Blade Magazine had a short piece on their website about shop safety for makers and much of their advice was fine, but when I read a recommendation to use a full face respirator if you had a beard I got really irritated.
A negative pressure respirator has to seal against the face to allow you to PULL the air you're breathing through the FILTER. If it doesn't have a tight seal then you pull air through the easiest route for the air to get into the mask. A bushy beard means you're not getting a tight seal and you're breathing through...your beard. http://multimedia.3m.com/…/…/facial-hair-and-respirators.pdf If you have a beard then you really aren't going to get a good seal with a tight fitting face piece so you should go with a powered respirator that pulls air through a filter and blows the filtered air into the mask (PAPR). Those aren't cheap, but at least they don't deceive you into thinking you are being properly protected. You can find PAPRs on the secondary market for a lot less than new. Alternately you can try the devices that you breath through your mouth like a snorkel that have a filter. They're not respirators by OSHA/NIOSH standards so they're not regulated. Be sure you buy something that uses standard P100 cartridges from a legitimate respirator manufacturer like 3M, Moldex, Uvex, Honeywell/North, MSA. Oh and the cartridges are all made to fit their respirator to keep from getting bad fits and poor seals that leak. Getting the correct cartridge for the hazard is important and it is YOUR responsibility to learn what your hazards are and what type cartridge is needed. Most of the time you're trying to keep dust out of your lungs from grinding so a P95 type will work, but if you're welding you may want to up the protection to a P100. If you're dealing with solvents you want to switch to an organic vapor cartridge. Like trying to use a hammer for a screwdriver, not all cartridges do the same job. https://www.osha.gov/…/respiratory_protection_bulletin_2011…. The other thing they don't talk about is a tight fitting respirator has to fit you. If it doesn't fit it gaps and if it gaps... Learn how to do the field test for the thing so you're breathing through and not around the filters. You also have to keep them clean. I'm always amazed when I'm in a shop and a maker is meticulous about cleaning the piece they're working on and they have their respirator hanging on a nail collecting all sorts of crap INSIDE the piece like kittly litter in a cat crap pan. Clean your breathing pro every time you use it, inside and out, and put it in something sealed up. Preferably outside of the area you're generating all that dust/fume/vapor. If you're really smart, you want to keep these contaminants out of your shop altogether so working outdoors or using a ventilation system that pulls them away and throws them outside (away from your AC pulling air into the shop) is best. Be cautious that some powders are going to be combustible (sparks) and if they accumulate in your ventilation system they can be a fire hazard. Ti is particularly nasty for this, but if you've ever seen steel wool burn then you can really understand that steel can burn if in a fine enough form. Blade has brought up a good topic, but they obviously didn't have a health and safety professional review their article.
A negative pressure respirator has to seal against the face to allow you to PULL the air you're breathing through the FILTER. If it doesn't have a tight seal then you pull air through the easiest route for the air to get into the mask. A bushy beard means you're not getting a tight seal and you're breathing through...your beard. http://multimedia.3m.com/…/…/facial-hair-and-respirators.pdf If you have a beard then you really aren't going to get a good seal with a tight fitting face piece so you should go with a powered respirator that pulls air through a filter and blows the filtered air into the mask (PAPR). Those aren't cheap, but at least they don't deceive you into thinking you are being properly protected. You can find PAPRs on the secondary market for a lot less than new. Alternately you can try the devices that you breath through your mouth like a snorkel that have a filter. They're not respirators by OSHA/NIOSH standards so they're not regulated. Be sure you buy something that uses standard P100 cartridges from a legitimate respirator manufacturer like 3M, Moldex, Uvex, Honeywell/North, MSA. Oh and the cartridges are all made to fit their respirator to keep from getting bad fits and poor seals that leak. Getting the correct cartridge for the hazard is important and it is YOUR responsibility to learn what your hazards are and what type cartridge is needed. Most of the time you're trying to keep dust out of your lungs from grinding so a P95 type will work, but if you're welding you may want to up the protection to a P100. If you're dealing with solvents you want to switch to an organic vapor cartridge. Like trying to use a hammer for a screwdriver, not all cartridges do the same job. https://www.osha.gov/…/respiratory_protection_bulletin_2011…. The other thing they don't talk about is a tight fitting respirator has to fit you. If it doesn't fit it gaps and if it gaps... Learn how to do the field test for the thing so you're breathing through and not around the filters. You also have to keep them clean. I'm always amazed when I'm in a shop and a maker is meticulous about cleaning the piece they're working on and they have their respirator hanging on a nail collecting all sorts of crap INSIDE the piece like kittly litter in a cat crap pan. Clean your breathing pro every time you use it, inside and out, and put it in something sealed up. Preferably outside of the area you're generating all that dust/fume/vapor. If you're really smart, you want to keep these contaminants out of your shop altogether so working outdoors or using a ventilation system that pulls them away and throws them outside (away from your AC pulling air into the shop) is best. Be cautious that some powders are going to be combustible (sparks) and if they accumulate in your ventilation system they can be a fire hazard. Ti is particularly nasty for this, but if you've ever seen steel wool burn then you can really understand that steel can burn if in a fine enough form. Blade has brought up a good topic, but they obviously didn't have a health and safety professional review their article.
Last edited:
