What safety equipment do you need?

[knifedude1999]

What safety equipment do you need?

I am going to start blade smithing this summer, I would now but the 2 feet of snow puts a damper on it.

In fact I got an anvil last sunday :)

I know that you need hearing protection, is there a criteria for hearing protection?

What to look for in safety glasses? I want to keep the glasses under 50 dollars

My wife wants me to wear a apron, I was looking at the "Pieh Knifemaker Apron, Flame Retardant" available at:

http://www.piehtoolco.com/contents/en-us/p10937.html or a leather welding apron, like this:

http://www.amazon.com/US-Forge-99406-Leather-Welding/dp/B0000DCZPF/ref=sr_1_4?s=hi&ie=UTF8&qid=1361736150&sr=1-4&keywords=welding+apron#productDetails should I go for a leather welding apron or the knifemaker apron?

Also any recommendations on gloves?

 

THX in advance

 

BTW the anvil turned out to be a Hay Budden, it's 152 pounds and I payed 150 dollars!!!

[jmccustomknives]

You can go to any welding supply and pick up all the safety supplies you need.  They will have glasses ranging from clear to shade 5, I generally prefer the tinted for outsided and indoor/outdoor tint for working my little diamondback in the shop.  I use drivers gloves but the short cuff means my wrist gets burned quite often.  Tilman 35L are good longcuff gloves that are still soft enough to work with.

[Grizzer]

I prefer leather as it's more flame retardant in my book regardless of how cotton has been treated.  But that's just me.  I do recommend that you get an apron that has cross straps in the back rather than hangs off your neck, you will likely find it more comfortable, and more comfortable means it's more likely to be worn. 

I was taught not to use gloves for the most part so can't make any recommendations there, but that's also a personal choice. There are a number of threads on the glove vs no glove debate, a simple search will bring them up.  In the end, it's up to you but I recommend reading them and making an informed choice.

Hearing protection is pretty straghtforward, basic choice is muffs or plugs.  Plugs are more comfortable in hot weather. When I have used them I have personally found the disposable foam plugs to be more comfortable than the rubber plugs. You can also quiet the ring of the anvil easy enough with a length of chain and/or your mounting method.  This also helps with the neighbors if you have any near by.  Hearing loss is gradual and long term.  I didn't have it in my younger days in the machine shops, and though it's not bad yet, I have noticed my hearing starting to go a bit.  So I can certainly recommend protecting it.  In hand smithing, it's not always so much the volume as the pitch and repetition. So you don't need heavy-duty protection like if you were running a jack hammer, but it's good to have something.  If you use a trip hammer I'd advise going heavier though.

 

Sounds like a great buy on the anvil!

[son_of_bluegrass]

On ear muffs, if you break the seal (i.e. wearing glasses) you reduce the effectiveness of the hearing protection.  Since I wear glasses all the time, I prefer the foam in the ear plugs.  

 

You may want to consider a full face shield instead of (or in addition to) safety glasses.  Glasses will protect the eyes, face shield will protect more.  There is a thread on safety glasses that covers different shades and what they protect from, rather than type that much here I'm going to say read it.

 

For about $50 US I bought a side of leather from Tandy (the only leather store in town) and made my own apron, cross the back instead of hanging off the neck and going from just under the neck (as high as I found comfortable to below my knees (looking online the cheapest I saw for similar was around $80 US).

 

I don't wear gloves.

 

The last pair of shoes I had were steel toed, this time money was an issue and my current pair aren't.  But they are leather work boots that go over the ankle and under pants legs (the idea being to keep hot stuff from falling inside the shoe).

 

Definitely read the safety thread here.

 

The short answer really is to protect what you want to keep.

You've taken the first step to keep all your parts by asking, now you need to follow through.

 

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