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I Forge Iron

What is the most dangerous tool in your shop?


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This danger was out side the shop last thursday. My son was smoking in front of the shop. He knocked the cherry off in the driveway then disposed of the butt. Wind blew the cherry into the neighbors fence and started a grass fire that spred to the fence than his boat. It took and hour for the fire to get goin than a passerbuy alerted us. Ugly situation. The pic is whats left of the fence and the boat burning. 

20170322_175057.jpg

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Oh NOOOO! That really stinks Kevin. I don't know what else to say. It's bad enough when we hurt or damage ourselves but hurting or damaging innocent bystanders REALLY hurts.

It is a good example that danger is everywhere. Make being careful and safety a religion? Naw, it can be overdone to the point of being more of a hazard than the original danger. It's not easy and there's always something out there to get you.

Frosty The Lucky.

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Ouch Kevin. If smoking in my shop, throw the butt on the concrete floor or in the forge. They get swept up later or burned up. If outside just stomp it out. It'll eventually deteriorate. 

That sight would make my stomach sink bad. 

 

The most dangerous tools in my shop are the ones I respect the most ( like the 1hp buffer grinder with wire wheels on it.) so I usually get lightly bit more by the usually more tame tools ( like the Air angle die grinder with 3in. Roloc wheels ) as I guess I pay a little less attention to using them. 

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Out this way if a rancher sees you tossing a cigarette out the window of the car during fire season, (Single digit humidities, strong 30+ mph winds), well lets just say any jury of his peers will not only acquit him; but probably pass the hat to pay his legal bills as well.

I'm sorry about the boat  and fence.  Always worse when we hurt others even unintendedly. 

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On March 26, 2017 at 9:48 PM, Frosty said:

Hit your local motorcycle shop, dirt bike shop, not Harley shop and buy, "Tear offs" They're clear plastic sheet visor covers with a paper backing. You wash & dry your visor, peal the paper and lay the "tear off" over it and repeat a few times. I've found 10 tear offs at once gets a little hazy so it's not an unlimited thing.

When your visor gets dirty and scratched up from wiping the dirt off with your glove, (that's dirt biker dirt ad gloves, we wouldn't do that in the shop. Too often dirt biking you don't have time to stop and rinse your visor off, it's get SOME vision or eat it."

Hey Frosty, thanks for the tip about the peel-offs. I keep all my face shields, safety glasses, welding helmets etc in Army surplus boxes with air tight seals. I cut, grind, buff, brush etc. daily and I can get a year out of a face shield barring a mishap. I don't like to buy replacements because of a stupid mistake but I will toss anything with a lens if it becomes scratched! My gripe about plexi-glass is with the tools I've owned with factory guards that quickly become so cloudy you can no longer see the work. I whole heartedly agree about gloves being a hazard around machinery! I only wear an apron when buffing but I take great care to make sure my straps are tucked in! I saw a man get an apron jerked off by a turret laithe  in a shop I started out in as a teenager, he was cut/beaten badly and had several rows of stitches from his forehead to his waist.

 I own three sets of body armor, one with ceramic chest insert. I never even considered wearing one while bufffing but after reading about your member I will be wearing my vest when I buff blades! It may be a bit over the top but I already have them so..... I hate to think of laying on the ground with a blade in my chest while three vests are piled up in the closet!

On March 27, 2017 at 9:59 AM, Glenn said:

It is not a tool, but all moving parts come to a stop when visitors arrive.

They want to touch everything, and can distract you from everything you are doing. Distraction is spelled  D A N G E R .

That's the kind of advice that keeps everyone safe! I'm sure I'm not the only member of this site who has worked in big machine shops. When you are surrounded by experienced machinists, many of which in my case were older, wiser, more knowledgeable, you can work safely around a group. Visitors to my home shop on the other hand often display an almost mystical ability to put themselves and others at risk. I'm sure I couldn't do some of their day jobs but I know I don't want them around moving pinch points, spinning blades or hot work!

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On ‎28‎/‎03‎/‎2017 at 0:59 AM, Glenn said:

It is not a tool, but all moving parts come to a stop when visitors arrive.

They want to touch everything, and can distract you from everything you are doing. Distraction is spelled  D A N G E R .

Visitors ... I stop everything I am doing, switch everything off and then we can talk ... no onlookers when I work. I even throw people out the kitchen when I am cooking let alone when I am bending steel.

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Among those already mentioned is the metal chop saw. I have had more "close calls" with it than any other, including the power hammer. One of our club members who has decades of experience had his chop saw bite him and a trip to the ER and orthopedic surgeon was in order to sew his finger back on. Fortunately the outcome looks positive as he will be able to use that finger again after it's healed. He still can't figure out how it happened.

Talking about visitors, my father worked at a defense factory during WWII running a lathe making aircraft bearings. One day there were visiting Congress Men and my father was showing them how the stock was chucked up in the pneumatic chuck. As he was taking the stock out of the chuck one of the visitors leaned over to get a better look. He leaned against the lever and closed the chuck on my fathers fingers. They sewed his fingers back on but his index finger although healed was stiff because the knuckles were crushed.

Always be aware of where visitors are and what they are doing.

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  • 2 weeks later...
On 3/28/2017 at 9:08 PM, Marc1 said:

no onlookers when I work.

This is my philosophy. For people who want to learn about a tool, be it a drill press, grinder, forge, whatever, they first get a thorough explanation of how it can hurt you, second how to avoid it hurting you, and third me showing them the scars from when it's hurt me. Aside from that, all work stops when visitors come by. 

Most dangerous tool in the shop? Probably angle grinder.

Kevin Olson

So sorry to hear about that.

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  • 3 weeks later...

They are all the most dangerous.  I have rapped my knuckles on the lathe, had pieces spin in the drill press and gash me, removed the ends of fingers on the pedestal grinder, removed layers of flesh with the angle grinder as well as make deep cuts in my belly when using abrasive paper in them.  Saws of any kind can cut you quickly.  Everything hot in your shop can burn you or set you on fire.  The horn of your anvil can put a decent bruise in your leg.  Tongs and pliers can pinch and of course hammers can squish fingers.  I once gave myself a nasty shock with the welder - felt like somebody hit me with a baseball bat.  Even the stock you work with is dangerous, sharp edges can cut and heavy stuff can be dropped on your unprotected toes.  Then there is the dust and NOISE - hurting you slowly without being to obvious and maybe the most dangerous of all.  Pay attention!

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My vote was mentioned by Gazz above. (With the caveat it isn't a tool.)

Dust.  

Steel dust floats around and gets airborne.  I use a spark bucket when using a belt grinder but also wear a respirator and use an overhead dust collector.  Amazes me where I find fine steel dust and equally amazing how dirty those filters get on the air filter and the respirator filters. It floats around like fine wood dust, unseen.

All power tools and hand tools can usually be used relatively safely by knowing and following the basic safety rules of each tool,  and proper use of each tool.  Oh and a healthy respect for what they can do to flesh.

That unseen steel dust (and various other types of dust) in your lungs can silently kill you.  Wear your respirator when grinding!

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The person that comes in thinking they know all and they really don't know anything.  Which leads to the cures of working alone.  Then it is all my doing and I am the only one that could get hurt.  Take the time for prep work has been drilled into my head so much that you can pre tell the oh crap moments.  Or the why did you have to redo that after you got the stitches.  Take the time for prep and thinking it really does help things go better and faster.  

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  • 3 weeks later...
  • 2 weeks later...

I make the analogy of the tools in my shop to the wildlife here in S.C. From bugs to gators, everything has teeth and everything wants to eat you.

Although not actually considered a "tool" the item in my shop that I consider the most dangerous is the propane tank. We recently had a local person die from a propane tank explosion. The investigation results ruled out human error and laid the blame on a faulty tank. Whether he knowingly continued to use a problem tank (people do idiotic things) or it was just extremely bad luck only he knows.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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Anything with stored energy is dangerous - like propane, especially because it is heavier than air.  I have been within 1/4 mile of a home when it was destroyed by a propane explosion....yet, I would worry more about the acetylene tank.  The flammability limits of propane is generally considered between 2 and 10% propane in air, while acetylene is 2-100%.  If it leaks, it will pretty much ignite.   Dust is also bad - I investigated a dust explosion at a foundry back in the '90s and  10 -20 square foot sections of 12 inch thick reinforced concrete floor were blown 30-40 yards......fortunately only was person died, but a number were injured.  

Like Happy Fish Forge says, everything will bite - treat them all with respect and care and only use the for the intended use....

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The jointer I used was for sure the most dangerous tool I had. Complacency on top made it worse. I took part of my left index finger, bone and all off permanently with it. I recently traded that for a welder! 

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Oh great, metal casting! Much safer, yes!

Table saw got the tip of my thumb in '81 - still use one, haven't had a problem since.

I wonder if I should be saying that.

Fifteen years ago, I said to Mrs Taylor, "Can I swing a hatchet or what!" Biggest black eye I've eve received.

Robert Taylor

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3 minutes ago, John in Oly, WA said:

From the hatchet, or was Mrs. Taylor greatly offended by your statement?

One second after my boast, a one-pound piece of stove wood shot up off the block at high velocity. It drove my ten dollar reading glasses into the eye socket (tgi polycarbonate).

So...... Whenever I invoke my "superpowers", Sheila cringes, covers her face, and steels herself for a trip to the ER.

Over the years, I credit this object lesson for preventing many a foolish miscalculation.

Robert Taylor

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Oh ouch! I've found from personal experience, that whatever tool is about to be used seems to get quite offended by bold statements of the tool user. I've learned to refrain from making them. One of the bold statements most irritating to tools, and seemingly Nature in general is "Hey everybody, watch this!"

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