Gloves? Jacket?

[veryredbike]

I did my first two bikes wearing gloves and a welding jacket because the space I was using mostly catered to welders and required it for using the torch. Now I'm moving on to my own equipment and am wondering about it.

Looking at pictures of pro's silver-brazing bikes, I don't see any gloves or jackets. Is that just because it looks better on camera or is it unnecessary? Any tips other than "don't grab the red metal"?

[shiggy]

I did my first two bikes wearing gloves and a welding jacket because the space I was using mostly catered to welders and required it for using the torch. Now I'm moving on to my own equipment and am wondering about it.

Looking at pictures of pro's silver-brazing bikes, I don't see any gloves or jackets. Is that just because it looks better on camera or is it unnecessary? Any tips other than "don't grab the red metal"?

Don't grab the grey metal next to the red metal, either.

I like wearing leather gloves, and usually wear cotton coveralls.

[Eric Estlund]

With brazing there is no slag and no arc burn. I always advocate people take full precautions, but the main things leather gloves and jackets protect you from are non-issues with brazing.

That said, metal is getting hot. Knit kevlar gloves, while terrible around power tools (they can catch and cause pull in injury), are really nice with hot metal. Likewise, leather work gloves are not terribly thermally protective.

*I almost never wear gloves while brazing one at a time bikes, but I also don't rush in to grab and re-position things. I ALWAYS wore knit gloves and a kevlar sleeve while doing production work.

[fortyfour]

The only time I wear a glove is when I'm silver brazing small parts just in case I need to reposition the work. What I am more concerned about when brazing is not breathing the fumes so I wear a 3M mask with appropriate filters and safety glasses to match. Occasionally I will look out from beneath the glasses to check the work but keep the flame out of my line of sight.

But an unrelated subject of TIG welding with bare hands? I don't know how some do that. Or why for that matter.

[echelon_john]

There have been a number of safety/precaution related threads over the years, but it's still interesting to me how widely people differ on protecting themselves from various aspects of building. I personally always wear a shade 3 when brass brazing, and generally when silver brazing, unless it's a quick, small job like bottle bosses. I have good ventilation drawing air away from me when I braze, and know enough to keep my head out of the 'plume' released by the flux, but I don't wear a respirator all the time, usually foregoing it for small brazeons. I do know enough to spend enough time cleaning the tubes that oils/preservatives are gone by the time I braze, so I'm not adding those nasties into the mix.

I feel like I'm getting more bad stuff at the belt grinder than anywhere else in my shop; I have a vac that runs when it's on that helps, but I don't put on a respirator every time I walk over to polish a tube or take a bit of metal off one. Same with sanding brass fillets; if I'm going to focus on that for a chunk of time I'll put the mask on, but often do it without.

I don't build full time; perhaps if I were grinding and brazing a frame or two every week I'd feel more inclined to me more anal about this stuff with an eye toward lifetime exposure.

How much do y'all think about this stuff, and what do you do about it?

[jon_norstog]

I used to wear cotton gloves but have changed over to the mechanic's gloves that are now available. You get good feel with them, though they are vulnerable to heat damage. For body protection I like a long sleeve cotton shirt, maybe a sweatshirt in winter.

jn

[veryredbike]

Thanks guys! I've added some kevlar gloves to my wish-list and I'll try to dig a long sleeved shirt out of somewhere.

[steve garro]

I'll try to dig a long sleeved shirt out of somewhere.

You would be surprised how many layers a hot rod will melt through!

FWIW I pull my sleeves all the way up as not to brush the knobs while brazing, and wear no gloves.
I do wear a welder's leather apron for splatter from flux & whatnot.
Other then that it's eyeball injuries I worry most about - I've had much, much more toxic jobs, by far.
- Garro.

[shiggy]

You would be surprised how many layers a hot rod will melt through!

FWIW I pull my sleeves all the way up as not to brush the knobs while brazing, and wear no gloves.
I do wear a welder's leather apron for splatter from flux & whatnot.
Other then that it's eyeball injuries I worry most about - I've had much, much more toxic jobs, by far.
- Garro.

That is why I prefer natural fiber clothes, including the cap. They burn rather than melt, and you do not get melted, burning material stuck to your skin.

I have a cotton cap that fell apart because the polyester thread melted over ~6 months.

[veryredbike]

You would be surprised how many layers a hot rod will melt through!

FWIW I pull my sleeves all the way up as not to brush the knobs while brazing, and wear no gloves.
I do wear a welder's leather apron for splatter from flux & whatnot.
Other then that it's eyeball injuries I worry most about - I've had much, much more toxic jobs, by far.
- Garro.

I hear you on both counts! Rested my hand for a second without thinking a few months back and the rod slipped and melted right through a pair of synthetic shorts. Had a big old "pimple" on my inner thigh for a month or so. I'm just glad I didn't burn anything more sensitive. I also had a bubble of flux pop and a bit of spatter get around my goggles. It was a scary hour before it was clear that it was going to be ok (I ordered some more enclosed goggles as soon as it stopped stinging). My father always called dumb things that hurt, but could have really messed you up and didn't "cheap lessons". "You need a ton of stitches but have all your fingers? That's a cheap lesson!" I'm pretty thankful that I'm able to file those mistakes under that heading.

[steve garro]

Steve%20001.jpg

My father always called dumb things that hurt, but could have really messed you up and didn't "cheap lessons". "You need a ton of stitches but have all your fingers? That's a cheap lesson!"

My dad's was: "Oh.......you poor thing.......let's look! Awwwww............Well, it's a long way from your heart. Quit whining & get back to work."
Funny thing is he worked his ass off until his heart stopped, at 54.
He was a welder his whole life, he learned as a boiler welder in the Navy, which he did all his days.

100% on the square full wrap "Mr Robot" shades for eye pro, BTW.
- Garro.

[Clockwork]

Just happen to see this last night and thought it was interesting. Obviously for welders only.

[EricKeller]

Welders wear long sleeves/gloves so they don't get sunburn from the arc. I hope most people building bikes with TIG are doing the same.

I have never burned anything other than my hands. Always something stupid after the torch is off and the frame has no color to it indicating that it is hot. At Trek BITD, there was this poor little aloe plant in the bathroom that everyone would run for when they had a burn. Nowadays I often wear leather gloves when brazing. I do see people brazing without proper eye protection. There is some indication from the glass blowing world that is a really bad idea. I have some problems with my retinas that nobody has ever indicated came from brazing, but I have to wonder. Couple of years ago I had an episode of central serous that ruined the vision in my right eye. Turns out you need both eyes to build a frame, and that cause me no end of trouble. Fortunately it resolved itself, but I'm not taking any risks

I am using some #3 lenses with ACE filtering and I think that's about right for most bike work.

[jaredjerome]

I will echo the others in saying if you're doing a lot of TIG work to wear long sleeves. Once I had short (mechanic type) gloves on and a sweatshirt, and I got a brutal "sun" burn on the strip of skin between the glove/sweatshirt. When brazing I just wear whatever I have on plus either sunglasses or tinted goggles. Don't put your face where the smoke is going, flux doesn't smell like pretty ladies.

[Curt Goodrich]

The only time I wear gloves while brazing is after I've gone to the salon and had a manicure.

[steve garro]

The only time I wear gloves while brazing is after I've gone to the salon and had a manicure.

Ditto.
Only wear shoes after a pedicure as well.
- Garro.

[Eric Estlund]

Ditto.
Only wear shoes after a pedicure as well.
- Garro.

Doesn't that just mess up the polish? Sandals and foam toe spacers dude. Waste not want not. And don't drip hot flux on em.

[echelon_john]

I find the dripping flux really adds a hard, protective coating when it melts over my Hot CherryTM toenails...