Safety discussions

ABC Report click here 30 seconds of commercial before the report starts Article click here In a statement from the British Rubber Manufacturers Association (BRMA) issued on June 5, 2001 regarding the age of tires they state, "BRMA members strongly recommend that unused tires should not be put into service if they are over 6 years old and that all tires should be replaced 10 years from the date of their manufacture." Tire age can be accelerated by a variety of environmental factors, such as sunlight exposure and coastal climates. Poor storage and infrequent use of your vehicle are other things that can accelerate tire age. Tires Manufactured Since 2000 Sin…

Hi. I just saw a post on another forum about a potential hazard associated with trigger start MAPP gas torches. http://www.bernzomaticinjuries.com It is kind of scary. Apparently, the neck of the bottle can break off before the safety notch does, with horrible consequences. If you read the expert witness testimony, there is an MIT professor working for the defense with a huge CV of qualifications. His arguments, however, are kind of meandering and do not inspire confidence. Included in the post are comments from a blacksmith. Short story: he tested it, verified the danger, eliminated it in his torch. End of story. No waffling. I will be very careful about …

I had purchased a 8 gallon Sears compressor used, and found it was holed. For $5 I was still ahead of the game if I recycled parts of it. I repaired the tank with a bolt, nut and epoxy with good results. I started by using a center punch and working my way around the pinhole till I found solid metal. The hole was about 1/2 inch when I was done, and I put a 1/2 inch bolt with fender washers in the hole. I then found a "NOS" 28 gallon upright compressor tank on Craigslist. After debating the idea I bought the tank for $40, and was happy. I cut the motor plate off the Sears unit and bolted it to the Campbell-Hausfeld motor plate so the belt driven pump could be us…

I'm on a bit of a dead line for project and I've had to work later into the heat of the day than I usually like to. Today was over 100 inside my shop. I don't have a thermometer inside the shop but when I left it felt cool outside and it was 92 degrees on my truck thermometer. I noticed that about an hour before I left I started to REALY struggle with simple assembly processes and I've been struggling with the spelling on this post. So, Does accumulated heat build up in the body cause a notable cognitive decline and what is the threshold before it becomes unsafe? What are some tricks people use to realize they are getting heat stroke before it becomes unsafe? I drink plen…

I have read a few comments from people who, after feeling dizzy, decided to purchase a CO detector for their enclosed shop and were surprised at the high numbers that the detector would have even though their garage door or shop door were wide open. At the same time my CO detector remains at 0 without my garage door open but only a roof vent fan on. Now I cant stress enough the importance of a CO detector. Whether working with coal or propane CO buildup can send you to the morgue. Your body detects that you need to breathe by the amount of CO2 in your body but CO will push out oxygen WITHOUT triggering a gasping response. This is why pooled gasses like Argon from weldi…

I was looking around Youtube and found this little accident, so watch out where you stand and watch out when you take something out of the forge.

im just wondering what other folk use on burns?aloe vera worked pretty good after my hand come out of my quench bucket.

What are the dangers of wearing a ring(s) and working with metal, blacksmithing, or welding? This can include other jewelry such as ear rings, necklaces, bracelets, etc. Add your advice and stories.

Pretty scary video:

Hey guys, I might get flamed for this but thats ok, I need to air out my frustrations and perhaps you guys can help me work through my frustrations. I'm an independant contractor so I work for about 4 major industrial companies. One of them is rather large and heavy on beaurocracy. They are an oilfield service company engaging in pumping operations of fluid and chemicals into the ground. Their business motto however is "safeguarding people and the environment" even though their true objective is to stimulate oil wells to produce more oil.... Anyway they have a clear and comprehensive safety programme with which they try to mitigate all risks involved in their oper…

I'm not sure if this is the right place to post a safety question, but here it goes. I made a small forge out of a galvinized oval tub and lined it with a thick layer of a combination of clay and sand. The pipe for the air delivery is black gas pipe and it is attached to the bottom of the tub with pieces of aluminum. The fire in the forge only touches the clay and the black pipe. My question is, is there any danger in using the tub? When it heats will the nickel coating burn off and become dangerous? Also, should I remove the aluminum, even though it is under the clay? I am very new at this, and don't want to make a mistake in the beginning. Also, what is the best…

An article in the paper stated that garbage collectors found the remains of a meth lab thrown into a garbage bin. It seems the folks cooking the drugs use any available dumpster to dispose of the evidence rather than leave it laying about where they might draw attention and get caught. Police were called, who then called a Hazmat team. Hazmat decontaminated the garbage collectors on location, put them into special jump suits and took them to the hospital for observation. A blacksmith looking for steel in the same dumpster may or may not recognize the discarded meth lab materials, or the danger. It used to be that glasses gloves and boots were all that was needed. T…

I was responding to another thread, and thought gee, this is a good subject to bring to this forum. We all develop our habits and rules, based on what works in our shops. I know as a hobbyist, my rules are far different in all likelyhood, than a pro, yet I have established a couple of rules that keep me from bein a hazard to myself, and also which makes me a much better smith. I will post them below, and would ask that you all post yours, or agree, or disagree with mine! Nelson Forge Rules 1. Never be in a hurry! 2. Quit when you get tired.

So I got a little "behind" in my work!

Just curious, I got my tetanus shot the other day, Lasts around 10 years, how many have gotten theirs?

didn't hurt to much, just looks spectacular and i felt silly! There is a much repeated tale that the navy smithy in Sydney made a standing order that rubber stoppers had to be put on the horn when they weren't used! Reportedly this was due to a ridiculous number of compo claims. AndrewOC

That is what I got yesterday after I hit it hard as I could with a 12lb sledge. I was driving the key out of the sow block on my hammer using a handled punch but as I don't have 3 hands I had the punch propped up so I could hit it. When I hit it off center it came flying up and hit me on the cheek. Once the stars cleared I reallised that rapidly growing red puddle was coming from me. When I returned from the hospital I did what I should have done first, and built a jig to contain the punch and hold it in place while I hit it with the sledge. The other thing I did was move the treadle shield that had been sitting behind me interfering with my backswing. Not only we…

Hi, All. I'm new as a smith but have done enough other work in my life to know that safety can easily be taken for granted. I've had a couple of thoughts about how to keep safety in the fore while we work in our craft. First I would like to propose that we offer a Safety Tip of the Day. It should be stickied and there could be three or four categories: General, Welding, Forge, etc. The tips should be in the form of a short statement that brings some practical safety issue to the front of our minds. In reading some of the safety posts I came across a simple one: Use proper lifting techniques for moving heavy objects such as anvils and forges. While I think input fr…

Hi, All. Waiting for my first propane forge to arrive (a Chile Tabasco) and wondered if we could collect some propane safety words of wisdom. Thanks.~Eric

Maybe we need a subtopic of safety for out of the shop projects? We are a hands on community and all have experiences and situations to share. There are safety concerns some here never are exposed to, and there are concerns that affect a large subset of this community BUT are not related to shop safety. I do a lot of tree care on my own property, and once a limb spring poled into me because its end touched ground before I completed the cut. It was a 4 inch limb, and if it was a few inches to the left my manhood would have been in question; a few inches higher and I would have been in the hospital with abdominal trauma. As it was I was lucky to not have a broken leg,…

Howdy. I'm Steve O'Grady. Many call me Ten Hammers. In view of Jerry Frosts accident, I might type a few comments. These are just some thoughts (some about life in general, some about situations specific and some just thoughts). Not picking on anyone in general (be that age, gender or skill level). We as a worldwide community are a very fortunate lot to live in the times we live. Frosty and his wife Deb are very fortunate. Not only is there a top notch modern health care facility to care for Frosty (and help Deb cope), there were modern health care professionals called to the scene of the accident (will comment on that word later) and the on scene help called for…

What it made out of?.

Whats the legality of storing full acetylene tanks like this? Home laminated wood stand and back wall, light chain loosely "securing" them, no cage, no placards and they are in direct sun half of the day. The oxygen tanks are kept on a similar setup on the opposite end of that metal bin. I have no idea of their reasoning. There is an existing covered tank cage on the other side of the building that now sits empty.

Do you have a signal system to summon help if you are in your shop and an emergency arises? How do you call the wife, neighbor, or others if things go REALLY bad?

Very, so I found out yesterday afternoon. Had my fire going with coke left from last time I used it. Added some coal around the edges and sprinkled some water on it. I heard a slight pop. Looked around and flames were coming out of the hole of my Champion blower. The first thing I did (like a fool) was grab my water can. Water didn't work. Remembered the fire extinguisher by the door that I had hung there a couple of months ago. One short blast was all it took. Some time ago I had started the forge and there was a very loud pop. That time it blew the hose off of the fire pot. What causes this? Billy