Take it off:
Never watch, ring, neck chain or other piece of jewellery when working with a power tool. Mount a brightcoloured hook over your workbench to hold these items. The hook will remind you to take them off when you come into the workshop, and you’ll always know where you put them.

Extended life:
Reinforce knees, elbows, pocket bottoms and other heavy-wear areas on work clothes by putting iron-on patches on their undersides. Coat the edges of pockets with clear fingernail polish to prevent fraying.

Rubber gloves hanger:
Can’t ever find your rubber (or work) gloves when you need them? Use a binder clip (available from office supply shops) to hang them on a pegboard hook in full view.

Coming to grips:
Rub clear silicone sealant onto the palms of your work gloves. Once the sealant cures you’ll be able to get a much firmer grip with the gloves.

Safety gloves:
Fine sawdust can make your fingers slip when you are working with a power tool. To avoid this, wear household latex gloves with nonslip palms. Put talcum powder inside the gloves to ensure easy removal. To cut down on the likelihood of your slipping on a dust-strewn floor, wear rubber-soled shoes.

Instant aprons:
Keep some plastic garbage bags in your workshop to use as aprons for messy jobs; buy ones with built-in handles if possible. Trim 3/4″ (20 mm) from the bottom of a bag, then pull it over your head, slipping your arms through the handles.

Easy-on, easy-off apron:
Tired of fumbling to tie your workshop apron behind your back? Replace the strings with a single piece of 1/2″ (12 mm) twill tape (a standard sewing item). Sew the tape to one side of the apron; then attach it snugly and neatly to the other side of the apron with Velcro fasteners.

Eyewear

No more broken glasses:
Do your reading glasses keep falling out of your shirt pocket when you bend over? Attach a removable metal clip from a ballpoint pen to one of your glasses’ side arms. Position the clip so that it catches in your pocket, and use pliers to gently squeeze it on.

A clearer view:
Fine sawdust tends to stick to safety glasses because of the static electricity that builds up in dry workshop air. To cut static and remove dust, wipe the surface of your safety eye wear with a sheet of fabric softener — one already used in the dryer so that it won’t scratch or smear the surface of the glasses.

Face-shield wrap:
To keep your plastic face shield clean and scratch-free, cover the front with clear plastic wrap. It won’t affect your vision, and when it gets dirty you can just peel it off and replace it.

Quick spray and wipe:
Keeping your safely goggles crystal clear takes only a matter of seconds if you simply equip your workbench with a small bottle of window cleaner and a roll of paper towels.

Keeping clean

Skin protection:
Before beginning a messy job, give your exposed skin a light coat of petroleum jelly or barrier cream. It keeps paint or grease from getting into pores and washes off with soap. Rubbing undiluted liquid soap on your hands and letting it dry will also repel grease. To keep dirt from collecting under your fingernails, scrape your nails over a bar of soap.

Safe and effective cleaner:
Clean your greasy or paint-stained hands with vegetable oil. It’s inexpensive and works well. More important, it won’t irritate your skin or be absorbed through it like solvents. Put the vegetable oil into a plastic spray bottle; that way you can just spray it on your hands and it won’t spill. Laundry prewash and shampoo for oily hair are also good grease removers.

Protective equipment

Store your safety goggles, ear protectors and respirator on a foam head made for displaying hats and wigs (a shop that sells hats or wigs may be willing to give you an old foam head or at least the name of a supplier). Put the head in a prominent place in your workshop, and it will serve as a constant reminder to use your safety equipment. Here are some tips on selecting safety equipment.

Eye protectors:
Don’t rely on ordinary spectacles to guard your eyes. Wear special protective safety glasses with side shields, or safety goggles, which can be worn over your normal glasses. For full face protection, wear a face shield.

Ear protectors:
Earmuffs are easier to take off and put on than earplugs and harder to misplace. But both protect equally well if their noise reduction rating is the same. Look for an SLC number of between 25 and 32.

Respiratory protectors:
Look for a respirator with changeable dual cartridges colour-coded to filter out specific types of toxic dust and fumes. For ordinary dust, use good quality disposable dust masks. They are thicker than cheaper masks. Don’t buy a mask that doesn’t have a rating guide on it.