Hearing and Eye Protection - Less Painful

I like to use safety gear but at times it is grossly inconvenient. The ear muffs are always out of reach and so are the safety glasses.

When routing I am constantly taking the earmuffs off and putting them back on if they are within reach.

If you wear safety glasses under your earmuffs the safety glasses are pressed hard against the side of your head and hurt somewhat.

In Summer the safety glasses tend to fog up or get dusty.

My solution is to wear my chainsaw helmet.

The helmet part doesn't really do much when using the router but it does keep my face shield and earmuffs always within reach. I can easily flip the face protection down or flip the earmuffs over my ears.

The wire mesh face guard stops most particles but more importantly it never fogs up and never becomes dusty.

You can pick these helmets up for $120 these days (mine was under $100 when I bought it) and although they might be a bit expensive just for woodwork, if you do a bit of chainsawing also, they are very convenient.

I was contemplating getting something like this just yesterday but thought that surely there is a product made specifically for woodies that has ear/eye/lung protection. Something like a respirator with glasses/visor and ear muffs that just slid on with the muff head band.

I find with safety glasses and ear muffs on that the arms of the glasses lift the muffs off just a tad which decreases their effectiveness. Then throw in the dust mask (light cheapy ones) over the top and I have a tangle of arms and straps all over my head that make it a mess to take off and put on easily. Putting the mask also fogs up my glasses unless I move them around which also decreases the effectiveness of both.

I saw some nifty looking clear ski goggle type eye protectors while browsing and thought they might be good as their strap was thick (less easy to tangle), secure on the face and apparently had vents to stop fogging.

Anyone got thoughts/experience?

hi, i know triton have a hard hat/ earmuffs/ faceshield/ respirator system. it runs off 2 rechargeable ni-cd batteries.
the reason i have not bought it yet is because of this out of date battery type, they invented ni cad batteries around the same time as the wheel.

when a company comes out with lithium-ion respirator/ faceshield, count me in. hopefully a different company than mentioned above...

regards, justin.

I use a chainsaw helmet but have a polycarbonate face shield.
It is much nicer than having earmuffs squash glasses against your face.

I agree with the discomfort of wearing large conventional ear goggles over eye goggles. I use one of those one-piece plastic ear goggles that hang around the neck when not in use - much like a Doctor's stethoscope - and then bung the ends of them in my ears when I need them.

WW - I think the stethoscope was invented in 1816 by Rene Theophile Hyacinthe Laennec.

Is wearing a stethoscope type hearing protection whilst making your wonderful pieces of furniture consistent with your favourite era?

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Originally Posted by Wood Borer

WW - I think the stethoscope was invented in 1816 by Rene Theophile Hyacinthe Laennec.

Is wearing a stethoscope type hearing protection whilst making your wonderful pieces of furniture consistent with your favourite era?

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:U I don't favour much after the death of George III on the 29th of January 1820, so it just squeezes in alright!

Thank goodness for that, otherwise you would have had to sacrifice your hearing.:o

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Originally Posted by Wood Borer

Thank goodness for that, otherwise you would have had to sacrifice your hearing.:o

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Pardon?

Buy some safety glasses that have angle adjustable arms, they hook over the ear muffs.(less ingress of sound too)
You can get earplugs on a neckband, very easy to put on and dont interfere with glasses, but they are not effective as earmuffs.

I use these - Zem by Sensguard. they are very light and you can easily wear them with eye protection.

http://www.sensgard.com/_/rsrc/12360...=184&width=200

The best thing about them is that they work to reduce volume to speach level so you can still hear someone coming into your shop.

I bought mine from a gun shop.

The problem with these muffs and a lot of others on Chainsaw operators helmets is they are only rated to 25 dB noise reduction. There are better muffs out there such as the peltor 10HB/A which are 30 dB. I recently bought Stihl Helmets are now available with these types of muffs.

The problem with any type of earplugs is that a lot of sound still creeps in via the skull bones around the ear and nothing save a diver's or space helmet beats the wrap around effect of good muffs. If you are really serious about protection then I recommend ear muffs and ear plugs - well that's what I do using my CS mill.

For face protection I like something solid between my face and bits of steel, wood and rocks bso I favour a full face polycarbonate mask.
http://www.woodworkforums.ubeaut.com...1&d=1238413267
The clear poly mask has an adjustment knob on the back and I find the around the neck muffs can be inverted and clip over the adjustment knob just nicely so.

I keep a set of muffs and mask in my van for milling and another set in the shed for tool making and ww.

I use very comfortable safety glasses and earplugs. I'm a Fitter and Turner by trade and there's no substitute for safety. In our industry, double eye protection is mandatory. Safety glasses and a face shield. With good fitting safety glasses you really don't notice your still wearing them while having lunch.:doh:

Hearing aids can cost up to US$6000 per pair. Is that loud enough for you?:oo:

Cheers,
Joe

I use the same safety gear when I'm in my own shed working with either steel or wood. Those who don't wear safety specs and have had no injuries when working with the tools have been very lucky so far. Your luck will run out eventually. Look after your eyes.

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Originally Posted by BobL

The problem with these muffs and a lot of others on Chainsaw operators helmets is they are only rated to 25 dB noise reduction. There are better muffs out there such as the peltor 10HB/A which are 30 dB. I recently bought Stihl Helmets are now available with these types of muffs.

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Hmm, not often you get to upstage Bob but after my research tonight (because I lost my Peltors:(() I can:o. The new 10HB/A muffs are 33dB their rating is 5+ rather than the old rating of just 5. So if you are buying a set make sure you get the new stock.

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Originally Posted by Burnsy

Hmm, not often you get to upstage Bob but after my research tonight (because I lost my Peltors:(() I can:o. The new 10HB/A muffs are 33dB their rating is 5+ rather than the old rating of just 5. So if you are buying a set make sure you get the new stock.

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The only "new" H10As I am aware of are the new High Visibility (HV Muffs) which are lime green as compared to black. Are these the ones you are referring to?

The AS/NZS 1270:1999 H10A HV 290 standard rates the H10A HV at 33 db
While ANSI S3.19-1974 H10A HV rates these at 30

If you compare the H10A HV attenuation specs with the specs of the H10A I bought a couple of years back they are identical.

This can be seen in the following graph
http://www.woodworkforums.ubeaut.com...1&d=1241403555

The Symbols to compare are the red (H10A) and green (H10A HV). There are no green symbols showing because they are under the red ones ie they are the same

The blue triangles are the H10B ("behind the head") type muffs. They are not quite as good but work better with a face shield than the A's.

Also shown are the Peltor "Bulls Eye". These are marksman muffs and are superior at middle to higher frequencies to the H10A and H10B but not as good at the lower frequencies.

i recently also got a stihl chainsaw and lashed out on the heavy duty 30 db earmuffs. they work a treat, nice and firm on the head and the bunnies polycarbonate wrap around eye protection sit neatly on top of them. quite comfy.

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Originally Posted by BobL

The only "new" H10As I am aware of are the new High Visibility (HV Muffs) which are lime green as compared to black. Are these the ones you are referring to?

The AS/NZS 1270:1999 H10A HV 290 standard rates the H10A HV at 33 db
While ANSI S3.19-1974 H10A HV rates these at 30

If you compare the H10A HV attenuation specs with the specs of the H10A I bought a couple of years back they are identical.

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Sorry, looks like I was conned by marketing ploys that list AS/NZS 1270:1999 H10A HV 290 standard rates and compare them to ANSI S3.19-1974 H10A HV rates to try and sell more:doh:. Maybe I will get some green ones to match my Lucas and make sure I don't get lost in dry jarrah dust to replace my new old black ones:((

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Originally Posted by Burnsy

Sorry, looks like I was conned by marketing ploys that list AS/NZS 1270:1999 H10A HV 290 standard rates and compare them to ANSI S3.19-1974 H10A HV rates to try and sell more:doh:. Maybe I will get some green ones to match my Lucas and make sure I don't get lost in dry jarrah dust to replace my new old black ones:((

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Yeah I see various on-sellers have really picked up on the bigger number - bigger is always better, right :D

As a source I recommend site sponsor Makka - his prices are pretty good even with shipping.

When I was at uni studying for my Design tech teachers degree, I had to do a research assessment of hearing protection, and the highest DB reduction any ear protection can give you was about 36db.
The reason the protection stops at that is because your bones carry the noise and vibration into your ears via the small bones inside your ear connected and surrounding the inner ear.
So wearing ear plugs, and 3 pairs of ear muffs, would still only reduce noise to 36db.

I had a chat to an expert that has worked for different safety equipment suppliers for years.
He said the ultimate protection is a powered air respirator combined with ear protection of your choice.

I have never tried one but I'm told they can be lithium battery powered, wrap around your chin for visibility and because they are pressurised they work even while wearing prescription glasses and of course never fog up. Apparently the air flow helps to keep your face 'cool'. I suspect by 'cool' they mean not hot.
There is at least one model that replaces the head protection aspect with a washable fabric cap suitable for woodworkers and others that don't need head protection.

Anyone tried one of these?

Just curious really - because these things are outside my budget range.

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Originally Posted by DaveVman

I had a chat to an expert that has worked for different safety equipment suppliers for years.
He said the ultimate protection is a powered air respirator combined with ear protection of your choice.

I have never tried one but I'm told they can be lithium battery powered, wrap around your chin for visibility and because they are pressurised they work even while wearing prescription glasses and of course never fog up. Apparently the air flow helps to keep your face 'cool'. I suspect by 'cool' they mean not hot.
There is at least one model that replaces the head protection aspect with a washable fabric cap suitable for woodworkers and others that don't need head protection.

Anyone tried one of these?

Just curious really - because these things are outside my budget range.

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Air powered respirators won't solve the wood dust on skin allergy problem.
This is a much greater risk than cancer from wood dust.

Once you have worked with respirators and then been able to do the exact same work without them you won't ever want to go back.
Good dust extraction is a much better way to go that respirators.