Thread: Treating wood dust allergy problems

There have been a number of infections by https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Naegleria_fowleri in the United States over the past few years. The organism has been found to reside in municipal water systems. This is what the US Centers for Disease Control suggests. Given current trends and policies this problem is going to get worse.

naegleria-ritual-ablution-factsheet.jpg

naegleria-ritual-ablution-factsheet.pdf

I'll pass on ever snorting water, thanks.
Phily, you're not alone. Aquaintence here had mastered western red cedar inlay for creating pictures of our local environment.
The fine dust nearly killed him. Now he restores and recovers old furniture with a reputation spread far and wide.

What was your advice for the sensitivity to wood dust?.

Originally Posted by rob streeper

There have been a number of infections by https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Naegleria_fowleri in the United States over the past few years. The organism has been found to reside in municipal water systems. This is what the US Centers for Disease Control suggests. Given current trends and policies this problem is going to get worse.

naegleria-ritual-ablution-factsheet.jpg

naegleria-ritual-ablution-factsheet.pdf

fortunately we have filtered rainwater that I boil before use. The pharmacist did mention the use of pure water that can be bought quite cheaply from supermarkets. On an aside, it always comes as quite a shock when I have a glass of townwater after being used to rainwater - the townwater tastes like its come out of a chemical factory. I know the chemicals are used to kill the bugs, but wow, the taste ......

Originally Posted by Robson Valley

I'll pass on ever snorting water, thanks.
Phily, you're not alone. Aquaintence here had mastered western red cedar inlay for creating pictures of our local environment.
The fine dust nearly killed him. Now he restores and recovers old furniture with a reputation spread far and wide.

What was your advice for the sensitivity to wood dust?.

I guess each to their own. For me its far more preferable than giving up being a woodie. I did try and assess if any particular wood was the main allergen. Both camphor and blackwood hit me hard, but basically all timber including oak and pear.

Originally Posted by Phily

Three weeks in and I'm over the moon. In the last week I haven't used my inhaler a single time. I no longer have sinusitis and, critically, I can taste red wine!!! Such a simple and cheap strategy that has given me my woodie life back. Sohh stoked.

That's really good to hear. Just wondering if you have you done (or considered doing) anything more about capturing the "dust at source" ?

Originally Posted by BobL

That's really good to hear. Just wondering if you have you done (or considered doing) anything more about capturing the "dust at source" ?

Indeed I have Bob, and my thanks for prompting me to take action. I had been planning to upgrade my belmouth but there always seemed a higher priority. On reading your earlier post I decided to pull my finger out. And I must say, I'm really happy with the outcome. Made from an old Onga water pump and some left over bits and pieces it looks and works a treat.

Glad to hear your news Phily.

Just as an addendum, my pharmacist got me to start using that Flo about 8 years back after years of suffering with hayfever, real bad too. It's never been back, not a touch. All those pills, never any use. Salt water up the old hooter - perfect!

So it's my go to if I sense a problem with wood dust.

Originally Posted by Phily

Indeed I have Bob, and my thanks for prompting me to take action. I had been planning to upgrade my belmouth but there always seemed a higher priority. On reading your earlier post I decided to pull my finger out. And I must say, I'm really happy with the outcome. Made from an old Onga water pump and some left over bits and pieces it looks and works a treat.

Good to hear it seems to be working.

In case you are not aware a Bell Mouth Hood (BMH) does have an optimum profile.
The most efficient shape is a long tapered trumpet like shape but for practical reasons we can rarely have such a shape attached to or behind our WW gear.
The question then becomes what is the shortest most efficient shape.
It turns out to be a very simple profile like this

Screen Shot 2017-04-11 at 7.16.02 PM.png

The real benefit of this profile is the BMH throat can be place close to the source of the dust to collect even more fine dust.



Your Onga pump profile shown below, means the throat of the hood cannot be place close to the work.
Screen Shot 2017-04-11 at 7.34.54 PM.png
As you can see from the above vid there is no need for wide wings, just get the BMH close to the source and it will do its job of grabbing the fine dust.
The air speed through the wide wings will be quite slow and so won't grab as much of the fine dust wanting to wander off.
I would suggest cutting away most of the hood and just leave the inner BHM component.

Many thanks Bob, really appreciated. I've actually been playing around with my Onga unit - one of my pet hates is shavings behind the lathe. Always build up and are a pain to remove. I've placed a piece of lino over the bed then curved it into the half cylinder mouth. Its actually very effective at catching the shavings and as it is quite a wide unit, it can be placed pretty close to the work. Not perfect but not a bad compromise either! My thought is to keep the onga as is and make another bell mouth closer in spec to the design you have siggested. Cheers Phil

I try not to let chips mother me too much but I agree about the chips over the back and a piece of curved lino sounds like a good idea and will try that if I can find something.
Last week we finally sold off mums unit and during the last inspection I noticed some pieces of lino in the garage and I was nearly going to take it with me and now I kick myself for not doing this.

Hi Bob, I picked up the cheapest of the cheap lino from Bunnings. Didn't cost much at all and does the job nicely!

Just an appropriately cut and curved price of cardboard for behind the lathe, plus BobLs new bell mouthed hood has made a YYUUUGGGGGEEEE difference in woodturning.

The BMH is nothing short of amazing.

The cardboard catches lots of large chunks good for a final hand polishing of the spindle work.

Good advice on the nostril flushing. I've been doing a lot of gardening recently and a couple of the trees have me snotting up like a grizzeling 3 year old. It's unreal how much is generated!!!