Smocks and Aprons

[Jay Rasmussen]

My wife bought me a smock made by Easy Wood Tools. Works great. I've used it for years.

[Stan Pressner]

My go to smock is from Timberbits: https://www.timberbits.com/timberbits-smock-green.html

Yes, not in the US, but it converts favorably into USD, and ships quickly.

I love their smock as well.

Also, I bought another Vicmark 120 from them that was less than any US shop, including shipping.

[Neil Strong]

I wear pilot overalls. Primarily worn to keep the dust out of my clothing underneath as I'm an asthmatic and have to avoid fine wood dust and mould spoors.

Pilot overalls secure tightly everywhere that fine wood dust might get in.

They also have useful things like...

• 2 Breast pockets
• 2 Hip pockets, with an extra inner pocket
• 2 Ankle pockets
• Triple arm pen pocket
• Adjustable wrist, ankle and waist tabs

In cold weather I wear thermals underneath and in summer I can get down to just my jocks underneath on the hottest days.

I like the full length zippers on them and can't think of anything else that would be better for my purposes.

You can't buy the real air force pilot overalls new, or for that matter afford them new, but they eventually go to disposal in reasonably good condition.

[Stan Calow]

I have oversize surgical smocks from a garage sale that I wear, when I remember to put them on.

[Brian Tymchak]

My wife bought me a smock made by Easy Wood Tools. Works great. I've used it for years.

I bought the turning smock from EWT but I'm somewhat disappointed with it. I use it for other tasks, mostly at the table saw, and chips stick to it. It also pilled without going thru a machine wash.

[Brian Tymchak]

I bought the Lee Valley canvas apron and am not impressed with it. Chips stick to it. It seems to attract dust. But mostly the shoulder straps are hard to straighten out and keep straight when putting on over the head. It would benefit greatly from some sort of cross piece to harness the straps.

[Earl McLain]

Smock seemed silly to me when i bought a lathe. Didn't take too long to realize i needed to cover my shirt (or take it off and shake it out before going back into the house). Picked up an unused welding jacket for cheap--worked as a covering layer, but heavy & long sleeved. Finally broke down and bought the AAW version--and as much as i dislike man-made cloth, it really sheds well. Have seen the Craft Supplies version and borrowed one once, i like it too. Hate to say it, but the dad-gummed things work!!
earl

[David M Peters]

I've had the Easy Wood Tools smock for a number of years now. I like the lightweight construction, zipper, and back pockets. However the front pocket is large and floppy (see lightweight fabric) so your pencil usually will fall sideways and be hard to remove.

So my wife removed the front pocket (don't miss it one bit) and sewed on a small pencil pocket to the sleeve as one sees with other smocks. Such a wonderful improvement! So my advice would be to get a smock with a sleeve pencil pocket.

[andy bessette]

My normal shop attire, polo shirt and jeans, usually does not create any particular issues with wood chips and saw dust. A quick brushoff, sometimes an air hose blast suffice. Occasionally I wear a leather woodworking apron I purchased decades ago from Woodcraft or some such. For especially dusty sanding jobs I use a Tyvek coverall.