Safety when working with fiberglass...looking for suggestions and tips

[GentlemanArcher]

Hi All,

What gloves are best to wear when sanding fiberglass.  Will surgical gloves or nitrile gloves work?  Or do I need something tougher?

What other precautions do you take when sanding fiberglass?


I've reached the next step in the bowyer's addiction.  Making bows is like a reverse 12 step program for me.  Started with a few board bows.  Then wood laminated bow.  And now I'm onto using glass.

My question concerns cleaning up a bow when you take it off of the form. And sanding it to final width.  What a mess!  I did wear glasses and a mask.  And I had gloves on for most of it.  I did fail to wear long sleeves though.  I ended up with a serious case of the itches.

I'm got a pretty good dust collection set up.  A vac at the tool and a shop air filter going. So it's really just my skin I'm concerned about at this point.

And once you sand the limbs to width....how do you keep splinters from lifting?  Will a few coats of poly be enough.  Or do they need a coat of CA glue first?

I did get the bow shaped yesterday.  It still has the blue tape on it though, so no pictures yet.  It's walnut lams under clear glass, with 2 tapered boo cores. Came out to 63" NTN (oops), is a mild r/d, and pulls 45 pounds at 26 inches.  I did peak at the lams, unfortunately I didn't get the glue even under the glass, there are some gaps.  Or maybe it was not using enough glue.  Or maybe not even clamping pressure.  (This is my second glass bow, I've already wasted one set of glass with some poor clamping).  I figure the bow is a throw away because of that, but I will finish it to practice before I waste more glass.  Pics to come...

Kia Kaha


P.S.  Now that I think about it, I bet it was uneven clamping pressure.  I'm using clamps and cling wrap to how the bow to the form, not the air hose method.  I bet I had too much pressure at the edges on the limbs rather than even over the width of the limb.

[Robertfishes]

before pulling tape off I round off the edges a little with 120 grit paper  in a sanding block, then pull tape from center of bow riser to tips, or limb butt towards tips.

[Tron]

It sounds like you're doing most everything right.  I had done some modifications and refinishing of bows before I started my first build, so I had a bit of experience with glass before that.  It still blew me away how nasty the stuff is when you really start sanding it.  

As for that dust, the most important things are the vacuum and the mask.  You could also try using a fan behind you blowing dust either toward the vacuum if you have a dust hood, or out of the shop.  I throw open the garage door and set up my sanding so that I'm blowing all the dust away from me, into the vacuum, and toward the open garage door.  The good airflow has helped a lot.

Long sleeves will keep you from getting the itches, and I have an old shirt that I never wash and only wear when I'm sanding glass.  After I'm done I take it off and hang it inside out in the shop.  Any type of latex or nitrile disposable gloves will keep you form getting the itches on your hands, but they wont stop a bigger splinter.  I've never had a problem with them though, and I like the fact that you dont have a set of gloves that may have glass dust inside them, when you're done, toss them and get a new pair next time.

I also use clamp forms, as I dont have enough storage space or a compresor for some air hose forms.  What I would guess is that you didn't use enough glue or didn't spread it evenly.  Just take your time.  Next time I would tighten the clamps over your pressure strips, and then let the form sit for a while before putting it in the hot box.  After a couple minutes some of the Smooth-On will have squeezed out of the glue joints and you can re-tighten the clamps.  Repeat if you feel you need to, Smooth-On gives you plenty of working time.  That will help you get good glue lines.

My one other tip is to try to cut as much of the limbs as possible, instead of grinding them down.  Any fiberglass you take off in pieces is glass dust you aren't creating.  I did my first bow with a hacksaw, taking the limbs down in about 3 inch chunks.  It took about a solid week to do and I don't recommend it.  Since I don't have a band saw, my solution was to use a cut-off wheel on a 4-1/2 inch angle head grinder.  With two hands on the grinder and the blow clamped to some saw horses it is pretty easy and you can get really close to your lines with some practice.  Saved me a lot of time, and I probably wouldn't still be building bows if a friend hadn't suggested that.  

Hope this helps some, good luck with the build

-Nathan

[jess stuart]

For gloves I try to use a pair of leather ones, seems I am always getting my fingers to close to a sander if I don't.  I also usually wear a long sleeved shirt and of course a mask and run the dust collector.  I round the edges of the limbs over a bit before pulling the tape off like Roberfished suggested.  If you don't you run the risk of lifting a sliver of fiberglass, bet you can't guess how I know that.