Glen-L.com

Thanks Billy and Chris. I will check into that mask. The dust masks are OK for sanding, but you are right about the chemical aspect.

Roberta

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Roberta
Built Zip "Oliver IV" and Super Spartan "Jimmy 70"

Hi Roberta,
I have read your post about dust. Yeah, it's an issue alright. Good that you're using a vaccum on your drum sander...I always try to hook up the power sanding tools to a vaccum. It's simply the best way. The other night, I was using my 4x24 belt sander on the top deck, front bow section, to sand the rough mahogany strips to a semi final shape. I was using a 60 grit belt. Well every thing was going fine, with the "throw away" 3-M disposable bag attached, but it soon filled, and then just fell off, and I continued sanding. Well it was only about 5 min. later when I looked up, and not only was I COVERED in mahog. dust, from head to toe, so was the entire shop!!! , I looked outside where my truck was parked, and it too was covered all over the back of it. My whole driveway has a mahog. brown "sheen" to it!! I WILL definatly be rigging up something to at least that belt sander for dust control. At work, in the cabinet shop, everything is connected to large vaccum systems. When I sand drywall, I have an electric sander that attaches to a vac... It's very important... Not only don't you want to breathe these dusts, the best way to eradicate them is to eliminate with a vac. before they're airborn. Have fun!!
RJLemay

Hi RJ

You just don't know how much dust is created building a boat if you have never done it before. Way more sanding and shaping than regular wood projects. Up in the hangar, I will have the luxury of more space than I have in the shop. I keep the vent fan running, dust mask on, and the shop vac picking up the junk from the spindle sander. I have a new Rigid belt sander that has a dust collector bag that works pretty well. And I vacuum the shop daily.

I had some problems, yesterday, cutting the mahogany frame members. The blade would wander side to side creating a cut line that was not perpendicular to the surface. I started using a 10 TPI blade and found that was not right. Switched to 8 TPI which was much better. I needed more blades so went shopping again. Home Depot did not have the 8's so I got some Bosch 6 TPI and they really work well. Lesson learned.

Roberta

_________________
Roberta
Built Zip "Oliver IV" and Super Spartan "Jimmy 70"

I learned just to cut proud of the line and then sand back to the line on a table mounted disc sander (of course hooked to a vacuum) . I felt it easier to do this and get the edges right than constantly changing blades on the bandsaw. And this assured me of square edges.

I have a whole set of tees and shorts that are nice red-brown in color that can stand in the corner by themselves from epoxy. The Admiral is threatening the throw them away. Can't do that!!!. They are as much as part of the boat now as the rest. Heck, there may be more wood fiber in the clothes!!!

So, vacuum before it hits the air is the best course of action for sure.

_________________
Dave

My Riviera build - the Midnight Cry Project

Video of Midnight in Action
Blog

Few things in the world measure up to the thrill and satisfaction of boating in a boat that you built.

Got that on the proud line. I'm using a Milwaukee Jig (Saber) saw to do the cutting. I can get very accurate, but that wandering blade really did me in yesterday. First piece I had to chuck, but it did make for good practice. Almost bought the band saw, but I'm trying to keep costs down. The saber saw is now working very well and I have almost all the cutting done where the band saw would be helpful. My compound miter and table saw should handle the rest. I had LL Johnson plane everything for me and the table saw has ripped most of the wood. We have a very nice lumber mill nearby that can supply me with the decking material.

Yes, Sanding is a very good way to get to the finished piece.

This reminds me of my stain glass days. I would ruff cut the piece and use my diamond router table to clean up the edges and shape the piece. My drill press spindle sander is just like using the diamond router. The big difference is I used water as a coolant and it eliminated the dust. Too bad we can't wet the sawdust. That would be a mess, not to mention wrecking the wood.

Another throwback to my glass cutting days is I use an old glass cutter to transfer the pattern to the wood. Got the idea from someone who said they use a pizza cutter. Works well and is smaller and easier to see and control.

enough rambling, back to work.

Roberta

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Roberta
Built Zip "Oliver IV" and Super Spartan "Jimmy 70"

Hi Roberta,
Yes, the more teeth on a little jigsaw blade, the slower the cut, but also it heats up the blade quicker than a blade with less teeth. Same as when you're ripping a piece of wood on a table saw.. you only need the blade to have, say 40 teeth for a 10" blade, as opposed to an 80 tooth blade. The 80 tooth will be slower, and you might see burn marks on the rip. The little jigsaw blades, when heated up will do just what you described, and most of the time will "undercut" the piece, past the intended line, thus making the piece too small.. I have on occasion, actually bent the jig blade slightly away from the piece to assure of no undercutting! Keep it big and sand to the line - Bob

Great tips, Bob. I'm one of those infrequent wood workers and don't always remember what works the best. That's why this site is so helpful. So many people with great ideas and helpful websites.

Just to show you my shop does get messy. I do try to clean up daily.

Roberta

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Roberta
Built Zip "Oliver IV" and Super Spartan "Jimmy 70"

Carpeting? Room?

What's next A/C like Grand Chillin' ? Curtains like NovaSS ???

I just don't know what this world is coming to!!!

Just kidding Roberta...nice shop area...Lots of times I wished I had the room and a/c!

_________________
Boat building can best be defined as an endless series of
tragedies obscured by the occasional miracle, followed by a good bottle of beer.

Don't Dream Your Life, Live Your Dream

It does have AC, which is why I was hoping to build the hull down here. But I think it will be too heavy to safely move it upstairs to the hangar.

The carpet? It was from the living room when we recarpeted up there. It was still too nice to chuck, so we fit it into the shop. The padding and carpet are really nice to stand on while working. I will miss this when I move upstairs next month. I'm usually down there at dawn in my jams and bare feet working.

Roberta

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Roberta
Built Zip "Oliver IV" and Super Spartan "Jimmy 70"

_________________
Boat building can best be defined as an endless series of
tragedies obscured by the occasional miracle, followed by a good bottle of beer.

Don't Dream Your Life, Live Your Dream

It looks a lot like my shop. Except that I have a helper with a vacuum cleaner when I down there.

Bill

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Mini -Tug, KH Tahoe 19 & Bartender 24 - There can be no miracle recoveries without first screwing up.
Tahoe 19 Build

If that's the only door to the basement shop I think you will be really glad you decided to assemble the boat on the form in the hangar and not down there.

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My Zip build log...
http://www.vupilot.blogspot.com
http://picasaweb.google.com/vupilot/Chr ... O0x7SvsQE#

"Nothing screams poor craftsmanship like wrinkles in your duct tape."

Going to be another NCIS moment, I believe.

But I a not even going to comment on that shop.

_________________
Dave

My Riviera build - the Midnight Cry Project

Video of Midnight in Action
Blog

Few things in the world measure up to the thrill and satisfaction of boating in a boat that you built.

No, that's not the only door. That one goes into the "Billyard Room" and up to the main level of the house. Look at the photo with the stem and breast hook sitting on the transom on page 2. The double doors next to the drill press are 3 ft each and the stairwell is 6 1/2 ft wide going straight up to the hangar floor. When we built the house, we planned on building airplanes in the shop, so we had the builder set this up for us. The shop is "L" shaped and about 450 sq. ft.

Roberta

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Roberta
Built Zip "Oliver IV" and Super Spartan "Jimmy 70"

Rich and I just finished the building form today. Picked up the wood on Friday and got the bottom spreaders mounted on Saturday (then a round of golf and jump in the pool). Today we cut the notches in the setup members and set it all up in the uprights. Put a few pieces on just for grins.

Roberta

_________________
Roberta
Built Zip "Oliver IV" and Super Spartan "Jimmy 70"