shooting, except when welding. And keeping clean is not realy our thing...

So the last few days while working in the shed i've had the young fella from next door in talking to me and helping out since he's on holidays and seems interested in playing in a shed and making things. now i've mainly just been grinding and welding but each step i've been pressing the safety point with him.ie eye protection. hearing protection. decent leather gloves to help reduce cuts n the such but it got me to thinking about safety when forging. Obviously somethings like wearing decent shoes,nice thick gloves are fairly standard. what i was wondering about was things like eye protection to help IR. hearing protection. if anyone uses any form of mask(i'm pretty b…

I just started using a 3M 6000-series respirator with P100 2091 filters for grinding and other dusty applications, and I like it a lot. One thing I'm wondering though is where to get replacement filters. I can order them from a number of online safety companies for about six bucks a pair, but I also see a lot of eBay ads for these with pretty deep discounts. I think I can guess the answer to this, but are this reliable filters? Or would I be buying fake products that don't do anything?

After my recent eye injury we are discussing in another topic I have decided I need to up my PPE all the way around. I currently use disposable earplugs, a disposable dust mask, less than ideal eye wear, leather welding gloves, and general purpose high cuff cloth gloves (I only use when I absolutely have to have gloves and don't want/need to use my welding gloves). I also have a full face autodarkening helmet when it comes time for welding projects. I just bought myself a new pair of soft sided goggles but will be pursuing prescription safety glasses. I have been looking at respirators from various manufacturers and have no idea what I actually need since the shop is such…

I've been running my little forge a lot lately and over 25 years I've been a welder and I've always have taken good care of my eyes but still occasionally I sometimes do get flash burned. This last time I wasn't doing any welding but I was running the forge quite a bit and I have to look into the forge make sure I'm not cooking the metal. But the reason I'm starting this thread is I was wondering if Plasma torch glasses were sufficient to prevent flash burn from the forge or is there something better. I've been reading a little bit about Didymium lenses and I wonder if anybody has any experience with them Any help would be greatly appreciated.

Hello Guys and Gals, Long Time no post for me, but I still check out all the awesome advice and posts! So, Life has changed for me recently, in that I am now a medical student at the Northern Ontario School Of Medicine, and as such, my hands need to look and stay healthier than in the past: patients don't want a doctor with blacksmith hands, and open sores are a no-no for surgery scrub in etc. So, I am asking for advice on gloves: I have always been a no glove for smithing guy unless hot punching etc to protect the tool hand from burn. And before I went back to school I was able to keep my hand calluses up to a point where it took quite a lot to make a …

These are the shoes I wear in the shop. I've been making these for ten years now. I make them larger for the winter so I can put several pairs of socks in them. They double as my outdoor shoes, though I prefer moccasins in the woods, especially in the winter since they keep the snow out better. These are about as close to a moccasin fit as I have found, but they look quite a bit more shoeish and not so alarming to folks who think you just have to wear boots in a shop. I used to wear moccasins in the shop, but the soles wear out too fast, so I began making shoes with soles out of remnants of the flat belting that drives the shop. It makes a flexible sole, whi…

Anyone think of using a CO detector for safety in the area of a gas forge? Something to think about.

Not to be a NAG ..here is also somthing few know. using a propane forge one needs to wear "Didymium" glasses . it the glasses it has a filter that blocks out the sodium flair/yellowish light "AT 589 NM " =IR+UV .glass blowers also need to use them . it will save your eyes as even a welders mask does not work like these. Didymium is about 15 years outdated, see pinned post

The pic is of my magnetic clip on sunglasses. Now here is the story. they were clean when I walked into the shop. A friend had finished grinding stuff about an hour before I walked in. It did not take long for them to grow fuzz. I wet wiped the counter I put them on because these fuzzies are a pain to get off the magnets. This is what was floating around. an hour after grinding was done.

HI all! I'm building a leather apron in order to preserve my clothes from sparks, welding and forge ( and maybe because I like this kind of clothing ) I Used a beef leather about 2mm thick, hand sewn with waxed twine. I'm not so expericed with Needles, but I'm trying to do my best. I will add some pocket with cover for small object, and a support for protective glasses Saluti Stefano

used the search function and found some older threads (year or two) about preferred boots, and since I am in the market now, was hoping to update. Seemed like a lot of Redwings, Wolverine, and even Danner boots were mentioned. As I have a wide foot (EEEE), I was wondering what other people are wearing? Staying with Redwings? I have a pair of Redwings that are ok, but have never been real comfortable...after having them repaired a number of times, I've decided to splurge on a new pair-am not wedded to Redwings, so, suggestions?

Hi all, I have a cheap plasma cutter from Amazon and when I use it I have the same PPE on that I have for stick or wire welding. I have a flame resistant long sleeve shirt, long pants, welding gauntlets and a auto darkening hood set to 10 or 11. I keep seeing people on YouTube working on short sleeves and no gloves. Am I being overly cautious or are these folks asking for trouble. As a point of fact I do see a good number of people (also on YouTube wire welding in short sleeves with a hood and gloves (sometimes). I see people using a plasma cutter with what look like O/A welding goggles. If you look at the "Ready Welder" website the promo photos show everyone …

I asked this at another site I belong too and quickly came to the conclusion that those who responded were not smithing, welding, torch cutting very thick pieces of steel, or around oil and grease as much as I am. All of their suggestions were what I would call too pretty to get dirty boots. Right now I have some redwings but they are too large. I got them on clearance so there was a no return policy and they sent me the wrong size. Yes I tried to send them back and got a huge run around. I learned two things, only buy from online retailers you have experience with and if the person on the other side speaks poor english and has a huge attitude you don't want to d…

So what protection is needed while using the Forge.?

A search of the subject didn't come up with much. Since they price of these has come way down, I was wondering if anyone had used them in actual smithing operations. Most are designed for shooters so that would imply they'd be adequate for smithy noise but there are other considerations--like whether they stay in place or drive you crazy in a more active environment than a shooter normally sees. For me, it'd be much better to be able to hear the outside world between the noisy stuff--and not have to take the protection on and off to do that. And yes, they actually have them in ear plugs now but I think that'd be a big fail: I can hardly keep regular plugs from…

I am going to make myself a nice leather apron. Wondering what kind of suspension system do you like the best? What doesn't work? I'm think of crossed straps similar to this:

I had a great Easter until tonight, I decided to go do some forging and the whole family (grandparents, parents, aunts/uncles and cousins and girlfreind) wanted to watch. So what happened? I was making a pair of tongs with dropped tong welded reins, when my mom heard i was doing a weld, she grabbed my face sheild from my grinder and made me wear it... "saftey first" she said.... "it's a good idea" she said I pulled the peices out at welding temp, layed them down to weld... Thats where it all went wrong I had blurred vision from the plastic visor, showing off, and lost concentration for a split second... The tongs' bit moved and I tried to check the hit so …

I was all set to buy the full apron the shades, etc but folks on videos (the ones referred to on this site as doing a good job) Don't seem to really use any sort of PPE except gloves and shades. What do you folks wear while you are forging? I have good boots, several welding helmets (one adjustable) and cutting glasses for the plasma cutter. Used to have a welding jacket but found the heavy leather sleeves to be too restricting and hot, so I weld in shirt sleeves, unless I am using the TIG then I make sure I have a long sleeve shirt. I also have the required welding gloves. I should point out I seldom wear my boots. Bad back and they mess with it.