njanvilman Posted January 23, 2015 Share Posted January 23, 2015 Leather apron for me. Also always used when wire wheeling. Those wires that will break off just bounce off, instead of going through my clothing, and sometimes into me. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Glenn Posted January 24, 2015 Share Posted January 24, 2015 Leather apron when it is needed for heavy protection. Denim when light protection or protection from dirt is needed. Both hang as you enter the shop. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
santisandreas Posted May 11, 2015 Share Posted May 11, 2015 hello everyone, i have another thought about clothing while in the forge. Recently i found some anti fire clothes that are bought frequently for the welding industry which are specialty made by Panoply so that they resist fire from sparks while welding or grinding. the leather apron is quite uncomfortable to wear because it is heavy in the neck and hot while wearing so i thought to buy trousers and a long shirt with this fabric so as to reduce the weight on my neck and the heat from wearing multiple layers of clothing, considering that i live in Cyprus where the summers are average 35-38° Celsius and sometimes even 40. the only problem is that they had the trousers available and i bought them immediately but they didn't have the shirt and after waiting for a month for it to arrive i have decided to look elsewhere. does anyone know of any place where i can purchase online such clothing that is related to blacksmithing? did anyone ever use anti fire clothing before besides the leather apron? if i find anything on my research i will post it here as a future reference for others who might feel more comfortable with such clothing rather that to have to wear an apron all the time! by the way the trousers work great while smithing and dont have a single hole on them after one month's use.. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Charles R. Stevens Posted May 11, 2015 Share Posted May 11, 2015 For practical perposes all natural fabric will serve, cotton, wool and linnen. The fire rated clothing are used in the industrial and oil industries to increase survivability incase of chemical/petrochemical fires. If you are storring gasolin, desiel or karosine in your shop it might be a good idea. I wear thin (think bed sheet) longsleved shirts in sumer, but many profesinal welders wear heavy cotton shirts (think kakie pants weight or cheep jeans) i swich to the heaver weights in the winter, honestly wranglers brand jeans (original cut) seem to be the most durable and popular for welders and farriers alike but any heavy cotton like canvas works well. A heavy cotton apron (canvis or denium) works well as if you get carles with wich way the sparks fly of your grinder you will not burn a hole in your shirt. Honestly I would think much of the traditinal cotton clothing (long tailed shirts) wold hold up well. An insulated shad and a good breeze help a lot, being in a steel building on a sunny day can add 10-20 degrees to the temp, an aluminum roof and or insulation plus good ventulation feels prety good once your swet sokes your shirt. Some recomend very tight shirts, both for safety (not geting caut in machinery) and cooling, i find a slightly larger shirt with tight fiting cuffs and loose caller to be best. Seriusly Unless their is an overiding safty concern the traditinal long cotton shirt would be great as the long tail (below knee lenght) would keep it out of most machinery wile protecting you, and alowing for good ventulation around your body. Tho I would still wear my boots, lol. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
santisandreas Posted May 11, 2015 Share Posted May 11, 2015 thanks a lot. that was very educational.. i will go get some cotton shirts to try them and continue wearing my pants! thanks again.. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
arkie Posted May 11, 2015 Share Posted May 11, 2015 A common way welders often make their own fire-retardant clothing is with an application of a solution of borax and boric acid. There are many formulas on the internet. You probably have to treat the clothing after each washing, but the ingredients are inexpensive and readily available. Here is an example of one treatment:http://www.ehow.com/how_5001660_make-fabrics-flame-retardant.htmlNeedless to say, commercial fire-retardant cloth is the most durable way to go, but is very expensive and hard to find sometimes. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Frosty Posted May 11, 2015 Share Posted May 11, 2015 Some fire retardant clothing is NOT suitable in the smithy. fire fighters, race car drivers, etc. wear Nomex or Kevlar fire suits and they've saved many lives. Unfortunately a blacksmith is going to come in contact with HOT metal. Fire suits will protect you from a fire for a period of time, usually measured in tens of seconds. However direct contact with metal say 400C will melt even the best synthetics and then it sticks to your skin and deep fries you.Natural fabrics say cotton flax, hemp, wool, leather and such char on contact with hot objects, the layer of charred cloth or hide acts as an insulator for a couple seconds giving you time to drop or jump clear of the HOT stuff. Another safety factor is smoke from ANY natural clothing has a distinctive smell, you only have to light yourself on fire once and your brain will put that smell at the top of the reaction list with a BIG rad flag.Wool or leather are the better protection. Wool not only stinks to high heaven when it burns wool ash is fire proof and highly insulating. Leather is not only fire proof and hot contact resistant while stinking strongly it provides a degree of armor from flying objects. Say a shattered grinder disk, or piece of steel chipping or grabbed by a wire wheel.There are better strap layouts for supporting heavy leather aprons. I had one made for me by a friend who works leather. That apron is made from Oak tanned moose hide and is probably bullet proof. The neck strap is more like a pair of suspenders for pants and goes through D rings to be the waist belt. As heavy as that apron is it wears very comfortably. I'll try and remember to have Deb get a couple pics. It really IS the most comfortable apron I've ever I've ever worn.For general hot shop work, I wear cotton, Wrangler cargo pocket pants and a chamois shirt in winter or cotton work shirt in summer. Just make sure there are NO synthetic fabrics in your clothes. Any synthetics are B-A-D if you get them too hot and you can't feel the heat through the cloth before it melts and sticks to you.Sorry about going on about synthetics in a hot shop but I have more than one friend with burn scars from wearing synthetics, one pretty badly disfigured.Frosty The Lucky. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rashelle Posted May 11, 2015 Share Posted May 11, 2015 I'm with Frosty. We used to have to wear Nomex in the chemical plants. Though we'd still mange to get burnt through the Nomex. Our mechanics when at our own shop preferred the simple cotton overalls. My own preference is simple cotton or other natural fabrics. Though note Womens denim jeans are rarely actual cotton denim anymore. We have to check carefully just what our clothes are for hot work and stay away from synthetics which melt to you rather then charring. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Charles R. Stevens Posted May 11, 2015 Share Posted May 11, 2015 As noted above by glenn, keep the heavy apron for "as needed" protection. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bobby Campbell Posted May 12, 2015 Share Posted May 12, 2015 Just thought I would add my two coppers in this thread as I have direct experience with synthetic fabrics. When I was 13 or so I was in an unfortunate accident which involved fire. I was wearing those polyester sport socks, you know the knee length ones that have the colored bands at the top... Well suffice to say the fabric not only burned but it also melted to my right leg. Removal of the left over material made matters much worse.Third degree burns and several years of rehab later. I watch very closely what I'm wearing while working around heat. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Quarry Dog Posted May 12, 2015 Share Posted May 12, 2015 About a month and a half ago, a fresh class of blacksmith hopefuls was starting at the shop that I hammer at. One of them showed up in an a-shirt, basketball shorts, and sneakers. The instructor made a judgement call that since the first class is rather low impact, that he would give the guy a pass, spend a little extra time talking about shop safety, and proceed as usual. The instructor has a standing rule. "If you mess up in a way that I haven't, I'll buy you a beer." Well this guy earned a beer. At the very last 30 seconds of the class, this guy dropped his piece, it hit the anvil, flipped end for end and charred its way down the front of his basketball shorts from just below the waist band to just above the hem. Luckily he didn't put new meaning to a Jerry Lee Lewis song, but just barely. The next week he showed up in his old coveralls from his time in the Navy, even though it was 90 degrees outside. The instructor has since stated that he will not be making that mistake again any time soon. No I was not the instructor (still too wet behind the ears). Usually the instructor is spot on when it comes to safety, but everyone has bad days. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
santisandreas Posted May 13, 2015 Share Posted May 13, 2015 thanks for everything! i will try some 100% cotton shirts and t shirts for a while and see how that goes and i will keep searching for some clothing with an external layer of leather attached to it. maybe i will find something.. but i think that wool is too hot for cyprus! thanks though for the great advice! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Charles R. Stevens Posted May 13, 2015 Share Posted May 13, 2015 Wool may surprize you, especialy in humid conditions. The fine wools (marino and the like) aren't itchy, and wick moisture away from your skin (like amany senthetics) but is resistant to bacteria growth (stinky feet? Switch to wool socks) infact reserch indicates for "performance fabrics" wool is beter for athleats. Now in dry hot climants cotton is king, as the cotton fiber acualy absorbes sweat, and acts like an evaperitive cooler in the slightest breez. What exactly are your risks are we talking about personal protective equipment or durable workwear that resists sparks, abrasian and the occasinal "oops"? PPE is a bit different, where i would chose a pair of wranglers (jeans) and a brush popper shirt ( heavy cotton simular to light tent fabric) for welding and smithing, i certainly grab my leather aprin or chaps when I need to grind, shoe or wire brush. If you are welding inside of tanks and such, where you cant get away from the platter then sleaves or welding jackets become a nesesity. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ThomasPowers Posted May 13, 2015 Share Posted May 13, 2015 For general smithing. bluejeans, leather work boots and a cotton shirt. For forge welding this gets a light leather "bib" apron added to it. For grinding I use a HEAVY leather bib apron. For hot days I like the old bib overalls as they allow a lot of air flow not having a belt involved (google bib overalls to see images of them.) They also have the "if anything does make it inside the clothing it can drop straight down and out" feature. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Charles R. Stevens Posted May 13, 2015 Share Posted May 13, 2015 That was kind of what I was thinking with the traditinal long shirt one sees in the middle east and north africa, ventilation with out the isue of hot slag (or hay) geting inside. Heck, if I wasnt a horseman and had beter legs I would wear a kilt! Lol Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
seldom (dick renker) Posted May 14, 2015 Share Posted May 14, 2015 oh lord. please help us Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Charles R. Stevens Posted May 14, 2015 Share Posted May 14, 2015 Do you know the difference between a kilt and a skirt, seldom Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Frosty Posted May 14, 2015 Share Posted May 14, 2015 Davy Crocket kilt a bar when was only three. He didn't skirt problems even as a wee tyke.Dick probably lives where there are strong updrafts. He was asking for divine intervention not a definition.Frosty The Lucky. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ianinsa Posted May 14, 2015 Share Posted May 14, 2015 Do you know the difference between a kilt and a skirt, seldomon the southern side of the wall it's often thought that it's the accessory/s(read handbag v. Claymore) and shoes that make the difference! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Charles R. Stevens Posted May 14, 2015 Share Posted May 14, 2015 Oh, it"s all about the accessories... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
notownkid Posted May 15, 2015 Share Posted May 15, 2015 We received the latest News Letter of the New England Blacksmiths yesterday. I was reading it and there was a very nice story of and by a young man who had in recent years rebuilt a blacksmith shop and program at a real neat sounding summer camp for boys in Vermont. Nice because the boys made up their own daily programs nothing prescheduled for them other than meals and wake up call. I looked up the Camps web site and clicked onto the blacksmith section and there was a nice photo gallery, Wow I thought and then I noticed the instructor was dressed in boots, long jeans, decent shirt and safety glasses, All the boys there some watching some working were in shorts, sneakers, T shirts, not a set of glasses anywhere. As another posting here asks "Are People Daft?" Yup sure seem to be. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
seldom (dick renker) Posted May 16, 2015 Share Posted May 16, 2015 charles, yes i know the difference between a kilt and a skirt Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Charles R. Stevens Posted May 16, 2015 Share Posted May 16, 2015 Yep, we owe the horse for the demise of such "manly"wear! Lol my first encounter with a man in a skirt was a Samoen Lutheran Preacher. Decided me real fast, that man made about six of me and he could Palm my head (teenager, but he would still make two of me today). I might kid about it but any man who dones a kilt or any other "leggles" native dress has my respect. Now "short pants are another mater... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
santisandreas Posted May 16, 2015 Share Posted May 16, 2015 here in Cyprus it is very hot and dry to semi humid sometimes! i think that wool is a bit too much but i will look for a cotton shirt and a bib overall i guess which i think will be great! but i will need both a leather and a jean style bib. those will be great i guess for general purpose smithing, and then for the grinding or welding i might add a leather apron. thanks for your suggestions Mr Charles and Thomas! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ThomasPowers Posted May 16, 2015 Share Posted May 16, 2015 What is traditional local dress for blacksmithing? Then add the PPE (personal protective equipment) needed to make it safe for your traditional and non-traditional blacksmithing tasks. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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