On Monday, March 19, 2018 at 10:53:04 AM UTC-4, AMuzi wrote:

South Bend Lathe manual, 1914, inside back cover, "Before
starting to work on a lathe, roll up your sleeves and remove
your necktie."

From back in the days when machinists wore neckties! They were classier back then.

They probably didn't wear eye protection in 1914 either.

Yep, googling yields https://www.umassd.edu/about/historyofumassdartmouth/

Things have gotten much safer since then, of course. Safety inflation is real,
and obviously not bad up to a point. I taught an intro to machine shop lab
(just bare basics) and would come down very hard on a student who omitted
eye protection.

But I know the full-time machinist in that lab sometimes worked without eye
protection, just as I sometimes do on my basement lathe. It's a risk we take
based on our judgment of the circumstances.

OTOH, I don't think I've ever obeyed the "Never use without eye protection!"
warnings that seem to come on things like Harbor Freight screwdrivers. That
company probably puts warnings on its rubber erasers.

Kind of like this: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7gzDC-2ZO8I

I put plastic hats in the same category.

- Frank Krygowski