When you think of setting up your workshop and getting started, kitting yourself out with PPE isn’t the most sexy or fun thing to think about, but it’s one of the most important!

We’ve included some information about the main types of PPE to have on hand, as well as a few additional things to keep in mind.

General PPE

There are few items you should have on hand at all times. When setting up your workshop it may seem like a bit of an expense to kit yourself out with good PPE, but consider it a valuable investment in your future health!

Dust mask and respirator

A woodworker should never travel too far from their respirator – it’s an easy and effective way to protect your lungs from the regular exposure to wood dust that comes with the territory. Sadly, there is substantial research that shows that inhaled sawdust can pose short term complications and serious long term health risks. Most of this damage comes from the sawdust that we can’t even see, including down to 5 μm or less.

Ideally look for a mask or respirator with replaceable filters that filters particles down to 0.3 μm or less. We use and can recommend both RZ and 3M masks in our shop, and breathe easy knowing our lungs are much safer for it.

Hearing protection

Aside from dust, the most prolonged exposure we have in our shop is to loud noises – machining timber, denailing, sanding, and doing custom work with drills, jigsaws, routers and more – there’s no shortage of noise. Luckily the solution for dealing with noise is also really easy: earplugs or earmuffs are cheap, available everywhere, and are relatively inexpensive for comfortable long term use.

The earmuffs or earplugs that will work best for you will depend on a few factors, including the size of your head and/or shape of your ears, and so it’s worth testing out a few options. We always have a few spare pairs around too, in case you put yours down in a “very safe place” and can’t find them again for the next little while!

Living in the future, as we do, you can also get earmuffs with bluetooth capability so you can listen to a book or some tunes while you work. These are great for regular use, but make sure to keep your listening to a suitable level that you can still hear any strange sounds coming from your tools or timber.

Safety goggles

We love a good pair of safety googles, and nothing makes you feel better wearing them than hearing a chip or splinter of wood hit them and bounce off while working!

As many power tools will spit dust and woodchips as they work, goggles are an essential part of your PPE kit, and you can even get fancy with it and get ones with anti-fogging coating or that are stylish too!

Always give your goggles a test with your respirator and hearing protection before getting on the tools too – some setups may fog up or become uncomfortable with regular use, and it’s better to find that out when you’re not halfway through cutting that perfect and expensive piece of timber!

First aid kit

While not something to have on your person while you’re working, a stocked first aid kit is an essential part of your workshop. Being able to respond to and treat the occasional cut, scrape or splinter that comes with the territory, as well as having the equipment to handle any more serious injury while the emergency services are on the way is a no-brainer.

You can purchase a whole first aid kit outright, and then just restock what you use – but keep an eye on any use-by dates, and do a check at least once or twice a year to make sure nothing important is missing.

Understanding the appropriate PPE for what you’re doing

While hand tools may seem much safer than power tools, and in many ways they can be, that doesn’t mean that we shouldn’t use PPE while doing hand tool-based woodwork. While the sound of hand-hammering or the dust produced by hand-sanding a corner is nowhere near as loud or, well, dusty as doing those things with power tools, they are still enough to cause some ear, eye or lung damage – especially if you’re regularly doing them.

It’s a good habit to form to always have appropriate PPE on hand and to wear it even for one-off things like hammering in an errant nail or sanding down an edge – built that muscle memory of being safe and you will be thankful in many years time!

For power tools, it’s better to be safer and wear appropriate eye, ear and lung protection at all times, even for small amounts of work or while using what seem like safer tools like drills and drivers.

Gloves - to wear or not to wear?

It might be a bit counterintuitive, but wearing gloves can actually be less safe in many woodworking situations, especially when working with power tools. While gloves are great for moving timber around, especially the rough, weathered timber we often start with when reclaiming it, they can also get caught in the fast-moving parts of saws, routers, and other machinery, which doesn’t ever end happily.

A good rule of thumb is if you are working with a tool that could catch a loose item of clothing and pull you in, it could also catch your glove, and to avoid wearing them for that task.

PPE specifically for recycled materials

The last thing to keep in mind is the materials you’re working with, especially if you’re working with reclaimed materials that you may not know the full history of. A great example of this is painted surfaces – if you don’t know for certain who painted a surface and with what paint, it is a great safety tip to assume that any paint contains lead until confirmed otherwise, and to assume appropriate PPE and handling that lead paint would require.

The same applies to unknown finishes on furniture pieces, or timber that may have been treated with harsh chemicals in the past, especially timber that has been used outdoors. The worst case scenario is you’ve been a bit over-cautious, but you also might be saving your bacon!

Want to find out more about safe woodworking?

If you’re interested to get some more hands on with safe and effective PPE while woodworking, check out our wide range of courses. Our Introduction to Machining: Make a chopping board course, or the Adirondack chair course are fantastic introductions to PPE while using power tools, and our Woodworking Fundamentals course is perfect for learning safe and effective use of hand tools.

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