Dust or no dust.....that's my question

[Kevin Wolfe]

So I recently started turning and my lathe is in my garage. Needless to say, its been a cold winter in central PA so far. Not to mention, the lathe is by the garage door where the lighting stinks. I wouldn't mind moving into my unfinished basement for the rest of the winter until the weather warms up a bit.

I know that most of what comes off my lathe is chips (very small to pretty big) which fall to the floor within seconds, which is contained in a curtained area could be managed.

I also know (or have read) that the majority of the dust (harmful stuff that stays airborne) comes from sanding on the lathe. This can be dealt with in two ways:
1) wet sanding with oil, mineral spirits, water, etc.
2) putting some sort of suction vac device in to collect it at its source

I don't have a dust collection system and really don't have the money for one right now. I have a shop vac and dust deputy that I use for my other power tools. This brings me to wet sanding. If I wet sand basically everything during the winter, would the area be good enough to work in without a respirator when doing all the other lathe work? I hope so, but would like the advice of others who may have tried this in the past.

[Thom Sturgill]

I would say yes, but with a caveat. Stay away from Rosewood - in fact, pretty much all of the Dalbergia species. The dust from those can be very pervasive and can cause skin and lung sensitivity.

[Paul Williams]

I am one of several on the forum who turn in a finished basement so the answer is yes. However while turning produces chips but it also produces dust. I run a shopvac behind the lathe anytime I sand, and I wear a dust mask or my powered respirator. I do most finish sanding wet. I also have a box with a fan in it and a filter in front that sits about 18" behind my lathe at bed level. Cleaning up after each session keeps the dust and stray chips to one area. If you don't clean up you will find chips tracked to all areas of the house and dust everywhere.

[Reed Gray]

If you turn dry wood, you will generate fine dust from the turning, from sanding, and from when you shovel up the shavings. It will go every where, including your lungs. So, a hood around what you are turning will contain the fine stuff. A shop vac will work for very small things like pens, but is not effective for general sanding and turning. It just doesn't move enough volume of air to contain the dust 'plume'. Add to that, some woods and wood dust are highly toxic, you can have problems. A mask helps and keeps stuff from getting in your lungs, but it doesn't pull the fine stuff out of the air. There are many ways to solve the dust problem, but most of them take money. I have a number of bowl turning clips up including dust collection and sanding hoods. You Tube and type in robo hippy.

robo hippy

[Bernie May]

A Dylos dc1100 dust monitor will tell you what amount of dust is in the air. Otherwise you are just guessing. Anyone without one of these is missing out on valuable information about your shop air. $200.

[Kevin Wolfe]

Thanks Bernie. If I had $200 for that though, I would probably put it straight towards an air cleaner. Honestly, with the rest of life (house, kids, dogs, job, etc) I don't find myself wood working for hours on end. Maybe a half hour here and there of actual turning.

Reed, I hear you about the dry wood. That's the one I was kinda afraid of. I don't think the dust is anything like a table saw but it's still there. Wet wood is a no brainier. Guess I could turn a lot of wet in the winter and finish all the pieces in the summer when it's moved back into the garage.

By the way, which is better at cleaning the air (get ready for dumb question) a dust collector or air cleaner? Given my scenario that is.

[Paul Williams]

"dust collector or air cleaner?" Both! They do different things. A dust collector with good airflow and excellent filtration with the hose right at the lathe would be your first line of defense and would be the first thing I would buy in your position. Catch what you can before it gets into the air. Some dust will escape. It will be the fine stuff that gets everywhere and is the most dangerous to your lungs. The role of an air cleaner is to remove that fine dust. That is just my opinion. I have no scientific evidence to back it up but it makes sense to me.

[Jon Nuckles]

Air cleaners don't do much to protect your lungs while you are creating the dust. They take some time to recycle and clean the air in your shop. I have one as a second line of defense, but collection at the source and a good dust mask are your primary protection.

[Thom Sturgill]

I have seen several recommendations that you not turn on the air cleaner until you leave, and then on a timer. It will remove the fine dust that is suspended in the air before it settles, but it keeps it stirred up while running. This way the fine layer of settled dust never gets started, so does not get stirred up by just walking into the shop.
Dust collectors on the other hand need to run while the dust is being created and it needs to be captured as close to the source as possible. Turning shavings make this difficult, but not impossible. As Reed said, and I ignored in my first comment, dry wood can also create dust when cut. Wet not so much.

Masks and respirators are the first line of defence, with powered respirators possibly being the better solution if the filtering is adequate. different filtering is needed for dust and fumes from finishes.

[Reed Gray]

Wet wood can generate dust. In the summer when it is dry, I rake the shavings out in front of the shop, and the sun dries them out in a couple of hours. In the winter, I put a fan on them while they are still in the turning room, some times piled a foot deep. I do this to make them a lot lighter so when I bag them, they are easier to move around. The problem with the stuff inside is that when I am scooping it up after it has dried some, it does generate some dust. I will turn on the dust collector when I am scooping them up. It can change the weight of a bag by 30% or more.

robo hippy

[Prashun Patel]

"I don't have a dust collection system and really don't have the money for one right now."

Get a 3m half mask respirator. I use dust collection also, but if I had to choose, there's no substitution for a respirator. They're cheap.

"I have a shop vac and dust deputy that I use for my other power tools."

You can make this work just fine. Build or buy a clamping mechanism to hold the shopvac hose near the edge of the head stock. You'll be able to position it to catch the dust as it's coming off the vessel. In fact, I just hold the hose with the power sander and it works fine for dry sanding too.

You can also make a very cheap and effective ambient air cleaner with a $20 box fan, a bungee cord, and 20x20" Merv11/13 furnace filters strapped to the intake. Hang it over your lathe and your date won't be the prettiest, but will be the hardest working.

[Steve Schlumpf]

I have a basement shop and I don't care what kind of wood you turn (green or dry), you will generate dust. I have a dust collector for sanding dry wood and also a home-made filter system for when I rough out bowls. At the end of a turning day - there is a layer of dust throughout the work area even though I try to minimize it getting tracked into the house - some of it does. I do use a drop down canvas to keep the shavings close to the lathe and I use a powered respirator the entire time I am turning. The main advantage of having a shop in the basement is that I can turn year-round and not have to worry about how cold it gets in the garage but it does add some challenges such as keeping the shop clean.

[Justin Stephen]

"I don't have a dust collection system and really don't have the money for one right now."

Get a 3m half mask respirator. I use dust collection also, but if I had to choose, there's no substitution for a respirator. They're cheap.

This. It is a cheap investment and is fairly comfortable. I just use a dust collector/hood near the lathe (which pretty much runs the whole time the lathe is on) and a 3M mask while sanding. I feel pretty good about the combo but the mask should be your first order of business. I would also find a way to ventilate the air in the room after heavy sanding before you take the mask off, even if it is just a boxfan in a window.

[Kevin Wolfe]

Well my lathe isn't that heavy so I could give it a try. My plan was to quarantine off a corner in the basement and create plastic sheet walls to contain the dust and chips (taping individual sheets together and taping it to the floor). Hope fully this would at least keep the dust/chips contained and not getting all over everything else in the basement (would never hear the end of it).

I was planning on getting one of those 3m respirators anyway so maybe I'll give it a shot for a week or two and see what happens. Hopefully the 3m will be comfortable enough. I already wear a Uvex Bionic face shield.

[Wes Ramsey]

I was planning on getting one of those 3m respirators anyway so maybe I'll give it a shot for a week or two and see what happens. Hopefully the 3m will be comfortable enough. I already wear a Uvex Bionic face shield.

I have the same combo. Before I got the respirator I just kept a fan blowing the dust away from the lathe and a big exhaust fan pulling fresh air into the shop. Even with those running, after I wore the mask a few times I could see all the dust on it that I was breathing before. Never again will I sand without a mask!