Steel workers in the 40's

[natjack]

My stepma says her father wore an 'opera' scarf, which was white, like knitted silky wool, with fringed ends, very heavy. The sort of thing that toffs wore with their evening suits, she says.

 

They wore them wrapped around a couple of times, with the ends tucked under.

[Kidorry]

You could buy your sweat towels from the shop and it came on a roll.No one wore them to go out in and no one wore a silk scarf to work in.

[parcher]

Like stockinette, perhaps or proper terry towelling as we know it nowadays? Remember, we are trying to portray working mens clobber in the forties.

[PopT]

Hi Parcher

 

My father was a steel melter for 22yrs before and after the war.

 

He wore a flat cap

thick Grandad collarless shirt

Thick white cotton sweat towel with square raised design in the weave to soak up sweat

Long John underpants and heavy trousers

Wool Socks and wooden clogs.

Because they had to go home from the steelworks in their dirty clothes they always made an effort to look their best.

When home the first job was bathe in the old zinc bath and a chang into fresh clothes.

It was important for them to keep clean for health reasons.

He wore blue glass nickel silver specs when in front of the furnace, the nose bridge well wrapped with cotton to stop the metal burning the nose, many wore these anti glare specs upside down so there was no contact with the face to stop any burning.

 

Hope this helps Happy Days! Pop

[parcher]

It does indeed. I think that sweat towel that you are describing sounds very much like a waffle weave cotton that we have nowadays, which often turns up as throws for chairs. I have quite a few old 1930's towels made out of that stuff and it would make sense that they would use those rather than nipping out and buying something that probably used up their ration stamps.

 

Mr P did his apprenticeship (he is a fitter) in the late seventies, so there were still men working from that era but in the way of most teenage boys, he simply wasn't interested in what they wore! He did say though that his old smith with the bowler, probably did have an opera scarf because at that time, trained men were considered to be highly paid (how times change!)

 

I do know the specs you mention because I was an optician in the late seventies and we still supplied them.

[Kidorry]

A lot of men in the melting shops would put a corner of their sweat towel under the bridge of their blue upturned specs to protect their nose.

[PopT]

Kidorry

 

I'd forgotten the trick of tucking the corner of the sweat towel under the bridge on the specs.

 

This trick provided two benefits, one it protected the nose being burned by the metal specs and the second was to prtect the open mouth from the searing heat and deadly fumes from the furnace and the loaded steel sampling spoon rod.

 

Happy Days! PopT

[raymondo1952]

use to buy sweat towel and mashing can from army stores near nursery street

[Kidorry]

use to buy sweat towel and mashing can from army stores near nursery street

 

And the ex-army boots as well.

[Sidonica]

My father was a steel melter before and after the war. The descriptions already posted are very accurate though he wore boots, not clogs. Photo's of him at work all show him wearing an apron made from an old sack.