Safety discussions

I have met a few older blacksmiths who have problems with their arms and in some cases can't fully open the hand. I have been forging full time for almost a year and have already noticed some aches and pains creeping in along with a bit of numbness on the tips of my fingers. I have seen a few hammers being sold with anti vibration handles, e.g.: http://www.buyhorseshoes.co.uk/double-s-shoe-turning-hammer-18lbs-2lbs-or-22lbs-10165-p.asp are they any good? Has anyone used them? thanks

I was doing some cleaning and bumped this piece of stock off of the bench and it fell into my 5 gallon metal slack tub and punched a perfect hole in it and drained it all over the place until i could get it out if the shop. What if it hit my foot. I was in sandals because i was just moving stuff around quickly to make room for something that wasn't important. Or so i thought. I could be in the ER now but i got lucky. Be careful in the shop.

A friend was using an angle-grinder cutoff wheel, thin alum-oxide type, but not for straight cutting. He turned it on its side, held it at a slight angle, and attempted to sand with it as you would a sanding disk. It blew apart sending pieces toward his head. He lost one eye and one shard lodged 1/8" from his brain. He recovered and is still smithing. The shards blew through his face mask.

This old greasey finger was shocked when I tool a sand paper cone mounted on a 1/4" arbor and stuck it in my electric die grinder. Thank the Higher Power I had the variable speed unit set on very low speed. I had been using a carbide cutter to shape some stainless. I put the sanding set up in the machine. It was already screwed on the arbor so I didn't notice it was upside down. When I turned it on the cone exploded. Completely cleaned and polished my Left hand fingernails on two fingers and wacked my safety glasses before I could drop it. Finger tips still sting a bit days later. The big issue: this occured at just 7000 rpm. Had the m…

2.5 Weeks ago I had an incident in my shop that I wasn't expecting. It was a Friday night and I was out and I had picked up some 3/16 "Weldable" round bar. I normally get all my metal from a metal supply place in town but because i didn't get there in time i picked some up at this other store for small project i was going to do for a client. (On, Canada) I got home around 8pm and started to work with metal, It was small stock so i just used the torches to heat up, I did the first rough pretty quick then moved onto the second one. at about 8:30 i began to feel super dizzy, slower than normal and i noticed that my breath was short and now coughing. I shut down for th…

I have read with interest Ciron's posting about hidden poisons like phosgene in the General Discussion forum. Yesterday I was setting up a display in our museum about wartime gases, gas masks, mustard gas bombs etc. Pasted in the lid of an old army first aid kit was a tattered poem. I was saddened to read it. This is what it said: ANTI-GAS CORPORAL’S LULLABY If you get a choking feeling and the smell of musty hay, You can bet your bottom dollar that there’s phosgene on the way. But the smell of bleaching powder will inevitably mean That the enemy we’re meeting is a gas we call chlorine. When your eyes begin a twitchin’ and for t…

I decided to make an anvil stump like some I've seen. Connect a stack of 2x12's, with threaded rod. Band of iron around it top and bottom. Simple enough. Not quite. I was drilling 1/8" holes through flat bar with a dull bit. Putting a little weight on the drill and bit began to wobble. I told myself to move my left thumb before the bit broke. Didn't listen. Bit snapped, and the broke part still in the drill went through my thumb. Went to ER, thumb bone shattered. One big horse pill, one tetanus shot and three bags of antibiotics on an IV drip, two prescriptions, and an appointment with an orthopedic doc, finally home. Pay attention to what you're doing folks!

How do you safely secure a load? Is it best to use ratchet straps, rope, cable etc? Do you tie it to the frame, body, or hold down points? Can you safely tie it UNDER the vehicle? And not just lumber or metal stock but also equipment such as power hammers, anvils, etc. This load of lumber left Lowes and was at the entrance to the 4 lane corridor. He should have had a wide load sign. We intentionally turned the other way and gave the fellow a half an hour head start. (grin)

There's a lot of discussion on this forum about linseed oil finishes. If you take the time to read the instructions on the can , there is a clear warning about the proper disposal of the oily rags in respect to fire danger. This warning is there for a reason. A few years ago I was working as a subcontractor on a large estate project. After the tile contractor finished a large slate floor, it was decided to use a ''traditional'' linseed oil and turpentine finish to seal it. After the finish was applied, the rags were carefully laid out to dry in the sun. At the end of the week , someone spread them out loosely on top of a fully loaded construction dumpster. Mon…

Hello, I'm looking to make pizza steels and my main concern is what metal to use. I've read that CSA G40.21 – 44W (which I believe is the same as A36) is safe to use as a cooking surface. I'm very new to this topic and don't know much about the different types of steel or the potential dangers. Any help would be greatly appreciated.

I recently witnessed an experienced pipe-fitter make a bad mistake. Using an angle grinder with a cut off disc, he held a piece he was working on in one hand and the angle grinder in the other. I've done it, but never again. The disc grabbed, jumped into his wrist, and cut deep, severing 2 ligaments(tendons?). it was ugly. Lessons learned: Don't use an angle grinder with 1 hand. especially with a cutoff disc. put your workpiece in a vice or other holder and use 2 hands on the angle grinder. Wear kevlar gloves. I'm not sure it would have prevented the damage, but it would have reduced it anyway. Wear a face shield. it could have just as easily jumped towards …

This article goes for all you guys with a solid fuel forge without a chimney So today once I was finished forging, I took a shower as usual. Once I got out I then get a face wipe and clean any soot still on my face. I then got a Q-tip and cleaned my ears which is also usual. However, today I have come to notice that the Q-tip was black which shows how much soot from the smoke gets into your ears. I then realized that my noise was a bit black on the inside so I cleaned that out. I now just went to blow my nose, and a black sort of booger type thing came out. This is really scary because if this much coal and soot gets just in your ears and nostrils, I can only imagine…

The first step in electrical safety is isolation but sometimes that can be a danger. I was repairing an air con unit a while ago and went to turn off the 25A breaker .I had propped open the metal meter box lid so was not touching anything and when to turn off the breaker and copped an electric shock. The shock was not a serious one, I did not get hooked up, just a good boot. What had happened was the building was right on the beach and the salt air had entered the meter box and encrusted the breaker allowing power to track from the active screw to the surface of the breaker it also had been raining the days before. In the picture the black lead is to earth and the red…

Been surfing the forum the last few hours (mostly waiting for my dialup connection) looking for info on how coal smoke affects the lungs--is it a cumulative effect, minor irritant, does the smoke effect differ from green coal to coke smoke? Found some links that looked good but they just took me back to the forums front page. I have my forge set up in the wood shed these days, which amounts to a roof 10' above me, two walls made of old 1 x 6 boards 8' tall (pretty airy) one wall made of stacked cord wood, and an open side. Ventilation couldn't be a lot better, but on still nights the smoke can still build up in there so that I smell of coal when I come inside. Frequen…

which at sometime you may eventually grab that hot piece of metal, don't fret,, just run warm water over the burn gradually increasing the temp hotter and hotter for as long as you can stand it, this will draw the heat out of the burn,,really it does work as it works also on sunburn, I grabbed a piece yesterday ran it under hot water for a spell ,, today no blisters no sorness

A friend just posted this in FB and I thought I'd pass it on. It's a pretty slick trick for removing a ring from a swollen finger without having to cut it off. The ring or finger. Frosty The Lucky. http://www.littlethings.com/how-to-remove-a-ring/?utm_source=huffingtonpost.com&utm_medium=referral&utm_campaign=pubexchange

What are some of the oops, gotcha moments that you've done that others could either laugh at or learn from? Could either be a close call with a safety issue or messed up a project. Either way you learned from the experience and by sharing others could too. My list is long, some examples would be I find myself resting my hand on the post vise while waiting for something to heat in the forge, bad idea after clamping down on hot steel. Another that doesn't involve pain is at the end of the day when there's not enough time to forge, but want to be productive, sharpening a knife and use the anvil as a chair while watching the sunset, then realize I'm still wearing good pan…

This evening I was going to wire brush a couple of rasptlesnakes to see if I could sell them at the event this weekend. However as I was running the extension cord over to the outlet on the front porch i heard a sound in the high grass very much like what my rasptlesnakes make when the bottle caps on their tail are shaken just right...yup 32" 7 button fat and sassy rattlesnake and I nearly stepped on it in the tall grass. After making a mental note to discuss with the landlord's handyman the possibility of keeping the grass mowed if he was going to water it so much and a brief but successful battle against micturition without disrobing first I decided that "We just did…

Recently I watched a video on a man making charcoal, and when he was handling the finished product mentioned that he should have been wearing gloves as the charcoal is carcinogenic? It was pine lump charcoal. I was under the strong impression that charcoal was not a carcinogen, and, if it was, I don't think wearing leather gloves would protect you much. I am aware that eating overcooked food cooked with manufactured briquettes could be carcinogenic due to the added ingredients, but am extremely doubtful of this mans statement in the video. Could anybody offer some insight?

A reminder to wear eye protection when using grinders

Hello, About two years back I made a forge and use grade 8 bolts. I have recently realized that they were zinc plated. So I took them off and went to the hardware store and got some stainless bolts. My question is are stainless bolts coated with anything that may be dangerous? Thanks.

Does anyone know about the dust from soft firebrick? I have a one brick forge that I use on the back porch and I noticed some sparkling dust in the air. I have never heard about needing to cover the brick in ITC or such but I did not stop smoking to risk my heath with brick dust. Any information would be great. thanks Ernest What does this have to do with Inswool? We will separate it out to its own place.

I thought this story important enough to repost. I asked Mike the OP if he minded if I reposted this thread of his to another forum in the past to help spread the word about compressor safety and he gladly gave me his permission to do so so others wouldn't have to go thru what he did. This happened back January of 2011 and Mike has made a ful recovery with minimal if any lingering effects luckily. Mike is lucky to be alive after what happened when the compressor tank exploded on him. Again I'd like to thank Mike for his permission to repost this back at the time. Here's the original link to his thread for those that might like t…

While not directly forge related, many of us probably use chainsaws a fair bit. Somebody was darn lucky. http://www.kutv.com/news/features/na...vid_4962.shtml http://www.today.com/health/close-call-tree-trimmer-survives-chainsaw-stuck-neck-2D79473521 Worth noting from the 2nd link. They were smart enough to leave the saw in place until he got to the hospital.