Room in house for turning?

[Alan Tolchinsky]

Has anybody tried to use a spare room in your home for turning? With this hot weather here in Raleigh that would be nice. But I wonder if you could ever contain the mess to the one room? I guess you could cover the carpeting and seal off the room some way. Any ideas or experience here?

[Tom Giacomo]

I wouldn't even try, I cannot even keep the mess in my shop.

[Rod Sheridan]

Alan, when I lived in a apartment I used one bedroom as a wood shop.

It was all handtool work, I had the bench in a double sliding door closet.

The mess stayed in the room very well, however the floor was hardwood as opposed to carpet.

If you removed the carpet, and put a small exhaust fan in the window, you could draw cool air from the house, and the negative pressure in the room would keep dust from migrating into the house.

Of course you would have to block off the furnace duct into your room.

Regards, Rod.

[Grant Davis]

The boyfriend of one of my employees has his second bed room set up as a turning room. He says he has no problems with dust at all.

[Nate Carey]

Alan, if you want to turn...turn! You can always stop and re-group...

[Gerold Griffin]

I hope you have a very understanding wife if you do this! Knew a guy once that rebuilt a Chevy engine in his living room. When he got it out she got him out!

[Greg Just]

Why not! I have a shop in the basement and get wood chips all over the house. It probably wouldn't be any worse if I were using a bedroom.

[Steve Schlumpf]

Alan - my shop is in the basement and on top of that it is carpeted! So far no real problems with sawdust or shavings but I do use a dust collector when finish turning and I make sure that I clean the shop up when I am done turning!

[Scott Conners]

For the first 6 months I had my lathe, I had it in the kitchen of my 1 bedroom apartment! It actually worked quiet well, I swept/vacuumed often, and as long as I ran the vacuum for dust collection when sanding, the dust through the rest of the house wasn't terrible...but it did definitely get around, horizontal surfaces tended to need dusting far sooner than before I had the lathe. There are pictures of my lathe and dining table covered with thanksgiving dinner and turning tools - search for my name, I think it's titled "A turner's thanksgiving".

I had to stop because the downstairs neighbor didn't like the noise, but it worked just fine, and airconditioning while you work in the middle of summer is a very nice thing!

[Alan Tolchinsky]

I hope you have a very understanding wife if you do this! Knew a guy once that rebuilt a Chevy engine in his living room. When he got it out she got him out!

Oh, that's so funny. My wife is very understanding but neither one of us wants a dusty house. I too used to have a basement shop and I miss it with its good temperatures and easy use.

[Ryan Baker]

I've seen people do it ... i've even seen a guy put his whole wood shop in his bedroom (one-room apartment type thing). That said, I wouldn't even consider it. It would be a big mess, even with a dust collector. Maybe with a midi lathe and small projects. Just hit up Wal-Mart for a window air conditioner for the garage.

[Phil Labowski]

i saw a great video on youtube showing a dust collecting system using an attic fan and some furnace filters. Something like that would allow you to contain the mess just fine.

[Jon Lanier]

Alan - my shop is in the basement and on top of that it is carpeted! So far no real problems with sawdust or shavings but I do use a dust collector when finish turning and I make sure that I clean the shop up when I am done turning!

Steve, that is probably the key to keeping anything clean....do it when your done. Unfortunately, I don't do that...thus my shop mess.

[Chris Rae]

My shop is a spare, carpeted, bedroom in the house (at least for a few more weeks) and has been for 3 years. The key to keeping things clean is:
1. Use dust collection, shop vac or whatever while turning, keep the door closed.
2. Clean up after each project.
3. Clean off your clothes and shoes before you leave the room.
4. DO NOT assume that I'm good at any of the above. (But I have a very understanding husband)

We're in process of finishing my shop building, I already have a window air conditioner installed. Easy and not that expensive.

[Steve Kubien]

Alan, are you happily married? Do you want to stay that way? Sorry pal but I think you ought to put up with the heat for a few more weeks until things start to cool down.

Steve
P.S. If you do opt to go this route, give your wife my number and I will prepare an urn for your remains.