Just in case you're on the fence about respirators...

[Chiro75]

When I'm in my shop (the basement) I take my phone with me in case a patient calls or whatever. It's a Nextel i530 which has a little speaker on the back. Anyway, the phone goes on top of a Craftsman cabinet toolbox thing which is probably 4.5 feet off the ground or so. It's about 4 feet from my grinder. The other day I happened to notice that the little speaker grille on the back of the phone had a bunch of metal filings on it like if you stick a magnet in a pile of metal dust. Obviously there is a magnet in the phone somewhere (do speakers use magnets?) but regardless, that shows that even if you think you're catching most of your steel in a water bucket, etc, that it's still going everywhere. Now think about wood dust, G-10, etc! So, wear that respirator, always.

 

[rebeltf]

I agree , although I use a nose and mouth cozy (dont know proper name) the little paper things with a ruber band , hehehe.
Especially if your using exotic woods , some of those dusts can be very bad.

 

[Stacy E. Apelt - Bladesmith]

A paper dust filter is virtually useless.It will filter out some of the particles,but if this was about Ebola virus,you wouldn't consider "some" protection very good.Ebola or COPD,both can kill you,the main difference is how long you suffer!Get at the minimum a half face cartridge unit.
Stacy

 

[HOGCAT]

I bought one of them dual cartridge ones at Home Depot. Works "REAL" good! Can't even smell Acetone when wearing it!!! Only around 30 bucks. The only problem is how do you tell when its time to replace the cartridges? Been using it for several months and every time I shop vac, I vac the filters real good also.

 

[Stacy E. Apelt - Bladesmith]

Many filters have a rated life of X many hours.As a rule I used to replace the filters on a cartridge unit every three months,which was about 100 hours of filtration.On my positive pressure hood I replace the outer filter every two months and the HEPA filter every six months.I still use the cartridge unit for micarta (formaldehyde).