Facemask/visor

[TWiG]

I turn mostly green wood /hollow vessels and the dust is minimal / non-existent , however sanding is very different ( obviously !) I wear a dust mask and my microclene air filter is going all the time , my shed is small and the internal volume is 6-7 cubic metres and this filter keeps it well swept .  , after finishing sanding I do as Derwent woodturners above does and use my compressor to clean up . My main hobby in summer is spearfishing , which involves free-diving  ( breath-holding ) and I take my lung health seriously !! I have had slight bronchial issues in the past but whether  it was to do with turning I do not know . I have visited many commercial premises where dust is present and am frequently concerned at the  lack of people wearing protection .  I have seen many places with extractors at all machines but there is still airborne dust and all surfaces have a layer of dust on them so I question their usefulness . I looked at the Racal Airstream helmets some time ago but was put of by the cost    £400 ish and I always believed there was NO VAT on PPE . I do not turn a great deal and cannot justify this expense .

[Richard Findley]

.....What price a pair of lungs....

A very fair point, Nick.
Thanks everyone for contributing and, as ever, it's good to see differing solutions. One point I am now pondering.....for we amateurs, who turn for a limited number of hours per week, can we justify spending several hundred pound on an air-fed rig, and is it necessary for the amount of dust that we will encounter. I guess that it's an impossible question to answer and one that will be a matter of personal interpretation.

Les

Les

I seem to remember a recent thread - I think on this forum but it may have been another - where everyone was posting how long they spend turning each week. Most of the hobbyists managed to rack up 20+ hours a week (somehow!!) some were 30+ hours. As a full time professional turner, I work around 40 hours a week, but once you deduct admin and all the other guff involved in running a woodturning business that isn't actually turning, I probably only spend 20 odd hours actually at the lathe each week. 

Granted, for me it is 5 or 6 days a week, every week, but my point is that you hobbyists may be putting in more hours which are harming your lungs, than you might think.

Food for thought!

Richard

[TWiG]

And we are probably sanding more due to poor tooling ... ha ha

[Les Symonds]

but my point is that you hobbyists may be putting in more hours which are harming your lungs, than you might think.

Food for thought!

Richard

And we are probably sanding more due to poor tooling ... ha ha

That's a very fair observation. I, for one, cannot hope to match the tool-skills of some of you more experienced turners and I agree with TWiG....I rely heavily on sanding to compensate for my lack of tool skills...............it's something that the contributions to this thread have forced me to consider.

Les

[woodndesign]

What price a pair of lungs and lung damage is not usually reversible.
Nick Arnull. Proffessional Turner.

On one of the many Safety Courses I've attended over my working lifetime we were told Asbestos was the only hazardous dust as with it's barbed structure wouldn't pass through the lungs as all others will and so was dangerous.

If it's equal to the clutches/brakes and like components I've serviced over time, I shouldn't be here now...   .. not to mention the countless fumes/gases and other emissions I've breathed in as well.

We, hopefully have come along way over the years in safety, is it more a case of allergies and intolerance caused by some woods/dusts.

The last thing ... even with every extraction system running, I'd not care to use airline to blow dust around in any form, even if I had a compressor.

  David

[Graham]

I am put in mind of a certain relative who, in her younger days, was riding her bicycle on busy roads at night without lights. She thought that not being able to afford batteries made it alright.

[Derwent Woodturning club]

The last thing ... even with every extraction system running, I'd not care to use airline to blow dust around in any form, even if I had a compressor.
  David

Hi David, just to clarify my use of an airline. It's my way of 'dusting' around the workshop, to shift any dust that has collected over several weeks. If I leave it there, it will get disturbed as I move things around, when I am not wearing a dust mask, thereby presenting its own hazard.

And using an airline with dust extractors and filters running, and my wearing a dust mask, is a lot easier than using a duster. Especially going over all my tools and timber stores. It still surprises me how much dust does manage to 'escape'.

It's that easy, that I've considered using this method for dusting round the house but I would probably be in trouble for bringing the compressor and extractor back home.

I would stress that when doing this, I keep my mask on untill all the dust has gone from the air.

[TWiG]

That is exactly what I do , my shed is small and with very little clutter , and it seems very effective .

[woodndesign]

The last thing ... even with every extraction system running, I'd not care to use airline to blow dust around in any form, even if I had a compressor.
  David

Hi David, just to clarify my use of an airline. It's my way of 'dusting' around the workshop, to shift any dust that has collected over several weeks. If I leave it there, it will get disturbed as I move things around, when I am not wearing a dust mask, thereby presenting its own hazard.

And using an airline with dust extractors and filters running, and my wearing a dust mask, is a lot easier than using a duster. Especially going over all my tools and timber stores. It still surprises me how much dust does manage to 'escape'.

It's that easy, that I've considered using this method for dusting round the house but I would probably be in trouble for bringing the compressor and extractor back home.

I would stress that when doing this, I keep my mask on untill all the dust has gone from the air.

Hi Paul/Everybody, it's been more working in Commercial environments where air had been readily available that one becomes aware of it's use/misuse of blowing out brake drums/shoes etc, creating airborne harmful dust, later with H&S and use of spray suppressants these only washed such dusts onto the floor, once again to get airborne with brushing up. Other usage cleaning Airfilters, displacing cleaning fluids and spin drying bearings, normally smaller ones held on a finger .. as bad as wrapping sandpaper/rag round finger/s an poking in turning objects.

We read more frequently now of air to be best used for getting shavings out of hollow forms, not as dangerous should the piece be green/wet, yet with turning, as said, this still creates dust, I know from renewing the Microclene filter and turning days later, without sanding it had collected fresh dust, yet could I call my shop clean at first, this time yes as I was setting it up fresh.

I as most [maybe] don't own a compressor, so blowing dust is not an issue: but the very question as raised here is considering which Respirator of the many to get or is the best, it's not saying a person doesn't use a filter mask of some sort already or lack a vac/extractor system, some don't have such as yet, at first I'd turned for almost 3yrs without, only getting a vac to extract from the bandsaw I'd purchased.  It's a case of being advised and understanding whatever we have/use it is to use them safely and wisely at all times .. we fail if it's once in a while .. then short cuts happen .. that quick job.

Cleaning up I have the microclene on, pickup the bulk of the shaving, then vac the rest. Then there's still at some point, as you do, a case to dusting  ...    .. we can control the dust, not eliminate it completely.

Cheers  David