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Thread: Do you wear an apron while working?

  1. #16
    Yes, most of the time. Cheapo BucketBoss cross strap apron. Glued a small magnet between the bucketboss tag and outside of right side chest pocket so 6" rule doesn't fall out when I bend over. Various squares go into apron pockets, pencil in the pencil pocket up top. Sharpies of various tip widths in the right side hip pocket, nail set/punch in the left one. I can't keep up with anything if I set it down, so am in the habit of putting everything away in the apron every time I use it. Sounds like time wasted pulling out, putting back, etc., but actually less time than searching for stuff. I wear this when woodworking or metalworking, but not at the wood lathe. If all I did was work at the bench, I wouldn't wear it, but I do too many different things in my shop.

    ETA No marking knife in the apron.
    *** "I have gained insights from many sources... experts, tradesman & novices.... no one has a monopoly on good ideas." Jim Dailey, SMC, Feb. 19, 2007
    *** "The best way to get better is to leave your ego in the parking lot."----Eddie Wood, 1994
    *** We discovered that he had been educated beyond his intelligence........
    *** Student of Rigonomics & Gizmology

    Waste Knot Woods
    Rice, VA

  2. #17
    Join Date
    Aug 2012
    Location
    Missouri
    Posts
    2,151
    When I need tools and such handy, like working on a ladder, I like an apron. When I was doing this full time I wore carpenters overalls. If working at the bench I could just unzip the apron part. When I needed portability I could zip it on.
    the overalls provided a way to protect your clothes from things like glue, pitch, splinters, and wear.
    Jim

  3. #18
    No one has mentioned using a leather apron when sharpening. I will usually clean the iron on my belly. My leather apron saves my shirt and acts as a strop. What’s not to like?

    ken

  4. #19
    I wore one most of the time...........for all of the reasons already mentioned. However, now that I've gotten interested in doing more hand tool woodworking these last couple of months I find myself wearing it less.

  5. #20
    Join Date
    Apr 2015
    Location
    New England area
    Posts
    588
    Yep, got tired of wearing a hole in the right hip of my trousers.

  6. #21
    Join Date
    Sep 2010
    Location
    Livonia, Michigan
    Posts
    780
    Working in a wheelchair means everything ends up falling in my lap. I wear a denim apron in the shop and a Mickey Mouse chef apron in the kitchen. Of the two places the kitchen poses the greater hazard, not too many burning hot things in the shop.

    -Tom

  7. #22
    Join Date
    Sep 2009
    Location
    Putney, Vermont
    Posts
    1,042
    I always wore an apron in the tool room. They were supplied by the company, and kept your clothes cleaner from the oils and machines you had to lean into when working.
    I have a few in the basement for wood working and like them for the bigger pockets to hold small tools, but the saw dust does make a mess in the pockets.
    The trick to not having things falling out of the chest pocket while bending over, is to pack the pocket full so everything in it is tight to the pocket.

  8. #23
    Join Date
    Jun 2010
    Location
    twomiles from the "peak of Ohio
    Posts
    12,120
    Have one of those cotton-duck ( think Carhart style) with the cross straps, with padded shoulders....like wearing it while sitting down at the bench....sawdust stays off of me, chips from hand cutting dovetails bounce off....quick strop where the aprons sits on a leg....glue sticks to the apron, and not my jeans. Sawdust from the power tools collect on the apron, not on my clothes.

    Nothing says closing time in the shop like the act of hanging up the apron....nothing says shop is open, like the act of donning the apron...shows you are ready for work. Rarely place any tools in the pockets...they tend to get in the way....of sawdust and chips collecting there. If I fumble a chisel ( who? ME?) and it lands in my lap...no harm done to chisel..or me.

    Need a better hook to hang the apron on....bandsaw isn't quite the ideal place to hang things.
    Yep, mine gets used.

    apron.jpgapron.jpg
    Somedays, I just hang it wherever I stopped working, for the day..wonder which is the "after" picture...
    Last edited by steven c newman; 02-09-2019 at 12:20 PM.

  9. #24
    Join Date
    Sep 2009
    Location
    Putney, Vermont
    Posts
    1,042
    It does help to put you in the right frame of mind, donning the apron Steven.
    I hang mine on the pencil sharpener.

  10. #25
    Join Date
    Jun 2007
    Location
    Clinton Township, MI, United States
    Posts
    1,554
    Back in the 70's when I started in pattern shops, everyone wore an apron so I did too. Still do. One thing though - NO pockets! A journeyman who saw pockets on your apron would likely tear them off. NOTHING that might scratch the models was allowed.
    From the workshop under the staircase, Clinton Township, MI
    Semper Audere!

  11. #26
    Join Date
    Feb 2003
    Location
    Doylestown, PA
    Posts
    7,551
    I wear one if I think I'll be getting stuff kicked back at me. When I was messing with Corian scraps I'd wear one. Those shavings stick to EVERYTHING.

  12. #27
    Join Date
    Dec 2012
    Location
    Bedford, NH
    Posts
    1,286
    I wear a lab coat in my basement shop just to keep my clothes clean and the sawdust away/off from the house furniture, to hold small tools if needed, and more importantly to keep my wife happy. However, even though this is a "full length" lab coat I wish I could find one that was almost floor length to keep the sawdust off the lower part of my pant legs.

    Can anyone recommend a source for a coat of this length?

    If it wasn't such a nuisance to get into/out of coveralls I'd get the coveralls, but I'm hoping to find an extra long shop/lab coat.
    Last edited by Al Launier; 02-10-2019 at 10:07 AM.
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  13. #28
    Quote Originally Posted by Al Launier View Post
    I wear a lab coat in my basement shop just to keep my clothes clean and the sawdust away/off from the house furniture, to hold small tools if needed, and more importantly to keep my wife happy. However, even though this is a "full length" lab coat I wish I could find one that was almost floor length to keep the sawdust off the lower part of my pant legs.

    Can anyone recommend a source for a coat of this length?
    I've also been looking for longer ones, but haven't had much luck.
    Making furniture teaches us new ways to remove splinters.

  14. #29
    Join Date
    Feb 2018
    Location
    N CA
    Posts
    1,279

    I'm about 50-50

    with the apron in the shop. I have the Duluth Trading Post canvas cross strap. It is comfortable to wear. I have no complaints there. I only use the chest pockets for a 6" metal rule and a pencil. Most times when I reach for the pencil in the apron, I find it above my ear inside the rim of my hat. My wife like it when I wear the apron as it protects my "good jeans", which is one of the ultimate oxymorons.

  15. #30
    Quote Originally Posted by Al Launier View Post
    I wish I could find one that was almost floor length
    Why not just sew a piece of fabric to the bottom of a regular lab coat?

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