1 - shave or get a PAPR with a hood - the protection factor of a beard is zero. I had to shave my beard at work last week to wear a mask, but those are the breaks.
2 - what is the hazard that you need protection from - particulates from grinding / shaping or paint vapors ?
3 - are you doing it in a well ventillated area or indoors ?
4 - if indoors, and for extended periods of time, do something to
improve your ventillation first unless this is limited to 1 to 2 hours a week. Even moving the work near a window with a box fan blowing outward is better than nothing.
5 - if the hazard is particulate only, a half face respirator with p100 (pink) cartridges is sufficient. If you are painting / coating, get the organic vapor cartridges. You can get the combination cartridges, but be aware that these will offer more resistance than the others, and make breathing more difficult. Remember that the p100 cartridges will tell you when they need changed by increased resistance, but the organic vapor cartridges will not - they have a timed life once they are open to the atmosphere.
I do industrial hygiene for a living. You can really make working in the shop a much better experience if you take care of yourself.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OH4UGgUMWOM
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Tzpz5fko-fg&feature=related
My tasks are mostly profile grinding and bevel grinding, so particulars in this case. Some handle material, but I try to avoid G10 like the plague.. I have a little left which I'll use up then I don't plan on using it again, except on rare occasion. Micarta I'll use more often, but not a lot.. in those cases I planned to wear the P100/Vapour cartridges and shave prior.
Ventilation, it's a garage near the large open door, so it's fairly good, and on a breezy day even better.
My beard is mostly just stubble from laziness, I rarely let it get longer than 1/4" and usually less than 1/8". I think for particulates, especially larger grit hogging of steel it's a minor issue, and has to be better than those cloth masks which let stuff through even when im clean shaven.
My mask seals pretty well even with a little stubble, if I block the valve and blow very very little air escapes, and clean shaven I'm sure it will be nothing or next to. Really I only plan to be around vapours for short periods, quench 1-5 knives in succession (usually 1-2) for example.. or grind 1-5 handles in succession (usually 1-2, and usually stabilized wood or natural wood).
I was mainly concerned with build quality, if there were flaws with cheaper masks etc.
The P100 cartridge is the highest level of filtration for particulates available, but it has no value for anything else.
If you're dealing with volatile organic compounds you'll need the organic vapor type cartridge. As you've seen you can buy combination cartridges that are a P100 particulate filter combined with an organic vapor absorption filter. The only reason to purchase a combo is that you have both hazards at the same time and you'll have a much easier time breathing though a single purpose filter than a combo. Understand that if you're just grinding metals the P100 is sufficient and if you're just dealing with solvents the OV is sufficient so that only when you're grinding a material with both particulate and vapor/fume risks that you'd need the combo.
If you are not clean shaven when wearing the facepiece you won't get an effective seal and you'll draw air through any space easiest for the air to go through. If that is the cartridge, then the air will be filtered. If it is around the edge of the facepiece because it doesn't seal properly against your skin or if it is through any opening in the facepiece, like a missing exhalation valve, it will go through that opening. Be sure you know how to inspect, clean and check whether your respirator is performing properly.
Read this material from 3M for selection guidance.
http://multimedia.3m.com/mws/mediawebserver?mwsId=SSSSSu7zK1fslxtUOxmG4x_Sev7qe17zHvTSevTSeSSSSSS--
By and large I will be using it for particulates, but there are the odd time I'll be quenching a blade or five (in a fairly well ventilated area), or grinding micarta/stabilized wood handles. I think I would shave and use the vapour filters for those tasks, and use the regular P100 for grinding steel, or maybe just use the vapour filters for everything.
I'm sorry, but I disagree that the effect of a non-PAPR respirator is "zero" if you have a beard. That may be true if you're talking about biological agents, chemical weapons, or vapors that kill from *any" level of exposure, but for particulates and vapor from the materials we work with, that's not the case.
I've got quite a beard, and while yes, it may leak a marginal amount when I use a half face respirator, it's nothing like free breathing clouds of grinding dust. The evidence is pretty freaking obvious to me by the fact that I don't cough up black crap or blow black boogers, and I'm steadily wearing out p100 filters to the point I can't breathe through them.
I'm sure all you guys that pop up talking about how it's a waste have experience in industries where that viewpoint is validated. So I'm sure you're coming from a good place, but it comes off as if you're implying it's not worth bothering if you've got a beard.
Yes it may be 10% less effective than if you didn't have a beard, but that's still 90% better than otherwise, and partical filtering, is a concern of consumption volume over time.
Sorry, I'm not cutting my beard, but I've no doubt I'll live a lot longer than the smokers, or the guys, clean shaven or not, that don't wear respirators while grinding. Maybe not as long as the guy that doesn't have a beard, doesnt smoke, and doesnt drink as hard as me and, wears a perfectly fitting respirator, but then again, he might get cancer from living in the suburbs under high tension power lines or eating crap food.
Just my 2c, and sorry if I'm ranting, but I'm sick of seeing proliferation of the idea that a beard 100% invalidates the function of a respirator for our application. I simply don't buy it.
Not arguing at all, but I was just thinking that a full/thick beard might actually act as a bit of a particulate filter.. maybe not for very fine stuff, but a lot is probably stopped. Obviously it wouldn't help with vapours though. I have blown black crap out of my nose using the cloth masks, they're useless as far as I'm concerned. I think in my case they just don't fit my face.
A beard invalidates (depending on the beard) between 30 and 90 percent of the effectiveness of the respirator if you are not using PAPR, sorry dude, facts is . . .
I at one point trimmed my beard to fit entirely inside the seals of my half face and was still getting the really fine stuff through. I ponied up for a $400 PAPR (Airshield Pro) and it has made grinding much healthier for me, I make my own prefilters to make the expensive factory filters last longer
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Page I have and still am considering coughing up the cash for a positive pressure mask.. it also should eliminate fogging and add eye protection all in one.. which I like. For now I have the half mask and I think it should be sufficient short term.. I need to get a kiln and press and various other tools (tools, the never ending bill!) still, so its a bit on the back burner IF the half mask will suffice. If I have any doubts after using it for a while, I'll shell out though.
There can be only one:
Watch the entire thing.
http://www.duxterity.com/
[video=youtube;fR9BAB8k9dI]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fR9BAB8k9dI[/video]
I actually have a resp-o-rator, it's a great idea and really ideal for particulates. However, no matter what I do, I constantly drool on myself, whether I wear it snorkel style or how they recommend, I still drool like crazy.. My coat was literally soaked by the time I was done rough grinding my little damascus blade I made last winter. I haven't used it since, it sits in a drawer. Maybe I'd get used to it, but frankly the mask is less effort.
Also just want to note that I do relatively small volume, I work full time and generally only get at knifemaking on the weekends for now (though I hope to do more), and recently decided to start working in batches rather than 1 at a time. So I'm planning 3-5 blades at a time to grind, then to HT, then to finish grind, then to handle grind.. (listing the mask related steps).. and I really want to avoid G10, because no matter how safe you are grinding it, it's still floating around the shop later on, and pets can snort that up, as well as humans.. and without dust collection (even with to a degree) I just don't want that stuff around me. Micarta doesn't concern me much, aside from the vapours, and thats why I'm getting the new filters, that and the engineered quench oil that I probably don't want to be breathing.
Thank you all for your input, at the very least you've driven the point home that I need to be clean shaven, especially for vapours. It sounds like this mask is as good as any, until i get into the positive pressure stuff, and that was my main concern. I will see how it goes, if I smell anything I'll get a full face mask soon after.
I hope to get some time on the bubble jig this weekend as well, we'll see how it goes!
