What do you wear for restoring machines and tools?

[Matt@Nearfield]

Bit random, and silly perhaps,

But as above, what do you guys and girls wear when messing around with paint stripper, rust remouver, oiling stuff etc. Just wondering if you wear the old boilre suits, lab coats, or full tux with cimmerbund..

Seeing the state I got into on day one of my saw restoration I'm leaning towards a lab coat that I can throw on, do an hour, and then hang up till next time..

 

[The_Yellow_Ardvark]

I go to a charity shop, buy old clothes.
When they fall apart they become rags.
Then the rags are used to start fires or make char cloth.

But, rubber gloves and other PPE is never skimped on.

 

[niall Y]

A friend of mine with a woodworking business, would don a boiler -suit every day, before starting work. It was the same colour as the ones all the mechanics in France seemed to wear. They are a fairly distinctive blue- I suppose they reminded him of his holidays. He, by his own admission , was the ideal size for this garment - being of average height and girth. The taller amongst us are not usually as lucky with the fit.

I, however, scruffy 'bar steward' that I am, just wore my ordinary 'sad rags' in my workshop. Anything particularly messy I now resort to my gardening clothes, which you could class as really sad 'sad-rags' They are the ones I wear, along with elbow length PVC gloves, when rodding the drains to the 'septic tank'.

When I briefly worked in a lab, we used to have to wear lab-coats. Clean ones were issued weekly You could spot the messy workers amongst us , by the state of our lab-coats at the end of the week. They are much more practical than a 'onesie', as you can get them on-and-off easily.

 

[clogs]

to hot here for anything other than shorts and a T shirt.....hahaha.....
it takes years to learn to work clean......
can do several hours painting with a brush and hardly a splash on my hands....
as for the fumes all work like that is done outside in the shade.....

 

[paulrbarnard]

If it’s going to be messy then the boilersuit goes on. If it’s just an oil finish or a bit of brush painting then it’s the apron. Otherwise it’s whatever I have on, unless the wife sees me then I have to change into ‘old’ clothes.

 

[Bingy man]

Normal day clothes most days for me which end up as work clothes. I have plenty of disposable coveralls for real dirty work- I have however started to buy work clothes as I’m getting a bit fed up of ruining normal clothes with paint stain or grease etc .

 

[bourbon]

welding or car work= overalls
woodwork, painting, Metal lathe work= brown shop coat

 

[Matt@Nearfield]

As an interior trim carpenter / cabinet maker and interior finisher I do have work trousers with knee pads ( knee pads are proof god is a man imo) but tend to wear last years good stuff.. we'll Next anyway.
But restoring seems to involve some serious filth spreading stuff.

 

[Ttrees]

Sheet goods for grinding.

 

[sawtooth-9]

Usually I try to wear old clothes, but sometimes I forget.
The newer clothes become the older, daggy and "dirty " - perfect for when you have to really dirty work.
Are they worth washing ? Naah - when they have too many holes - they become cleaning rags.
After that .........

 

[baldkev]

I go commando
Oops wrong forum

 

[Kittyhawk]

It depends on what sort of a fellow you are.
A friend of mine was into building hotrods and stripping down an engine he would wear the sort of clothes that I would consider 'stepping out' gear, and never a speck of oil or grease on him anywhere. Likewise a surgeon whose boat was hauled out next to mine. He would come down after work dressed in a suit, don a pair of surgical gloves and do a bit of fibre glassing.
On the other hand if I stand stock still all day with my hands in my pockets I will still end up with a smear of grease or a few spots of paint on me somewhere. I don't know how it happens.
In the workshop I favour dustcoats. Lots of nice pockets and unlike overalls they're easy to take on and off when you need to go into the house for some reason.

 

[aet1]

I go to a charity shop, buy old clothes.
When they fall apart they become rags.
Then the rags are used to start fires or make char cloth.

But, rubber gloves and other PPE is never skimped on.

That's what I do for my every day wear!

 

[kinverkid]

Mortuary apron for paint/messy liquids. I have a roll of them that the mortuary was throwing out many years ago. It doesn't matter how many I use the roll doesn't seem to get any smaller.

 

[spanner48]

Bit random, and silly perhaps,

But as above, what do you guys and girls wear when messing around with paint stripper, rust remouver, oiling stuff etc. Just wondering if you wear the old boilre suits, lab coats, or full tux with cimmerbund..

Seeing the state I got into on day one of my saw restoration I'm leaning towards a lab coat that I can throw on, do an hour, and then hang up till next time..

Short sleeves, and a Portwest heavy leather welder's apron. £13; has protected me for 20 years, useful as a strop for buffing off the wire edge of edge tools after sharpening.

 

[Matt@Nearfield]

When I was a nipper and started working on the building sites we'd get into the smoke (London) for 6.30am. The pub nearest to site would be open for the Paddy's who's be in for pre work Guinness. They would have a fry up in their transport container at 10am.. but relative to this thread, they would all wear suits. The normal was to buy a suit on Friday after work. Out on the shant all weekend in the new whistle, then wear it all week to work till next Friday, at which point the old one went in the bin and they bought a new one. Rinse and repeat. Legendary!!

 

[Matt@Nearfield]

Mortuary apron for paint/messy liquids. I have a roll of them that the mortuary was throwing out many years ago. It doesn't matter how many I use the roll doesn't seem to get any smaller.

On some dark, nasty and perveted sense of humour I want a mortuary apron...

 

[Rodpr]

My son in law's father (in America) is very much into getting the right gear. He bought himself a 'shop coat' (short, black, heavy cotton, made in America) from a fancy 'hand tool working' shop, Lost Art Press. It cost him over $170 but when it arrived he didn't like the fit and instead of returning it or exchanging it for a different size he gave it to my SIL to bring to me. This has now become my go-to apparel which I put on whenever I go to the workshop - I agree that a coat/jacket is much easier than a boiler suit. I also have a cheap (about £10) leather apron which I sometimes wear when I am turning or using the angle grinder. I was once sent home from my local Men's Shed when I turned up in sandals but I do occasionally wear flip flops in the workshop in summer even though I know this is a really bad idea. Normally I wear an old, oversize pair of pull on safety boots because anything I wear on my feet gets full of shavings!

 

[niall Y]

When I was a nipper and started working on the building sites we'd get into the smoke (London) for 6.30am. The pub nearest to site would be open for the Paddy's who's be in for pre work Guinness. They would have a fry up in their transport container at 10am.. but relative to this thread, they would all wear suits. The normal was to buy a suit on Friday after work. Out on the shant all weekend in the new whistle, then wear it all week to work till next Friday, at which point the old one went in the bin and they bought a new one. Rinse and repeat. Legendary!!

I came across this practise on the building sites. The labourers also had an arrangement with the nearby 'Irish pub' to cash their wage-cheques, as none of them had a bank account.

 

[highwood122]

Bit random, and silly perhaps,

But as above, what do you guys and girls wear when messing around with paint stripper, rust remouver, oiling stuff etc. Just wondering if you wear the old boilre suits, lab coats, or full tux with cimmerbund..

Seeing the state I got into on day one of my saw restoration I'm leaning towards a lab coat that I can throw on, do an hour, and then hang up till next time..

i just wear lipstick