Power Tools for the New Normal, Part 3 – Protective Equipment

This pandemic has disrupted so many things, including how chores are accomplished. Much like the situation touched upon in Power Tools for the New Normal, Part 1 – Cordless String Trimmer, our household also faced difficulty when it came to maintenance.

This necessitated my purchasing a Cordless String Trimmer as well as a Cordless Leaf Blower to make sure Bass, our Golden Retriever, didn’t disappear in the grass.

Since the two aforementioned power tools were already tackled in the essays entitled Power Tools for the New Normal, Part 1 – Cordless String Trimmer and Power Tools for the New Normal, Part 2 – Cordless Leaf Blower, I will skip them in favor of Protective Equipment needed for their safe use.

Fortunately, these two power tools aren’t as dangerous as, say, an Angle Grinder equipped with an aggressive wood-cutting blade, but they still pose a risk. Getting the right protective equipment can prevent injuries to the eyes, ears, skin, and even mouth while using them.

There are five areas of the body that need to be safeguarded so I will start from the top and work my way to the bottom.

Face

The main danger faced by one’s face is flying debris. While stones, branches, and pebbles may come to mind as threats, even small cut blades of grass become dangerous because a string trimmer spins at several thousands of revolutions per minute. This makes even the smallest bit of grass feel like a bullet to the face.

[Pun intended for that first sentence.]

A face shield is the primary form of protection to prevent any debris from puncturing the eyes, hitting one’s face, or getting lodged in the mouth. Wearing glasses, whether they are prescription lenses or shades, adds another layer of protection because bits sometimes make it through the side.

The face shield I purchased came with a base that sat above the forehead. When not in use, it can be flipped upward to expose the face. This is quite helpful when fiddling with power tools as the plastic shield tends to end up blanketed with plant material during every session.

Incidentally, the top, and back of the head are exposed with this particular unit. I was actually hoping to acquire a face shield that is integrated with a hard hat to maximize protection but I could not find any.

In any case, the front band covering my forehead did a good job when a heavy branch fell towards my face. It would have really hit hard had I not been wearing this face shield. Instead, the yellow plastic in front of my forehead absorbed the brunt of the impact. So while it may not provide full head protection, it is certainly better than nothing.

Ears

The World Health Organization indicates that humans can tolerate 100 dB of noise for a maximum of four hours without incurring permanent injury. While these are the recommended level and duration, it cannot hurt to be conservative.

The manuals state that the operating levels of their Cordless String Trimmer and Cordless Leaf Blower are 95 dB and 87 dB, respectively. Erring on the side of caution, I have set a personal limit of four hours’ worth of work for unprotected ears.

However, since I do not wish to gamble my future with hearing loss, I purchased ear protection to use when mowing and blowing.

[And the word play continues…]

By comparison, other households in our area use gas-powered string trimmers. While I am not privy to the official noise level, I can hear them working as far as a block away. If I can hear it in my room from a far distance, I would surmise that the level of sound is way beyond the 95 dB that the Cordless String Trimmer in my possession generates.

I now use the same hearing protection for other tools, like the vacuum cleaner and newly purchased Cordless Reciprocating Saw. I might even use it when my wife runs the blender, that is, if she didn’t look at me in a funny manner.

[More on the saw in a later essay.]

Incidentally, these things do get hot enough that the areas around the ears become drenched in perspiration after just a few minutes of use. Getting ear plugs is an alternative to avoid the heat but you will lose physical protection as the outer ears become exposed.

 

Body

The most vulnerable part of the body include the neck and the arms because they are exposed. The torso, though covered with a t-shirt, is still in danger because it isn’t thick enough to absorb the impact of small stones or insulate against sharp branches. It is for this reason that I repurposed an old climbing jacket.

Made of light colored denim, this jacket has accompanied me to all but my very first hike decades ago. After I hung it up after years of heavy use, it remained in my cabinet gathering dust. It received a new lease on life when I started working on the garden, this time by protecting my body from flying debris. The long sleeves are also great a preventing scratches.

The thickness makes it good enough to absorb small projectiles, while the light color helps to reflect some heat from the burning sun. The only problem I have with such a light-colored jacket is that it looks really, really dirty after a run with the string trimmer.

Hands

I started out with Cotton Gloves because there is quite a lot of debris being thrown about. While these are effective at preventing scratches or shallow wounds, they are magnets for plant material. This required me to spend time picking off the weed seeds after every session because they get rather itchy.

[There’s that word play again…]

They were recently replaced by Welder’s Gloves because their leather composition makes them less attractive to plant material. This doesn’t mean that plants don’t accumulate on them, because they still do. However, the smooth surface makes it easy to shake or wipe off anything on the surface.

Legs

Just like my torso, I use denim to protect my legs. I started out with loose-fitting jeans but switched to something a little tighter because the cloth would sometimes get sucked by the blower.

Both are slightly flared at the ankles to accommodate work boots. The first pair was a lot longer than my legs, requiring me to roll up the ends. While this did make a seal to help prevent the worst debris from getting attached to my socks, some weed and grass still made it though.

The next pair, being a little tighter provided a better seal as none of the weed and grass stuck to my socks at all. The length, while extending beyond my ankles, wasn’t as long as the first pair I used. This meant I didn’t have to roll up the ends anymore.

Coming in the color blue initially then black later on, made my pants look less dirty than the jacket. Still, the smell of freshly cut weed and grass sticks to the them after a run on the garden.

Feet

I put on thick socks before covering them with steel toe boots. Since the boots are made of faux leather, cut weed and grass don’t stick to them, similar to the Welder’s Gloves.

[The faux leather still gets blanketed with plant dust but its easy to blow away or wash off.]

The one place that does collect a lot of plant material are the shoe laces. Early on, I would pick them off after finishing my cotton gloves. I eventually gave this up because it began to get tedious.

To prevent my tracking plant material in the house, I simply stick them in a plastic bag before bringing them in.

Incidentally, these shoes are clunky. Instead of feeling like a soft boat shoe, they are more like walking around with cardboard boxes. Still, nothing is probably safer than a pair of steel toe boots.

Final Thoughts

The list of equipment described above may appear excessive, especially when some get by with just a pair of canvass sneakers, jeans, t-shirt, eye protection, and cloth wrapped around their noses and mouths when operating a gas-powered string trimmer.

Before deciding on whether to tone things down, it may be helpful to consider the outcome of a typical session. For a forty-five-minute run, the amount of debris is heaviest on the feet and lower leg; moderate on the thighs, torso, arms, and hands; light on the neck and face; and extra light on the hair.

Yes, one will need to pick out four to five seeds or other plant material from the top of the hair because the face shield does not cover this area. When a run extends to an hour and a half, this amount easily doubles. Considering the top of the head is far from the end of the string trimmer motor, I would suggest to avoid skipping anything just to be sure.

In addition to this, using a Cordless Reciprocating Saw to prune trees will see all five parts covered in wood dust or plant juice. This is the case because this power tool is held much closer to the body than a string trimmer.

Apart from plant material, other things can be flung at high speed. This includes feral cat feces, fungal spores, caterpillar spines, and even insects parts like stingers.

Having all these to deal with, it may be preferable to err on the side of caution. I myself do not limit wearing all of this equipment to the cordless string trimmer and cordless leaf blower, I also use it with the Cordless Reciprocating Saw. Basically, I put them on for anything that kicks out debris.

And there you have it, protective covering for the five areas of your person when working with power tools. Some of you may be tempted to avoid using one or two of items, especially since the are hot to use under the burning sun. However, any temporary discomfort is a small price to pay if it is to prevent permanent injuries.

[Literally each piece of equipment listed here has absorbed debris in my case.]

One bit of good news is that all of these equipment can be purchased at very reasonable prices from hardware or clothing stores in malls. Furthermore, there are several brands straddling different price ranges to choose from. As far as the clothes are concerned, they may be cheaper to acquire from flea markets instead of hardware or department stores.

Well, that’s it for this entry. Please join me again next week as I discuss the acquisition of a Cordless Impact Drill.