Shop dust buildup

[BOB OLINGER]

Maybe it's just me, but a lot of my shelves, tools, etc. accumulate dust over time and it seems to stick tight to various surfaces. I use my shop on an irregular basis. I try to give it a pretty good cleaning every now and then, often using a shop vac to blow dust off of and from hard to reach areas. But, it's disturbing to see dust stuck to tools (like the stand of my jointer, sander, router table, others) that sticks and won't blow off. Any suggestions to prevent this?

[Andrew More]

Are you sure it's dust and not overspray?

[Gary Ragatz]

Dust "happens," even outside of a workshop (if you aren't the one who does your housecleaning, just ask the one who does). If you don't have one, an air filtration system would probably help - the Jet products get good reviews.

I think I'd avoid blowing dust off of things - that just puts the dust back in the air, to settle someplace else. I have a "diffuser" on the exhaust port of my shop vac to help keep it from kicking dust into the air when I'm using it.

[Jim Andrew]

I hardly have any dust on shelves etc, so must be that my dust collector is about the right size. Also use a vac when using ros. 3hp cyclone dc. I have no air filtration other than dc.

[Robert Engel]

What is your dust collection?

Do you have an air filtration unit?

Even with both of the above, dust is just part of a ww'ing shop. Good air circulation and a good exhaust fan help.

[Jim Becker]

Honestly, there is pretty much nothing that can be done to mitigate this outside of occasional "deep cleaning" of the shop. Even with the "bestest" dust collection and air filtration, there is going to be some settling of fines in areas that remain undisturbed, such as shelving, tops of cabinets, etc. In fact, I'll go so far as to say that it's not even strictly because it's a woodworking shop...almost any space that's similar is going to have the same issue with latent dust. Woodworking merely exacerbates it because we create dust through both the machining and finishing processes.

[glenn bradley]

The only trouble I have with rust in the desert basin area is when the dew point hits and a layer of dust is on the cast iron surfaces. The dust holds the moisture and . . . well, you know. When I have periods of inactivity I use covers. This may or may not make sense in your Iowa climate but, it works for me.

[Rod Sheridan]

Hi Bob, blowing the dust off just moves it around the shop, and into your lungs.

Use a HEPA vacuum to clean the shop......Regards, Rod

[Donn Ward]

Honestly, there is pretty much nothing that can be done to mitigate this outside of occasional "deep cleaning" of the shop. Even with the "bestest" dust collection and air filtration, there is going to be some settling of fines in areas that remain undisturbed, such as shelving, tops of cabinets, etc. In fact, I'll go so far as to say that it's not even strictly because it's a woodworking shop...almost any space that's similar is going to have the same issue with latent dust. Woodworking merely exacerbates it because we create dust through both the machining and finishing processes.

So true!!!