The Gun Counter

What's the necessary precautions? I bought wife a semi-finished blade and some paper micarta scales for Christmas. But of course when I tried to look up what to wear when sanding it, I found everything from use a vacuum cleaner to get the dust at the end, to full face respirator. I'm certain that the happy medium is somewhere in between.

My SIL makes custom knives, and I called and asked him, figuring he should know (I think he's found every way possible, barring dismemberment, to injure himself in a knife shop). He recommends a regular dust mask, and a shop vac afterwards. Unless you're trying to get a glass finish, the particles should be small enough to be trapped in a regular mask.

Please bear in mind, free advice is usually worth what you paid for it.

As long as you're talking hobbyist level work, I don't think you need to treat it any differently than wood dust. Some sort of dust collection system is great if you have it. If you're creating great clouds of dust or machining it on an ongoing basis you should use a properly fitting respirator and a dust collection system. It does make quite a stink when you saw it. Treat it as though it was a dense, resin-heavy wood like teak.

There are some material safety data sheets in .pdf form HERE.

Micarta is a type of phenolic, is it not? It does stink a lot when you saw or power sand it. The dust goes everywhere, too.

Thanks guys. I was planning for at least a dust mask. I'll do this outside too, so I don't dust/stink up my workbench/workout area/gun safe/motorcycle storage/etc area in the garage.