Here’s another one you can add to my list of bad woodshop habits.
Whenever I’m making lots of cuts (or using the jointer or planer a lot), I keep the dust collector power turned on, and use the remote at will. Good system. But then there are those other times when I’m working away and just need to make one quick cut. It’s not always an accurate cut; just something quick to shorten an unwieldy workpiece to a more workable rough length or width. And because I’m lazy, I can’t be bothered with the trouble of firing up the dust collector.
Gosh no. That would mean walking to the collector to turn on the main power, then open the appropriate blast gates, then use the remote to turn the collector on, then make the cut. *whew* It wears me out just typing that. So instead, I figure it’s only one cut and just go ahead and do it without the DC. No problem. Just a little bit of sawdust.
But invariably, at some point I’ll need a second quick cut. Then a third ... Then a fourth ...
All those single cuts may be over the space of several hours or even days, so it doesn’t seem like an issue until I suddenly happen to notice that there are piles of sawdust here and there. And, amazingly, I’ll be all clueless as to how they got there as I realize I have to do a whole-shop cleaning.
Of course, I’m not clueless at all. I know exactly how those sawdust piles got there. So, I dutifully sweep and vacuum, put everything right, and go about my project while promising myself I won’t do that again. Of course, I inevitably do because, hey, it’s just one quick cut.
A.J. Hamler is the former editor of Woodshop News and Woodcraft Magazine. He's currently a freelance woodworking writer/editor, which is another way of stating self-employed. When he's not writing or in the shop, he enjoys science fiction, gourmet cooking and Civil War reenacting, but not at the same time.