Wire Brushes

[Glenn]

Jim "Paw Paw" Wilson attaching a wire wheel on a motor. The motor was attached to a bracket and securely hung on the outside of his shop.

All was fine till one day .....

The wire wheel caught the piece of 3/8" square "S" hook, grabbed it out of his hands, round the circle and launched it back at Jim. Jim took the 3/8" square in the fore head on as he ducked out of the way - it happened that fast. He then hit his head again on a 5 gallon bucket of concrete used to anchor the outside shop roof. Result = two concusions and several months of headaches that pills would not cure.

[Glenn]

As a teenager, I was helping my Uncle work on metal. He allowed me to use a industrial size wire bursh on a angle grinder type tool. The tool was extremely heavy and had maybe a 9" wire wheel attached. I do not remember ever seeing a grinding disc on that tool, so I assume at this point it was a wire wheel only tool.

There was never a guard on the tool, we knew to be careful and were careful when it was used. Till the day my right hand holding the tool slid a bit too far foward and that wire wheel devoured the flesh on the second joint of my thumb. Still am reminded that you do not trust any wire wheel every time I look at the scar.


Flat (non cupped) wire wheels do a good job on objects with contours but are not to be trusted on flat metal. Flat (non cupped) wire wheels WILL GRAB onto metal in one direction, but will slide on metal when you turn and face the other direction. This is especially true when you wire brush edges of objects. Make sure which is which and your truned the proper direction. Cup wheels do well on flat metal but not so well on objects with shape.

As the wheels wear down, they start throwing wires. Like sparks from the grinder, these wire darts can travel a surprising distance. Be careful what is downrange of your work.

[Brian C.]

I run an 8" wire wheel on a pedestal grinder. Once as I was cleaning up a piece of 3/8" round stock that I had forged into a hook on one end and a leaf on the other, the wheel grabbed it.

Cut my lip inside & out, several sore teeth, small mouse under my eye. All of this while wearing a face shield. Tore the shield from the headband.

What would it have done without the face shield? Which, by the way, I only started wearing after #1 son came to visit & walked up and pulled a couple of wires out of my cheek that I had not noticed.

When that wheel grabs, it is way to late to "duck and cover".

I still use those wheels, but very much more carefully than before. This made a Bill Epps believer out of me ,by using a variable speed sander-polisher with a wire cup wheel in his videos

[Mills]

I got rid of all powered wire wheels about 8 months ago. Flat wheel on small flat sheet and badly needed surgery was put off another 2 months whilst my belly healed. Wickers in the jeans, which get washed then transferred to the socks where I recover them in the wee morning hours as part of preparation for the day. I now use more chemicals, which has a different set of risks that I find more acceptable.

[HWooldridge]

Motor brushes can be very dangerous. I buy the best wheels I can find in soft configurations - primarily because the better ones last so don't shed wire bristles and also because the smaller wire, softer action wheels leave a nicer surface and are not as prone to grab.

A very usable hand brush is the butcher block style, which has fairly large, flat wire blades set into a big block, usually with a handle on top. These are sold in butcher supply stores to clean wooden cutting boards. In the blacksmith shop, they automatically protect the hand (because the handle is on top) and last a very long time. I have one in the shop that is about ten years old and still going strong - has lost a few bristles but a good 90% of them are still there.

[High Plains Forge]

Last winter, I was using a wire cup brush on a small angle grinder to clean the scale off a candleholder. I was going too fast and wasn't paying attention. The brush grabbed the piece, then fired off straight in my direction. It hit me right in the nipple. I was only wearing a T-shirt, and let me tell you, my nipple wasn't happy. Luckily it recovered and I still have both. Needless to say, I do a lot less wire brushing, and am much more careful when I do.

[irnsrgn]

Jim Wilson mounted a cup twisted cup brush to the motor or grinder, he admitted he should have never used a cup brush.

[Mr Smith]

I remeber using a wire brush attachment on an angle grinder to clean up something or other.
At the time. I was wearing my oldest, baggiest t-shirt, which I designated my "smithin' shirt".
Big mistake.

The end of the shirt caught on the bristles, and the angle grinder suddenly gave me a "nipple cripple". Thankfully I still have both, but I use a lot more vinegar for cleaning nowadays....

[henerythe8th]

For quite a while I have considered any powered wire brush to be one of, if not THE most dangerous tool in the shop! Similar to Mr. Smith, I had a very baggy set of overalls on--price was right at a yardsale--and ended up winding up and tearing a large chunk of denim at belly level (thank goodness I didn't have that part of the overalls full! ) with an angle grinder with flat brush in it.

Really, when you get right down to it . . .

NO TOOL IS DANGEROUS!!!

Unless of course it's the TOOL that you see in the mirror every morning...

WE TOOLS, have to make sure that we are aware, cautious, etc.

[gamanet]

Thats why its important to let the tool do the work for you. the more pressure you add the more resistance there is between the metal and the wire wheel.

[romandybala]

One time I was cleaning up on the workbench and there was a little pile of the wires that had been flung out of the wire wheel on my bench grinder. I swept my hand across them and felt a stab of pain as one of the wires went straight through the tip of my middle finger about a quarter inch from the tip. It looked funny but I remember an old square rigged sailor told me why knives have a blood gutter on them . He said that the body holds on to a flat blade and the blood gutter lets in some air to overcome the vacuum. Well I grabbed the little wire with my teeth and yanked it out.Dull pain for a couple of days. Now I have a brush lying next to all my machines.

[primtechsmith]

This is an article I wrote for my monthly article in "The Virginian". The monthly newsletter for The Blacksmith Guild of Virginia. I wanted to share this with everyone here as well. Sorry for the length...but hopefully the read is worth it.

President's Corner: "When wire Brushes Attack" July Newsletter. "The Virginian" Vol. 2, Issue 7

I recently switched out blowers on my forge. The new blower was bought at Quad State last year and was near perfect except for all the years of rust and crud. I decided to pull out the power wire brush and clean her up to get ready for the installation and a new coat of paint.

Maybe now is a good time to add that this was not my first time wire brushing. One of my main responsibilities is wire brushing, and I actually enjoy it.

Back to the story

[jeremy k]

One thing I was always told......ALWAYS GRIND (or WIRE BRUSH) OFF AN EDGE. There could be a whole chapter on how to grind or wire brush using an angle grinder as a power source. Mostly I'm talking about the areas that actually make contact and how thats related to the direction of the wheel and placement of such. - JK

[evfreek]

Hi Jeremy. This is a very interesting thread. What do you mean by "always grind off an edge"? Do you mean run the wheel so that it is pulling away from the metal? Or, do you mean, if there is an edge, make sure to grind it off? I think it is the first one. Thanks.

I am very scared of power wire brushes and have removed and discarded any from garage sale grinders that I have picked up. But when I was in metal shop, the teacher did not stress the risk much. He said that abused screwdrivers caused many more injuries.

[cheftjcook]

From time to time I work a little with two of my brothers, who are mechanics.
Got used to using large high speed angle grinder with a various brushes to clean off stuff. Tried the same with forged stuff, works fast but, always with the same results. Being pelted and many time injected with the flying mini wire knives as they left the wheel. Until I saw one of the Bill Epps dvds. I was an instant convert!!! Went to "HB Freight" and bought a VS Polisher, set it up and tested with different wire wheels, works great and life is good. (Thank you, Mr Epps!!)
A pain full side note to those little flying wire knives, as mentioned before, they stick in clothing and can be transfered to other clothing in the wash. Not just socks either, under ware can be a very rough place to find a stray piece of wire from a wire wheel!!!!!!!! hehehe Go ahead laugh, I think its funny now too...but when it first happened..... WOW!
Tim

[jeremy k]

Evfreek - Yes I meant to have the wheel turning toward the edge or "off" the edge. Hard to explain, somewhere I used to have a very good pamphlet on grinding that had pictures of "do's" and "dont's" - haven't been able to locate it as of yet. If I remember right that pamphlet was from back when I went through the auto-body class at the vocational school many years ago. With a little research, I'm sure one could find similar info on "how" to correctly use an angle grinder(whether it's with a hard wheel or wire wheel). - JK

[nonjic]

ever seen the film ' The Fly' ?

I spent an hour wire brushing with a pistol drill a load of old spring swages, a couple of days later a hair on my arm seemed unusually coarse...
.
tweezers and yup, wire, fired stright into the muscle. over the next couple of weeks about 6 appeared, very lucky not to get blood poisioning.

I NEVER use them now. full stop. im scared of them, and I use some hardcore machinery :o

[Pault17]

I semi-regularly use a small flat 3.5 inch wire wheel in my drill press to quick-clean scale off things. I have a few things grab and leave my grip, but so far have been luck with no loss of limb. I have read many of the various stories and the one with Paw-Paw was the scariest to me. I don't have a bench-mount grinder yet, so the temptation is not there. I also typically use a flap-disc for rapid removal, on my 4.5" grinder.

[Candidquality]

A very usable hand brush is the butcher block style, which has fairly large, flat wire blades set into a big block, usually with a handle on top. These are sold in butcher supply stores to clean wooden cutting boards.

I'm so glad you mentioned this. I have been hunting for this kind of brush for several months now and no one seemed to know what I was talking about. I used these as a kid and really prefer them. Now I know where to start looking.

And as far as power wire brushing. I don't use it, ever. Did a few times as a kid on bodywork for my '53 merc. I think I'm still picking out needles from my arm occasionally. With lots of PPE it might be doable, but I prefer to leave that kind of work to someone else. Don't have it in my shop and don't plan to. But that's just my opinion. Like any tool it can be extremely dangerous in the right hands and worse in the wrong ones.

[evfreek]

...
Being pelted and many time injected with the flying mini wire knives as they left the wheel. Until I saw one of the Bill Epps dvds. I was an instant convert!!! Went to "HB Freight" and bought a VS Polisher, set it up and tested with different wire wheels, works great and life is good. (Thank you, Mr Epps!!)
...
Tim

Hi Tim. I saw this advice elsewhere and figured it was a good idea. I tried it out and it worked GREAT! I wore my leather apron, gloves and a face shield, and used a premium knotted cup brush. Very controllable. Keeping out of cracks and using light pressure wore the wires uniformly, and there were no flying wires.

I did worry a little about the absence of a guard. :confused: But, the HF variable speed sander is so weak and slow (on the "2" setting) that it is very controllable. Never even came close to getting away from me. But after a few minutes, I did smell that familiar "HF is working too hard" smell. If I take a lot of breaks, this tool will probably last for a good few hours, and that's a lot of safe® wire brushing. Do you think it's worth cobbling up a little guard out of sheet metal? They don't get in my way, but I hear they don't help much when you are going 10000 rpm.

[HWooldridge]

I had a little incident this week I'd like to pass on as a safety story about wire wheels.

Thursday night, I was power brushing some work with a 4-1/2" right angle grinder and a knotted wire wheel. The wheel was old and starting to shed strands. I always wear face and eye protection but let everything else take what comes. I kept getting stung in the belly and chest but the flying wires never penetrated my skin. I finished about 9:30, went into the house to wash up and went to bed. Next morning, I got up, showered, got dressed like every other day of the world and went to work. About lunchtime, I looked down and noticed a red spot on my left arm that had a small spot of dried blood. Felt like something was there but it did not hurt. By the time my wife and I got home Friday night, there was a hard red knot on my arm so I knew something was wrong. Out came the pointed tweezers and after a little digging, I removed a piece of wire that was just under 1-1/2" long! The worst part was that it had angled inward and driven down between the arm bones. I was lucky it didn't hit a tendon or blood vessel and that the tip was within reach or I would have been in the emergency room having surgery. IMHO, the wire wheel is the most dangerous tool in the shop and needs to be treated with the utmost care. I also went out into the shop today and tossed that wheel in the trash so I wouldn't be tempted to get just one more pass out of it.

[ThomasPowers]

I am lucky enough to have been given a slow speed, double shafted, totally contained motor "polisher" it actually has two speeds, "Slow" and "Slower". It may take longer but *MUCH* safer.

HW, I think the *smith* is by far the most dangerous tool but buffers and wire brushes are way up on the list. As a blademaker I've heard *LOTS* of buffer stories that make your blood run cold...

[agsolder]

HW-- I had almost the exact same accident happen, but with a brand new stainless wire wheel on a little grinder. Didn't notice a thing until hours later when I felt a little splinter in my forearm. Pulled on it, and out came a full-length wire. Found a few others here and there, too. I have always worn safety glasses, but from that day on it's been a face shield over them and full leathern battle armor: jacket, apron, cuffs and gauntlets. For years I suspected an evil spirit dwelt in my shop. Realized some time back that, alas, it's my stupidity in not anticipating possibilities.

[Ian]

I've had my own 'moments' with the wire wheel, we use them a lot, usually the cupped brushes that go into the 4" Angle grinder. First time was a pearler, was a 'tad' interesting trying to switch off the grinder while not allowing it to strangle me and remove my nipple at the same time. Loose T shirts are a BIG no no.
Also had to pull out a few wires from myself as well as they do eventually leave home at a rate of knots that would make any parent blush with shame. Now I use a nice thick leather apron that the wheel cant grab and a face shield and gauntlets. Picking out wires that are embedded into your knuckle bones isn't tremendous fun, nor is looking like Ghandi because one hit you right between the eyes where your glasses dont cover. Excellent tool, due serious respect.

[dimag]

I also used a wire brush on a bench grinder,similar results to most folks.Little perforations everywhere.I bought a butchers brush,which works very well and mine has also lived a long time,9 years so far.I still used the grinder with a brush until I went to visit the aforementioned Mr. Epps.It took little or no effort to convince me to get a sander polisher with a cup brush.