This is my face shield.
There are many others like it, but this one is mine.
My face shield is my best friend. It is my life.

And I live a sweet life.  White collars on corn silk blue shirts.  I have french cuffs, and suit jackets.  As an advertising sales guy, and a consultant, that’s the uniform.  It’s not fire retardant, hell, its not even coffee retardant.   Cole Haan makes no steal toed loafers.

So after my invite to the AbOmInOg I did a quick wardrobe assessment and realized how ill prepared I am for the hard and dangerous work associated with pouring 2800° molten iron.

Matt and Scot gave me a shopping list:  chaps, leather, jacket, leather, apron, leather, spats, leather, sleeves, kevlar, 14” with thumb hole, boots, steel toed, preferably with a cow hide, natural sole, face shield, high impact, gloves, general and welding.  Everything needed to be split hide or kevlar.

Thats the thing about pouring iron, you learn it in the stories shared over beers and smokes, in pubs and yards, in the moments where you aren’t joking, don’t mess around when it comes to safety.

If I buy a pink dress shirt, (and yes, I wear an occasional pink dress shirt, goes great with a gray suit) and it falls apart in the wash, or a button comes lose, wow, who cares?  There goes a couple of dollars, and I can always use it for knocking around.

If my leather clothing fails… well lets just hope it doesn’t.