To mask or not to mask

[remodelme]

Do you wear a mask when you are working with a sander or stain? I have started to use a mask so I don't breath in the particles pushed into the air. The only reason I did this was because about a month ago I kept hacking up brown stuff. I believe it was dust and wood particles.

 

[Matty]

Well most of the time I wear a mask (just the cheap ones). I don't like breathing anything in (I have asthma). I know some people who wear the expensive masks - they fit over their whole head.

 

[Bzern]

Hi, I am 12 and do a good amount of woodworking. Recently I was belt sanding without a mask and throughout the next day I hacked up small saw dust balls. Now I wear a cloth mask when scroll sawing or hand sanding, and a large mask when using the belt sander.

 

[remodelme]

That is exactly what I was doing too, Bzern. I have bought some cloth masks and so far they are working well. I'm not sure what I will use when I start using stain - something to keep the chemicals out of my nose. I notice I get a headache quickly when doing this.

 

[busterswoodshop]

When sanding I use dust collectors and wear a mask. When I use a hand held sander I hook the shop vac to it.
When I use the drum sander I have the dust collector hooked up to it.

 

[Matty]

Dust collector? I was interested in buying an air cleaner. I wonder if they are kind of the same thing. Air cleaners are supposed to suck anything out of the air - even fumes.

 

[busterswoodshop]

The dust collector hooks up to the machine ( saw , sander, planer ) and sucks the sawdust and chips into a bag or barrel.
The air cleaner usually hangs from the ceiling and sucks in the fine dust floating around the shop and catches it in a filter. With these you need to keep your filters clean.
I have both.

 

[Matty]

I don't have a dust collector but it sounds like I could use one. The air cleaner I want is actually a floor model. I was checking into the prices of the filters and they are pretty expensive. I'm not sure I will go that route.

 

[remodelme]

I am looking into getting a new dust collector too. It seems the one I have is not working properly. It's not pulling everything out of the air. I've cleaned it a few times too. I don't know about an air cleaner.

 

[woadwunner]

I have a dust collector with a 1 micron filter that cleans up almost all of the sawdust that I generate