lyuv Posted August 3, 2017 Share Posted August 3, 2017 I see many blacksmiths wearing a heavy leather apron while working. why? During the little work I have done, I didnt see any sparks shooting, except when welding. And keeping clean is not realy our thing... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Stitch Posted August 3, 2017 Share Posted August 3, 2017 I wear mine whenever I am grinding, welding Mig or Hammer welding. It saved me once for sure a couple of years ago when a 2x72 belt came apart while I was hollow grinding a knife blade on a 12" contact wheel. The belt exploded and the knife edge caught the contact wheel. It tore the knife blade from my hands and threw it instantly into my abdomen with a force that felt like a baseball bat hit. It put a deep 2" gash in the 10oz. thick leather apron. I had absolutely no time to react when it happened. Cut a good chunk of rubber off that wheel too! When I first made that apron, I was put off by the weight but I am very happy that I made it so thick. Other than that, It has saved countless shirts and pants from ruin from grinding sparks and the occasional hot nugget shooting off the work piece when hammering. I will never work without it on even in hot weather. I hope this helps explain why. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
horse Posted August 3, 2017 Share Posted August 3, 2017 I have caught more than one shirt on fire while grinding without an apron. While forging it can save a hole in a shirt here or there from flying slag or cutoffs. There are a lot of things in the shop that can be either hot or sharp. Love my apron. Still waiting for it to get fully broken in. I envy seeing the old aprons that have been around for years and years mine is still a bit stiff after hundreds of hours of use. My son bought it for me as a gift and he went "heavy". Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JPH Posted August 3, 2017 Share Posted August 3, 2017 Hello: I go through 3 or 4 leaher aprons a year due to my sweating through them and they getting top be a bit more than a little "stiff".. Leather is great for a lot of things..keeps the sparks off and it can keep you in one piece if you do something stupid (I speak from decade's worth of experience on this one...) JPH Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Frosty Posted August 3, 2017 Share Posted August 3, 2017 While I don't mind burning a hole in a T shirt now and then, I've been known to shatter a grinding or cutting disk, my double thick moose hide apron even distributed the blunt force trauma of a brand new 9" disk in my Milwaukee that broke in 2 the first time I touched it to steel. I caught the half that was about 2/3 of the disk and it made me take a full step back with the impact and jerked the grinder out of my hands. Not a bruise, not a mark. I don't wear it too often, it's really heavy, 2x thick moose hide is much thicker than belt or harness but supple. Moose hide is normally split twice. Or at least I think that's what I remember the apron is thicker than the belt and reasonably soft. It's just heavy and the chaps are trip hazards for general shop work so I wear it when it's called for. But when it is I armor up. Frosty The Lucky. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
John B Posted August 3, 2017 Share Posted August 3, 2017 Also keep a lot of the heat radiated by fire and work off you, and can be used to hold otherwise unbearably hot metal in an appropriate situation. Flexible is my main criteria for an apron, too heavy/stiff and they can be uncomfortable when in use. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Chris Comtois Posted August 3, 2017 Share Posted August 3, 2017 I wear mine because I got tired of my wife and daughter holding up my Tshirts and laughing at me through the holes around the belly. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JHCC Posted August 3, 2017 Share Posted August 3, 2017 I made mine from a big chunk of upholstery leather, and I love it. It protects me from sparks, scale, punching slugs, errant workpieces, flying grinder bits, and heat, and it protects my clothes from all those plus soot and coal dust. The day I had a hardy blank at forging heat pop out of the tongs, fly up, and hit me in the chest was the day I remembered why aprons (and properly fitting tongs) are so important. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JHCC Posted August 3, 2017 Share Posted August 3, 2017 (N.B.: upholstery leather comes in two different varieties types: coated (or finished) and uncoated (or "naked"). The former has a layer of flexible varnish on the surface, which both beathes poorly and doesn't do well with heat. Naked leather tends to be made from higher quality hides, since it won't have a finish to obscure any flaws. If you have a choice, go naked.) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JHCC Posted August 3, 2017 Share Posted August 3, 2017 Also, check out this very good explanation from our own @TechnicusJoe: Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ThomasPowers Posted August 3, 2017 Share Posted August 3, 2017 One thing I teach students is to pull the tongs in close to them when they are doing a task where impacts are transmitted to the tongs; or where they have trouble holding the tongs stable. Wearing an apron saves wear and tear on clothing when you do that. Also if you walk into the horn of the anvil accidentally it can turn a severe bruise into a minor one... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
lyuv Posted August 3, 2017 Author Share Posted August 3, 2017 Thank everybody. I"m now convinced an apron is a good idea. Trouble is that the temperatures here (Israel) are around 32c-35c (90f-95f) and it's unbearable to work by the forge. in fact, I completly stoped working during the day, until the winter. So a heavy apron is not an easy thought. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JHCC Posted August 3, 2017 Share Posted August 3, 2017 Consider a big fan on a stand (like the one in this photo, at the back right) to help cool you off. Even a denim apron is better than nothing. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Irondragon Forge ClayWorks Posted August 3, 2017 Share Posted August 3, 2017 As far as the apron being too hot, I find that when I'm at the forge the apron actually insulates me from the heat of the forge. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JHCC Posted August 3, 2017 Share Posted August 3, 2017 (I should note that the fan as positioned in the picture is in its "blow away the smoke from kindling the forge fire" configuration; when the fire is up and running, I move the fan a few feet to the right, to cool me off without blowing right over the JABOD.) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
VaughnT Posted October 1, 2017 Share Posted October 1, 2017 Aprons are wonderful things and I can't imagine forging without one. Yes, they're hot and it's always a fun experience forging in a South Carolina summer! The downside to the apron is the heat and sweat. Okay, that's a pretty good downside. The upside, however, is safety, cleanliness, confidence.... and you don't ruin a ton of shirts. I would easily go through $300 worth of shirts in a year simply because they got filthy working in the shop. Even if they didn't get ripped on a sharp piece of metal, they'd still get loaded down with dirt and grime and become useless for anything but working in the shop. If you do any welding, the splatter from that will burn through any cotton or nylon/polyester material, leaving your clothes looking like swiss cheese. The $50 apron I bought two years ago has saved me at least three times that in ruined clothing. Psychologically, I find that I move more confidently when I have an apron on. Simply put, that leather barrier adds a bit of armor and you aren't skittish about simply propping something up on your stomach, or pulling the tongs in tight to your side. The only caveat I would offer about an apron is to make sure you get the kind that has Cross-Back suspension, and don't go with one that simply wraps around your neck. Getting that strap off your neck will make a huge difference in how you feel because you don't have all that weight dragging you down. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Irondragon Forge ClayWorks Posted October 2, 2017 Share Posted October 2, 2017 The strap on the neck was a problem for my wife. She rigged a strap that goes from the neck strap to the waist strap in back and it solved the problem. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Frosty Posted October 2, 2017 Share Posted October 2, 2017 Technicus Joe is as always a good instructor and videographer, good video thanks John. Looking at Joe's apron I remembered how much I HATE that kind of strap. The straps on my apron are wide maybe 2" they cross behind my back and go through rings on the opposite hip, then make one wrap around my waist and buckle in front. The weight of the apron is carried on my hips, the shoulder straps keep it in place but don't really carry much weight. My apron doesn't rest against my chest so there's always air to help keep me cool and the air space prevents heat conducting to me. Like I say I don't wear it often but when I do it's more than up to anything I need from it. There is one caveat about wearing aprons, loose sleeves, untucked shirts, bagby pants, jewelry, long hair, scarves, etc. They are tangle and trip hazards and snagging things is the main reason I don't wear my apron as a matter of course. I'd rethink the legs I speced when I had it made they're too long and an added trip hazard. You only have to turn around and have your apron pull something heavy, hot and sharp off a bench a time or two to get leery wearing aprons. Frosty The Lucky. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dylan Sawicki Posted October 2, 2017 Share Posted October 2, 2017 I have a apron, I stopped wearing it the neck strap is just unbearable. I would wear an apron with a different style strap though. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ttommyt1 Posted October 2, 2017 Share Posted October 2, 2017 For those that don't like the neck strap you might consider cutting the neck strap lengthen it and use like suspenders Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Charles R. Stevens Posted October 2, 2017 Share Posted October 2, 2017 Legs are just fine, but stoop mid shin and two straps per leg to keep them close. I wear water buffalo farrier chaps all the time, no trip hazard. I have a welding apron I use with the grinder, I will have to do some leather work to combine the two, as the bib would be nice on the farrier chaps and the legs on the welders aprion Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JHCC Posted October 2, 2017 Share Posted October 2, 2017 My homemade apron has straps made from clothesline (braided at the tops, so they don't cut into my shoulders) that go crisscross between my shoulder blades, go through holes at the waist, and then tie at the small of my back. Very loose when putting on and taking off, and as snug as I feel like while working. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Charles R. Stevens Posted October 2, 2017 Share Posted October 2, 2017 As to heat in an Israeli forge, your predecessors wore wool for a reason. Merino wool underclothes, wile expensive don't feel as clammy as cotton, fight skin infections and are generaly nicer. I were very thin cotton western shirts and jeans. I grew up in Az, and now live in OK. So 120f at 6% and 90f at 90% have been my working conditions. If it's dry, a swamp cooler and a coal forge, if it's humid, coal and a big fan. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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