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Is it hazardous to sand chrome?

I have been doing hard chrome for twenty years sanding flat bars and plates making a lot of chrome dust some times with or without a mask is this chrome dust hard on your lungs and can it build up in your lungs causing health problem's

Darren Kluth
hard chrome plating - Molalla, Oregon
August 11, 2008

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Hi, Darren. Consider this: Is glass safe? Mankind has been eating from it since caveman days, it's inert. But it's a nasty and painful path to suicide if you swallow a mouthful of glass shards. So, the first thing is: you need to wear a mask when sanding anything every time. It doesn't matter whether it's steel or wood or chrome or plastic or concrete, every dust/particulate is bad for your lungs and your health.

If what you are sanding is clean chrome metal, the danger from the dust may be no worse than the danger of sanding any other metal. I don't think anybody really knows.

But if you are sanding stuff that has dried chromic acid on it, yes, it is very hazardous. Chromic acid is carcinogenic. If this is your own business, you should get a blood test for chromium. If your doctor is unfamiliar with it, a local industrial hygienist, health department, or poison control center may be able to advise him. If you are employed by others, you should have been trained in this a long time ago; if your employer is not open with you on this subject you should call an OSHA hotline. Good luck.

Regards,

Ted Mooney, P.E.
Striving to live Aloha
finishing.com - Pine Beach, New Jersey
August , 2008