Swarf is the metal filings, grit, or powder left by grinding and other machine work, the stuff Martin in Bostonia, California, saw on a safety sign warning workers to “Beware of coolant and swarf.” The word also has a verb use, meaning to cover something with such dust or grit. It goes back to an Old English verb meaning “to rub” or “to scour” and is related to swerve. A separate, old-fashioned swarf means to faint or pass out, the sort of word one might meet in a Victorian novel. This is part of a complete episode.
Transcript of ““Swarf” Is the Dust and Filings Left by Machine Work”
Hi there, you have A Way with Words.
Hi, this is Martin Norheim.
I’m calling from Bostonia in Southern California.
Hey Martin, welcome.
What can we do for you?
A long time ago I’ve been working at a machine shop for many years and I noticed on one of the machines a a safety warning to beware of coolant and swarf.
I should not inhale, ingest or in other words, get too close to the stuff.
Beware coolant and swarf.
If the word coolant wasn’t in there, I’d be looking for some kind of ogre or some kind of or a law firm.
Oh yeah.
Coolant and swarf.
So you a machine shop, but you know what Swarf is because you work in a machine shop, right?
Yes.
I work in a machine shop.
All right.
So you you tell us.
I can look it up, but I want an expert’s opinion.
Going from the context, I can only assume that it’s some sort of mixture of the coolant, the particulate that comes from machining a a part, it’s kind of suspended in the air.
Yeah, if you take out the coolant.
Swarf is just the dust created from machine work.
So it’s the the filings or the the dust from grinding, the powder, the grits, stuff that coats your workbench at the end of the day after you’ve been doing a production.
Yes.
That’s swarf.
It gets in your lungs.
You can’t have that swart in your lungs.
It’s it’s deadly.
Yeah it was such a funny word.
I can remember laughing out loud when I first read it.
And it’s a verb sometimes too.
So you can s sometimes you do swarfing on purpose.
You can swerf something because you want to make that dust, because it is part of the production process and you want something to be covered in the dust or the grit or the powder.
Interesting.
Yeah.
So in any case it it comes to us from a verb that’s connected to the verb to swerve, s w e R V.
And they they both come from a old English verb meaning to s rub or to scour, basically talking about the going back and forth.
Right.
Yeah.
So and related to old words in a variety of Scandinavian languages.
It’s a very, very old word.
I was wondering about that.
Yeah, it’s it’s well that’s answered a question for me.
Yeah, very good.
Thank you so much for your call, Martin.
Glad to talk about it.
I appreciate your help.
Thank you.
Take care.
Bye now.
Bye bye.
Swarf.
S W A R S And there’s another swarf, which means to faint or to pass out.
And you might find this in you know, old Victorian novels.
That sort of thing.
I guess all Victorian novels are old.
Right, kind of like swoon.
Like swarf though.
And I like the idea of of the detritus, you know, the stuff that’s left over.
It sounds like sounds like a good word for poets.
Concrete dust.
If you’ve ever been around drilling or sawing of concrete.
That’s a kind of swarf.
