Heard Stories of Accidents. What’s your recommended PPE gear?

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whiskyrookie

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Jun 22, 2020
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So came across a number of stories about knife making injuries and fatalities due to knife making accidents with power tools.

There also seems to be some conflicting recommendations; such as whether to wear or not wear gloves.

A bit freaked out. What is your recommended PPE gear overall to prevent:

- respiratory issues
- facial/neck injuries
- hand/finger injuries
 
I don’t make knives, but I do a lot of grinding. When I do, I always wear a respirator (organic vapor style with the prefilters installed), goggles and sometimes a face shield depending on the tool. Anything high speed or using a thin wheel (ie:cut off wheels) I use a face shield also over goggles. I admit i often just use the glasses and not goggles. I don’t always wear gloves depending on the size of the part I’m using on the bench grinder but I always wear them with the angle grinder. I always wear them in small parts where my hands are close to the wheel.

The place I often cut corners is shoes. I’m in flip flops a whole lot more than I should be and the filings sting my dadgum feet.
 
I wouldn’t wear gloves around a belt sander. I only wear one glove when I’m forging only if I have to hold something really close to the heat.
 
I know many do shop work with some beers or shots.
I think that's a mistake

My big accidents were on the routine things where I let my mind wander - usually to womenz


Gloves for grinding, but not drilling. If you get them wet, they get hot.
 
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I wear a 3M half mask, safety glasses and ear plugs most of the time in the shop. I typically have some sort of stop on the drill press to prevent a spinning blade should the drill bit catch. Buffers are probably one of the more dangerous machines. I don't have one and don't plan on getting one.

My most serious injury in the last few years was severe sunburn from welding. Difficult to wear long sleeves in the South Carolina summers...
 
get a full face Respirator if you're worried about lungs or facial injuries. I use one now exclusively and would never go back. As for gloves when grinding, i use the thick black nitrile disposable gloves. they keep my hands clean and not looking like a knifemaker, and if ever they snag something the glove just tears with no issue so no pulling fingers into machinery.
 
3m half respirator, glasses, and a baseball hat to stop any grit from coming in through the top of the glasses (happened a couple weeks ago) and to give me some warning if I stick my face too close to the grinder. No gloves. Don't want to get pulled into the grinder.
 
PAPR hood with filtered air feed when grinding/sanding. Good ventilation and fresh air in the hot shop.

Everyone wears safety glasses in the hot shop.

No alcohol while working.

I wear knit metal working gloves when doing a lot of work and grinding, but NEVER wear gloves while using rotating equipment - drills, lathes, mills, etc.. The gloves wear away fast while grinding, which is a lot better than my skin wearing away. I buy them from the online by the 300 pair case.

Rest when tired. Drink plenty of water. Don't have distractions. Don't work when tired, mad, worried. Go cool off if you feel overheated.

Keep the floor as neat as you can. Cords, hoses, and stuff laying around are trip hazards. Don't have propane hoses running where you might bump them with a hot blade or drop a hot forging or billet on them. Same for hydraulic hoses.

Several fire extinguishers at different locations in the shop. Fire alarm in the hot shop, CO2 monitor and/or oxygen depletion monitor.
 
I love the 3M full face mask/respirator. Protects the eyes from grit and good for the lungs. Helpful hint: You can buy disposable sacrificial shields that protect the shield itself. While you're ordering, get an extra harness. The rubber breaks down quicker than it should. I've gone through three or four harnesses in the last couple years.
 
SVTFreak said:
Anything high speed or using a thin wheel (ie:cut off wheels) I use a face shield also over goggles. I admit i often just use the glasses and not goggles.
Click to expand...

Do you know if the full face respiratory masks from 3M or North good enough to protect on high impact (ie: broken cut off wheel)?
 
Stacy E. Apelt - Bladesmith said:
I wear knit metal working gloves when doing a lot of work and grinding, but NEVER wear gloves while using rotating equipment - drills, lathes, mills, etc.. The gloves wear away fast while grinding, which is a lot better than my skin wearing away. I buy them from the online by the 300 pair case.
Click to expand...

Thanks for the advice Stacy! Do you happen to have a link to the type of gloves you mentioned? So you use them with your 2x72?
 
N.W. Gean said:
3m half respirator, glasses, and a baseball hat to stop any grit from coming in through the top of the glasses (happened a couple weeks ago) and to give me some warning if I stick my face too close to the grinder. No gloves. Don't want to get pulled into the grinder.
Click to expand...

I was wearing the same setup last month for woodworking and a woodchip made it's way into my eye even though I had safety glasses on...upgrading to a full face mask soon.
 
Hubert S. said:
I wear a 3M half mask, safety glasses and ear plugs most of the time in the shop. I typically have some sort of stop on the drill press to prevent a spinning blade should the drill bit catch. Buffers are probably one of the more dangerous machines. I don't have one and don't plan on getting one.

My most serious injury in the last few years was severe sunburn from welding. Difficult to wear long sleeves in the South Carolina summers...
Click to expand...

Yeah, have to be careful with sleeves around the tools with fall/winter coming soon. My garage has no heat so will be wearing sleeveless sweaters LOL :)
 
Hubert S. said:
I wear a 3M half mask, safety glasses and ear plugs most of the time in the shop. I typically have some sort of stop on the drill press to prevent a spinning blade should the drill bit catch. Buffers are probably one of the more dangerous machines. I don't have one and don't plan on getting one.

My most serious injury in the last few years was severe sunburn from welding. Difficult to wear long sleeves in the South Carolina summers...
Click to expand...
Why are buffers the most dangerous machine?
 
Nathan the Machinist said:
I was really glad to have a fire extinguisher when I needed it earlier this year.

Order a bunch in bulk at Amazon and put them in strategic places
Click to expand...

I mentioned this before too, but ..

I noticed tall strong men buy the ten pound extinguishers and mount them high.

If there's short women, kids, tweenage baby sitters whatever-
Have some five pound ABC's and mount them low enough so they can get them

Take an old one that needs a retest re-certification, practice using them,
 
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