Just read all the Bill Pentz DC stuff and I'm ready to give up woodworking!

[Terry Hatfield]

Wow Terry...long time, no hear. Good to hear from you.
-Jeff

Contrary to popular belief, I'm still around.

[David Prince]

I smoked for 20 years. I quit 4 years ago. A little bit of sawdust in my lungs is probably an improvement! I wear a mask if I am around concrete dust or blown insulation. I have a dust collector and an air cleaner in my shop, but I do not see myself wearing a mask in the shop. It would seem like it would take away some freedom and enjoyment.

[Neil Brooks]

I should actually send Messr. Pentz a thank you note.

For years, I've been wondering whether I'd ever wear any of that $2,000 worth of SCUBA gear again

I've got a hot-rodded HF 2HP DC with the Wynn 35A. I run a 2-filter bungie'd to box-fan set-up while working, and for a few hours afterward.

I've been wearing the fairly cheap NIOSH 95 masks, but will probably upgrade to a 3M 7500.

I'll eventually build a better DIY air filtration system, too.

There does seem to be a point of diminishing returns. I just don't think I'm quite there, yet. My sinuses let me know when I still have more air filtering work to do

[Matt Armstrong]

You don't need to spend $1500 to get good dust collection. Sealing your shop up from your house, having a set of "shop" clothes, and a good respirator will do wonders. But is it convenient? Sometimes it's not. Before I ran an extensive dust collection system, I chose when to wear my respirator. Routing & sanding were obvious choices. When using my lunchbox planer? My ears were a bigger concern at that point. And so it goes. The benefits of a good dust collection setup are a freedom from the respirator under most situations (not sanding or free-hand routing) and a much cleaner shop. It's a joy to be able to route gazillions of dados without a speck of dust left over. I love using my table saw since it's one of the cleanest machines in my shop now. I can joint boards all day without making a mess....

Dust collection, to me, is part of a workshop setup. And for what it's worth, while not necessary, I would probably have spent twice as much to get the level of dust collection that I ended up with...

[Alan Schaffter]

You don't need to spend $1500 to get good dust collection. Sealing your shop up from your house, having a set of "shop" clothes, and a good respirator will do wonders. But is it convenient? Sometimes it's not. Before I ran an extensive dust collection system, I chose when to wear my respirator. Routing & sanding were obvious choices. When using my lunchbox planer? My ears were a bigger concern at that point. And so it goes. The benefits of a good dust collection setup are a freedom from the respirator under most situations (not sanding or free-hand routing) and a much cleaner shop. It's a joy to be able to route gazillions of dados without a speck of dust left over. I love using my table saw since it's one of the cleanest machines in my shop now. I can joint boards all day without making a mess....

Dust collection, to me, is part of a workshop setup. And for what it's worth, while not necessary, I would probably have spent twice as much to get the level of dust collection that I ended up with...

Nice post!!

[Skip Camejo]

Thanks for the input guys.

My shop is not connected to the house. Actually, I'm in the process of building a new shop. My old shop was next door in our previous house. It was one bay in a detached garage with no windows, the new one is an addition to a detached garage behind our current house. The new one is 20X20 with 10ft ceilings and four large windows.

I'm going to upgrade the filter on my Grizzly dust collector to a Wynn 35a. I'm also going to upgrade the filter on my air cleaner. I found that Lowes carries the same size 3m Filtrete filters as my air cleaner, so I'll invest in that too.

Bill Pentz had a lot of good info on his website....it just kind of difficult to follow as the text kept getting bigger and bigger.

[Roger Pozzi]

I read all Bill Pentz' literature then I decided that all the testing may have been done using those California rats which are susceptible to ALL forms of disease.
Really though, he does have some interesting reading but, I don't see where any of it applies to a hobbyist. If I was in this environment daily, I would get concerned but, for now, I'll use my DC, AF, and a respirator when needed.

[Chuck Saunders]

I think that Bill's message is sound or at least is sounds good to me. Our hobby shops often have poor fresh air exchange and the fine dust is less likely to be filtered out by our noses. No we are not sanding beryllium but many woods especially hardwoods have a toxic component. I can see where the smaller dust could accumulate in my lungs and after prolonged exposure (years) could result in allergic reactions and decreased lung capacity. I think that the most value comes from Bill illuminating the difference in technique needed to capture fine dust as opposed to chips and coarse dust. While I don't think that if you can't capture all of the dust you shouldn't be woodworking, it is more information and more information is a good thing.

I remember when our shop was fitted for respirators we had to take a stress test to insure that we would be able to wear a respirator without adverse effect.

Please note that I used the pronoun I 6 times in the above. That means that this is my opinion and worth what you paid for it.

Full disclosure - my ClearVue cyclone arrives this week!

[Joel Earl]

Terry - Terry - Terry ....... nice to see you flexing the fingers again!

So you still have that itty bitty shop that I want to steal?
Glad to see you around again

[Terry Hatfield]

Terry - Terry - Terry ....... nice to see you flexing the fingers again!

So you still have that itty bitty shop that I want to steal?
Glad to see you around again

Thanks Joel. Shop is still the same. I just don't have much time to enjoy it.

[Alan Schaffter]

I think that Bill's message is sound or at least is sounds good to me. Our hobby shops often have poor fresh air exchange and the fine dust is less likely to be filtered out by our noses. No we are not sanding beryllium but many woods especially hardwoods have a toxic component. I can see where the smaller dust could accumulate in my lungs and after prolonged exposure (years) could result in allergic reactions and decreased lung capacity. I think that the most value comes from Bill illuminating the difference in technique needed to capture fine dust as opposed to chips and coarse dust. While I don't think that if you can't capture all of the dust you shouldn't be woodworking, it is more information and more information is a good thing.

I remember when our shop was fitted for respirators we had to take a stress test to insure that we would be able to wear a respirator without adverse effect.

Please note that I used the pronoun I 6 times in the above. That means that this is my opinion and worth what you paid for it.

Full disclosure - my ClearVue cyclone arrives this week!

Nice post!

You mention one of the things I have noted in other threads- more hobby woodworkers have dedicated WW shops now; previous generations worked on saw horses in the driveway or if lucky had a corner of a small garage. Add multiple serious dust-producing machines (drum sanders) and tools (ROS) which are now relatively affordable, many of which weren't even available that many years ago, and you have a totally different shop environment where dust control must be taken seriously.

[Terry Hatfield]

Bill obviously has a ton...make that 2 tons... of great information. Obviously, breathing a bunch of fine dust of any kind can not be good for you. With that being said, I agree with some of the others. Everything in this life has risk involved. It's risky to drive across town. At least a bad car wreck kills you all at once instead of just a little at a time like the dust does. Now, with that being said, I have to utmost respect for Bill and count him as a friend. I'm pleased that I had a very, very small part in his research and in the development of the cyclone. Looking back at it, I would not trade the experience for anything. I use a cyclone built from Bill's design in my shop and it works great. I would not consider replacing it with anything less.

I discovered when I first started wwing 10 years ago that the dust really bothered me. Most likely I am hyper sensitive to it because of my 19 years in the auto body biz working without masks and being really dumb with sanding dust and other stuff way more dangerous than a piece of wood. Whatever the cause, the wood dust really bothered me. A good cylone with good filters, good ducts properly sized with hoods that work are a must for me and IMHO for anyone that is sensitive to the dust and doesn't want to be strapped to a respirator every time they are in the shop. I would never consider working in my shop without my cyclone but that's just me. When I do sanding or whatever operation that I'm not comfortable that I can capture the dust, I wear a good 3M respirator and I open the doors and windows if the weather permits.

The bottom line to me is, there is risk in very small flying particles of dust like the ones we make when wwwing. Surely we can all agree on that. It's up to you whether you feel like it's a big enough risk to do what needs to be done to capture it which will cost a good bit of money. The only other options, IMHO, are to wear a respirator, work in the driveway only on windy days or find a cleaner hobby.

For what it's worth,

t

[mreza Salav]

I have a 1 stage dust collection (bag type) that works Ok when the bag is not clogged but soon it becomes clogged.
I have a home made large air cleaner with two layers of furnace filter, each layer with two 16x25" filters (a lot of filter surface). It runs constantly in the shop (and about a couple of hours after I have left the shop). It is amazing how much dust it collects on the outer filters. I vaccum it once in a while when they get brown! without it, all those dust would be in my lungs and in the house (so family lungs). even with this I notice my nose gets filled with "stuff" more frequently when I do woodworking.
Bill Pentz has done a great service to people to inform them of the dangers and some ways to avoid them. I'll have to upgrade to a cyclone soon.

[Mitchell Andrus]

Skip, calm down and enjoy your hobby. Think about it.... What proportion of your time in the shop do you make airborn dust compared to all of the other activites? Wear a mask - make dust - turn on a fan - leave for a few minutes.
.

[Joel Earl]

and most important -- Have some FUN and enjoy the moment!!!!!