Dust

Dust extraction at point of production works very well, can be combined with a nuisance (paper) mask for additional personal protection. It's the way that keeps the shop in best condition for the money.

Dryer vent works for me.

Nothing will keep up with shaving production, so move it into position as you begin to sand.

Dust is actually a real health hazard. There are two things you can worry about: the condition of your shop and the condition of your lungs. In reality the shop doesn't matter that much other than kicking up settled dust will likely deposit more in your lungs. Catching the dust at the source is the best and I use a 4" DC hose connected to a cardboard box positioned near the spinning workpiece. My DC has a 1 micron bag and anybody who really knows about dust hazards will tell you that is not ideal. The nasty stuff for your lungs is in the 0.3 micron range. That size will get inhaled, will not be trapped by your nose and will not be exhaled like the much finer stuff. The 0.3 micron stuff tends to lodge in the crevices of your lung tissue and stays there. This is bad. While sanding is seen as a major source of dust since it is obviously streaming off the workpiece, dust is also produced when cutting dry wood. Spalted wood provides another problem - the fungi spores that are part of the spalting process. Some of these can be very nasty and cause very serious problems. I think I read where a famous Australian turner no longer turns spalted wood because of the hazard.

So if you are real smart you will collect the dust with a good DC with the best filter/bag you can get and you will also wear a respirator that provides good dust protection. A HEPA filter is the best. If you have a long way to go in your life you will pay even more attention to these measures. billh

I'm wondering if we are really deluding ourselves in many ways with the notion we are protected from dust hazards if we take X-Y-Z steps.

I use a 1-ish micron DC and a sub-micron air filtration unit. I have very little dust that settles on the tabletops and such in my turnery so the collection must be working pretty well. However, whenever I empty the dust collector bag or clean the filters in the air filtration unit a big cloud of dust is generated that settles on my skin, clothing and the surrounding surfaces - whether indoors or out. Additionally, that uncollected dust on the workshop surfaces and the fine dust just from the fact that we work with wood - inevitably settles on our clothing - to be inhaled when we disturb objects or disrobe.

We've heard and read that this sub-micron dust can take hours to settle out of the air. Every time we open the shop door, do we, in fact, really need something on the order of a Haz-Mat suit and a Breathing Apparatus for Shop and Turnery for Abatement of Residual Dust?

Granted, cutting out a large percentage of dust that's being produced is more than likely A Good Thing (tm Martha). But we don't work in a sealed environment with particulate showers at the doorway.

When I started investigating dust collection because of my allergies, one of the sources (I don't remember which one I was reading) made the very valid point that the only effective method was to collect the dust at the source, as has already been stated. I use a "Big Gulp" that I pull up as close the work as I can get it whenever I am sanding or even turning a particularly dusty piece of dry wood. It is hooked up to a 1

1/2 hp Delta dust collector. It is a joy to see the dust being sucked down the hose from as much as a foot away from the Big Gulp.

Not to sound too gross, but when I forget to turn on the dust collector, my nose is immediately filled with sawdust. When the dust collector is on, it is as clear as a bell. Get a good dust collector, you will seldom need the mask.

Earl

good point, that your lungs are much harder to replace than the shop is to clean - but there is another effective technique (which I use) - when doing something dusty, I use a powered helmet (an Airmate), and I have my lathe by a large open door. so a good fraction of the dust goes outside, helped by a pusher fan in an open vent. When done, a little blowing from the air gun moves most of the rest of the fine dust out the door.

Of course, for you "climactically challenged" folks, this approach is less practical, but for me it's a lot easier than trying to collect the dust at its source -

bill

Bill

to contact me, do not reply to this message, instead correct this address and use it

will iam_ b_ No ble at msn daught com

This is one of those religious issues. Danger from wood appears to be from the chemicals it contains or those associated with woodworking. The original OSHA/EPA "study" was merely an extrapolation from inorganic dust data, which produces certain types of recognizable lung damage which can lead to cancer. Wood/fiber dust didn't produce these kinds, but somehow the bureaucrats connected the dots to create an ogre anyway.

Nuisance masks deflect virtually all the airborne dust you'll encounter, which is why your body's splendid cleanup system, where the air is made turbulent by the hairs and nares so that particles of _any_ size can be snagged by the mucous to be moved upward and outward by the ciliae, can't find enough to soil your kleenex after the fact or the next morning.

If you're paranoid about your lungs, what you need to wear is a charcoal mask, because it's the chemicals that count. Or, you can take Bill's advice, where dilution is the solution to pollution.