What do u all wear to work in the shop. I finally found something to stop from looking like a walking dust collector.Its a cheap giveaway nylon pull over from some mutal fund.Weighs next to nothing; nice tight cuffs and nothing sticks to it. Some navy seal guy tried to chide me for wearing cotten sweatshirts and not wool and told him i didnt want to look like a sheep rolled in planer shavings.
Discussion Forum
Get It All!
UNLIMITED Membership is like taking a master class in woodworking for less than $10 a month.
Start Your Free TrialCategories
Discussion Forum
Digital Plans Library
Member exclusive! – Plans for everyone – from beginners to experts – right at your fingertips.
Highlights
-
Shape Your Skills
when you sign up for our emails
This site is protected by reCAPTCHA and the Google Privacy Policy and Terms of Service apply. -
Shop Talk Live Podcast -
Our favorite articles and videos -
E-Learning Courses from Fine Woodworking
-
-
Replies
t-shirt and jeans (in the winter) or shorts (in the summer). earplugs, safety glasses and steel toes all the time.
-pjw
...and nothing loose that can get caught in the machinery.
I would not be so quick to wear shorts in the shop because I am prone to picking up splinters and like the extra protection a long pair of jeans or work pants gives. Similarly, I would recommend long sleeves. I know that it gets real humid and hot in Montreal in the summer, but shorts are a no-no for me in a shop. The protective gear sounds good to me...how about a dust mask? JL
with the humidity here in the summer i couldn't imagine wearing jeans all day. splinters are of little concern to me as i find i can pull all but the most stubborn out in a few seconds. long sleeves for me in a shop are a no-no. even tight fitting ones just seem to be one more thing to get caught in a machine. the local CSST inspector thinks so too, but admits he has never seen an accident caused by long sleeves.
i wear a dust mask as often as is necessary.
-pjw
...then you will be safe and only a little sorry sometimes, when the splinters are bigger than you would like.
I would like to meet the CSST inspector who has a problem with long sleeves that are are firmly attached at the wrists. He is full of beans. JL
i learned from a young age that when working with machineery that one should always work with sleeves above the elbows. whether or not this is useful practice is a non-issue for me at ths point because it is habit, i just do it without thinking about it. i looked over CSST regulations in the office today and couldn't find a specific regulation against the wearing of long sleeves. i have noticed that "regulations" seem to vary from inspector to inspector. i wonder if this is perhaps a case of one person imposing his own rules. I have seen these guys do stranger things so it would not surprise me.
-pjw
Actually, shorts are not permitted on construction sites in Quebec. If anyone is getting away with it, they are risking losing their coverage if they have an accident that could have been prevented or the effects diminished by the wearing of long pants. JL
Shorts, T-shirt "tucked in", steel toes are a must. Protect eyes, ears, lungs as needed. Long pants when it gets chilly-about 3 mos. a year. I can't imagine having to wear long pants year round. It can get brutally hot and humid here in Fla. We keep those 1 piece Tyvek coveralls around if something comes up where they are needed.
-Paul
I have a overall that I step into and then zip up. This lets me just step into the shop with sometimes even nice clothes without trashing what I am wearing. This also keeps me from carrying tust into the house.I have a quilted set for the winter.
Frank
TT,
Shorts & T-shirt in the late Spring through early Fall; sweats for the rest of the year. Since I do all hand tool work, getting clothing caught in machines is not a problem; long sleeves usually end up pulled up above my elbows anyway.
Eye and hearing (shop vac and very infrequent hammering) protection as necessary, and a dust mask when needed.
.
Tschüß!
James
"I'm sorry, Dave, I'm afraid I can't do that...."
--A.C. Clarke
I have a basement shop so the temperature is moderate all year there.
Jeans all year long. Sweatshirt (sheeves pushed up to the elbow) in the winter. T-shirt in the summer. Earmuffs and dust mask as needed. Glasses all the time. No apron or tool belt.
I wear coveralls, a ball cap, and sometimes a shop coat, and alway when handling wood(through a saw or router, planer) gloves. I have no dust collection, so this helps keep my house clean.
Pedro
Dear Pedro,
There are some saftey downsides to gloves. They get hung up in the gullets of saw blades and pulled into equipment.
Frank
I don't know about the safty issues with gloves, but I found early on when stuffing wood through my planer, that gloves saved me from many slivers, and more inportant when feeding my TS, I could feed smoothly without flinches from slivers, I can move my hands quickly with out hesitation. You have to wear roper type gloves.
In the summer, it's jeans or work pants and a plaid shirt and a base ball cap in winter all the same only I ware a T shirt under my shirt and a shop coat & boats. I am going to have to get me a new shop coat, this one is getting almost as old as me.
Jack
I pick out a nylon jacket or pullover when I'm sanding or ripping -- it sheds the dust easily, especially if you toss it in the dryer with 2 or 3 tennis balls. ;-)
For most of the time, though, it's jeans, shirt with button sleeves (except those few weeks we get warm here in the Great Northwest), sturdy shoes. No rings (read about "de-gloving accidents" yuck).
When finishing, I often don a set of disposable painter's coveralls. It's the only way I come close to eliminating the stray collie or golden retriever hair, LOL.
forestgirl -- you can take the girl out of the forest, but you can't take the forest out of the girl ;-)
Shorts all year, tee shirts with or without long sleeve "thermals" running shoes. Eye and ear protection as needed, dust mask hardly ever, respirator when needed. No longer need raincoat as roof has been fixed. Music or talk radio, even DVD's on 7" monitor. There is a sub-woofer but it only gets a signal from DTS CD's. Back fence neighbor is coppersmith so hear his hammer going tick, tick, tick.
Duke
"... Buy the best and only cry once.........
"Shorts all year...." Disgusting. Flaunting that great California weather! Although, Berkeley does get cold once in awhile, no?forestgirl -- you can take the girl out of the forest, but you can't take the forest out of the girl ;-)
F.G.: We had a very cold, for us, January, nighttime temps in the low 30's. Didn't mean to tease you. I've gotten used to the freedom of movement shorts provide so I dress warmer up top to compensate. Duke"... Buy the best and only cry once.........
In the winter, early spring & late fall I dress like Norm, Dungarees(the old name for Levi's) and flannel shirts. In the summer it's definitely shorts and pocket T's. NEVER gloves except for finishing and the chain saw. A couple of close calls while wearing gloves cured me of that a long time ago.
Work Safe, Count to 10 when your done for the day !!
Bruce S.
Jeans with sweatshirt (sleeves pulled up) in the winter and shorts and t-shirt in the summer (It gets REALLY hot in Dallas in the summer!).
The best thing I have found (I hate to admit it now that I am in my 50's) is a pair of safety glasses with built in reading glasses. I now walk in the shop and put them on and forget about them the rest on the time. Used to be a big hassle to be safe and see! I actually found myself inside the house this weekend with them on! My bride found that amusing!
Scott
This is an interesting thread. What has really piqued my interest, however, is the admonition to not wear long sleeves in the shop. The logic behind it makes sense; however, in my situation it is not practical. My shop is my unheated, largely uninsulated garage, and I'm in MA, so if I'm to get any time in there in the winter, I have to dress as though I am going oustide to play. That means long sleeves, and padded long sleeves at that.
Even on those times when I fire up the kerosene torpedo heater (yes, I'm a real walking hazard in the winter shop), it's too cold to go down to sleeves pushed up.
At some point in my life I will make the space more user-friendly, or just move to a different space altogether, but for now that's the reality.
Anyone else work in substandard temps?
Maybe someday I'll know a little something.
JJV,
Yes, it got down to 50 in the shop so I had to put on a long sleeve shamois shirt and since working with cold hand planes, a pair of gloves. Central Texas gets cold in the winter. Use to live up in Northern NY and in the winter the shop was far too cold to work in. Breath freezes real quick at -24F.
Greg
Yikes, I'm not that cold yet. Worst it's been is around 20. I have a little space heater on my bench that I use to keep my hands warm, and that helps. I also wear a wool hat, which helps a lot as well.
At -24 did your fingers stick to the cast iron???
Maybe someday I'll know a little something.
When it got that cold I stayed inside watching TV. Lowest I saw was -36F, even the dog didn't want to go out.
Greg
Smart dog.
Maybe someday I'll know a little something.
Ive taken to wearing those rubberized gloves when planing and working with cabinet ply cuz that stuff i sjust sliver city. Actually the woman's sizes fit my hand nice and snug and still have good dexterity.
I akways wondered what the wind chill factor is coming off a 10" table saw blade.But i know if im starting from a cold shop it takes most day to heat up all the steel and cast iron machinery.
A couple of people have mentioned no rings.
I had a guy that worked for me years ago that was working on a compressor in the basement of an office building on a Sat am and had stuck his hand under the compressor and when he pulled his hand out his ring stood straight up and caught. Could not get his hand out from under and was there over 24 hours before someone found him. Said it was a LONG weekend! I have never have worn rings to work around machines since I heard that story.
Scott
I second the safety glasses with reading lenses. I couldn't work without them! There is a web site, safetyglassesusa.com with a large selection of safety glasses with or without reading lenses. Tom"Notice that at no time do my fingers leave my hand"
Blue Jeans and Tee Shirts. It's time ro replace the blue jeans when they can stand on their own in the corner due to all the glue and finish they have absorbed.
Here in Colorado, for the warmer days, I'll usually wear jeans, T-shirt, steel-toes. For the colder days (and we've had plently lately), long johns or sweats under my Carhartt overalls, flannel lined canvas shirt, Carhartt work jacket, and wool fingerless gloves. I find that the Carhartt duck fabric sheds sawdust and shavings pretty well.
In all cases, I wear all the normal PPE: eye, hearing and lung protection. Never wear my rings or watch. That's a habit from work, where we follow Good Manufacturing Practices (GMP): no jewlery of any kind in a production enviroment.
The standard is;Carhartt duck overalls, hearing protection, safety glasses (with reading glasses built in), 3m cartridge respirator, sweatshirt with sleeves pushed up. I am tempted to use the ipod all of the time, but I only use it while running the random orbital sander. I think that it might be a safety issue.The wife likes the overalls. She thinks that they are old school. "You look like you should be working with wood."John
long sleeve shirt (t-shirt in summer), jeans and always a shop apron (Lee Valley's in my case). The aprion catches a lot of the dirt and the pockets hold pencil, 6" ruler, 6"tri-square and chalk. I make less mistakes when I immediatley mark everything with chalk (eg. left, right, up, this side out, this corner square)
i got the lee valley apron for christmas last year and i have to agree that (when i remember to put it on, that is) it is very handy. keep all my marking and measuring tools close at hand and keep finish off my clothes (most of the time)
-pjw
I usually wear a lab coat and a baseball cap. This keeps me reasonably dust free when I leave the shop. Also the lab coat has convenient pockets for my pencil, 6" ruler and the remote for my dust collector. -- I initially started wearing a baseball cap to keep dust out of my hair. But find that it also cuts down glare from my overhead lights.
Jeans, t-shirt, and an old pair of hiking boots. No ring, no watch. I have a dusty old hat I use to keep the dust and shavings out of my hair... If I intend to kick some up. In summer I can be found in shorts.
Safety glasses, Zem hearing protectors (or muffs, depending what's in reach), dust mask when needed. When sanding I use those anti-vibration gloves.
I also have an apron I wear when gluing up... I'm messy and I was going through too many shirts. I also have a fleece jacket for days with a chill, I never wear it with the machines only when I'm thinking or working with the hand tools.
Buster
In summer, shorts and T-shirts, in cooler times jeans or overalls and t-shirts/sweatshirts, closed toe shoes, always safety glasses and hearing protection. I just got a pair of ear muffs and seem to like them just fine--forgot I had them on once or twice already.
I'm curious about the "no rings" warning. Is there a concern a ring could get caught on a moving blade? My dad was an orthopedic surgeon and once had a patient who caught his Texas A&M class ring (Aggie Ring) on a ladder and basically stripped the flesh off his finger. He lost the finger but kept the ring. Guess it's easier to not wear them and not be injured than to wear them and risk it. Tom
I had a friend who was installing a garage door when the spring let loose. Caught him in the finger. It crushed his ring onto his finger, and they ended up cutting it off.
There are too many lessons to learn from this (such as springs are dangerous to those that are untrained). I don't wear a ring to keep me and it from getting damaged.
I went to The University of Texas and have the big Texas-sized ring, and aggie rings from a&m are very similar in size too. These are rings that stick up about a quarter inch above the top of your ring finger.
Personally I have had my ring caught in between the rungs of my Little Giant ladder while collapsing it, severely bruising my hand. I do figure that the height of the ring can cause your hand to get stuck in whatever machinery you're using at the time., should your hand get pulled in.
At work we started formally observiing the Good Manufacturing Practices (GMP), for a few reasons. First, because I work at a Brewery, we don't allow jewelry because we don't want anything slipping off our hands and falling into the beer. But secondly, we use a lot of high speed equipment and we have had guys lose fingers and parts of fingers because their rings got caught. Bottom line, better safe than sorry.
Nuff said. Good points, all. I love my Aggie ring and wedding band and fingers too much to risk it any more. No more rings in the shop for me. BTW, what brewery? Tom"Notice that at no time do my fingers leave my hand"
So what should you wear in the home workshop?Those of you whose wife often walks into the workshop and says, "C'mon honey, let's go upstairs", will find that it is a much quicker transition if you just do your woodworking in the buff. Of course, a lot of you guys are too old for this. And even worse, some of you are from Canada, where this would be just too impractical for 11 months of every year. :-)Measure your output in smiles per board foot.
9616
If rings and sleeves can get caught in the machinery, I don't even want to imagine what may get damaged working in the buff, and the impact that said accident could have on a relationship.
I also want to offer my condolences, or should it be congratulations?, to all the woodworkers who practice the art in conditions cold enough to freeze the dingle dangle. I have worked outside in the Canadian winter building houses, never for pleasure, but simply to keep body and soul together. Cabinetry and interior finishing always was and is done in a heated environment when I am doing it. JL
jeanlou,
I hope that anyone who reads my message realizes that it was meant to be completely humorous. It was about a fantasy, and not about any reality that I live in. I saw your posts about winter in Canada a while back, so I threw the line about Canadians in for you. Glad to see you have a sense of humor. Right now, our weather, in Northern Virginia is very cold, snowy and icy. My oldest son married a Canadian girl a few years ago, My family got to spend a great week in your beautiful country. I have been to Quebec a few times, and look forward to returning, but no particular plans right now. I will retire this year. Certainly sometime in the next few years. Je parle seulement quelques mots en Français. As far as what I really wear in the shop, it's just blue jeans and a short sleeve shirt, and often an apron, along with whatever protection is called for (ears, eyes and nose). As opposed to my message, I am really quite conservative.Thanks for the response.
MelMeasure your output in smiles per board foot.
Mel
I knew you were kidding, but it was a funny image non the less.
Today I am not so sure that winter snow is a Canadian only element. I have just spent 12 hours flying from city to city so that I could finally end up in Manhattan, all because of a killer American winter storm.
I must admit that it makes me smile to see Americans shovelling their roof tops. It is a little like sharing the hurt that Canadians get to live with every winter. JL
Jeanlou,
You are a Canadian.
I am a United Statesian.
We are both North Americans, and subject to the vagaries of strange weather.I spent last week in Los Angeles, California, where it was short-sleeve weather. I have returned to something that seems like Anchorage. But on the bright side, I get to spend a good deal of time in my shop. While I enjoyed the warm weather last week, I missed the woodworking. I did buy a set of riffler rasps!Stay warm.
MelMeasure your output in smiles per board foot.
You too Mel.
I have German rifflers that date back about 30 years and haven't purchased any since. I did notice some in a store catering to sculptors the other day and the prices knocked me out. These were Italian made riflers and were about 70 dollars each.
They looked great, but I was glad that I didn't need any. I guess that I am out of touch with the price of tools that I haven't a need to purchase anymore. I sure will be careful with the ones that I have and make doubly sure that I don't drop and break any.
I was in San Francisco a few days ago, and it drizzled constantly...a light rain that is nice to walk in but but still able to soak through the sweater. I was in the Mountain View area where , to my surprise, I discovered that Google has set up free wireless internet service for everyone in town who wants it, by installing access points throughout the city. I find that very friendly indeed. JL
Jeanlou,
I was at a Rockler store in Pasadena and saw the set of about 8 rifflers for a total of $15. Maybe the points will break off when they hit wood?? But for the price, I figured I'd give them a shot. I have seen the expensive ones. They are a bit rich for my blood. We'll see how they hold up. Weather is even colder today.
Maybe we are in the middle of "global cooling". :-)
MelMeasure your output in smiles per board foot.
Mel
...and I will care for the ones I have. JL
in my home shop i work in shorts and t-shirt all year long. i live in canada (montreal to be precise) and have no trouble with this. my shop entrace is outside the house, so in the winter i often have to shovel a path to the shop door, and if i am going to be working in said shorts and shirt, then i am shovelling in that as well. you get used to it.
-btw, my shop is well insulated and heated, i keep it at 18 celcius, perfect temp for working
-pjw
What Brewery? Coors.
Ever see an electrician wear a ring? Not too comfortable wearing a red hot ring. Before my wife married me, we had a conversation about my wearing a wedding ring. She finally agreed to have me even without the ring. It wasn't two months, while reading the newspaper, that she came upon an article. A woman was preparing for supper and upon opening a bag of beans she found a mans finger with the ring still attached. I think they ate out, that night. My little bride said, "Honey, you don't have to wear that ring if you don't want to. And to this day, I don't wear that ring when I'm working.
I'm convinced. Now if I can just remember...Tom"Notice that at no time do my fingers leave my hand"
Jeans, t-shirts in summer and sweatshirts in the winter. I'm religious about safety glasses, less so about hearing protection (say, what?). I used to wear sandles in the summer until a board landed on my toes one day.
Chip Tam
Hey Treetalk,
Carhart bibs are my first choice. When the weather gets chilly, I wear Filson Mackinaw wool bibs. When it's really too warm, then Carhart shorts. Footwear ranges from shoes, boots, to Birkenstock sandals.
I agree with the no rings policy. I nearly lost my finger due to a graduation ring.
I also appreciate safety glasses with reading lenses in them. Unfortunately, I think I'm going to need stronger ones soon.
Tom
Personally I'd feel necked in the shop or any where else for that matter if I didn't have my bibs (biboverals) in fact I think in the past 10 or 12 years alls I've ever purchased for new pants are bibs. In the summer I wear them with t-shirts but in the winter its flannel shirts and long johns all the way. I like my bibs because of all the pockets and every once in a while that nifty little loop that they sew on there for a hammer holder comes in darn handy. I have to give cudo's to those of you that can run around in shorts but for this ol''northerner i'll keep on wearing my good old bibs.
Sincerely
Jim at Clark Customs
Bespoke Saville Row covered with a Tyvek suit during the day, Armani after 6PM. Just because I'm a woodworker doesn't mean I have to look like one. T-shirts, jeans, bibs, shorts, how gauche!
Beat it to fit / Paint it to match
This forum post is now archived. Commenting has been disabled