Are you a masked man (or woman?)

[davidtu]

I see all the books recommend wearing a woodworking dust mask. Wondering how many here actually do it and for what types of work or materials do you think it is required?

Thanks,
Dave

[newbie2wood]

You should always wear a mask when woodworking. A good respirator is also a must when applying finish. Wood dust can cause severe respiratory problems.

Do I wear a mask? Most of the time. I have a bad habit of skipping the mask if I am only making a few cuts.
________
Foxypoison69

[RayintheUK]

Wood contains cellulose and - as I understand it - the body cannot digest it, so wearing a mask should be a full-time precaution when working with wood in any way that raises airborne dust or particles.

This would suggest that planing by hand, chiselling, etc. should be safe, although no doubt some purists would say that there will still be airborne particles from those activities.

Sanding, either by hand or machine, is bound to make dust, so a mask should be worn. Machine sawing, by tablesaw, bandsaw or jigsaw, is also bound to produce dust. My decision regarding a mask is mainly driven by whether I can see dust in the air, or not. This, in turn, tends to depend upon the moisture content of both the stock (mainly turning green wood) and the air.

I wear my mask when sanding on the lathe or by machine, even with dust extraction connected to the ROS. When hand sanding, I rarely do, unless it's MDF, when I tend to wear the mask most of the time, as I find this material slightly irritant. Moisture-resistant MDF, however, is no problem, as the core is much less "fluffy."

All that said, there are times when I've finished for the day when I know I should have worn my mask and didn't, either because it was too hot, or my specs steamed up, or whatever. Blowing my nose confirms that I should have worn it!

Popular programmes (such as NYW) rarely, if ever, show a mask being worn. They have a ready excuse - it's difficult to communicate with a mask on - but voice-over would easily solve that. I believe that such programmes may be the root of why masks are not worn as frequently as they should be. It's more comfortable to wear ear protection when routing than it is to wear a mask when doing anything.

Ray.

[ironhat]

I wear about 90% of the time. A snoot full finds me attempting to york up a lung, gagging and salivating like Pavlov's dog and eyes blurred and tearful. The 10% that I don't wear the mask finds the DC on and the cut a minimal cut-off of a couple of inches width. This has gotten worse over the years so, beware.
Later,
Chiz

[Pappy]

Since I work outside and run a DC (to keep the machines cleaned out) airborne dust is not as big a problem as for some. The amount of sweat inside a mask at 95 degrees + is unbelievable. Do wear one when spraying finishes and normally at least a paper filter when working with MDF.

[paynea]

Perhaps this is why my buddy calls me "Mr. Saftey," but I use a 3M n95 dust mask for brief woodworking and lawn mowing (my lawn is mostly dirt and kicks up hellacious clouds of dust), and a cartridge-style respirator for anything significant (bandsawing, concrete work, blowing sawdust with the compressor, finishing, etc).

Of course I also invariably wear steel-toed boots, safety Rx glassess with side wings, and hearing protection in the shop or doing maintenance projects on the house, so I'm probably just peculiar that way.

Adam

[cabinetman]

I didn't used to wear a dust mask, until I found out how sick I really was. Wearing the mask during a procedure is necessary. But, the protection we think we provide ourselves is not enough. Dust (foreign matter) is in the air long after sanding is done. It's there when you can't even see it. As far as toxic fumes, if you can smell it it's too late. What is in the air enters our body through a multitude of ways. Through the skin, eyes, ears, mouth, nose, etc. It's a scary thought that our bodies do not cope with these foreign substances. If I was starting over, I would be wearing chemical resistant gloves when handling "any" chemical, always a dust mask, eye and ear protection when necessary, and always a respirator when spraying even if it's a rattle can.



"I'M NEVER WRONG - BUT I'M NOT ALWAYS RIGHT"

[thiggy]

I don't find dust masks very effective with my beard.

[brooks]

After a family member got sick and I spent a lot of time visiting them in the hospital, I began to speak to medical staff about various things. It made me more aware of issues involving things that promote cancer. The turning point really came when I joined a woodworking group and went to a big meeting. It sure seemed as if most of the old timers had hearing aids and coughs. I began to wear all the safety equipment every time I did anything with wood.

Hearing protectors are really the single cheapest way to save yourself a lot of problems down the road. For under $30, you can buy a -30 db set of ears and you'll protect yourself against just about any common power tool.

The air masks cost a lot more but you REALLY don't want lung cancer. Visit any cancer ward, lung cancer is one of the worst. A terrible way to go. Especially with the fine particulate matter we're producing with power sanders - that small stuff sucks into the lungs and never comes out. It's probably as bad as smoking. Buy the masks with organic vapor filters in replaceable cartridges. They are pretty good.

[Luckbox]

After waking 4 Mondays in a row with a soar throat a few months ago I have decided that a dust mask is a must. I do most of my work in the garage with the garage door open but there is still allot of dust. And after coming in and being told that I was yelling by my wife ear protection is now on nearly all the time.

[fim]

So, do most of you use the $100 respirator?
And do you use it for everything? Or just for the fininshing or mdf type jobs?

I currently just use a cheapie dust mask, but looking to upgrade.
Any models better than others?
How often do you change the filters?

thx

[JimZ]

Almost 100% of the time

Discovered that I am mildly allergic the hard way -- kept having stuffed nose and coughs late at night (no, I don't smoke), followed by a runny nose for two days. After enough time, a dim light went on and I realized it coincided with significant TS, router or sander work.

I'd always known of the effects of exotic woods -- one or two are downright poisonous -- but I work with oak, maple, birch, and the like, so it took a while to put it together.

But I also know that allergies can get worse with exposure, and I want to keep doing this as long as I can. I have a friend who carelessly exposed himself to mesquite and now can't do any real woodwork, even birch aggravates him.

So now I play the "AO Safety P100 twin-filter and don't I look like a Martian" game almost all the time. But I also have a reasonably-cool basement shop in upstate New York so I don't really overheat. Now even after a whole day in the shop, I breathe easy at night.

Since it's not terribly uncomfortable, I really owe it to myself and my kids to take steps to keep the crap out of my lungs. Emphysema isn't only for smokers.