"PPE while painting is a thing?" Topic

Ok, this will age me quite well but I was watching a YouTube video and the person was using an airbrush and then brush painting wearing a latex style glove.

WTH? Paint wears off you know. As my Gray Primer fingers will attest, back in my day we painted models with bare hands on the holders and then took a drink from the garden hose!

I blame this downfall of society on bike helmets

I do all my spray painting outside and sometimes wear a poly glove like they use for food service just to keep my hand clean. They are cheap and disposable.

Mike Bunkermeister Creek

He may have had a hot date that night and didn't want tarnish his masculine hands with hobby paint. But probably not. Bike helmets and air conditioning, ruining our youth.

I wear contacts. I don't like paint in my eyeballs. if i'm airbrushing or using rattle cans i'll wear gloves. they're cheap and quicker than scrubbing layers of paint off my hands.

Probably got a trophy for participating

It's not much of a weekend if my hands don't have paint marks on Monday morning in the office.

That being said, I do wear goggles for rattle can work, because you do not want to get spray paint in your eyes regardless of how macho you think you are.

I also wear latex gloves when spray painting, because I'm clumsy enough to have the nozzle turned the wrong way and just blast my own hand with paint point-blank.

I wear gloves airbrushing to keep cleanup down. If using rattle cans (terrain/buildings that are getting hit from a bunch of angles and multiple coats to cover) I'll usually throw on a new pair b/c the output is so much they get tacky.

My wife studied textile design a long time ago and her instructors hammered in the need for gloves as there are always chemicals that will get into the body. The area where you finger nail is attached is particularly susceptible for chemicals to enter your body. Some chemicals kind of rinse out of your body while others do not leave the body and build up with some really scary consequences. So protect yourself.

Use tweezers, meself, for 'drying' figures.
Retired now, worked a few 'public-facing' jobs where boss expected paint-free hands.

He may have had a hot date that night

He was a wargaming YouTuber.

The Chi-coms don't wear gloves. Just say'n.

Use brush on primer, no gloves.

The Chi-coms don't wear gloves. Just say'n.

They also have a lot more people. We in the West are special unicorns so care must be taken.

When I'm watching YouTube painting tutorials, if they don't have paint all over their hands, I don't even bother watching.

I wear gloves. That way when I need to do something else while priming or painting I don't have to worry about getting paint on something else. Or some disaster happens no paint all over my hands. To each their own I guess.

Thanks

John

I don't wear gloves per se, but I will stick my hand in a plastic grocery bag or the bag that the Sunday paper comes in and use that as hand protection. I don't see the point of getting spray paint on your hand when it is easy to avoid.

Goggles, dust mask, and plastic bag gloves for spraypaint.

From my dad, the chemical engineer, "There are two types of people: those who wear PPE and those who suck at chemistry."

If you'd like to come over and watch, I'll gladly skip the gloves before handling the steak I'm cooking for my guest. :)

Years ago, I saw X-rays of paint sniffer's (huffer's) skulls: the paint solvents literally dissolved large portions of their brain tissue, being replaced by fluid, over a period of years… No, I am not making a joke.

Working as a Security Guard at a welfare housing project, in the mid-1980's, in a major metropolitan area, I and my partner encountered a veteran Sniffer/Huffer, spray can and plastic bag in hand (gold paint is better than other colors, supposedly): spray paint into the plastic bag, to contain the fumes -- inhale from the bag each time, so as not to waste any of the solvent fumes… You can identify a Sniffer/Huffer by the dried paint in and around their nostrils. It's an in-expensive high, which makes it attractive to some.

Even if he sobered up, so much of his brain tissue was gone, he really was mentally handicapped, and there is nothing on Earth that will restore his lost brain function -- it is a one-way trip.

I spray aerosol paints outside, avoiding the fumes. Granted, it would take a lot of huffing to dissolve brain tissue, but I am unwilling to give up any of my brain tissue to something like paint fumes. I am getting older, and my mental faculties are on the down-slide from age alone. I don't need any help losing my mental acuity. Cheers!

+1 Fonze I do the same thing, but being retired time is a luxury I have now. So each phase happens 24 hours apart. So the paint is dry when it is handled.

+1 Sgt Slag, the paint huffing thing is real and it is a killer.

Mike Bunkermeister Creek

I spray indoors to insure I don't end up with stray whatever on the figs. The spray solvents play hell with my sinuses, so I hold my breath, spray quickly, then clear out fast.

I don't come back for several hours and inspect to see if I have missed any areas and spray again as needed.

I have used gesso, and still do for some things, but I find it laborious.

I spray indoors to

A wood frame (i.e., scrap wood), some clear plastic garbage bag to go on the outside, cardboard back with a hole for a a cheap fan, flexible vent ducting and a schmorpload of duct tape will make you a nice spray hood that you can vent outside. If yer a fancy-pants, you can get scrap insulation foam for the bit that goes in the window for the exhaust. If you need a long run of vent duct, get two cheap fans and an extension cord.

"Use brush on primer, no gloves."

Yep, and a bottle of gesso will cover more minis than 50 cans of spray primer ever will…

And, PPE masks are a must for those who lick their brushes… ;-)

Gesso and no gloves for me too.

Not necessarily PPE but bought a spray booth back in '92 and it's still going strong, weather is almost a non factor. Vent run through outside wall and it's able to handle most anything but non-hobby spray cans can put out a large volumes so I watch those. Best hobby purchase I made.

I found plans on the Internet, years ago, for making an activated carbon filter system, along with making a paint hood, that vented through the filter. It was allegedly safe for indoor use, year-round. I never made it up, but I still have the plans -- somewhere. It used an inexpensive furnace filter, in the booth box, to capture paint particulates; the fumes/gases went to the charcoal filter. I would use my shop vacuum on the filter bucket to draw the air out of the booth box, as that should eliminate the combustive fumes before they meet the electric motor's sparking brushes… I priced a squirrel-cage fan, which has the electric motor isolated from the air pathway, but those are large, and very expensive.

I, too, am a fan of Gesso. Unfortunately, it takes more effort and it is much slower. I have gravitated back to spray primer for its speed, and minimal effort to get the job done. I can spray prime a batch of 20+ mini's all at once; to brush Gesso onto that same 20+ figures, will take a couple of hours, as opposed to 10 minutes. Cheers!

I dont worry about painting but whenever I use superglue I now wear nitrile gloves and keep acetone handy. This is learned from bitter experience

I use nitrile gloves when painting so I don't have to clean my hands up later. These gloves are disposable but can be re-used for a few uses. Nitrile takes longer to develop holes compared to latex.

For airbrushing, I have a spray booth which works really well. I should wear mask also but often forget. I only spray acrylic.

No rattle cans any more, just airbrush.

For woodworking I wear dust mask and eye/face protection.