Official Luthiers Forum!

"I've decided to move this out of the basement and into the garage and only use it with the garage door open. Now the problem is how to move it up the stairs in one piece. It's freakin heavy."

So now you have to worry about a heart attack or a hernia. If wood working doesn't get you one way it will get you another! If you dig a little deeper you might find the affects of wood dust on the human body are not as cut and dried as some would have you believe (especially those who are selling). It makes sense to limit your exposure to irritants of all sorts, particularly those that enter one of the most delicate and exposed of organs - the lungs. As we live in the world there are many times when we can't avoid various dusts, noxious fumes, and other airborne substances that affect our lungs.
I try to take reasonable precautions when working with wood and chemicals, avoid exposure to dust and fumes, and understand the risks involved with them, but I don't let it stop me from my creative pursuits.

Well said Clay, I'm 76 and have exposed myself to every form of pollutant that woodworking entails. I've lost a couple of fellow woodworker friends to lung disease but they were both smokers so who knows what caused it. At this age I don't expect to live another 30 years so I'll just keep doing what I do as long as I can do it.

Is there a method for checking air quality without a particle counter?

Having a night to mull this over I now wish I had gone with my gut and not read that article. Life is short and we can only do our best to protect ourselves without going bankrupt in the process. I'm going to continue making improvements in my dust collection. I have some simple things I can do without moving that machine out into the cold garage where I won't want to go.

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Hutch

Get the heck off the couch and go build a guitar!!!!

I have a very unscientific method that works for me. Run a piece through that you are allergic (for lack of a better term) to, like Cocobolo. If you sneeze (or whatever your reaction is), you're probably breathing it in.

Well, to get this a little back on topic. The conveyor on my 16/32 failed so I bought one from Highland and the tracking is terrible. I need to adjust it every time I use it and sometimes twice during one simple sanding procedure. I'll buy another one from someone else and hope the result is much better, hopefully like the original which lasted for 3-4 years with no adjustment. I'll probably buy one from Jet...sometimes you get what you pay for!