Shop Atire?

When working in your shop do you wear a tool belt, a shop apron or just work clothes?


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Sean Wright

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So here's a question.... When in your shop, do you wear a tool belt, a shop apron, or just work clothes?

Up until recently I just wore work clothes. Then I picked up a shop apron. I have used it several times, and find it very handy- lots-o-pockets! Plus I don't get as dust covered as I did before.

An old baseball hat, pencil behind an ear, and hearing protectors when running most big tools, are standard for me.
 
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I have a ton of Liquor Shop aprons, that when they get too beat up to wear at work, become workshop aprons. When turning I wear a turning smock, as an apron alone is not nearly enough :D
 
I generally change from my work clothes (jeans and a t-shirt) into shop clothes (grubby jeans and usually the same t-shirt), and put on my shop boots (sheepskin lined Ugg boots, like wearing slippers). When I'm turning, or doing something messy, I wear an old striped denim shop apron that was my granddad's. It has a big pocket in front, so if I'm turning, I wear the apron inside out...no pockets to catch the curlies.

Since it was a multiple choice poll, I voted "apron" and "work clothes". ;)
 
There is no way you are going to get this woodworker to wear an apron or toolbelt in the shop!!

First and foremost there is that reoccuring image of my high school shop teaching wearing his dirty old denim one complete with ruler, tape measure square and that all important drill press chuck key. We had to go see him everytime we wanted to drill something and then he would run his yap and give you a safety lesson about drill press safety as he dipped deep down in his pocket and pulled out the chuck key as if it was the "almighty shop apron that I was not worthy of asking of oh great shop teacher". I have nothing against shop safety, but you got to keep in mind. Back then I would get out of school and hook up a corn chopper to a 120 hp tractor via the PTO shaft or, or work half the night on a dump trucks driveshaft...trust me a drill press was pretty tame compared to some of the rotating equipment we had on the farm.

The other reason is that aprons and toolbelts (or pockets) as we call them here in Maine, go against my shop fundamentals. My shop is laid out so that anything i typically need is right at hand...on the wall. Everything has its own spot so there is no losing things in my pockets or apron...they are put back where they are supposed to be. In fact if I do need to search for something that means my shop is messed up. I will stop right then and there, put everything away and then start again. Since I do this every 20 minutes or so, it only takes a second to do, and everything is right at hand. No need for pockets or an apron.
 
levis and a t shirt.....when the weather changes a flannel, tape measure hooked on my right pocket, pencil behind my right ear held in place with a cap, pair of broken in redwings on my feet. for the odd trim job i`ll maybe put on my bags but generally i throw `em on the floor next to where i`m workin`...too many years with callouses on my hip bones, i just don`t like to wear bags anymore.:eek:
 
I have a shop apron which I only wear if I go to the shop in my day clothes and decide to do something whist I'm there.

Generally, I wear a bright orange boiler suit -- my daughter calls it my "Guantanamo Bay Outfit". No offence meant guys. It has plenty of pockets and gets washed often because I am prone to wiping my grubby hands down the front. I also wear it for gardening, decorating etc

So I opted for "work clothes" in the poll.
 
Jeans and T-shirt with pocket on it. When I turn, I wear the same attire. The shavings that end up in the pocket of the t-shirt feed the sawdust monster in my wife's wash machine and dryer!:D
 
Boots - Steel toe caps - always. My Grandad lost a couple of toes from a crush injury in an iron foundry in the days before Health & Safety - he never walked the same. To me there is no downside as I buy good comfortable boots. They are probably the most comfortable footwear I own. In the winter I have an electrically heated pair that make working on a concrete floor more pleasant.:D

Good socks. I broke my ankle a couple of years ago and it is always a source of some discomfort but you will not believe the improvement that good socks make to comfort on a concrete floor. I buy "light trail" hiking socks by the dozen and my wife hates me for it.

Dungarees - I hate having to hitch up trousers to close the gap between top and bottom. With dungarees I can wear for a comfortable fit without exposing any parts to the cold that nobody else would want to see anyway. And I get lots of good pockets to fill with sawdust and chippings.:D

Work Tees/Sweats depending on the time of year. I have a couple of sweats that I have hacked the lower arm off as I don't like wearing long sleeves around certain machines.
 
I've tried several variations of apron but none are more advantage than hinderance. I would like something with a couple heavy duty pockets in it that was tough enough to be decent but not so stiff that all it does is get in the way or poke me when I bend.
 
Pocketed T-shirt, Wrangler carpenter jeans, & Red Wings. In colder weather, a long sleeve, pocketed T-shirt, sometimes with a polar fleece vest or down vest, depending on how cold. I do put on the apron when glueing, especially if it is epoxy, which I use alot. I also have a turning smock when at the lathe. I have had several belts over the years, but settled on the Skiller's system about 10 years ago. I wear it usually when working at a jobsite, almost never in the shop 'cause all my tools are close at hand and pretty organized. Safety eyewear goes on the minute I enter the shop or jobsite. I never wear shorts in the shop or on a job site.
 
Shorts and a t-shirt for as far into cold season as I can stand it. I even did it on christmas day last year, with a sweatshirt. Old tennis shoes or boots in the winter. I justified my air compressor purchase by saying I could get most of the sawdust and curlies off me with it before I came into the house, if I could only remember to do it everytime.
 
a shop apron, shop apron. I have used it several times, and find it very handy- lots-o-pockets!


I wear a shop apron 70% of the time, hate it.........it holds the sawdust chips etc. Plus the pockets fill up with chips.
Bought a woodcraft apron, that was just as bad.

The wife is suppose to make plastic apron (That was a year ago):doh::doh:
 
Grubby shop jeans (formerly work jeans but I got CA glue on 'em once ... so now they're shop jeans). I try to wear a short t-shirt. Short because then my jeans pocket is exposed and I can hook my 10' tape to it without fighting with my shirt. That's pretty much summer wear - I may do shorts once in a while if it's real warm. Footwear is whatever the last pair of sneakers I wore around the office. Once they're too grungy for work, they become shop shoes. This current pair is covered with the floor paint I rolled on the shop floor about 3 years ago... but they're about to completely fall apart, and my current daily-drivers are still in pretty good shape. I may have to spring for some shop shoes!

In the winter, I do basically the same thing except I might go with a long t-shirt and possibly add one of my many-freebie denim shirts that I get from various sources. One was from a technology company, another was from a ww store.

If I think of it, I will wear my Rockler Denim apron that houses pencils and my favorite Starrett 6" rule. I searched high and low for the perfect apron and the Rockler one was the only one that had shoulder straps, minimal pockets and was flexible enough to bend with me when I was crawling around on the floor working on stuff. Any others I tried were all very stiff and bulky and I couldn't adjust to 'em. But more often than not, the apron doesn't get used as much anymore ... but I may change that behavior once we move to the new house. No insulation in the shop (yet!) so another layer of fabric might help!

When I'm turning, I have one of the CSUSA smocks that makes the most sense to me. The material it's made of is exactly what a turning smock should be - real slick stuff that the curlies can't get a hook on and stick to you. Everything just slides right off my torso .... and into my shoes!
 
The wife is suppose to make plastic apron (That was a year ago):doh::doh:
A reverse 'Honey Do' list! I love it!! :rofl::rofl::thumb:

Jeans and either my "New Yankee", "Weyerhaeuser", or "Festool" T-shirts in warm weather. Plaid flannel in the cooler months. Comfortable sneakers, usually. I have an apron, but never think to put it on unless I'm applying finish in the evening and never got around to changing out of my office clothes. It's a Shopsmith apron I got with my SS (long since gone) over 28 years ago.
 
I've got a nice shop apron from Duluth Trading.

It had a feature that keeps the neck strap off your neck.

Works really well.

My shop isn't that organized, so if I need to find something, it's easier to keep it in the apron...
 
Faragamo steel toed boots, Gucci apron, Calvin Klein Jeans, Tuxedo Jacket, and Michael Jordan underwear. Just what the fashionable woodworker is wearing this fall.:D
 
NEKKID, buck NEKKID!!!






Just kidding. I couldn't stand that sight myself. Usually I wear jeans, an old shirt and heavy shoes so when I drop stuff on the floor my feet stay intact. I do wear a turning apron when I am roughing turning stock.
 
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