I searched through the archive looking for any problems that foam dust can cause. Curious because I am converting my backyard shed, in there I have a collection of other tools not related to shaping, so my question is, will ambient dust settling on tools cause any problems, i.e. premature rusting, or corrosion or something of the sort? Or is it pretty much a nuisance like saw dust, which doesn’t really harm anything besides making everything dirty and maybe gumming up a few mechanisms. Also, how bad is it to have errant dust that happens to cloud out and go into the neighbors yard, will they have any health risks? Thanks, Ryan
You mean foam and fiberglass dust??? As far as tools, dust doesn’t do a thing. As far as the nieghboors go, they won’t even notice the dust becuase they’ll be busy complaining about the smell of resin, asectone and the constant whine of the planer. Seriously though, the dust won’t make it far from your shed and even if it does, it will get diespersed by the forces of nature, wind. Drew
Thanks for replying, that’s good news. I don’t plan on glassing as of yet, maybe in the future. I just don’t want to be dispersing a “caustic” material (if it even is?) into the neighbors yards. Thanks again. Ryan
To my opinion it’s not because your neighbours won’t notice it that you should throw your garbage in the nature. Unless it’s wood or hemp… Many people when emptying out their car engine just throw the waste in nature … It’s not OK either, even if you make sure no one sees you. Some boats purposely clean their oil tanks in the open ocean because it’s cheaper … Some factories throw industrial waste in the nature …
Ryan Been a carpenter, woodworker, cabinetbuilder for over 30 yrs. and never paid enough attention to dust. I am now plagued by shitty sinuses and recurring “cluster headaches”, two things that I wouldn’t wish on anyone. Every time you touch one of those non-shaping tools covered with dust you are inhaling the fine particles which are probably worse for you than the larger ones. Nature gave our bodies a filter system for dust - hairs in our nose - that trap particles but, it’s not a perfect system believe me. I’ve worked in shops that had heating/cooling systems that did little more than recycle dust into my lungs. Even a slight breeze will lift the finer particles right up for you to breathe. So, where’s the harm. Doesn’t matter if it’s wood, foam or whatever - you ultimately pay the price. Pete
Resin and fiberglass dust from sanding and grinding can contaminate air, vegetation, soil and stormwater. Sanding dust should be collected and disposed of properly. Don’t sand outdoor and wear a respirator !
Pete’s right, although it’s biodegradable, balsa dust is a nightmare …
Inhaling any dust whether organic or not is bad. And Peter is correct. The smaller the particules the more dangerous since they can get inhaled deeper into the lungs where they can’t be “coughed” out. I have a floor refinishing friend with chronic bronchitis due to inhaling oak dust, even though he wore a face mask, but not a respirator. Can’t be too careful with your lungs.
Ahhh dust will be the end of you, the end of you i say…young and invincible you are until you get old and die from the things you breathed in when you were young.
Oh I am not saying I am going to sweep out the shop and send piles of dust flying into the air, but I don’t have the money to invest into a vac system as of yet, and just wanted to know what I am facing if I don’t have a vac system in the shop and the dust settles in an environment that isn’t dedicated to shaping. Thanks for all the comments/ideas, Ryan
don’t have the money to “invest” in a shop vac? Come on, now… if you can afford to surf, and can buy a blank to shape you can buy a shop vac to clean up the mess. They are cheap. Save your pennies for a week or two, skip lunch at McD’s, do what it takes to have the right tools.
My experience - and you can imagine how I figured it out - Fiberglass dust will get all over, foam dust I’m not especially familiar with. Presuming you’re not gonna be cranking out more than a few boards now and then… I would at least put some polyethylene sheeting ( cheap grade drop cloths or the stuff insulation guys staple up as vapor barrier ) over your other tools, workbench and so on. It doesn’t do your other tools any good, so cover 'em up. You have some money invested in your other tools, why not spend ten bucks to both protect 'em and make your cleanup easier. Hit the Sally Army or local dump exchange for a shop-vac, used. Clean the filter if it has one, get one if it doesn’t. From the same place, a window fan that’ll fit whatever opening window you have. Then, hit the hardware store nearby for a filter such as they use in hot air central heat- tape thst to the intake side of the window fan. If it doesn’t get all the dust, tape on another filter on top of the first one. Get yourself an Organic Vapor mask, with the dust prefilters. Try on several types, they all fit different. This should be fairly comfortable. When you buy one, bear in mind that the inexpensive model may use cartridges that are more than those used in the expensive mask that maybe fits a little better, so when you’ve swapped out cartridges you’re ahead with the pricy item. As you do other stuff, not just board work, you’ll find that the masks are good for doing formica work or spray paint too - did a big formica job once and while my co-workers had to split, I got a nice overtime job finishing it all up. hope that’s of use doc…
Hi Ryan, Ive found that before generating any dust in that room, sweeping the floor with a dampened broom and boiling a pot of water for a while really helps keep the dust down. Dust is neutralized by moisture, a slight increase in humidity. Ive also used an old-fashioned medicinal vaporizer (placed on the floor) for the same purpose. Make sure your board is completely covered until youre ready to work on it. If youre not in a big hurry, using block planes, abraders and sanding wet eliminates many of the dust-noise-health problems.
Let me make some suggestions about respirators. I am an EPA-certified Asbestos Project Designer, also a Lead Risk Assessor, so I have “some idea” of the regulatory requirements. I have been writing job specifications for asbestos abatement and lead paint disturbance day in and day out for seven-plus years now. Respirator filters (not respirators) are rated by NIOSH in two ways: N (not resistant to oil), R (resistant), and P (oil proof). You only need an N-rated filter. The other way is by filter efficiency: 90, 95 and 100. Get the 100 rating, it should have magenta band on it and say that it is HEPA rated. A good respirator fits your face and will pass a fit test. You should fit test a respirator before you buy it and again every time you put it on: cover the exhalation valve and try exhale, note any leaks and correct the fit. Cover the filters and try inhale, correct any leaks. If you can’t correct the leaks, DO NOT BUY THAT RESPIRATOR. Obviously, mustaches and beards will interfere with respirator fit and are not allowed in commercial work. I’ll throw you off the job until you shave cleanly. A good, well fitted respirator can go 15 to 30 bucks or more. Filters last a long, long, time and actually can become more efficient as time goes by, though on a commercial basis we require changing them daily. Although the cheapo masks are much better than they used to be, don’t use 'em if you doing a lot of work.
I was getting ready to vacum the spiders out of a new project when what Doc said about filters popped back into my head. Thought I’d empty the trusty beast out and take me a look at the filter. Here’s a photo of the trash can - you really don’t want to be breathing that stuff. This particular trail mix is foam dust, sawdust, post-wildfire dirt and ash, dog hair, termite droppings, and who knows what else. 
Oddly enough - if you mix that intriguingly varied stuff in with your kitchen scraps and generic wood dust and shavings, it makes a pretty good compost, though you might want to sift out the paper and chunks of glass cloth and such. Foam dust acts like vermiculite, lightens up the soil and improves the drainage. Same for the fiberglass/resin dust The dog hair is especially good, scares off rabbits and deer and keeps your lettuce from getting munched by anybody but you. Termite droppings are good fertiliser straight out of the termite. The dust and ash bring the pH to something you want, as otherwise compost is usually too acid. Strange but true. Meanwhile, back on the shop dust front- If you’re doing a dump/junk shop score on a shop-vac, all you need is the motor, the canister and the hose. You can get another filter at the hardware store or snag one off a broken one. Most of the smaller ones are 1 1/4 or so and they fit standard household vaccuum cleaner brushes and stuff. The big ones you can get cheap adapters for. You’ll want one with a soft brush on it. Mine are patched here and there with duct tape, have a bunch of mismatched ends and they work just fine. hope that’s of use doc…
if you have only limited $$, for a shaping or glassing bay shop vac, with good scrounging all you really need is a used motor. For the canister I think it was Herb mounted his shop vac motor on a big trash can /cardboard bin type thing, so he probably only needs to empty it 1/10th as often. A lot of hoses for pool pumps, etc are the same size/type as for shop vacs and can be hung to run all over your work area (with a little duct tape at the joints of course). I see good lengths of vacuum/pump hose at the swap meet all the time while looking for old Stanley planes & whatnot.
Well, yes, you can go with a great big container…and I did, for a while. Thing is that they are kinda no-fun to move around unless you put wheels on 'em and definitely no fun to empty.Though there’s a way around that. I have a setup in my shop, a small ( about 700 cu. ft./min ) dust collector with one of the cyclone turbinator trash can lid and can arrangements in between the tool and the dust collector, the lid only fits on galvanized 30 gallon trash cans. Well, 30 gallons of dust, shavings and what have you isn’t all that heavy or awkward, but the trash can is, barely fits through the smaller shop doors I usually use and is a pain to bump around all the machinery. I was actually finding excuses to not use it until I had one of those moments. Some would call it a Eureka moment. I think of it more like a ‘Doc, you moron. How could I be that blind and stupid?’ moment. See, I do a lot of boat work, and a little boat canvas work on the side. And I have a good sized roll of canvas in the cellar most of the time, along with industrial sewing machines and heavy Dacron thread. And so I put together a nice heavy 10 ounce canvas bag that fits inside the trash can. It actually improves the sealing, lid to trash can, and when the can’s full it’s an easy job to whip the lid off, pull the full bag out and either dump it on the sawdust pile or into a trash bag, no problem. It cost about ten bucks for the canvas, about an hour to do it up and that’s it. Directions for a duffel bag below, just change the dimensions to fit your container. It doesn’t take an industrial sewing machine to make one, though it’s nice, most older home models are rugged enough. hope that’s of use doc… http://www.sailrite.com/PDF/DuffleBagLarge.pdf