Shop Safety Tip...From A Rookie

J

JRiefer

Joined
Jan 20, 2000
Messages
29

Three months ago I got interested enough in knife making to drop fishing and hunting (at least 90% anyway). I really don't feel qualified to offer any safety tips... however, a buddy of mine was buffing brass fishing spoon blanks when one caught and zipped thru his leather shop apron and imbedded in his upper thigh. My suggestion would be for a few of you with clout to contact some shop apron manufacturers and suggest offering KEVLAR aprons. I'm sure they'll cost more, but what kind of a price tag do you put on your family jewels?

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Joe
 
maybe you can buy some kevlar material, and make your own. or just buy extremely think leather, backed with kevlar.
 
Woodcraft sells stainless steel mesh gloves that are slash proof. I wonder how hard it would be to find material like that to use.Its breathable and has some type of cloth woven in with the steel.That may be more comfortable than a 30 lb kevlar reinforced leather apron. But theres no such thing as overkill when it comes to protecting that area. Maybe we should all just get some armor like knights used to wear
smile.gif


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Fix it right the first time, use Baling Wire !
 
i don't think it's possible to have overkill, when your protector your downlow parts. that's why i might make a kevlar reinforced leather apron.
 
Good lord, guys! What are you wearing on your head, swat helmets?
Rules of the road for buffing.
Always buff away from the piece, starting in the center.
Never, Never stand in the radial path of the buffer.
Always buff on the lower quarter of the downward face of the wheel.
Stay awake!
Most important of all, the secret to good finishing is to have the piece polished BEFORE you ever go to the rag! There are some fantastic abrasives available today... know them.
 
!!!So that's what I can do with that shirt of "chain" mail that I made when I was in the S.C.A. It hangs nearly to my knees and if I could fight in tournaments in the summer here in Florida while wearing it, then standing still while buffing should be a piece of cake. Things heavy though, 50 or 60 lb., hmm...maybe thirty pounds of kevlar doesn't sound to bad after all!-Guy T.
 
A swat helmets not near enough. I prefer a hollowed out bowling ball. The shell has to be left at least 2 if not 3 inches thick though
biggrin.gif

Wouldn't you be better off to both use the buffer as safely as possible, and wear a heavy apron? Theres no substitute for being careful, but **** does happen, and it only has to happen once for you to be injured or killed.
I'd rather run a buffer from behind one of those walls that has 2 holes in it for your arms and a little window than get killed, but thats just me.

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Fix it right the first time, use Baling Wire !
 
Buy an old flak vest at the next gun show you attend. At least that will protect your upper body.

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www.wilkins-knives.com


 
A flak vest will not stop a bullet, nor will it stop the pointed end of a knife. Also, those gloves designed to prevent slashing will not stop a thrust (the effect of a thrown blade). Jay gave the best advice.

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None are more hopelessly enslaved than those who falsely believe they are free. -Goethe
 
The local police dept. usually throws away kevlar vests beyond their useful life. Believe it or not vests are dated and when they go beyond that date, they are usually thrown out. Check with your local dept. and you can probably score one to wear when you feel threatened by the buffer or grinder. They really help.

Marcel

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I agree with Kaos & Jay. Best defense is a good offense. It made me think of an article in Blade magazine about Phill Hartsfield's chisel ground tantos. They could penetrate a kevlar vest when dropped point first from just a few feet, let alone being shot off a buffer.

Centaur.

 
Why are you so sure the blade coming off of the buffer is going to come straight at you point first? It could fly off of there any way it wants to and a kevlar vest may not completely stop it, but it will slow it down alot.Those knives that were being dropped may have peirced the kevlar but they couldn't have punched any huge holes. If kevlar was that easy to peirce why would cops bother wearing the vest? I agree that you should always be careful when operating machinery and use it in the safest way possible, but things can happen anyway.

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Fix it right the first time, use Baling Wire !
 
I guess I could have worded that better.
redface.gif


What I should have written was, use the equipment safely and use safety gear. Kevlar is a miraculous material, but it has it's weaknesses. Yes, it would slow the blade down, and reduce the degree of penetration.

The drop tests were point first, under controlled conditions. The orientation of a blade flying off the buffer would be impossible to predict.

For informational purposes: The police use it because it stops lead bullets. The tip of the knife separates the fibers of the kevlar, allowing the penetration to occur. A bullet is broader. It cannot separate the fibers. The fibers absorb the kinetic energy, the bullet deforms, and is stopped from penetrating.

Next time, i'll wordsmith better.
biggrin.gif


Centaur

[This message has been edited by Centaur (edited 02-08-2000).]
 
There's a lot of good ideas and suggestions being tossed around. BTW, the spoon blank that penetrated my friends thigh wasn't pointed, but was rounded on the end with the radius of a penny. It was .040 brass.

I found this source for kevlar:

Carbon Composites
http://www.carb.com/index.html

Law emforcement kevlar vests sometimes are heavy because of the ceramic plates.

The kevlar goes for about a reasonable $25.70 per linear yard.

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Joe
 
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