Though handy to have around the shop, disposable blades present a danger long after they’re useful. If you’ve ever found out the hard way that someone tossed out a used razor blade, you know what I mean. Instead of tossing sharps out in the normal trash, you can store ‘em safely in OLFA’s DC-4 Blade Safety Case until they can be properly disposed of.

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Sometimes a great invention fails to hit it big simply because the financial circumstances aren’t just right — the Firelight Safety Switch is one of those potential innovations waiting in financial limbo.  When a small fire filled his son’s house with smoke, Tony Abuiso came over to assess the damage, and the idea hit him: a switch that could “hear” a smoke detector’s alarm and then turn on a light or activate an exhaust fan.

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The Dust Bubble disposable dust collector adheres to walls and other surfaces for a quicker and easier post-drilling cleanup. The Dust Bubble also cuts down on preparation time because it eliminates the need to remove or protect furniture and other belongings in the vicinity of the to-be-drilled zone. Stick it. Drill it. Bin it. The days of holding a drill with one hand and a vacuum with the other are over!

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You see glass bead reflective paint on everything from fire hydrants to street curbs — it’s a staple of town and city DPW departments. If you want to make your mailbox or house numbers highly visible at night, you can paint them with Liquidreflector, a water-based acrylic paint that’s impregnated with mica and uses the same glass bead reflectors as the industrial paint.

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If you wear glasses, you know how pricey a new set of specs can be, especially when the workplace requires safety lenses. Fortunately, websites like GlassyEyes.com and 39DollarGlasses.com will help you save some cash and keep your peepers safe.

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Work gloves generally come in a small selection of sizes for men, with a few women’s sizes thrown in for good measure. To my continued shame, I sometimes find myself wearing pink or pastel-colored women’s gloves because the men’s gloves don’t fit my hands very well. No more! Lee Valley now sells an affordable line of Work Gloves in sizes children to extra large, all in the same neutral green.

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Ever nicked your hand changing the blade in your table saw? The Saw-Jaw may be just the safety accessory for you. Changing a table saw blade involves using wrenches around a sharp blade — one slip and either you put a wrench into the brittle carbide teeth or, worse, your hand. Even though the blade isn’t spinning, it can still do a number on unprotected flesh. The Saw-Jaw encloses and protects the blade (and your hands) so you can complete the job safely.

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Embraced by winters frigid grip with crystals of ice adorning your windshield and you can’t find your scraper again? Try the Ice Dozer Plus. Besides the wicked-cool name, the ‘Dozer sports several unique features that make it better than your cheap gas station scraper.

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My newest flashlight, the eLED, comes from Underwater Kinetics, a company that makes high performance diving accessories. UK’s 2-AAA pocket light projects a soft, wide beam, is extremely compact, is waterproof down to 10m, and will burn for about 15 hours on a single set of batteries. It also features a removable clip — perfect for attaching the light to safety glasses or the brim of a hat — and a robust keyring.

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If you’re looking to order safety equipment or metal fabrication supplies, Airgas.com should be one of your first stops. I came across Airgas when I was searching for a hard-to-find pair of sweet new safety goggles and somehow ended up making a rather large order. Their prices are decent, but most importantly the selection is vast and shipping is prompt.

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Since previous Dealmonger feedback about these gloves has been generally positive, we thought you’d like to know that Sears is offering them on sale again. Through Veteran’s Day you can can pick up a pair of these Craftsman Mechanic’s gloves for $10. (They’re regularly $20.) Sears sells Mechanic’s gloves in sizes medium to extra large and in colors red and black.

Medium, Black [Sears]
Medium, Red [Sears]
Large, Black [Sears]
Large, Red [Sears]
XLarge, Black [Sears]
XLarge, Red [Sears]

If you’re not sold on the traditional featherboard as kickback protection and you want something that’ll glide a little easier along your workpiece, you might want to give Board Buddies a try. Instead of numerous little “fingers” rubbing against your workpiece as you run it through your table saw, the ‘Buddies sport two wheels (that roll in only one direction) to provide constant pressure via a set of springs. The result: a nice smooth cut with no potential for chattering, and since the wheels won’t turn backwards you have the kickback protection you need.

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To help prevent a foggy view, slap some Cat Crap — no, we’re not kidding – onto your goggles or other fog-prone surfaces such as scopes and face shields. Cat Crap, an all-in-one cleaner and anti-fog treatment, is claims to be safe for all lenses. And with winter on the way, maybe now’s a good time to try this stuff out — especially if you plan on hunting, skiing, or doing some work in the garage.

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There’s no question that Hurst’s Jaws Of Life lives up to it’s name. But what if you don’t have them — or don’t have access to the hydraulic pressure required to make them operate? Defense contractor Hi-Shear developed the Lifeshear to provide a mechanically simple, lightweight, pyrotechnic extraction tool to supplement these larger, heavier options like the ‘Jaws.

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You wear safety glasses in the shop because seeing is an important skill. But hearing is pretty damn useful, too. Yet in all the home shops we’ve visited we almost never see hearing protection. Try this: every time you throw on a pair of safety goggles or prepare to use heavy equipment, take a second to consider if the intensity and duration of noise warrants additional safety gear. Even simple low-cost products will provide you with a measurable level of protection — and a few more years before “WHAT?” is your standard response to any query.

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Radians’ Concealer goggles — more popularly marketed by DeWalt — offer a number of features desirable in safety eyewear: they’re designed to be comfortable, provide reliable protection, and look good in the process. With soft rubber seals and an adjustable neoprene headstrap, they kick the crap out of those cheap-ass goggles you wore in shop class.

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Gloves only protect your hands if you have them on. The Glove Guard operates on the (true) principle that if you don’t have your gloves with you, you’re not likely to go and find them to put them on. The ‘Guard consits of two plastic clips held together with a breakaway synthetic cord. The larger clip attaches to your jacket, shirt, belt etc, the smaller part clips to the gloves.

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