Sanded G10 Without Any Protection

The_KaramVit

The_KaramVit

Joined
Jan 29, 2014
Messages
494
I just realized that i sanded G10 without any respiratory protection. I just had my safety glasses on. This happened two weeks ago!

I took a little thickness off an already existing G10 handle. I used a medium grit Dremel sanding attachment. Upon doing a little more research, i discovered that the dust from G10 can be very toxic.

Besides using more protection and ensuring proper ventilation in the future, is there something i should do right now to rid myself of the toxic substances?

I should've known better.
 
Just about anything a knifemaker works with is either toxic or not recommended for ingestion. A dustmask that fits tight with filters or something better is needed. The paper thin painter's masks you can get for a dollar won't do any good, though. I used those for a while (I was young and didn't know any better, nor did my family), but then I started using the thicker ones with filters and noticed that even after a full day in the shop, my snot was still clear.
 
If I'm not mistaken, the real problem with G10 dust is not that it's toxic like a poison, but that it's invasive and permanent, like coal dust. Enough of it creates a condition similar to black lung that coal miners get. The G10 dust is inhaled into the lungs and then permanently stays there, impacting the lung's ability to absorb oxygen. AFAIK, there's no way to get rid of it once it's in the lungs. But most likely, it takes a lot of it over a period of time to have a negative impact.

That's my amateur understanding of why people say to wear a respirator when you're working with G10. I have no medical training so I may be way off base here.
 
Sorry to give you the bad news ... but you are going to die!

It might take sixty or seventy years, but sooner or later it will happen.


In the mean time, try to easy that date back by using good shop techniques, dust control, wearing a regulator, eating right, getting rest, exercise, and quitting smoking.

Any one exposure to something is not likely to cause harm unless the "something" is falling off a cliff or cyanide. It is the cumulative effect of irritants and damaging substances that starts tearing pages off your life calendar.
 
My grandfather was born in 1899 and died in 2000 at 101. He remembered being a little boy and running through a wheat field and feeling a kernel somehow getting in his ear and it got stuck in there, he couldn't get it out. This would have been about the time the first Ford Model Ts were coming out. Many decades later, probably in the 80's or 90's (I don't know when exactly) a doctor finally saw it during a physical exam and was able to retrieve this little seed that had been stuck in there for most of the 20th century.

Our bodies accumulate stuff over time, most of it benign unless something accumulates to an excessive amount. You probably have a little bit of glass dust in your lungs. I wouldn't make it a habit of doing that on a regular basis or it will eventually catch up with you.
 
Thank you for all your responses. I'll take it as comprehensive enough to know that the one time i did it will not likely give me a severe condition, so im safe for now. Beginning the next time i sand something, ill be sure to have respiratory protection. That takes care of that.

Have a nice day!
 
What about stabilized wood? I hate to say this but I've been using a doubled up t-shirt wrapped around my face. I can still smell the wood as I'm grinding so it's obviously not doing a lot but it filters at least some.

I'll be getting a decent respirator soon.
 
When in doubt, just protect yourself. I use a white mask & glasses when using my green compound. Just because I heard it might have Hexavalent chromium in it. My drimmel fires it everywhere in almost dust size. Which means some gets up my nose if I'm working that way with it. Abestos wasn't known to cause cancer right off of the bat, correct.
 
Any dust, no matter what it is, can cause damage over time! Some things are just more harmful than others. Playing it safe and always wearing the right gear is just the smart thing to do
 
Like asbestos these particles enter the lungs, asbestos they say, your lungs retain 50% of what you take in. What happens is the debris in beds itself in the lung wall, the white blood cells attack it and are unable to destroy it so they encapsulate it forming a sack. Years later 10-20-30 maybe never, for what unknown reasons they don't understand the cells in the sack go ballistic. then you have drama.I worked in the asbestos removal biz and even though we used PPE Im sure I was expose plenty.
Anything other than clean air in the lungs will eventually kill you, be careful.
 
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