Dust is dangerous

[Brian Henderson]

Brian, glad you liked it and BELIEVED ME. Cuz' I just googled it and did not find a thing on the show, gettin old. When I
was a kid I took a paint can,hooked a six foot piece of garden hose into a hole in side at bottom. Spoon full of flour in can
in front of hose. Toss in small piece of burning paper,press on the top, blow into hose ....BOOM! Not my idea,though,read
it somewhere .

[Mel Fulks]

Had not seen that! I think it was FLOWER POWER we were striving for in the sixties ,but with all the weed....not sure.

[Chris Parks]

Likewise, an individual would more than likely have to work an entire lifetime in an extremely dust laden environment to experience adverse effects.

I think that there is enough documented evidence to wonder why you would ever write that statement.

[Brian W Smith]

"Dust is dangerous".........yup,can be.Price of doing business?

Awareness,education,and a few pcs of sheet metal equipment puts it to bed rather quickly though.

[David Ragan]

Please Please vacuum dust (HEPA) instead of blowing it around.

Get a whole-shop dust filter. Jet used to make the best.

I am very familiar with this topic.

The particulates <10 microns that make it into the chest are the worst.

I have been told that more WW have chronic lung Dz than coal miners.

I dont wear a face mask, though. That would be ideal-I just don't do it.

[Mike Hollingsworth]

I remember telling my doctor that wood dust is a natural product. He replied "so what's poison ivy?".

[Richard Hutchings]

This is one of the reasons for going hand tool. At least for me. I've got some nice sanding equipment and a dust collection system but it's not enough so I avoid making dust in the first place if I can.

[Phil Thien]

Please Please vacuum dust (HEPA) instead of blowing it around.

Get a whole-shop dust filter. Jet used to make the best.

I am very familiar with this topic.

The particulates <10 microns that make it into the chest are the worst.

I have been told that more WW have chronic lung Dz than coal miners.

I dont wear a face mask, though. That would be ideal-I just don't do it.

What is your source for that information?

I do IT work, much of it amongst doctors and have quizzed them on what they see in regards to patients suffering from wood dust exposure and they are extremely dismissive of the idea.

[Keith Hankins]

You are so right! My wife is a respiratory therapist for the past 25 years. You would be surprised by the number of woodworkers that have issues. To be fair they could have other issues as well such as COPD, or smoking etc. However particulate of any nature ingested to the lungs is real bad news. They fill the lungs and victims smother to death. Not a pleasant thing to see. Equally bad is chemical vapors. She see's a lot of old school car painters and finishers that have chemical burns in the lungs and COPD from exposure. Please wear proper PPE and use DC and air filtration.

When I was young and stupid, I spent a time doing drywall to pay for college. I would work sanding board for hours with only a bandanna tied around my face. I regret it, but when your young you're bullet proof.

A recent health issue, caused me to have to have some scans, and the lady was talking to me as she did it and said, "I see you have a touch of emphaseema". I said WHAT, I don't have that, and she said just a little on the top left lung. Not debilitating and to be honest, I cannot tell I have an issue, but it is there. Hits you then.

[Tom Walz]

There is also the issue of individual sensitivity. What effects some people immediately may never affect others. Nickel allergy is like this.


You can develop a sensitivity (allergy) if you work with something long enough.


Your lungs work best with warm moist air. Wood dust meets none of those requirements.

[Pat Barry]

Random orbit sander is big problem for me. The dust bag is really poor and as a result ineffective. Fine dust (fine like fine flour) gets everywhere and I can only imagine gets into my lungs. The particulate size is so small the stuff must go in very deeply. Once its in there, in a moist environment, I can't imagine it coming out very easily at all. I don't wear a facemask but think I will start. Point of use air cleanup makes the most sense to me if you can do it effectively. Maybe a downdraft sanding station?

[Craig Behnke]

This is one of the reasons for going hand tool. At least for me. I've got some nice sanding equipment and a dust collection system but it's not enough so I avoid making dust in the first place if I can.

yes! Like and idiot, I used to think that if the old timey WW'ers from 100+ years ago weren't dropping like flies in the 40-50 year old range from lung diseases, then WWing probably isn't a big risk to me...WRONG...so much woodworking back then created chips and shavings that don't have the same negative impact as super fine dust. Since i'm unlikely to transition away from machines, I have a mongo, oversized DC in my shop to try to combat the risk. I still need to get one of those whole shop air cleaners...it will help even more.

protect yourself before you wreck yourself.

[Ole Anderson]

Not to derail the thread, but something to watch out for is cleaning an enclosed shower or bath area with ammonia or chlorine based products which can really get to your lungs. And NEVER mix the two or you can release chlorine gas. I know someone who mixed bathroom cleaners and died two years later from major lung issues. In HD the other day I saw a package of 3M household cleanser odor respirator masks. I picked up a package of them for when I attack the shower next time.

[Mel Fulks]

The downdraft tables are theoretically a good idea. But my observation has been that unless they are used every day they get piled up with junk that no one wants to move. So it's just an expensive storage unit.

[Mark Bolton]

I think that there is enough documented evidence to wonder why you would ever write that statement.

Chris,
I think, as always, with these threads if anyone injects any measure of reason they are immediately (and unfairly) swung into the column of "sawdust schmawdust, heck, toss your small children in the dust bin and let the play in it like a sandbox". The simple fact of the matter is those statements are never made. No one in this thread, nor any other that I have read (there are plenty here and elsewhere), has ever stated that dust control and collection is a waste of time. Its consistently stated that its just a smart thing to do, and makes shop time more pleasant to boot.

That said if the issue was so imminently detrimental to health the PR campaign in the commercial woodworking industry would be equaled only by that of anti-tobacco. Its just not there. Its not to say they are running around willy nillie stirring up sawdust and breathing it for fun just for the sake of being careless. Its about measured reason.

I have no doubt the data is out there somewhere (likely in the insurance industry) but the numbers may likely be so small its not tracked or not attributed to hobby, or low level, woodworking. Sandpaper and power sanders have been around for long enough that everyone from shop teachers to those in the woodworking industry would be sick to a level of public outcry but its not the case. Some people get sick for sure. Bakers lung is a perfect example. Well known, well documented, and real. But do you see Martha Stewart wearing a respirator when she bakes? Julia Child? How bout Cake Boss? They are baking daily? I have a local commercial bakery near me with perhaps a half dozen employees. I have not seen a trend air shield in there or even a dust mask.

I was in the pottery world for a several years. We were very very cautions when mixing clay and glazes. Concerns of silicosis abounds in that world. Yet you can look to the elders of the pottery world, people in their 70's, 80's, and beyond, who were potters their entire lives and died of old age. We had never heard of a documented case of silicosis in a potter who worked in his or her private studio full time for a lifetime (which almost none of us did). The cases you did hear about were in people who mined the raw materials, worked in huge factory environments long before the effects were known. Did that mean we didnt wear a respirator? Of course not. Oddly in that world the worst thing that would get you would be something called "Polymer Flu". Buying dry ingredients in less that full bag quantities were weighed out into plastic bags by our suppliers. If you didnt wear a respirator, opening and closing those bags all day would give you a 24 hour flu that would be miserable. It had nothing to do with the material in the bags but the plastic bags themselves.

Again, I have not read anyone in any of these threads state that protecting yourself from dust isnt a good idea but getting extremely carried away with it when the shops and tools of years past simply pale in comparison to most of our shops and tools today can be a bit over the top but to each his/her own. My dad was a hobby cabinetmaker. There was no such thing as dust collection. It didnt exist. His woodworking consisted of dust everywhere, a 1/3 sheet sander (the 25lb chrome plated job with the frayed cord that you had to stay away from so you didnt get zapped) and some ash trays around the shop for the cig's. Grandfather the same. And they were dealing with nastier solvents, nastier paints, adhesives, and so on. All my ply in my shop is low/no VOC, formaldehyde free, and so on. My finishes are safer than any time in history. My shop is an operating room compared to 40-50 years ago and those old timers are stopping in my shop to chew the fat!!

I am a 100% proponent of dust collection and would personally never work in a shop without it. My air cleaner is running whenever I am working. That said, Im in the shop almost full time and I can pretty much guarantee something else is going to get me long before the sawdust does.