home made gas mask

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Just sitting around and thinking about a few things...a couple of articles about gas masks being banned...got a idea...not a GREAT idea but it may help when they use tear gas before entering your house...

All you need is a bottle of vaseline, some goggles and one of those painters masks with the removeable cartridges.

Vaselines any exposed areas of your skin...put it on heavey, especially the face...gas burning on the hands can be ignored much better than on the face, especially aorund they eyes. Stick on the goggles and the mask with filters. We used to build water purifucation systems from waterline PVC, fish aquarium filter floss and charcoal...you might 'fix' these paintrs masks up a little...perhaps even some cheese cloth or such as an extra precaution. I can't swear it would work but it seems that this is better than holding your breath or choking into submission.

Any thoughts?

-- Satanta (satanta@zdnetmail.com), December 02, 1999

Answers

I painted for 30+ yrs & over this span I worked in every environment imaginable & they perform very well aghainst a wide array of substances ie.smoke,chemical`s & many gases.In my opinion,with full eye goggels,vaseline & mask,you would be protected aghainst a wide range of substances. Good luck Keith

-- Keith fore (d.fore@worldnet.att.net), December 02, 1999.

Nice knowing you. Good for the paint, and other harmful stuff, but a concentrated spray of a Biologic, or a nice blister agent? C'mon. You'd be so dead. Those filters have NO wartime effectiveness and to attempt to utilize any of the described ideas would be a death sentence. Not trying to flame, but the newbies reading this might need to know. Check the local library or with civil defense for information.

-- Billy Boy (Rakkasan101st@aol.com), December 03, 1999.

Better than nothing for sure. If you can afford it buy the real thing though. Some of the masks are available with charcoal impregnation to help with nusiance chemical smells.

Do note though. The better masks are rated to meed the OSHA N-95 spec which means they should intercept 95% of particulates 2 microns or larger as I recall. Many bioagents are smaller (down to .5 microns). Still, rather have some of these masks than nothing. I bought mine from Gempler's (www.gemplers.com) and got their house brand N95's with the exhale valve, extra top nose shield and dual head bands. Instead of using vaseline I have triple antibiotic ointment in a petrolatum base (normal formulation). Also have a pair of the dust goggles the military use with the polycarbonate lense inserts.

I figured that I can't exactly waltz into Safeway wearing my MCU-2P mask, head coverings, biosuit, etc (though I was tempted on Halloween just to see how folks reacted). If I'm headed to town and there's any infectious threat (probably secondary spread from infected people) that the N95 and goggles would be a lot more inoccuous than the full on biogear. Probably sufficient in most cases too (not expecting to find myself in a cloud of smallpox powdered agent where I live).

Do note folks...with many biological agents getting particles in your eyes is almost as bad as getting them in your lungs. Definitly need eye protection. Gemplers sell the goggles too for around $15.

-- Don Kulha (dkulha@vom.com), December 03, 1999.


Well, I've considered the biological part...just have to hope. I'm thinking more along the lines of some 'men-in-black', instead of knocking 0on the door just shoot a teargas cannister thru the window.

Even full biogear isn't 100% effective...just ask those fellers from the gulf war.

Since I'm partially blind and haven't worked a real job in years [no I don't get disability and I just applied for emergency food stamps this week] I can't swing a biosuit or much of anything else.... [biy would I love that MaadiAK I saw today....]

-- Satanta (satanta@zdnetmail.com), December 03, 1999.


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