Quiet, relaxing air filtration for a hand tool shop. With backup capacity.

[Scott Winners]

Also, the 3 filter/ 1 fan system I built for my wife came home today. She is the executive director of a small non profit. I am not sure if I mentioned in this thread, but she she is very sensitive to mold and their old building (she talked the board into buying a new building) had mold in the HVAC ductwork.

On this one the fan is one top, with BB panels on two sides. The other two sides each accept a filter, and I lifted the box off the floor with spacers and casters to get a third filter on the bottom with minimal air flow restriction. Finish was spray shellac x3 coats so accumulated dust can be wiped off fairly easily. I used a Utilitech (team orange) fan. I like that the Utilitech has the power knob on the front face, it is much easier to integrate than the Lasko with power knob on the top edge. Subjectively air flow is "similar," Several engineers have worked over a Lasko fan and they all come up with pretty close to 1000 fpm on high. I could not find robust data on the Utilitech, the Utilitech is probably similar but a little slower.

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On this one I did glue diagonal furring strip to the inside of the plywood filter blanks and probably will ongoing. I received zero noise complaints about reverb, buzz or thumping noises, substrate is 3/8" BB plywood.

[chris carter]

I'm well aware of what fine dust off of machinery and powered sanding can do, I thought you said you had a hand tool shop.

Dust from handtool woodworking, while not as bad as powertooling, is something to take very seriously. It’s not going to cause problems in the short term, but years down the road it will catch up to you. It’s not the particles you can see that are the really dangerous ones; it’s the ones you can’t see that cause the most damage to the lungs. And these pesky little things can take as much as a day to finally fall to the ground. Even just a hobby with 8 hours a week in the woodshop will add up over time if you don’t do anything about it. We used to not understand how bad this stuff was, but the more research that is done, the more we come to realize how bad these microscopic particles are.

Luckily, as many have pointed out, the solution is as cheap as s $20 box fan and a MERV13 filter.

[Richard Coers]

Dust from handtool woodworking, while not as bad as powertooling, is something to take very seriously. It’s not going to cause problems in the short term, but years down the road it will catch up to you. It’s not the particles you can see that are the really dangerous ones; it’s the ones you can’t see that cause the most damage to the lungs. And these pesky little things can take as much as a day to finally fall to the ground. Even just a hobby with 8 hours a week in the woodshop will add up over time if you don’t do anything about it. We used to not understand how bad this stuff was, but the more research that is done, the more we come to realize how bad these microscopic particles are.

Luckily, as many have pointed out, the solution is as cheap as s $20 box fan and a MERV13 filter.

I'll be 70 in September, and I started woodworking in 1972. Out of all those years, 24 of them were as a professional woodworker. When should I expect the boot to drop? Woodworkers Journal paid me for the shop tip of filters and a box fan around 1974 (can't remember that far back for the exact year. I do remember Fine Woodworking offering me more money for the shop tip after WWJ had already paid me). If you are a fan of Bill Pentz, he explains then real damaging dust is the super fines floating in the air that can get through the lungs and into the blood stream. I have yet to see dust floating throughout my shop using hand planes and scrapers. Even a hand sanding block with 320 grit is not going to put so much dust in the air that you need something more than a face mask instead of scrubbing the shop air. But if must insist there is a major issue that requires air filtration in your shop, then by all means have at it.