Sanding Dust on Lathe. (Split from Rotating objects thread)

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Bob Graham

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Robbo, I've literally just started woodturning and joined a club. I was invited around to the chairman's house for a natter and a cuppa and he gave me a few tips. One of the tips related to ssaning and dust, well two tips actually. 1 apply Danish oil or similar before sanding and 2 get a small inexpensive fan and position it so that it gently blows the dust away from your face.
 
Bob Graham":52uxy029 said:
Robbo, I've literally just started woodturning and joined a club. I was invited around to the chairman's house for a natter and a cuppa and he gave me a few tips. One of the tips related to ssaning and dust, well two tips actually. 1 apply Danish oil or similar before sanding and 2 get a small inexpensive fan and position it so that it gently blows the dust away from your face.

Sorry to say this as you have been given it as advice from a turner, Blowing Dust is not a good idea, all you are doing is spreading it around in the work area and any that stays suspended or settles to be disturbed at a later date will be available for you to breath into your lungs.

The only safe thing to do with dust is remove it from your work space and the surrounding air that you breath. Either via an extractor with very fine filters or outside of shop and work area.
 
Very useful piece Chas...thanks for re-posting it. I hadn't seen it before and while it seems like common sense it's surprising how often we (well, I!) can forget common sense.

I typically use 'blue' paper (cheap rolls) for most stuff ...but not always ..

I saw someone burnishing with turnings (in a random YouTube video) and thought that had a certain sense to it ...so I tried it with a handful of turnings and it worked nicely. No harm done ...but the point is no harm done yet. Your post reminded me that of course, even though I'm burnishing carefully, using an appropriate frangible cloth would be safer.

Is there really any merit (taking into account safety issues) in using turnings to burnish or do you reckon it's probably best avoided ?
 
Bob Graham":20vwh24a said:
Robbo, I've literally just started woodturning and joined a club. I was invited around to the chairman's house for a natter and a cuppa and he gave me a few tips. One of the tips related to ssaning and dust, well two tips actually. 1 apply Danish oil or similar before sanding and 2 get a small inexpensive fan and position it so that it gently blows the dust away from your face.

The best thing to use is Lemon oil like the one which is sold by Chestnut products as it evaporates after a while which allows the use of nearly all finishes on top. This advice was given by Mark Sanger when I was talking to him yesterday.


CHJ":20vwh24a said:
Bob Graham":20vwh24a said:
Robbo, I've literally just started woodturning and joined a club. I was invited around to the chairman's house for a natter and a cuppa and he gave me a few tips. One of the tips related to ssaning and dust, well two tips actually. 1 apply Danish oil or similar before sanding and 2 get a small inexpensive fan and position it so that it gently blows the dust away from your face.

Sorry to say this as you have been given it as advice from a turner, Blowing Dust is not a good idea, all you are doing is spreading it around in the work area and any that stays suspended or settles to be disturbed at a later date will be available for you to breath into your lungs.

The only safe thing to do with dust is remove it from your work space and the surrounding air that you breath. Either via an extractor with very fine filters or outside of shop and work area.

I would like to add to what CHJ has stated.
Any dust that does get airborne does not just disappear as soon as you stop sanding and if you are wearing a mask it is no good just removing it and carrying on the dust takes time to disappear so either carry on wearing it until it does or leave the workshop if you want to remove the mask.
This is also worth thinking about if you finish off the lathe as any finish will have the dust settle on it and spoil what could be a great bowl.
 
phil.p":nb0lp6n9 said:
Lemon oil is only a thin low build finish - it's going to dry out, but not evaporate. No real difference to using any other thin Danish or finishing oil, I'd think.
Might depend on Brand, the one I use appears to have the equivalent of White Spirit and Aromatics only in it (I don't understand all the chemical jargon in the Safety Data Sheet)

Food Safe Finish is usually Light Grade (thin) Mineral Oil (Liquid Paraffin BP) and residue does not seem to have adverse effect as long as wood being sanded was not too porous or it's left to soak in, I guess a lot will depend on how generous you are with splashing it about.
Personally I only use wet sanding on items being finished with an oil/varnish mix anyway.
 
I read recently that the dust from sanding walnut and other woods which bear fruit ie nuts. The wood contains the same allergens as the nuts and warned that anyone with a nut allergy can suffer a reaction to breathing in the dust, sounds like common sense but i would never have made to connection. This needs to be borne in mind for all people including children allowed near the workshop.
 

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