General Angle Grinder Safety
Cautionary Advice - Angle grinders - Please Read
Always wear goggles, best by far is a full-face mask to BS or EU standards. You do not want shards of hot metal in your eyes, equally they can scar your face. That brings me to the secondary points, cut or ground metal gets hot so don't touch these areas until they have cooled. Be very careful with edges now exposed - they are very nasty edges and cut skin easily. I sustained two cuts so be warned.
I use cheap grinding discs and most of the time they're OK but goggles (a full face mask is best) are good protection just in case one breaks up on you. High quality thin 1mm cutting discs (e.g. Kronberg, Hilti etc) can now be bought for about £1 a piece and are one of the best things to come along for DIY bodywork in many years. Once cutting don't change the angle or twist, carry on straight or remove and start again at the correct angle (Scribe or mark-up your lines if a long cut). Don't push the speed of cut, its unsafe and waers the disc much faster.
If you work with the guard off the grinder for better access into difficult areas - you also must wear heavy leather gauntlets Replace the guard straight away! Don't ever use an angle grinder single-handed, and try to work with the side-handle fitted. Don't become nonchalant - even a 100mm angle-grinder can be a dangerous tool.
If you use any kind of wire brush in your grinder - you should also wear leather gloves and always a full mask, even twist-knotting underseal off can throw up hot nasty material, and any rust underneath will fly out red-hot.
Fix the job, don't free-hand with the job in one hand un-clamped! If you drop the angle grinder when running it can chase you around alarmingly - funny? NOT! {HM}
Flap-discs - if you jam them accidentally, they can also break-up and the resulting vibration can be horrendous, preventing turn-off.
Don't get a cutting disc, grinding disc, flap-disk but especially a twist-knot brush in a potential narrow jamming area - this is possibly the most dangerous situation of all! (Some new expensive grinders have overload clutches because of this danger)
Try not to need to use a 9" (225mm) grinder at all!
Don't work bare chested, cover arms neck and body with good thick clothing, even in summer. Make sure the grinder's on/off switch works reliably and preferably have a mate nearby - in case you need help. Working alone be extra careful.
Once you are well protected you can work better, get closer to the job and have better control and accuracy, as well as being a lot more efficient with say, a twist-knot brush.
