Angle grinder incident...

It could have been a lot worse!
It was mostly funny , but there is a cautionary tale to be told.

I was grinding clean  the grate of a grill using an angle grinder and a cupped wire brush.
I noticed stinging bit of the crud were hitting my hands.
When I turned off the grinder, all the wires were missing from the cupped brush.
I found a lot of wires  impaled into my clothes and few in the flesh of my hands.
I was wearing glasses, a face sheild and a respirator, so no wire were stuck in my face.
I double checked the rpm rating for the brush, it was 12500.
The angle grinder maximize rpm is 12000.

I switched to a knotted wire wheel, but it's hard to get into tight space with it.
I bould a regular wire wheel today, it should work better.

Photos below, only a little gruesome .

Gloves.
Next time, maybe I wear them!

So glad you had eye and face protection! I've pulled wire wheel wires from my skin and clothes before too. Gloves would have helped, especially if they were leather. Leather clothing like a welding jacket or welding sleeves, or a leather shop apron are way better than cloth, the wires bounce off rather than poke in like cloth. Denim is a decent alternative, if that's all you have, but those wires will go right through a hoodie and a t-shirt underneath.

Ooh, ouch! It certainly could have been worse. The brush does look a little worn, so that might be a factor. I'm assuming the rating is genuine not a dodgy pattern brush.

I tend to go with a flap disk for taking off grime, changing grits depending on the application just so I do not use my cup wire wheel all that often. But a grill kind of requires it.

When Ido buy my cup wire wheels, I buy the most expensive kind as they are slower at releasing their wires, but honestly they all do it. At some places I have worked, they have banned cup wire wheels on account of safety. As you may have noticed, beyond just throwing wires, they "kick" pretty easy too.

Myself, I think cup wire wheels have their place. A small niche for sure, but when I do use mine, I slow my grinder down to its slowest speed so it does not throw as much wire, and if it does kick, it is not so violent. Beyond wearing the right gear, that goes a long way towards safety.

A leather shop apron is a good idea.
We would like to be forging this summer, so it could serve in multiple capacities.
I was lucky the wires didn't really hurt.
Fragments from a cutting disk could be much worse.

The cup was barely used when I started , but I wore it down to the nub!
The first day I used with the battery powered grinder and I didn't notice any problems.
The next day I used it in the corded grinder.
It definitely spun faster, the bristles were almost perpendicular to the spinning shaft.
That's when I double checked ratings on the brush and tool, and proceeded with minimal worry.
Ratings have their place, but maybe I shouldn't trust them over my common sense.
Its actually a niche call, my instincts recoil at some things that are perfectly safe.

I'm a little embarrassed to say none of my grinders have speed control.
I might buy a dremel to fill this need.

So, thinking about the speed rating, if I had the choice, I'd run a wheel like that on a "slower" angle grinder like 8,000 RPM. The larger 7" grinders come to mind, since they are compensating for the faster surface speed of a larger disc at it's perimeter, plus a powerful motor that won't bog down when you engage all those bristles on a rough surface. I too, have watched the bristles on a crimped wire cup brush swing outward at 11,000 RPM! It's all fun and games until the wires reach escape velocity!

I've had my own "angle grinder incident" and it also was a wire wheel. I foolishly tried to steady my work with one hand and hold my 4-1/2" grinder with the other, then it grabbed and bounced towards me. The wheel tore into my t-shirt and wound it tightly up, and pinned my hand against my chest unable to let go of the trigger. The grinder was stalled out, buzzing angrily, I had to unplug it with my free hand.

The wire wheels on the angle grinder are dangerous, somewhere between the thin cut-off wheels (most dangerous) and flat sanding discs (easily torn when deburring sharp edges).
Slow or variable speed motors like a VSR drill, or pneumatic die grinder (pressure regulated) are often good options. A bit slower, so more tedious, but also smaller wheels and shapes available to get into tight spots or texture.

My incident with angle grinders turned out good, but left a trail of comedy material behind.
I had safety glass, and had sparks just off the work richochet off my vice and go under my glasses into my eyes.
I check if I can tell the difference between dark and light.
Without thinking I walk over to my ute parked in the street, and  notice I can see the street light globes, its at night.
So I decide to drive the 3km to the emergency Department using the street lamps as a guide.
I had 3 sets of traffic lights to navigate and each had a dedicated turn signal so I did not have to worry
about oncoming traffic when turning.
When I approach the 1st set I can only see the bright red, amber or green, so I reckon this is going to be easy.
I turn at the first set  and head down a divided road, a  wide median strip was great as I would not have seen any cars anyway.
At the next set I had to turn right across the flow of oncoming traffic, but I could wait for the turn arrow and not worry.
This road had no median strip but it had a few takeaway shops so I could see the left hand road edge, and sat a bit to the side of the overhead globes
so I stayed mainly on the correct side.
Luckily there were no cars parked on the side I noticed later.
At the next set of lights I could turn directly into the hospital area, being careful about the Police ~Station I knew was somewhere on my right.
I wizzed into the ambulance car park and asked how far I was from the building wall, so I could find it and run my hands along it.
They went silent when I explained I could not see much!
I had been many times to this area so I felt my way along the wall and into the building.
I was helped immediately and when I went out, the ambos had moved my ute so I could just go forward to the lights turn as needed and  take my journey back about 11/2 hrs later.

Maybe it's an old mechanics tale but I've heard these wires can be surprisingly dangerous.  Like they poke you and then you can get "blood poisoning" from it.  I'm not sure how that happens but I've been warned to be very wary of getting those wires stabbed into you.  Please be very alert to health changes and get it checked out immediately if you start feeling off.  From what I was told it's a systemic infection that is very dangerous.   Sorry and hopefully I've been misled about this.

These wires are not unlike the ones on grill brushes, and ingesting those can lead to serious problems.
I bet getting one embedded could be just as bad.
I worried about the doggo getting one in her paw, so I ran the magnet sweeper a bunch of of times.
I will definitely keep on eye on my health, thank you for the heads up!

In industry, people are trained that safety glasses AND a face shield are the minimum when using an angle grinder. I love them, love their versatility, but they are not to be trifled with.

I use full safety kit for my plug-in grinders. And yet, I confess I am a bit lazy with safety when using my battery powered grinder for small jobs. Not wise; time to smarten up. I need my eyes.

I am not aware of infections stemming from having the wires embedded in my skin. I have had it a few times, its not plesant pulling them out though.
Maybe if you left them in for a long time, I reckon 5 mins was as long as I left them in.
They are usually zinc plated and I wonder if that is an issue.
From; The Essential Toxin: Impact of Zinc on Human Health
Laura M. Plum, Lothar Rink, and Hajo Haase*
"Compared to several other metal ions with similar chemical properties, zinc is relatively harmless.
Only exposure to high doses has toxic effects, making acute zinc intoxication a rare event."