new thread
I have been sanding the guitar body with a palm sander (sorry cant do it by hand... that cat. poly is so thick!) and I have been getting all kinds of interesting dust in my hair. I wash it out and stuff but before that the hair feels rough because of all that crap in the hair. Anyone here ever do woodworking? I know that long hair should be tied for woodworking unless you like the hair getting caught in some spinning thing and nasty thing happens. But how about having tons of sanding dust in your hair? will that damage your hair?
I did wear a dust mask though... I hate caughing and having allergic reactions to sanding dust.
Yes. I have.
Perhaps secure all of your hair in a Bathing Cap while at work? Yeah, I know, you're not going for a swim, but you sure are dealing with alot of sand.
Yea, here's the deal, I am stripping that guitar body which I do for hobby. In order to get dust all over my room (would be a pain to clean up) I did it in my bathroom. Dust will still get everywhere but wont be quite as bad as doing it in my room. However the bathroom is not air conditioned therefore wearing a shower cap would be REALLY uncomfortable, especially when now the daytime temp is higher than 35 C. As to victor's comment about getting treesaps in the hair, how about using turpentine or mineral spirit to remove the sap rather than cutting them? I realize those may not be so good for hair but better than cutting them out. I would think that turpentine should remove tree sap considering that is what turpentine is made from...
I wont paint my guitar anywhere inside my apartment however, that I can do on the roof of my apartment... I just wish it wasnt so damm hot... my energy bill is going to be through the roof, I bet.
A process that we use quite often whenever we do a lot of sanding is use a vacuum cleaner and hold the nozzle close to the surface being sanded. If you try this, you might have to find some way to hold the guitar body in one place. Sander in one hand, vacuum nozzle in the other. That way, it keeps the dust to a minimum. Hope this helps!
--Rick
Good news is that I am done with all the flat side of the guitar, and now I have to work on the side contour and the horns (VERY hard part considering how thick cat poly is on this thing.... I bet it would sound better with lacquer) so no more power sanding. The sander was very cheap so it was justifiable on a one time job, I wont be sanding anymore poly... I rather pay through the nose for an unfinished body from warmoth. I am considering just roughing up the horns, take as much off on the outer curve as I can, and just sand off all scratches and leave it be instead of trying to take the cutaways to the wood. Reason being that I am planning to do a sunburst so those area are gonna be painted black anyways. Im really concerned that there will be a line between the sealed area and the wood that shows up when I spray the black.
Tai Fu.. are you honestly bothered about saw dust damaging your hair or boasting about your hobby and using your hair as an excuse?
Reading your post, you dont seem too bothered about your hair
I would recommend finishing off the sanding, there will almost certainly be a visible transition line in your finish otherwise.
I know how much of a pain in the arse it is. Try wrapping sandpaper around household objects to use as sanding blocks.
-m
I recently did some carpentry related to the installation of my weather station. Unfortunately, that involved getting some tree sap in my hair. Not fun. I was able to extricate most of the hair out of the sap (taking the sap out of the hair does not work). And in the end, I sacrificed the end of one or two hairs.
Depending upon the wood, I imagine some sawdust is bound to have pitch in it (particularly if it's from a musical instrument, heheh). Besides the other advice, maybe it would be good to condition your hair well before starting, to add a sort of protective layer over your hair.
"... I imagine some sawdust is bound to have pitch in it (particularly if it's from a musical instrument, heheh)"
Victor... That WAS good! I 'bout died laughing with that one.. :) Thanks!
--Rick
I'm glad someone enjoyed it.
Being a professional musician since I was 15... yep, I enjoyed it!
--Rick
Tree sap in hair (Shudders)...
A while back Oversurf (Coniferous Conundrum)posted here about that same thing happening, he got sap from a white pine in his hair, and had a hard time getting it out.
Well, peanut butter takes gum out of hair, and gum is similar to sap. I also did a search on this and some suggestions were to use olive oil or mayonnaise or butter; take that and massage it into and around the hair where the chunk of sap is located gently and let it sit for 15 minutes. The oil hardens the sap, releases the stickiness factor, and lets it slide out of the hair without doing damage and including more hairs stuck in the sap. I would be concerned too about residual amounts of the sap on the hairs you saved that might cause further tangling problems down the road.
Paint thinner, gasoline, xylene, toluene, mineral spirits, isopropyl alcohol, generally, any solvent will also defeat a substance with sticky properties, although none of these things are on my list of things I would like to be in my hair.
In my line of work [pipe organ technician], sometimes we do sanding [also with an orbital sander... much easier] of wood components. Quite often, the wood is so old, sometimes 80 years, that there's no sap left to worry about. About the sawdust... yeah, my hair doesn't feel the greatest, but after work I just go home, take a shower, and wash the sawdust out of it.
Good idea about using a dust mask. Good luck with the guitar!
--Rick
Have you considered chemically removing the paint instead of sanding it off? If you plan to paint on your roof, you could strip the old paint on your roof as well. There are many good strippers available at home improvement centers, some of which have very little odor.
Cat poly does NOT strip by chemical... only thing that will work is a thing called "aircraft remover" and that is nasty stuff, and plus im not sure where to get something like this in Taiwan.
In my experience, some strippers can leave discoloration and other effects on certain woods, and should be used with caution.
Little odor does not mean little risk, also. Fumes from that stuff will mess you up.
-m
I do a lot of wood working and carpendry.I tie my hair in a biker style pony(lots of rubber bands)and put it down the back of my shirt.I don't worry about sawdust in my hair as far as dammage.I wear whats called a do rag,a bandana will work.I ride a Harley so have such things on hand.Furniture grade lumber has a much lower amount of moisture in it.Sap isn't usually an issue.A guitar body would be furniture grade.I would be more concerned with the poly and doing the sanding in such a small room.If you can open a window that would be good.The mask is good.
Keep it growing
Arrick
Guess it would be a matter of hygene man. I work construction in Arizona, so I get sawdust, sweat, cigarette smoke etc..in my hair daily. I only wash my hair once a week, but Iv never seen any damage from it. I personally think my hair looks better the longer I dont wash it. Gives a chance for the natural oils to lubricate it.
That stuff will get EVERYWHERE. I've done a few refinishing jobs and it usually takes a while for it all to settle. If you can afford it, and will be doing more work in the future, look into dust collectors and/or ambient air cleaners, you can get something pretty good for between 100 and 400 USD. If you think a serious dust collector may be worthwhile for your needs, look into Penn State Industries, they make a small model that by far out-performs the competition at a very reasonable price.
An alternative that I found helped somewhat for me was to buy a cheap box fan, an aerosol foam insulation, and a good air conditioner filter. Use the insulation and a knife to build a shroud inside the shell of the fan, otherwise the back pressure from the filter will just cause the dust to blow out the corners. Attach the filter to the face of the fan with tape. It will plug up fairly quickly, but I found that I can either knoch the particles loose over a trash can or use a bristled paintbrush to clear the filter. It's a hack, but it works. All in all it cost me about 40 USD.
As for damaging hair, I've never noticed any lasting effects. I typically put my hair in a tail and wear a cap or bandana while doing any serious work. It's no good getting stuff in it, having it fall in my eyes or mouth, or wandering dangerously close to router bits moving at 30,000RPM.
-m
My father is a carpenter and joiner and the I used to help him as a child. The number of times we would return to the house with dust and shavings in his hair. Nothing a good wash and conditioning would sort out and his hair always looked in good condition.
Try using something like a beanie hat "why they still wear them in summer is mystery to me!!!" or a swimming cap and that should keep alot of it out.
A few shavings and dust never hurt anyone.
John.B
