Knife sharpening hazardous

K

Kousii2

Joined
Feb 14, 2012
Messages
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I was reprofiling a knife with the norton double side stone and I thought to myself, it the metal from the steel and from the stone hazardous for me to inhale? I know it sounds stupid but I can't find info on this anywhere. There is a good amount of metal dust from sharpening on a coarse stone. Normally it's a quick touch up on a ceramic and it's mess free. I sharpen in my room. Small space then clean the top off and put in a air purifier.

Thanks,
George
 
There are lots of different things in steels that you do not want to inhale. That, combined with the small pieces of your sharpening stone mean I would make sure not to breathe in too much dust. When I sharpen I stop every so often to brush the dust away so I don't inhale it.
 
You could always wear a dust mask if it's of concern (or go outside to sharpen).
 
Yeah I do use water. I was just wondering. I have a respirator I can wear and ill go just outside for major reprofiling. I was thinkng that the dust would come up regardless of water
 
If its wet its not going to produce dust.
 
Don't know about steel dust, but white lung decease are common with stone carver in third world countries. Inhale too much dust of any kind will kill you.
 
Ernie1980 said:
When I sharpen I stop every so often to brush the dust away so I don't inhale it.
Click to expand...

And where do you think the dust goes when you "Brush" it away? I don't think there is enough dust created from sharpening one or two knives manually with stones that would ever hurt you realistically, unless you were intentionally inhaling it. I would worry more about cutting my fingers off than breathing enough dust to harm my lungs. But then that is just me, and I grew up in a house that was covered with asbestos siding. From age 2 until age 18, and none of my 4 siblings or myself have ever had any type of lung or cancer problems. YMMV

Blessings,

Omar
 
I worry more about washing the swarf off my hands before doing anything else around the house. The last thing I want is to contaminate food with that stuff. Ugh.

TedP
 
Not enough dust generated from a month of full time sharpening to even get close to the daily exposure limit. Even blade grinding would be lucky to hit it. The health risks come from shaping the handles, i.e. wood, horn and plastic. But you can see that for yourself. If the dust makes it difficult to see, you're probably hitting the daily (time weighted average) exposure limit. Flour dust contains Amylase (an asthmagen) and has a far lower exposure limit than steel. Look at a bakery and see how much dust there is floating in the air. Most of those are still under the daily limit.
 
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