Hi Guys - My husband loves woodworking and I love him, but the sawdust, woodchips, and whatever else that is continuously tracked into the rest of the house from the basement is making me crazy. It's not like he doesn't try to clean up after himself, but there is a lot of small sawdust that does not get vacuumed up. I thought I'd ask the guys who would know, what do you do to keep the dust down? - Janice
wear overalls/aprons/sweatshirts/etc. and take them off in the shop at the door. I also have shoes that I use only in the shop, and take them off before going in the house (I have a detached garage as my shop). I also use the shopvac on myself if I'm particularly dirty.
One of the biggest improvements was to get a good dust collector and make sure I use it diligently. It helps a lot, but isn't perfect. A little dust will always make it into the house, so I throw my clothes in the hamper and take a shower right away.
That's about all you can do, I think.
The thing I've tried to get my wife to realize is that a little dust and/or wood chips is not the end of the world and to try to chill out and not make such a big deal over it. Hasn't worked yet hehe
Mike
Janice, A nice 30' x 50' heated and airconditioned shop out back would take care of most of the problem. If that isn't an option a good dust colletor and air cleaner will go a long way but I don't think there is anything that is going to be 100 percent. If he has a compressor he might use it to dust himself off but be sure it is set at a very low pressure. I also found that wiping my feet on one of those door mats that have the prickly plastic things took care of the odd chips on my shoes.
Good luck.
Stuart Johns>Hi Guys - My husband loves woodworking and I love him, but the sawdust,
Dust Collector Janice as I'm sure many others will tell you. Not real expensive, and would make great Christmas present :)
Mike in Arkansas who is not lucky enough to have a basement.
Two "equipment" solutions - a dust/chip collector - attaches to various tools (or all of them at once with a fixed duct system if the tools stay put) which keeps a lot of the dust and chips from ever getting out to bother things. An air cleaner - which is basically a fan with a fine dust filter that recirculates shop air to catch floating dust. A dust collector with good fiters can do the job of both. A shop-vac is neither.
Well, OK, the third, really big, "equipment" solution is the detached shop outside the house. This may not be a fiscal reality, but it is a great solution.
Many "behavior" solutions - coveralls, aprons, hats, shoes that stay put in the shop. All of which tend to be a pain if there is a lot of running in and out of the shop. Foot-scrapers, doormats and foot brushes (generally sold for outside doors, but...). A mirror just outside the shop door. A good tight door on the shop.
Beer does a good job washing it down ;-)
Seriously, a shop apron keeps a LOT of the dust out of his clothes (leather apron is easy to keep dust free). Blowing the dust off with an air gun helps a lot. A mat at the top of the stairs that has bristles so the dust on his shoes will fall into the bristles.
A dust filtration system is helpful but I think the bulk of your concern is dust he carries on him rather than a cloud of dust following him up the stairs. A dust collection system on all of his power tools will significantly reduce the amount of dust that can be tracked or get imbedded in his clothes - these tend to be noisy so you need to make a tradeoff on which you prefer...
TWS
I also work in a basement, and have the same problems. Here's what works for me.
#1 - Keep the stairs swept or vacuumed!
#2 - Keep the shop floor swept. Painting or coating concrete makes it easier to sweep.
#3 - A dust collector helps, IF you keep up with #1 & #2. This isn't a cure-all, chips still occasionally get out of jointers, planers, router tables, etc... and saws spit dust off the top of the blade. It helps quite a bit, though. Dust collectors do nothing for chips and dust created by hand tools and some hand held power tools.
#4 - Sweep the stairs again.
Barry
All the suggestions for dust collectors and such are going to help but I believe my wife came up with the ultimate solution. It consists of a hook on the back of the door where a change of clothes are hung along with a pair of slippers.
Of course there are times when I try to circumvent the solution but for the most part.........................
I can't, so I keep it out. Workshop wear is smooth fabric trousers (cheap mil-surplus combats) and similar shirts. I'm usually wearing a sweater, and that comes off and gets left in the workshop.
For woodturning, I wear a French Cheesemaker's Smock in a smooth surfaced linen.
Mum has a tiled kitchen and porch-like utility room. Dad doesn't get let back into the carpeted part of the house until she's hoovered him
8-)I also try to control dust in the workshop. There's a bench brush hanging behind the bench and it gets used every couple of minutes. The cabinet saw keeps most of its dust inside it, but the other machines have dust extraction. The main culprit for dust is a router, and I don't use that much, preferring hand planes.
If its just stuffed getting tracked into the house - then I have a dedicated coverall and pair of shoes that stay in the shop. That pretty much takes care of 95% of keeping the house sawdust free. On those days when I know my hair caught some dust - I either take a ShopVac hose to my 'mop' or give it a blast with compressed air.
Industrial / research places also make some adhesive paper, about the size of a floor mat, that you step on when leaving. Think of it as walk-able flypaper for sawdust. I have no idea where you'd find this stuff. The dedicated shoes and coveralls work for me.
Janice
What I do is strip when done, put on some clean duds and even change shoes before going into the house after a session in the shop. Keeps a very significant amount of the dust/crud from coming into the house on the clothes/shoes. Keeps my wife happy
Of course, the fact that the laundry room is off the shop helps a ton, store the change of clothes there, and can shake out the dusty stuff and run it thru the washer at the end of a shop session
May NOT be the solution for everyone, but it SURE works here
John
Given the ribbald and unmoderated tenor of rec.woodworking, my reading of this comment shows that your smiley is well deserved!
Ken Muldrew snipped-for-privacy@ucalgazry.ca (remove all letters after y in the alphabet)
Nothing like a good hoovering every now and again...
Gee Andy, I thought you mostly made chips and curls not dust...
TWS
this is for sale as a mat for in front of the cat litter box in the pet store.
'been routing plywood last few days. Took me a good while to find where I'd put the router table !
Last week I made a frame for a stained glass window (internal dorway - indoors both sides). Like a total muppet I ended up hand planing twenty four foot of complicated moulding. Good fun, but it's no way to make a living.
I was also using shop-bought timber (the shame!) which was brand-new pineywood. Obviously kiln-dried, the knots in it were hard enough to chip my favourite carving gouge. Fortunately I did this while I was cutting them back to save the irons in the moulders, or I'd be _really_ annoyed.
Put the shop as far away from the house as possible..........that way the dust shakes off on the way to the house!
Barry
TWS wrote: [sinp]
[snip]All the things mentioned here do help but this is a good tidy up - he can even step outside to do this.
Josie
Um, none of us has been in a real house for over three years. Just one of the sacrifices we make to do woodturning...
...Kevin
Hi you All
Yes using air to blow off works BUT we had a guy get KILLED that way, apparently a sliver of steel got into the blow gun and then when triggered cut a small cut in the guys neck and artery, air got into the artery and killed him on the spot. This was not a wood shop and we used high pressure, still O.K. that never happens right, well it did, so take care.
have fun and take care Leo Van Der Loo
firstjois wrote:
Not sure if the stuff at the petstore is the same as the stuff in industrial cleanrooms, but I do know that when I've gone into cleanroom environments where that tacky mat is at the entrance, they request that the treads on your shoes be 1/8" deep or less. So, if you husband is wearing deep lugged boots into his shop, a new pair of shoes might make as much of a difference as anything. At the very least, it would make a mat more effective in removing the chips and dust.
Of course, if you're looking for a solution he'd like even better, get him an air compressor, and he can use that to blow the dust off. Works pretty good, even for metal swarf.
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