Shop Safety

If you’re like me, the very title of this article has you nodding off. But, hold on a second. What you don’t know can hurt you and disable you for a lifetime. We have all been given the safety rules of handling firearms many times and observe them because the consequences of not observing them can be fatal. But, how about the in the shop? According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics there were approximately 421,000 work injuries in the manufacturing trades in 2019 that required a day off.

There is no telling how many total injuries there were. If you think about the number of opportunities there are around the shop to get hurt it is mind boggling. I was fortunate to have worked for Bob Brownell, the Founder of Brownells Inc., for several years and he was full of practical advice gained from years of gunsmithing experience. Best of all, he was always willing to share it. One of his Nearly every operation in the shop presents a danger to your eyes.

Milling drilling, chemical splashes, even buffing and carding. Wires can work loose from wire wheels and cause a hazard. Protect your eyes! When operating some machines, especially when operating several machines at once, mundane jobs like fitting a recoil pad can be loud enough to damage your hearing as much as a gunshot. many observations was, "If you’re not willing to drink it, wear gloves when you work with it." Many chemicals can be absorbed through the skin and have harmful effects.

That brings us to the four areas of concern I would like to discuss: Hands, Eyes, Ears, and Lungs. Hands For every gunsmith, his/her hands are vital. Because they are used in every aspect of our work, they are the most likely to be injured. These can be incurred from minor cuts and abrasions suffered from coming in contact with cutting or polishing tools, to major injury suffered from an accident at the lathe or mill. Unfortunately, there is not much available to protect our hands and fingers except gloves.

When handling chemicals like bluing solutions a good pair of gloves offering temperature and chemical protection is mandatory. Like so many situations, the only real protection you have is what lies between your ears. We all can get complacent and often when we are setting up machinery or doing repetitive tasks operating it, our minds are on the project rather than the machine. Of course, that is when the machine takes the opportunity to bite you.

Hard as it may be to keep your mind on what you are doing, it is the only way to stay away from trips to the emergency room. Eyes From chemical splashes from hot bluing salts or other chemicals we use regularly, to metal chips that come flying off the lathe or mill, to a simple poke in the eye from a tool that slipped, our eyes are nonreplaceable. When is the last time you read the safety warnings printed on every bottle of cold blue? Let’s take a look at just a couple of them.

Birchwood Casey Super Blue is available in pretty much every big box store that has a sporting goods department. The label clearly states "Danger: Poison, Corrosive". It contains several acids and is corrosive to the eyes! "Caution: Protective gloves and eye protection are recommended when using this product." I’ll bet you don’t use either of those do you? Truth be told, neither do I. But we should.

Howa bou t Brownells Formula 44/40 Instant Gun Blue, a cold blue that has been around for as long as I can remember. "Danger: Causes burns. Respiratory irritant, may be harmful or fatal if swallowed. Wear rubber gloves and goggles during use." is printed right there on the label in

Any job like heat treating, bluing, or case hardening requiring high heat and/or caustic chemicals is a burn hazard. Along with your eye protection, a good pair of chemical and heat resistant gloves is a must. bold letters. This is not stuff to be played around with, yet we do. How many times have you been using a wire wheel and had a bristle come flying off and hit you? Were you wearing safety glasses? When shooting, have you ever had a punctured primer?

I have, and in that instance the gasses vaporized the lubricant in the bolt, blew back in my face, and coated my shooting glasses with a fine mist of oil. Had that mist been sprayed into my eyes it would have been much more serious than simply cleaning my glasses. Anytime you are grinding, polishing, wire brushing, or any of a hundred jobs in your shop, protecting your eyes should be of prime importance. Ears We are all aware of the need for ear protection when shooting.

Be it on the range or out hunting, the sound of a shot can do permanent damage to your hearing. If you have ever been out shooting and come home with your ears ringing you can bet that your hearing has suffered some damage. The damage is accumulative and just because the ringing stops does not mean that your hearing has returned to what it was before the incident. Hearing damage doesn’t heal. Every shooter I know wears hearing protecting on the range but very few do in their shop.

For many operations hearing protection may not be needed but if you’re running several machines at the same time, such as a sander and a vacuum when grinding a recoil pad, the noise level may well warrant the use of ear protection. A decibel meter might surprise you as to how loud power tool use can be. If you don’t have such ameter, there are sound meter apps for smart devices (Android, i OS, etc.) that can provide a cheap or free means to check.

Despite this, I’ll bet very few of us have ever thought much about it. Lungs We really don’t think much about damaging our lungs even though we often use chemicals that can be quite dangerous. Many of them, when inhaled, can also lead to kidney damage. The biggest danger to your lungs is probably from aerosols. From paint strippers, stock finishes, degreasers, and fumes from hot Products have warning labels that you should read.

Rubber gloves keep chemicals off your hands and approved masks protect your lungs, keeping you safe and healthy. bluing tanks, we often don’t even think about the dangers until we are on our way to the emergency room. To illustrate the dangers we ignore every day, I walked into my shop and selected a few products at random and here is what I found on the labels. On Brownells Aluma- Hyde II, "Use only with adequate ventilation, do not breath vapors or spray mist. Wear proper respiratory protection.

Failure to wear proper respiratory protection may result in permanent brain and nervous system damage. May cause liver and kidney damage." Of course, this isn’t limited to gunsmith-specific products as many items we use in our shop available at hardware stores have similar safety precautions. On the label of common mineral spirits, "May affect the brain or nervous system causing dizziness, headache or nausea. Causes eye, skin, nose and throat irritation. Avoid breathing vapor or spray mist.

Repeated and prolonged exposure may cause permanent brain and nervous system damage." From Minwax Tung Oil Finish, "If you experience eye watering, headaches, or dizziness, increase fresh air or wear respiratory protection or leave the area." These are just a few of the chemicals we come in contact with and not even the most dangerous. For your health and safety read the labels on the products you use and follow the directions.

Be sure your shop is supplied with rubber gloves, facemasks, eye protection, ear protection, and adequate ventilation. You need to look after yourself because nobody else is going to. AG