shop towel face mask

[laz]

I know this is not a place for virus stuff, but since most of us spend a lot of time in the shop this information could be useful any time. We all know that simple face masks prevent us from breathing in dust and even welding fumes. I actually use a N95 disposable mask when I TIG weld. I sent the 2 I had to my daughter in Austin TX weeks ago. The other dust masks I had were from Harbor Freight. They did the correct thing and donated their entire stock of rubber gloves and mask to the heath care workers.

I came across a You Tube Video of a man making a face mask using a Blue Shop Towel. The kind of towel you see all over . I buy mine at Costco. They come in a roll. What is interesting is these towels are made from fibers and the blue ones are very strong. Please go to You Tube and search for Shop Towel face mask. There are many , but the best one is of a Guy standing at table with a black T-shirt on. its about 11minutes long and shows how they are made. The more important one is called Shop Towel Face mask preliminary Test. A Dr. tested these mask and found them at least effective as the surgical mask (not the N95) people are using. Way more than cloth masks, that Dr. invented the N95 fabric.

Even if you don't need these for virus protection they would work great in the shop during better times.

[Ed_Wischmeyer]

I asked my doctor about those and was told that the weave was too coarse to do any good. However, four layers of sweatshirt material was recommended.

Please see my post on the topic.

[Hwood]

Four layers of MY sweatshirt will certainly kill any germs!

[RVDan]

There is no weave in the disposable shop towels. They are a paper product. Using these was actually recommended by CDC over cloth.

[Saville]

4 layers of sweatshirt would be extremely hard to breath through, I would think. Like you-get-no-air hard. Unless you have an opening around the perimeter which negates the value of the mask

CDC says shop towels good. I've been making masks based on that video for over a week.

I sometimes use 2 masks - one over the other - at times. Like in the grocery store. A little harder to breath through but not bad.

[bobnoffs]

remember the days a few months ago, before covid 19 and a shortage of masks
......the warnings were ''cover your mouth when you cough, those droplets can fly 17 feet''

[RickWoodall]

I remember the good old days.

Biggest deal was not to use plastic bags and plastic straws....
Oh and way back then the scariest worry was a bad batch of romaine lettuce.

We could fly all over, and have fun and go visit our moms. Sad times now.

[Ed_Wischmeyer]

Originally Posted by Saville

4 layers of sweatshirt would be extremely hard to breath through, I would think.

Surprisingly not. I thought that *five* layers was more breathable than a normal respirator, but that was not a direct A/B comparison.

Be safe, be well, wash your hands!

Ed

[rapid_ascent]

There was actually article where they used a particle counter to test different materials and certain shop towels performed very well. Scott shop towels were not the best performers. It was the hydro spun ( whatever that means) material that performed best.