Safety discussions

My wife was asked if there are any safety videos available for young blacksmiths. The question was on a homeschooling forum, so my assumption is that the parents are wanting to support a child’s interests, but don’t know how to keep their kids safe… Anyone have any good video links? (I’ve already mentioned that they should look up a local ABANA affiliate) Thanks David

I am new to blacksmithing and I bought myself a gas forge. I’m assembling it (it came completely unassembled) and it’s recommended to paint the outside of it with high heat paint before setting it up. I accidentally painted the wrong side of the side panels. My question is will that paint on the inside of the forge be harmful when I light it? Should I safely remove the paint or would it be fine to leave it? I know the inside of the forge will get very hot and high heat paint will likely eventually burn off. I’m very new to all this so I’m just trying to make sure I’m doing everything safely.

Hey all, looks like today I got to try out my fire extinguisher and got it all over the inside and outside of my forge. My question is, would it be safe to burn off the extinguisher dust once I can safely operate the forge again? Lesson learned, get a better support platform for the forge to sit on that has no wood in it at all. Here's the extinguisher label:

I was making a basket for my anvil stand and cutting some 1 1/2" bed angle when this happened. 14" standard off-the-shelf HF 14" chop saw. I've never had this happen before. Luckily, I was both wearing my Eye Pro and standing well to the side when it decided to let go: Wear your Eye Pro! Thanks for looking!

The CDC has put out an infographic on Facial Hairstyles and Filtering Facepiece Respirators https://www.cdc.gov/niosh/npptl/pdfs/FacialHairWmask11282017-508.pdf All the "Dwarven look" styles are banned; they don't even show any braided beards!

I recently answered a question about sucker rods and it got me thinking that I've never seen anything about NORM on the safety discussions. Look - I hate scare talk and I'm not trying to scare anyone about this. I do believe in being well-informed and rationally evaluating risks. The last 23 years I worked was for a major oil company. I started in operations, moved to IT, and after some in-house training, was dubbed an engineer. The last few years I provided chemical engineering support to three platforms. You can find NORM in everything from kitty litter to brazil nuts. Radiation is everywhere, but we should try to minimize the extra doses we get for no good …

A lot of folks recommend wiping down their anvil, vise, etc with ATF as a rust preventative. Given how much we advise against using motor oil as a quenchant -- since there's a significant potential for chemical nasties being carried into our lungs with the resulting smoke -- does anyone have any information about comparable risk assessment from ATF burning off hot work surfaces?

This guy is a blade smith; not a jeweler. Some of you should find this pretty interesting.

In 42 years of working with metal I have gotten shrapnel only once.. It happened with a brand new Japanese made hammer with lifetime warranty.. first time at the anvil 2 minutes in making a knife.. Chip came off and hit me in the thigh.. The nice people at the store refused to replace the hammer saying it was normal use.. As for punches I don't grind off the swarth off the ends ever.. Never gotten a chip off of.. I have had my thumbs sucked into a grinder maybe 400 times, nearly had my to front teeth nearly knocked out by holding a T piece of metal the hard way in a vise and trying to upset a the bottom leg of the T .. 5 metal flakes in the eye wea…

If you must wear a mask to protect your mouth, sew a button on your head cover to attach the ear pieces of the mask. It will save the wear and tear on your ears from extended use.

I have a question Will I need a respirator while forging? I'm going to be mostly outdoors or in an old schoolbus (windows are all busted) on my grandparents property using my grandfather's old forge which is one of those bowl ones that have the hand-crank blower built in I will be using anthracite (the only coal I can find locally) or charcoal Thanks

I have read a bunch here, done some searches via google and found conflicting information on CO so i wanted to check so it can be a bit more specific to my work space. I'm a day or two from finishing a 10x10 cinder block shed as a work space and getting started with the forge, while I'm very versed in fire safety and use I've just started to consider ventilation for CO. The shed has a corrugated roof without the foam filler ridges so 1-2cm gaps all along the front and back, a 1/2" gap under the door and the top 2/5 of the door can open separate to keep animals out and one window pane still missing. I'm not to worried about the cold, the garden is fairy wind shielded…

Hello, CNC machinist here. I was wondering how dangerous it is to work with this material as the paperwork that came with it states it is 7.4% Lead. Obviously, I'm going to be machining it although it will be constantly getting sprayed down with coolant. I've worked with this material in the past but never knew about the high lead content. Is this a serious risk to my health?

And don’t take the guards off our angle grinders!

Hey Haven't posted in a while but had some thing happen a while ago that I thought I would mention. I have a cotton wheel on one of my bench grinders that I use for poishing and it sits by my other bench grinder and belt grinder. Anyways, It caught fire from grinder sparks the other day and I diddn't notice until I came back in the shop 20 min later and it was full of smoke. Just a reminder that they catch fire very easily and can smolder undetected. Also is something most people have at there grinding stations. I now take mine off when I am not using it. Cheers

I have a question. Is it a good idea to use the "L" suffexed stainless. The "L" stands for lead that was included in the mix for easier machining. I would think that the lead would leach out and contaminate any food stuff that was cut plus the lead fumes during forging.

Often called lockjaw, tetanus is a bacterial infection that causes painful muscle spasms and can lead to death. The tetanus vaccine has made tetanus a preventable disease. Thanks to its widespread use, lockjaw has become very rare in the U.S. Even so, many adults in the U.S. need to be vaccinated against tetanus because there is no cure and 10% to 20% of victims will die. You cannot get tetanus from another person. You can get it through a cut or other wound. Tetanus bacteria are commonly present in soil, dust, and manure. The tetanus bacteria can infect a person even through a tiny scratch. But you are more likely to get tetanus through deep punctures from wounds cr…

And here I thought I hadn't got it sharp enough. I was trying to use it away from me to not have to flip the entire piece of wood in the vise to get the end. Not really even sure how this happened. Gonna wear gloves next time I guess.

Don’t do what I did! I was bending some spring steel for a fuller around the horn of my anvil and it shot off and hit me. I was squatting in front making sure my bend was even and where I wanted it. I should have been off to the side or using my vise so it was secure. Stupid! Please make sure you stay out of the line of fire and always keep stuff secure. Hot metal hurts

Hi all. I thought I had seen this topic on here before, but can't seem to find it again. I worked derricks on drilling rigs off and on for about 20 years so I've dealt with some elbow pain. But I am following all the suggestions I've read (that I remember) like keeping my thumb wrapped on the handle and keeping a relaxed grip. I'm seeing visible improvement in hammer control as a result, but after forging for a few hours yesterday my elbow is achy enough today that I feel it needs a break. Again, I am paying very close attention to my grip and making sure to keep it relaxed, and keep my thumb wrapped under. My anvil is set at 31 inches high, so my knuckles brush…

Hi gang! I am happy to say I am moving into a newer and better shop soon, but for the first time will have to try and find a way to bring the noise and vibrations down. A little information on the shop and me: I run a small teaching forge in Brooklyn that focuses entirely on knives and swords. Because of size constraints and for safety we have no more than four students at a time, each usually working on their own unique projects. For noise making we have two 2x72 grinders, a roller, an AnYang press, three anvils, two forges, and a partridge in a pear tree. No powerhammers in our future. So the new place is located inside Industry City, and they had some …

A hoodie is often used for a little extra warmth in a shop. DO NOT wear one near moving equipment or tools. An angle grinder will grab on the draw string of a hoodie and use the string as a direct path to climb up to your head. A lathe will grab the draw string and use it to pull your head into the lathe. And the list goes on and on with every tool. Long hair needs braided or tied back. Long sleeves are not suggested for shop use as the tool can catch onto the sleeve and pull you into the tool. Do not give any tool a chance to harm you. Just because it did not happen today does not mean it will not happen.

Thomas Powers wrote in another thread: Picking pieces of steel out of your flesh is not one of my "favorite things" though it does rank higher than peeling once molten plastic from your burns. I can attest to that. I shovelled a scoop of charcoal onto the forge a couple of days ago and in it there was a scrap of woven plastic from the charcoal bag. I put the shovel down and then, without thinking, flicked the scrap of plastic off the forge. It had already started to melt and stuck to my finger. That is a real wake-up call. And it still seems to burn under the quench. Hammer hand, too. Yep, molten plastic - treat with caution!

Studying Why and How Speaking Face-to-Face Helps Aging Listeners UMass Amherst research will explore largely unknown mechanisms involved December 4, 2018 Contact: Alexandra Jesse 413/545-2175 Alexandra Jesse AMHERST, Mass. – The vast majority of speech perception research has focused on how we recognize what the speaker says through listening only, and has failed to capture the value of speaking face-to-face, says speech perception expert Alexandra Jesse at the University of Massachusetts Amherst. …

Was watching a video of Torbjörn forging and noticed he was wearing a respirator throughout the entire video. Is he concerned about particulate matter from his coal forge?