Dust masks and respirators.

[Bill Hudson]

How many here use dust masks while sanding and respirators when paint spraying? 

 

Bill Hudson

[Bob Cleek]

I consider safety protocols to be a matter of scale and commonsense. When I spend all day sanding the topsides of a yacht, I wear a common dust mask and if I'm spray painting one, I also wear a mask. (Were I spraying LPU, I'd be wearing a hazmat suit and a positive air supply system.) If I'm sanding a model I don't wear a mask at all. (I do relatively little sanding in model making without a vacuum hooked up to the sander.) If I'm spraying or airbrushing, I don't wear anything, but I always work in a well-ventilated space with a fan circulating the ambient air out a nearby window or open door. When modeling, the exposure to particulate pollution is so limited that I find it to be of little or no concern. This is not to suggest that safety protocols should be ignored, but only that there's no need to overdo it. Commonsense should be your guide. I've been doing this for over fifty years with no ill effects, but others' mileage may vary.

 

Edited April 6, 2023 by Bob Cleek

[RossR]

Depends on the volume of dust I expect to create.  If I am sanding the hull after the first layer of wood is installed and I expect a lot of dust I definitely wear a mask.   But smaller jobs I do not.  I don't have an air brush.  The little bit of painting I do with a spray can, I do in a well ventilated area with no mask.  If I did more spray painting I would consider a mask.  

 

[DocRob]

I always use a good respirator mask, when airbrushing and cleaning the equipment. I use my airbrush frequently and I can remember my airbrush beginnings, when I sprayed acrylics in my room. If I lifted a cup afterwards, there was a non soiled spot, I definitely don't want to have that in my lungs, along with aggressive and poisonous chemicals. My health is too important to me than to have that tiny bit of more comfort. I wear the mask, even as I have a spray booth, which minimizes the spray particles.
I also wear a mask, when I sand or saw resin parts, as the dust particles are carcinogenic. 
Well with wood sanding it depends on the amount and the sanding place. When I sand a planked hull outside, I might skip the mask, but mostly, I wear one.

If the question is, do you need a mask for different modelling tasks, my answer would be definitely yes, it's a 35€ investment into your future.

 

I got this one and different sets for filters (dust / paint)

Dräger X-plore® 3300/3500 | Draeger

 

Cheers Rob

[Knocklouder]

I do.  I have lots of masks, and a few respirators  I only have one set of lungs and can't afford  a new set. So I look after the ones I have .  

[mtaylor]

Good points on the masks and wearing them.   

 

BTW, I moved this post to the appropriate area for discussing shop equipment.

[bruce d]

Practical lesson: I cut some iroko on the bandsaw without a mask. I was sick for over a week. 

Now I wear a decent respirator or at least a filtering mask if I do any sanding with machines, ditto for any hardwoods on the bandsaw. 

 

 

[Cathead]

I hate wearing masks (yes, pre-covid) because they quickly give me headaches. Something about the air restriction (and if they're not restricting your air, you're not wearing them right). They're a miserable experience for me after about 10 minutes. But I still use them for anything over light hand-sanding. Sawdust just isn't good for the lungs and it's not worth the complications. I also try to do heavier sanding outdoors whenever possible. Also, as noted above, some woods are more hazardous than others.

[Montaigne]

Always. FFP2 mask when sanding and spraying acrylics, and respirator mask when doing anything that involves chemicals. 

After a couple of hours of sanding the mask is completely covered in dust that didn’t fill my lungs, so it’s a no-brainer. 

[Cathead]

CA fumes give me a headache, I try to avoid that stuff as much as I can. 

[Claire7]

On some craft wood and kits I am seeing a warning about cancer risk. I was wondering if this is from some added chemical or if sawdust is risky on its own. I did find some information after Googling… suggesting specific woods are actually cancerous with prolonged exposure to the sawdust. A common kit wood is basswood which was not on the list. I was interested in an older out-of-stock kit on eBay and it had the warning. But my recent kits do not. Hoping manufacturers addressed this concern and it’s fine! Not sure if this is the right topic to post about this, but interested if anyone has more information.

[mtaylor]

You can check here...  https://www.wood-database.com/   It's very extensive and has lots of info including toxicity.  

[Claire7]

@mtaylor thanks very much for this, lots of detail here! Basswood is not on this list. I also checked basswood is actually American Linden, also not on the list. Good news at least as so many kits use basswood. I will still be more careful when doing a lot of sanding. This time of year I can work outside. I’ve been doing that with staining and it’s nice to have the option. This forum is so helpful. I really thought that “wood is a nice safe natural material” and now I will be more careful.

[Cathead]

Any natural material can be unsafe if consumed or used incorrectly! Dihydrogen monoxide is a great example; utterly benign in sensible quantities but too much will kill you in minutes.

 

One of things I love about modeling in wood is that it does require handling fewer nasty materials, at least the way I do it.

[glbarlow]

While I frequently use a standard dust mask, a respirator for the work we do in modeling seems a little over the top. 

[James H]

13 hours ago, mtaylor said:

You can check here...  https://www.wood-database.com/   It's very extensive and has lots of info including toxicity.  

 

Remember though that EVERYTHING is classed as a carcinogen in California. The air you breathe, the food you eat. Prob even MSW. Hell, even my guitar came with a 'classed as a carcinogen in California' warning. 

[Cathead]

Those California labels are a classic case of how over-regulation or hyper-concern run amok can backfire. I'm sure it meant well at first, but saturating the market with fear-mongering just leads to people tuning out, including more legitimate concerns. Especially when they can see for themselves that the risk isn't really there in normal use, or is minor compared to other risks.

 

For example, touching a table saw might expose you to a California carcinogen, but the risk is minuscule compared to that of using the table saw, or especially using the table saw wearing the sorts of gloves you'd need to protect you from the carcinogenic metal. So the label at best does no good, and at worse numbs people to legitimate warning labels and leads to distrust of regulators.