The little things matter

[ausfire]

Funny how the smallest of things can make a difference.

I usually wear my watch at the forge because I keep a check on demo times etc and never had any issues with it. I was forging a rusty bit of steel today and a piece of hot scale lodged itself behind the watch band. Didn't think much of it, but luckily the quench tub was close.

Hmmm. Think maybe I'll keep the watch in my pocket or get a wall clock in the smithy.

It's not a serious safety issue of course, but anyone else encountered those little incidents that matter?

[Will W.]

Wearing old, torn up gloves and getting a piece of hot scale stuck IN the glove. 

Wearing a beanie because it's cold in the smithy still, then having a piece of coal pop, hit the hat, stick, and catch it on fire.

Wearing jeans with fringe on the bottom, and then a piece of hot scale hits the fringe, lighting you on fire.

Wearing any shirt with a front pocket, and having a piece of coal pop and land perfectly in the pocket. Even manages to get around your apron sometimes. 

 

[Tubalcain2]

yeah, it's funny how accurate coal can be. always gets in the worst spot possible.

[C-1ToolSteel]

I wear gloves when forge welding, and a piece of scale usually manages to get in there, even if there isn't a hole. I stopped wearing jeans with gaping knee holes, because the scale would enter the hole and not come back out until it had left its mark.

 

[JHCC]

One day last summer, I was forging shirtless because it was so hot and because I figured my apron would protect my front perfectly well (which, indeed, it did). Unfortunately, at the moment when I turned from the forge to the anvil, a piece of coal popped in the fire and sent a glowing shard out of the fire, through a gap in my waistband, and down the cleft of my extreme lower back, if you know what I mean. 

I've never been much of a dancer, but that day was an exception. 

[Jackdawg]

Down ankle length boots is always fun. I am very particular about making sure my jeans cover the tops of my boots these days!

V neck shirts also give similar fun at times!

[ThomasPowers]

Bib overalls can allow an accident to rattle all the way down and out!  Don't bother asking how I know...

[BeaverNZ]

I shorted out a car starter lead on a car I was working on a long time ago  with a metal watch strap, It went red hot in a nano second its amazing how long it takes to get a watch off when you want it off in a big hurry or it seemed that was the case. A spark down the top of your boot from off the end of the arc welder when welding overhead up a ladder is always fun as well

[ausfire]

And what about those orange-hot slugs that pop out of the pritchel hole when punching! When punching holes at demos now, I place a coal shovel under the anvil, wedged under the anvil foot. The hot slug pops out and rattles around in the shovel, and visitors like the story about what happens if it lands down the open neck of your boot. Little things like that make the commentary more interesting.

[Daswulf]

I have had a bad habit of wearing Mechanics gloves when welding in the past. The inner part of the fingers is not a good material for welding and molten metal balls always find their way in between my fingers. Hmm., Cant think of too many places that welding slag Hasnt burned me. Being wedged under a car while welding and finding out your shirt is on fire will make you move fast.   Hot bits landing on the lower front laces of my boots burning the boot lace in half. 

[Wroughton]

You don't need to be a masochist to be a blacksmith. But it sure helps. 

[SmoothBore]

16 hours ago, Daswulf said:

Hot bits landing on the lower front laces of my boots burning the boot lace in half. 

Amen to that !

I don't think I've "worn out" a set of laces, since true "rawhide" laces were replaced with the cheap imitation braided, plastic filament-filled, substitutes.

Mostly, you just notice that one boot is feeling "loose",  ... but on more than one occasion, ... the classic cartoon "hot foot dance" is performed.

 

.

[Glenn]

You folks must have never had bee hives, robbed the bees, or harvested the honey. Dressing for the occasion is a learning experience. The bee will point out any exposed area or any entrance to an exposed area. Second time you harvest the honey you learn that duct tape is mandatory to seal all openings such as pant legs, sleeves, gloves to sleeves, etc. Just when you think you are safe, one rogue bee will find a way in. Followed by the bee just won dance. LOL

Sparks, like bees, just look for an opening.  

 

[JHCC]

The last time I robbed a bee tree, I used no smoker, veil, or gloves, wearing regular clothes rather than a bee suit. The only sting I got was from a bee that landed in my hair that I swatted rather than letting it find its own way out. 

[ThomasPowers]

Scrambler Sounds like you needed some home made spats or gaiters.

I had a student whose summer job was bee removal from oil field equipment in West Texas  Africanized bees required the entire suit which was a tad tepid in West Texas in the summer...

[ThomasPowers]

I worked in the oil patch were some rigs required steel toed boots and others banned them thinking that with the weights and HP we dealt with you were more likely to lose all your toes with steel toes boots and maybe get a glancing impact and only lose some without them...  Safety has a basic problem of wanting to write general regulations based on specific cases. Some are great---flashback arrestors on Acetylene tanks---a regulation to LIVE by!  Others not so great...

[arkie]

3 hours ago, SmoothBore said:

Amen to that !

I don't think I've "worn out" a set of laces, since true "rawhide" laces were replaced with the cheap imitation braided, plastic filament-filled, substitutes.

Mostly, you just notice that one boot is feeling "loose",  ... but on more than one occasion, ... the classic cartoon "hot foot dance" is performed.

You can still buy leather laces.  All my lace-up boots have them.  Some 10-15 years old.  I never use the synthetic laces.

[Mark Ling]

Or wearing a collared shirt when forging can act as a nice funnel for scale to fall down your back. Or don't you enjoy when you get scale behind your ear, or in your ear? or when it goes in your mouth? that's my favorite one.

                                                                                                                       Littleblacksmith

[Irondragon Forge ClayWorks]

Poor fitting tongs. While at a monthly BOA meeting my wife was working on a knife blade with a borrowed pair of tongs that did not grip the work very well. Of course it popped out of the tongs and landed in the pocket of the members apron who was working next to her. Luck was with them because most of the heat had cooled and no damage done but the dance was amusing to watch.

[Scott NC]

  I used to do a lot of air arcing and quickly learned a quality pair of metatarsal boots were a worthy investment.  They help with burning up laces too.  

  I once had a weld bb bounce up under my safety glasses.  I dont know how, but it did, and stuck right to my eyeball.

[Daswulf]

3 hours ago, Nodebt said:

 

  I once had a weld bb bounce up under my safety glasses.  I dont know how, but it did, and stuck right to my eyeball.

I have had them bounce through inside my welding helmet, Luckily not hitting my eye. I do sometimes even wear safety glasses under my welding helmet. The weld bbs that get in the ear are really painful. Yeah, sometimes I wear ear plugs too. don't forget the respirator lol.  When at my big wire wheel I double up with a face shield And safety glasses. Also the leather welding jacket and maybe the apron too. That thing really flings the wires.

[Scott NC]

55 minutes ago, Daswulf said:

The weld bbs that get in the ear are really painful. Yeah, sometimes I wear ear plugs too. 

  Lol, if those ear plugs are foam, and most are, a red hot one will burn right through them.    I had to go to a specialist for the one in the eye, and it left a itty bitty "crater" for lack of a better word.  I'd like to shake the hand of the guy that invented those eye numbing drops they use.  I had a hood and glasses on at the time.  Word to the wise, look out for those little dremel wire wheels as well as the big oones.  Those tiny wires fly off at 10,000 or so rpm.  I think they must be made overseas. 

[ausfire]

2 hours ago, Daswulf said:

  When at my big wire wheel I double up with a face shield And safety glasses. Also the leather welding jacket and maybe the apron too. That thing really flings the wires.

I think those wire wheels fitted to bench grinders are one of the most dangerous tools in the shop. They can cause more than the minor discomfort of losing your fingerprints after a slip with the work piece. They certainly command respect.

[Daswulf]

4 hours ago, ausfire said:

I think those wire wheels fitted to bench grinders are one of the most dangerous tools in the shop. They can cause more than the minor discomfort of losing your fingerprints after a slip with the work piece. They certainly command respect.

My thoughts as well. They sure make you concentrate on what your doing.  

[Scott NC]

  Having the grinder rest set correctly is important with wire wheels.  They tend to grab and pull things in.  Corded hand grinders with wire wheels can be pretty lethal as well.  A trigger lock and cup wheel on a 4.5" grinder can be a bad combination.  But I'm sure I wouldn't know that from a close shave...