Wood Dust

[Bob smithson]

Hi everyone, I'm new here.
This being my first post, i'd like to ask a question that's been bothering us at the shop for a while now: What are the best ways you guys have found to deal with excess wood dust? I have standard source capture vac systems installed on my main perpretrators, but they don't seem to capture all the dust, and I still find a coating on EVERYTHING! Also, I was looking this up on the internet recently, and I found some information on the toxicity of wood dust. How serious is this? anyone know? And what have you been doing to fix this problem in your shops?

The link for the toxic wood dust stuff is at : www.osha.gov/sltc/wooddust/index.html
At first I thought it was just rambling, but the site is from the US dept. of labour.


Thanks for the help!

-Bob

[D.McDonnel "Mac"]

This has probably been the number one topic on Forums for the last year. Good dust collection has become very important the more we learn about what the dust exposure CAN do to you. Some are far more sensitive to it than others but it behooves us all to do the best we can to limit the exposure. There are a lot of resources you can look at. See Bill Pentz site for info and then check out Terry Hatfield's Dust Eliminator site. For good measure you should talk to the folks at Oneida as well. It all depends on how much $$ you want to spend versus DIY. Good luck figuring out which way is best for you!

[Bart Leetch]

Go to this site & read & you'll learn a lot.

http://cnets.net/~eclectic/woodworking/cyclone/Index.html

You'll find this site interesting also.

http://www.dusteliminator.com/

[Joel Studibaker]

I had the same problem a little while back, but these guys helped out:

www.islandcleanair.com

I think the phone number is 1-800-661-6211, but I'm not entirely sure about that, as the pamplet i have hear was torn.

Check it out, I have one of them in my shop and my dust problem is gone. Hope your problem clears up

Cheers,
Joel

**Support our children fighting for freedom!**

[Bill Pentz]

Bob,

Wood dust is one of those strange things that until it affects you or someone close, most really don't pay it that much attention.

We all pretty much know the obvious that it poses some fire hazard and slipping on it next to blades and cutters can be bad news.

Most know that a few woods are particularly toxic, so you should wear a good respirator cartridge type face mask when working with them.

Most also know that some people develop or have strong allergies to some woods. After all, today's trees would not be here if they did not have some means to protect themselves from preditors.

Finally, we get to the fine wood dust. This is the under 30 micron particle stuff. You can see it in a ray of sunlight and it is about 1/3 the thickness of a human hair and smaller. Our body's natural defenses are not too good at blocking this stuff and it goes deep into our respiratory systems and is very difficult to get out. Over many years, continued exposure is similar to smoking. The effects can vary from no symptoms to cancer, with most developing some sensitivities. I read the Australian ministry of health said 1 in 14 professional woodworkers is forced into disability retirement from wood dust related respiratory problems.

Cleary, something that would be better to not overdo the exposure. At the same time, you don't need a space suit either.

Take a look at my pages for more information and let me know if you have questions.

bill

PS.. build a good cyclone with strong enough blower, ample sized ducting, and good cartridge filters to take care of most of this risk.

[Tom Gattiker]

is not listed in your profile. I suggest you modify your profile to add the url for your web pages to make them easier for us to find. Thanks for all the info you share.

[Bill Pentz]

Tom,

Thanks and URL added.

;)

bill