Dust Diligence

The bane of all woodworkers is sawdust. Some revel in its mass and have pride in the mess at their feet, thinking "Look at what I've done!" While it is impressive to see those massive piles, it is quite dangerous. Piling up on your shop floor, it can cause you to slip or trip. Piling up on your workbench, it can cause you to err in assembly. Piling up in your tools, it can be hazardous.

One area that is often neglected is the inside of a table saw. On a contractors saw the sawdust collects (if I don't hook up a vacuum) in the body of the saw. Yes, you should have the vacuum ported to the saw, but it's easy to forget, especially if you move the saw around your shop quite a bit.

Woodworkers always kick themselves when they think about the sawdust piling up in there, especially when they open the back panel and see what's going on. You could almost pick out the projects you've done by identifying the layers of sawdust!

It's funny on the surface, but really a serious issue. Looking at the inside of the saw, there are so many things that can be affected. Take the gears for the angle adjustment of the blade, for example. Sawdust piling up in those can make it difficult to tilt the blade. No matter what the effect, it's just plain messy.

What can you do? In addition to connecting a vacuum or dust collection system to your tools, try to clean up as you go. At each stage of a project, take stock and clean up the dust, chips, and cutoffs. For example, when you're done ripping a set of boards, go ahead and clear off the top of your table saw, and clean up anything on the floor. Piles of sawdust on a shop floor tend to make your footing a bit slick, so it's a safety thing in addition to being tidy. Plus, you don't have to worry about it later.

If you're freehand routing, clamp the end of your vacuum near the work piece and run the vacuum while you're working. It won't take care of all the dust and pieces generated while routing, but it will keep some of the particles down. Then you can just use the vacuum to gather up the remaining particles when you're done routing.

You can also use a box fan set up next to your workbench when you're sanding to draft the sawdust away. Tape a furnace filter to the fan and you've got a makeshift dust collection fan.