swarf!

[Mark P.Participant @markp]

How do you keep swarf out the house? No matter how well I wipe my boots I seem to leave a trail through the house the memshaib is getting a bit irate!

Mark P.

[Mark P.Participant @markp]

[Gordon WParticipant @gordonw]

Easiest way is just keep out of the house.

[Frances IoMParticipant @francesiom58905]

buy a cheap pair of safety shoes (eg from Screwfix, Wickes etc who often have them at low prices) and leave then just inside the workshop door with a mat at door (green is very good for showing up metal to wipe shoes on) + like all good Japanese change your shoes as you enter the sanctum of the workshop (if clogs were still available at sensible price I’d suggest these)

[SteambuffParticipant @steambuff]

Take your boots off before going back in the house.

I change shoes as I enter/leave my workshop (Man Cave as SWMBO calls it)

Dave

[V8EngParticipant @v8eng]

This reminds me of Last of the Summer Wine, when Edie always used to lay a trail of newspapers from the Kitchen door before Wesley was allowed into the house.

Edited By V8Eng on 20/06/2015 17:28:25

[V8EngParticipant @v8eng]

Slippers are compulsory indoors at our house (change at door), so nothing from outdoors gets into the domestic environment.

Edited By V8Eng on 20/06/2015 18:15:49

[Maurice Cox 1Participant @mauricecox1]

This thread reminds me of the time I went to visit a fellow model engineer who I discovered nearby. He had an indoor workshop. As he let me in through the front door, he turned to me and said " I work mainly in brass and aluminium; when I open this door and the sun is shining, my carpets scintillate! " I can see me getting away with that; I don't think !!

Maurice

[Neil WyattModerator @neilwyatt]

I used to convert tired pairs of shoes into workshop slip-ons by squashing the back of the heel.

My wife came up with a better idea – crocs! Not so good for welding though.

Neil

[Nick_GParticipant @nick_g]

Posted by Neil Wyatt on 20/06/2015 20:12:42:

My wife came up with a better idea – crocs! Not so good for welding though.

Neil

[Oompa LumpaParticipant @oompalumpa34302]

Posted by Frances IoM on 20/06/2015 17:19:20:

(if clogs were still available at sensible price I'd suggest these)

Would love another good pair, Sweden is a great place to go Clog shopping (?). Now there's an idea!

graham.

[Bruce EdneyParticipant @bruceedney59949]

We have a couple of mats at the door from the Man Cave (aka garage with no room for cars). I have a pair of safety boots that I slip into (don't do the laces up unless working outside) and leave the slippers at the door

Bruce

[HopperParticipant @hopper]

A big rubber mat full of honeycomb holes in front of the lathe catches most of my errant swarf. It is made for use in restaurant kitchens and industry and is designed to catch droppings while providing a thin area around each hole that you stand on. So not crunching around on swarf to start with, and the swarf does not get all over the workshop (so much). I bought it at the local hardware store and could not get by without it.

Still take my shed boots off before going inside though. But more due to ancient motorbike grease than swarf.

This is the stuff. The big holes are about 20mm diameter.

A similar but smaller mat in front of the house door catches any odd cling-ons if I have to duck inside quickly without taking boots off.

Edited By Hopper on 21/06/2015 04:01:51

Edited By Hopper on 21/06/2015 04:04:45

Edited By Hopper on 21/06/2015 04:05:21

[Jesse Hancock 1Participant @jessehancock1]

Ultimately extend the workshop into your personal second residence and have er in doors serve your meals in there. (She might be glad of the fresh air!)

Or… Get divorced and live happily ever after doing what you want when you want . Only drawback is you will have to do all the meals, shopping and house work yourself. However since there's only one to worry about there will only be half the house work.

[Mick HenshallParticipant @mickhenshall99321]

My girl is very understanding,she even let me strip and rebuild my Series 2a landrover engine in the living room, there were bits of landrover all over the dwelling,not a word of complaint,down side is I seem to be responsiible for the housework,seems fair don't it

Mick

[David ColwillParticipant @davidcolwill19261]

Yes yes yes I get the bit about shoes but nobody seems to be talking about the stuff that you shed from your hair / jumper / hairy arms or is this just me. I have on occasion got into bed after taking a shower only to find a tiny coil of steel digging into my back. How did it get there?

David.

[Clive HartlandParticipant @clivehartland94829]

David, it must be your, 'Magnetic' personality, true, one finds bits of swarf all over the place, and I have bought one of those mats that pick up all the stuff off ones shoes, only about £5 or something. A coir mat outside the door does wonders too.

Clive

[JAParticipant @ja]

The father of a neighbour of mine was a model engineer. His widow moved twice after his death before getting rid of the problem of swarf.

How can one possibly control swarf if one has a workshop within the house?

JA

[Ian S CParticipant @iansc]

Some years back ,a factory in Holland insisted that all the workers shall wear steel toe capped boots, the workers protested, and at long last the bosses relented and said that clogs could be worn but only if they passed the same tests that the safty boots had, the clogs pasted, and the safty boots failed, the weight dropped on the boots flattened the steel toe cap.

Swarf, you have to change foot wear, but it still comes in caught in clothing no matter how hard one tries to brush it off. I suppose I could wear overalls(I'v got a couple of pairs), but I find it hard work getting them off, stiff joints.

Ian S C

[mechman48Participant @mechman48]

I wear a warehouse coat, a pair of safety toe capped trainers which I change into / out of when I go into /out of my man cave, I use a pair of cheapo crocs for moving 'tween the two… Crocs are quite cheap at 'Boyes' ( usual disc' ) bought a pair for my wife a couple of months ago… £5.

George.

Edited By mechman48 on 21/06/2015 11:08:18

[Jesse Hancock 1Participant @jessehancock1]

I think we are down to installing a shower room, a large chip guard, a full body shave and possibly working in the nude.

There again the way I read it is that might be steel dandruff.

[Gordon WParticipant @gordonw]

I think I have mentioned going to the Scottish parliament last year. Was stopped by security with a hand -held metal detector and searched. All my clothes were contaminated with metal, even my good stuff.. They did accept my explanation eventually.

[Mark P.Participant @markp]

Thanks chaps, have found some steel toe capped clogs on ebay at a reasonable (cheap) price, so will give them a go.
Mark P.

[Howard LewisParticipant @howardlewis46836]

I change into/out of a VERY old pair of shoes in the utility room. Heaven help me if I get caught around the house in them!

Yes, sometimes the bedroom carpet does glint in the sunlight, as does my "working" woolie. Have to give myself a quick rub down before going indoors. Made a Magnet Swarf Retrieval Tool (telescopic magnet in a copper tube) but no good for Ali or Brass.

The floor where I stand or walk, is covered with hard plastic mats, which let a lot of the swarf fall through (every so often they are pulled up to display the swarf and all the small items, nuts, washers, drills etc that have been dropped, and for cleaning). The swarf still gets EVERYWHERE else, though!

Howard

[HopperParticipant @hopper]

Posted by David Colwill on 21/06/2015 09:44:19:

Yes yes yes I get the bit about shoes but nobody seems to be talking about the stuff that you shed from your hair / jumper / hairy arms or is this just me. I have on occasion got into bed after taking a shower only to find a tiny coil of steel digging into my back. How did it get there?

David.

There was a reason all the old boys used to wear a long dustcoat when machining. It keeps most of the swarf out of the "inside clothes" and is taken off in the workshop and left there. I keep one in the shed for when I am machining brass or cast iron etc. Always used to laugh at the old boys when I was an apprentice and they wore the old school tie and collar under a dustcoat. "Gentleman tradesmen" they were. Wore the collar and tie so as to not be mistaken for a common labourer I guess. The last of a dying breed. But they knew what they were about those old timers.

As far as swarf in the hair goes — maybe stop using Brylcreem???

Or try a small square of Perspex etc mounted on the tool post when turning brass to stop those chips flying toward your head and face. Used to see the old boys at the works with a piece of brass shim or even a piece of cardboard torn from a fag packet and shoved over the toolbit to act as a chip shield when turning brass. "We didn't always have these fancy safety glasses, y'know boy. Had to make do with fag packet we did. There were a war on, y'know.
Safety glasses, that's luxury that is."

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