Safety Risk

[chaos4zap]

As I was grinding away yesterday on my very first attempt at my own pick, I got to thinking.....it can't be good to be breathing in all of this Carbon Steel/Alloy dust. Since I'm an industrial hygienist by day, I tend to think about those types of things more frequently than most. Maybe it is standard that people wear resperators or have some sort of dust collection system and it's just not talked about much? I thought it might be a worth while experiment to identify the standard materials used and their possible health effect's. Maybe even get fancy and do some testing/sampling to see how much dust and of what sizes (respirable and non-respirable particles) are created during a standard (if there is such a thing as "standard") tool making session. Anyway, I have decided I will be wearing N95 mask going forward, but I thought I would bounce it off the group to see if this is information that anyone would care about at all. It would be wortht he effort if others may find it useful. What do you guy's think?

[pin_pusher]

welp, if i'm not misinformed those types of fumes that come from burning/grinding metals away can later be traced to neurological disorders and potential lung cancer. the heavy carbon that goes into the air is no good for anyone, like the burning of coal produces mercury--burning of metals can also produce heavy toxins. i use a simple dust mask, or a handkerchief; although a respirator would be ideal/preferable. a well ventilated workspace is always a good idea for any potential health risk or fire or attack from the rooskies. we also have a thread pertaining to the use of goggles. safety equipment is just a must, a first. what's to be said about glove, however? i know the potential for getting loose fabric caught in a grinder is a hazard, but what happens to hands that are covered in metal dust and burnt shavings?

[chaos4zap]

as for shavings on the hand....not much (unless your rubbing it) Metal does not leach through the skin into your body. As for your other comment, you are right. some of these metals can have toxic effects. Not only that, but if particles are small enough and sharp enough..they could penetrate into the lungs and cause pysical damage (scaring) I have no idea if enough if the material is small enough size if present to present such hazards, but the desire of others to find out is why I made this post.

[raimundo]

helps you get the daily requirement of iron though.

[MacGyver101]

I can understand the desire to wear a mask while grinding, because of fine metal particulate in the air... but I've made my share of picks, and I don't think I've ever burned metal in the process? (And, either way, a dust mask isn't going to filter out toxic fumes: if you're producing those, you need a proper mask with the right filters.)

[chaos4zap]

Yeah, I wasn't expressing concern for exposure to toxic fumes of any sort. Strictly particulates, the little metal shavings that get into the air and could be small enough to pass the bodies defences and make it into the lungs. Once there, their chemical composision could have adverse effect's on the delicate lining of the lung and/or just physically scratch and potentially scar the lungs (in the long run). When I talk about wearing a respirator, I'm talking about the type of simple respirator that a surgeon would wear (N95), not the full facepiece type you would see police wearing while using tear gas to quell the uprising of the lockpickers to overthrow government.

[maintenanceguy]

A CIH uses this site as the source of industrial hygiene info?

Something seems fishy.

[chaos4zap]

I'm not sure what one would consider "fishy" about it. In my day to day functions, I don't come across this specific hazard (grinding hacksaw blades and various other materials into picks) and I don't know many CIH's that would. Most of the IH projects I get involved with involve mold investigations, particulate sampling, some welding operations, HVAC system balancing, etc.. To say that a CIH would already know, off the top of their head, what specific metals are commonly used for pick making, the specific health hazards associated with those metals, and the size of the particulates created during pick making is unrealistic. Second of all, I'm not soliciting information, I was seeking feedback on rather or not people would find information from an investigation into the subject useful. If the interest was there, then I would spend the time looking into it and then I would provide the information. Given the nature and tone of the responses so far, where people like "maintenance guy" don't even bother to read and understand the request and purpose for this thread and say anything useful...I suppose that no one really does care to know. That being said, I will consider the question closed.

[MacGyver101]

I don't see anything fishy with you question either?

Anyhow... the biggest challenge that I could see complicating a proper study like the one that you're proposing is that so many homebrew lockpicks are made from found material (everything from random hacksaw blades to windshield wiper inserts to street-sweeper bristles that people find laying on the street). It often the case, I think, that nobody knows exactly what material they're working with. (At least, probably not well enough for the sort of health study you're thinking of?)

Anyhow, don't take this comment as me saying "that's a bad idea"... it's just an observation that might need some thought.

[chaos4zap]

I take no offense at all, it's a valid point. It would be impossible to account for every type of material that may be used to make picks, but I figure the usual suspects are hacksaw blades (of which, there may be 3 or 4 types of material commonly used, street sweeper bristles and wiper inserts. I think the later two are almost exclusively stainless steel. On paper, that looks like I could focus on 5-6 materials and cover about 90-95% of materials used. Anyway, I'm now wearing a mask and I suspect most others are doing the same when grinding heavily, so maybe it isn't nearly the issue I initialy thought it could be.

[UEDan]

I thought it might be a worth while experiment to identify the standard materials used and their possible health effect's.

Heres a start:

I USED to make my own, used to make my own.
Hack saw blades and a Dremel, burnt the metal a few times because I was holding the metal with pliers.
Didn't have a mask by the way. Every night I was working on my picks my sinuses would act up pretty badly.
After about a week of this my throat started feeling very raw and painful, just bad.
Then I developed a slight hacking cough. Wasn't bad, couldn't be good for me though.
No I buy all my picks, and make tension wrenches from wipers. Thats it.