How do you cut out your blanks?

[Doubledee]

A lot of welders take the guard off their angle grinders which I would not do and I wear a leather apron and full shield mask when cutting... I wear a respirator and earplug also before someone comments on that. LL

I agree with all of the above points completely.... I was in a shop once when a co worker using a 4.5" cut off wheel on a electric grinder with no guard slipped and almost lost a finger.... Not a pretty sight... Even knowing that, I use the ones from HF which work very well and last long for the price so I'd recommend getting one for roughing out blanks.