I hate woodwork dust!!!

[flanajb]

I think I might suffer with OCD when it comes to dust as I always try my hardest to ensure that as far as possible as much as possible gets extracted into my dust extractors, however, yesterday I had to route circles in some MDF, and I just could not extract the dust and most of it ended up in the air. Went into the garage today and a thin layer is on every surface. I do have a ceiling mounted fine dust extractor too, but it not get it all.

Just spent 2 hours hoovering everything in sight, but I know that I won't have got it all. I wonder if I worry more than I should, given that I cycle a lot and always find myself inhaling awful diesel particulates and I am more likely to get lung cancer from that than I am from woodworking dust

ps - Lung Cancer is a fear of mine after watching my Father die of the awful disease.
pps - I always wear a 3M P3 dust mask when working, but do take it off if I am not routing or sawing

What do others do when routing items where you cannot extract the dust efficiently as you would like.

 

[custard]

It always puzzles me that the general sentiment on this forum is how irresponsible American woodworkers are for not using table saw crown guards. But the fact is woodworkers have a virtual monopoly on nasal cancer (even more concerning is that most of the data pre-dates the widespread use of MDF and plywood, so the cause was dust from hard and soft woods). Yet I don't see British woodworkers taking particular care about workshop dust.

Losing a finger would certainly spoil my day, but getting lung or nasal cancer would be a whole lot worse.

I use a mask whenever I'm machining, sanding or sweeping up, I have a ceiling mounted dust extractor, and all my workshop machines (fixed and portable) are connected to filtered dust extraction that betters 1mg/cubic metre.

 

[MIGNAL]

It's partly the move to power tools and sanding (hand or power) that really increases the amount of airborne dust. A hand Plane, Chisel and sharp cabinet scraper simply doesn't produce the amount of dust that routers, planers and sandpaper does. Hand tools tend to produce chips or shavings. Power tools remove material by speed and by removing much finer particles. All you can really do is make sure that the dust extraction is to a very high level and wear a suitable mask. Unfortunately the weather in the UK isn't really conducive to open air workshops.

 

[JimB]

The weather tends to be a bit better here so I drag the table saw outside and also do my routing and power sanding outside. But a mask still is necessary as you see when the dust has settled; you just spread it round a lot more, usually on washing on the line.
Indoors I hope the dust extractor is keeping the finer stuff from my lungs.

 

[MMUK]

What do others do when routing items where you cannot extract the dust efficiently as you would like.

Do you not have a vacuum take off fitting on the router? All of my plunge routers have a clip on attachment that you can hook up a normal vacuum hose to. Works a treat with my Sealey canister vac.

 

[flanajb]

What do others do when routing items where you cannot extract the dust efficiently as you would like.

Do you not have a vacuum take off fitting on the router? All of my plunge routers have a clip on attachment that you can hook up a normal vacuum hose to. Works a treat with my Sealey canister vac.

I was plunging a 60mm deep rebate. The cut was too deep and the dust was just being ejected out the back of the cutter.

 

[wallace]

I am utterly scared of dust. I used to work in a nasty place for a long time which has given me a huge intolerance to dust. All of my machines are connected to extractors housed outside but I still have a lot of dust from the RAS and tablesaw. I run two ambient fine filters and used to wear a 3M dustmaster with p2 filters but have found this does not give adequate protection so I am now wearing a sundstrom mask with p3 filters. In addition to this I have to take anithistimines to combat things. It would be a lot easier if I just stopped playing with wood. If I don't take precautions I end up with horrible headaches.

 

[woodfarmer]

Like many I paid no attention to dust for over 50 years.
Year before last I cut about 20 Cu metres of mainly oak logs into firewood sizes mostly using a big table saw. Got an unusually high dose of fine dust because the wood was riddled with woodworm mostly in or around the cambium layer, so was a mix of wood and bark dust. Since then I have been intolerant to dust and have bit of n ongoing cough. Had the xray etc, but seems to be dust intolerance. Now I use a all over head mask that supplies my head with clean filtered air.

So prevention is much better than cure.

 

[rdesign]

if you have good suction you can make a down draft table with small 5mm holes all over it. this works in 2 ways holds the piece your sanding or routing and sucks the dust away from you along with suction on the router it helps to catch the majority.

Regards richard.

 

[flanajb]

Will a P3 mask provide adequate protection when routing in a confined space with no ventilation or will I still be breathing in loads of fine particles?

 

[JimB]

Will a P3 mask provide adequate protection when routing in a confined space with no ventilation or will I still be breathing in loads of fine particles?

No dust mask is better than the seal around your face. If that leaks you're getting the dust in your lungs. That's why positive pressure clean air masks are best of all.

 

[Cheshirechappie]

Many years ago, in my early years as a very amateur wood-butcher, I set about making a small lap-desk from mahogany. I didn't have a bench at the time, just a Workmate, and was working in the kitchen. Hand-planing isn't easy on a workmate when you've had a bit of practice; it's an absolute pig when you aren't very sure of your very undeveloped skills. So after some head-scratching, I decided to buy a hand-held electric planer to surface the sawn boards. It had a dust-collecting bag. That's a good idea, I thought; and was very careful to have it fitted at all times.

This achieved in about ten minutes what it would (then) have taken me a couple of days to do by hand (I'd be rather quicker now). Feeling mightily pleased after ten minutes work I switched off the planer, and stood back to survey progress.

At this point, I suddenly realised that I was standing in a thick, red fog. The whole kichen was full of fine, red dust. It took me about three hours to vacuum it up (including off the ceiling) - and I was still finding deposits when I redecorated two years later. I had to shower and wash all my clothes. Heaven knows what the insides of my lungs looked like.

I've never used a power planer since.

Nowadays when I do a bit of hand sanding (the only sort I ever do), I'm still amazed by the fallout on the handkerchief when I blow my nose later. I take this as an indication that the nasal hairs and mucus membranes are doing what they're supposed to, but it's still salutory to see how much fine dust even a relatively 'controlled' operation like hand-sanding generates.

To those using dust-generating woodworking machines (that's all of them), good dust control measures are absolutely essential for your long-term health. DON'T scrimp on this.