Wire Brushing

When you are forging, you can remove fire scale with a hand held wire brush, provided the steel is hot.

Once the steel cools, a hand held wire brush will not take off much fire scale. At this point the power wheel, either hand held or bench mounted is one option for removing fire scale.

Whenever using a power wire brush be EXTRA careful. The revolving wire wheel in addtion to taking off scale is throwing pieces of the wire. In addition to wearing safety glasses, I have taken to wearing a full face shield. afd

Of the two, this is the safer method: Clamp your work securely in the vise and use a wire brush mounted on a 4 1/2" angle grinder.

Unfortunately, many pieces due to size or configuration will not fit in the vise and you will need to go to the bench mounted wire brush. The bench mounted wire wheel is probably one of the most DANGEROUS tools in the shop. Make sure you are wearing appropriate protective clothing, apron, gloves, full face shield, etc. Make sure you have no loose clothes, hair, which could be caught up in the revolving wheel. Most Important: always push your work into the revolving wheel, below the level of the axel/shaft. When the handheld object is pulled from your fingers (and they will get pulled out) the revolving wheel will throw the object down toward the bench. Should you loose control of the object and it is above the shaft, it will be thrown at your face at a very high speed.

-- AlbinDrzewianowski - 10 Feb 2008