Safety discussions

So I was forging the other day, when a piece of coke in the forge EXPLODED and... Okay, not really. I did this intentionally to an old pair of safety glasses that were to scratched up to be useable. I'm going to hang them up in a visible place in my shop. Always wear your eyes!

For the benefit of you young folks, I will say a few things. I was raised in a farming community. Hunting, trapping and target shooting was part of life. So was operating machenery from farm equipment to shop equipment. At age 17, I was on the flight line of an advanced Jet Training Squadron in the U.S. Navy. This was during the waining years of Viet Nam ( 1971-1974 ). Hearing protection was provided ( plugs and "ears" ). Most only wore "ears" ( spring loaded muffs that covered your complete ear ). I was negligent in wearing mine as were many. I served Stateside and am NOT a combat veteran. The above mentioned practices alone started my hearing loss, combined wi…

Neede to do some heavy duty grinding last Sunday - first non rain day here in Ottawa in quite a while. Got myself set up all of the safety gear on, ear plugs, gloves, face sheild, work overalls and cotton sweatshirt. About half way through the grinding I felt my right hip getting a bit warm. In the nano second of my brain's processing it said "oh not to worry, it's just the sprks from the grinder" then it said "wait a minute - the sparks from grinding shouldn't be hot - you better have a look at your hip." So brain turns head to look at right hip then says - "xxxx xxxx - I'm on fire". Fire quickly patted out with no damage to me but a six inch diameter hole in my "new…

Lincoln Electric has an article on Arc Welding Safety that lists a bunch of stuff including when you should use a shade 12 welding goggle.

I've been blacksmithing only since the beginning of this past summer. I built a forge with an electric blower; it has very good air flow and achieves a very bright white light, I've been leaving the blower on till till the charcoal sustains that white light for up to a minute or so. Recently I've been trying to save on charcoal so I've been putting only a small portion of charcoal on, I will wait till most of the pile is dull yellow or white hot, I sit there and stare at it monitoring it till the charcoal and steel is white hot, I remember saying to myself...wow! That

I know this may not be blacksmithing, though this is still safety-related. I encourage anyone who does woodworking, or knows someone who does, to check out SawStop and watch the demo video. A product such as this is a godsend.

YouTube - DP Blacksmith make your branding irons longer.

Just a reminder that when your mind is preoccupied, doing simple jobs with simple tools can hurt you. Sometimes its better to take a few minutes off or even to just quit for the day. I'm real busy but behind and the brains been occupied with lifes problems....working away thinking about other things when the grinder with the sanding disk caught an edge and jumped trying to eat my fingers. Luckily nothing 4 bandaids and a week or so of skin healing back can't fix.

Hey I read about PawPaw and it freaked me out.Does anyone know a good steel seller that list whats in it and sells just pure carbon still no zinc and other bad stuff on it?

today someone was cutting slots in a piece of 12 ga sst, the programmer put in the wrong y axis into the laser cutter and the swing arm crashed into the chambers wall bending the head of the 5 kw laser burning a hole through the chambers wall then hit the water cooling system, as the ram head of the laser still pushing twords the dimension, there was water leaking onto the floor super charged with electricity. ran over to the laser cutter and the power cut off switch is near the consol by the cooling system where i couldnt get to. so he ran to the other end of the shop and cut the power. and if anyone knows gas lasers they dont just shut down like any piece of equipment, …

Recently there has been a lot of questions about the hazards of various chemicals. The internet is full of information on the hazards of chemicals. There are many web sites that give you free access to Material Safety Data Sheets and other chemical information. Here are a couple links to sites with good information. http://ull.chemistry.uakron.edu/erd/ http://hazmap.nlm.nih.gov/index.html Woody

Make sure you use your gloves when bending steel with a 55 ton brake press with a fly wheel :)

This was first posted by me in July on some of the bladesmithing boards. I suffered smoke in halation on 6/24/06 while working in my forge. I’m better now, but I thought I’d share how it happened to hopefully help someone else avoid injury. I use 2 solid fuel forges in side a small metal shed, with 6” flues attached to hoods made from a 55 gallon barrel. The incident happened when I was changing tasks. I finished working in a blade and wanted to weld some cable. I added some 2x4 scrap to make “rafters” for a cap of corn. When I added the corn the fire billowed a huge amount of smoke, filling the small space. I made a hasty exit. Not hasty enough, I inhaled enou…

I feel fortunate after 30 years in welding/mechanics/electrical that I still have all my fingers,toes and eyes in proper working order. When I look back at the injuries I have inflicted upon myself it has usually been the result of getting wrapped up in a project and not taking the time to properly protect myself. Whether it be not grabbing a pair of gloves real quick or trying to get that last bit of weld ground down with a well used wheel. Not putting the proper supports under a heavy piece or not putting on a pair of glasses for a quick slag removal. The list goes on and on. We as professionals all know better and indeed have probably corrected others for the same th…

Heres a link to look up MSDS's (Material Safety Data Sheets) SIRI MSDS Index The searches can be made on brand names, generic names, as well as chemical names Information on literaly many thousands of substances can be found and the nature of associated hazards. It can even be used to determine what ISN'T hazardous. The company I worked for, and I'm sure many others, was required to have this information readily available to anyone that wanted to know the level of hazard for ANY material they were working with. When in doubt, be safe. Look it up. Its free and it could save your life!!!

It is good to see a permanent heading devoted to safety here on the discussions board. Blacksmithing was fading into history but has been enjoying quite a revival over the past several years. More and more people are coming into the craft and so it is growing at a fast pace. Many people getting into blacksmithing are from an industrial background i.e. welders, machinists, etc. etc. and so of course have had lots of exposure to safety training. Newcomers to blacksmithing are coming from all walks of life and so that means many of them have had no experience with safety training at all. The things that most of us are familiar with may be a complete mystery to someone else s…

My gasser sits atop a craftsman tool cart full of firebrick. I set the anvil of course next to the forge. Today when hammering on a RR spike I smelled something burning between heats, on the bottom shelf of the cart was an old leather glove with a cloth back fully ablaze where a piece of scale fell onto it. My point is, be aware of whats laying around your work area. If that glove had been laying somewhere else it could have gotten exciting. :oops: