Thread: Your buffer will kill you.

I wonder how similar that polishing dust is to the Bangkok smog I inhale every day?

Compared to the Bangkok smog, the polishing dust is probably good for you...

I did Google metal fume fever and noted that welding or burning galvanized steel was mentioned. Back in my ironworker days I've had to do that here and there so out of curiosity I googled 'welding galvanized steel'. I was surprised to see no mention of drinking milk before welding or burning the stuff. One of the first things the old timers would tell you to do if you were going to be around the fumes and it worked to keep from getting sick.

I suffer from tinnitus as a result of not wearing ear protection. We used pneumatic impact hammers to run up high strength bolts and worse yet the old pneumatic riveting guns known as "hell dogs" to knock out drift pins and sometimes cut off and drive out rivets to replace them with bolts on old bridges. They call them hell dogs because of the noise. For the past 25 or so years I'm never without the sound of birds chirping because we didn't wear ear protection.

I also burned (cut with an acetylene torch) and welded on structural members with lead paint and worked around a fair amount of asbestos in industrial construction and nuclear power houses in my younger days with little or no protection. Back then the contractor's philosophy was "don't worry about the mule, just load the wagon." I imagine that hasn't changed much. I was told following a lung x-ray in my twenties that I had metal in my lungs. So as they used to say in the morning on some of those jobs,"work safe fellas."

Steel isn't so bad unless we're talking about a piece flying at you. Your body can absorb and deal with it pretty well. It's the various trace elements in it that may cause problems, as well as coatings, paints and such that are more of a concern in buffing. The compounds and dust from the wheels are likely more of a problem since many abrasives are pretty much inert and nearly impossible for your body to break down.

When I took my blade smithing class all the machine tools that rotated rotated in reverse. So if you took a typical bench grinder which rotates down for lack of a better term and turn it around so that it rotates up.

If you aim it at a wall then if the blade gets away from you it goes down range away from you. Just a thought.

Smythe, you make some good points. I can't stress this enough though: a respirator is not meant to replace proper ventilation. According to the OSHA a respirator is only used 'when effective engineering controls are not feasible'. No matter where you've set up your buffer, effective engineering controls are feasible. Read: dust collector behind your polishing motor. If you don't have a workshop, and instead you're using your home, the same home you live in, not only are they feasible but they're absolutely necessary. And waiting a few minutes just isn't enough; these particles can stay in the air for hours and even once they've settled the slightest movement can whip them up again. It doesn't matter if you don't have a workshop; it doesn't matter if you don't do this everyday. You can't think there is a safe amount of this stuff. Sleeping with a prostitute in your own home once in a while is dangerous, too. The thinking that you're only doing a quick job, or not doing this very often, or whatever is the kind of thinking that really ends up getting you hurt. No matter what you're doing you've got to respect the proper safety procedures. And it isn't expensive, either. Your life is much, much more valuable. Your buffer will kill you.

Jimmy, I'm sorry. My Grandpa's hearing was ruined too and, whether he cared to admit it or not, it did impact his quality of life when he grew older.

Floppy, you make some good points too. But, iron and carbon steel dust are dangerous too. They may not cause metal fume fever, but they do settle in your lungs, cause scarring, thicken tissues, reduce lung capacity, and eventually stress your heart. And, when you're dealing with razors you probably don't know what kind of steel you're working with.

It might seem like I'm trying to scare people. I am. Hobby craftsmen need to have the same respect for their tools and and the material they're working with as those making a living doing this sort of thing. Even more so if they're doing this work in their homes, near their families.

Not only is a dust collector good for collecting dust, but they're often engineered in such a way that if your part, in this case a razor blade, were to be ripped from your hand it would have metal on three and a half or so sides to catch it. I've personally never lost something to the buffer, but that seems to be a real concern for the people here, so there ya go.

Thanks for the advice here. It is too easy to jump into buffing, sanding, polishing, etc with the exuberance that seems uncontrollable.

What about something like THIS from the same site you've linked to for the buffer to sit in, then have the hose hooked up to a powerful shop vac outfitted with a true hepa filter?

My shop vac has a true hepa filter that I've outfitted it with and I use drywall dust collection bags inside the vac. I've done this for years. Incidentally, "HEPA" in relation to filtration terminology is good, but "TRUE HEPA" is IMO the "real" HEPA filter, the kind that filters 99+ % particles down to let's say .7 micron. "HEPA" filters can be as inefficient as only filtering out around 60%.

I've also thought about buying THIS even though it's pricey, as you've said, it's much cheaper than a funeral or oxygen tanks later in life? Currently I use a two canister filter face filter mask, but it's bulky and after a few hours, it becomes quite uncomfortable.

Chris L

Chris, I don't know. In my experience, the polishing motor has always had its own dust collector. I don't know why. It may be because in a workshop that would use a buffer, say a goldsmith's workshop, it's the only machine that needs it.

Also, don't mix dust from different materials. Don't use the same local ventilation system for sawdust, metal chips, polishing dust, etc. They will light on fire or explode. I guess that kind of necessitates a separate dust collector for the buffer, eh?

That hood you've pointed out is, as far as I understand, intended for use with one of the dust collectors Rio sells. They're pretty powerful and filter particles as fine as .5 microns. I'd also imagine you could put one of those on your grinding wheels; grinding and polishing dust is similar.

As far as the respirator is concerned, that might be too much. If you've got good local and general ventilation, then I'd use what they call a maintenance-free particulate respirator because it is more comfortable. That is not a face mask for nuisances, it is still a respirator. Just remember to get one made for the kind of hazards you're dealing with.

I'm pretty tired, I apologize for any errors.

As Jimmy has mentioned about galvanized metal, I will also mention the grinding aluminum dust will explode if your not careful. I have been to plants that manufacture mower deck out of aluminum and that was a big concern there. You needed to have ventilation that moved the dust outside. I am a old time Ironworker as well and had the galvanizing sickness and spent 8 days in the hospital with the "shakes" from it.
So be safe fellas.

Well... I previously wasn't going to get into restoration, but now I'm REALLY not getting into it. More work for you guys!