Coughing question

Re: Coughing question

JohnV

fine dust and age don't mix well.

Re: Coughing question

Dick Coers

White oak has a high acidity, but not a sensitizer that I know of. I normally don't have any trouble with allergies, but sneezing a lot this fall. Maybe I'm allergic to color? Drove to Alton, IL yesterday and rode my Ebike north on the Great River Road north. Really great way to site see, traveling at less than 20mph. Did a daily personal best for distance too, 40 miles. Of course oaks aren't this showy though, hard maples are the show offs this time of year!

Re: Coughing question

John K Jordan

More allergy sensitivity this fall for me that I can remember.

Re: Coughing question

Joe shelton

Well, let me pull up a chair and join you fellas. I'm in north Alabama, and have had more trouble this fall than I can remember. I'm sorry to hear you folks are having a bad time of it. Maybe winter will help us out.

Re: Coughing question

David Yoho

Barry, I think it has something to do with the abnormally wetter summer and fall here in our area of VA. I've noticed my allergies more this fall than usual.

I have heard the wet and warmth of September and early October has also been the culprit of at least a third of newly seeded fescue lawns to not grow like usual. It certainly has affected mine and others nearby, which had to be seeded again. Also, I think the trees, which usually have dropped or at least mostly dropped their leaves by now, have been affected by the extra water available to them. Looks like I'll be blowing leaves longer into this year than in the past.

Re: Coughing question, more

Barry Irby

Went out yesterday and augmented my supply of masks.

I used to take a blood pressure med that had coughing as a side effect. I was so used to coughing I did not notice. Just got used to it. When I changed to a different med with a different side effect (choose your poison) I mentioned the coughing thing to my son who was working with me at the time. His response was something like "OMG! Dad I thought you were dying!". Now without the meds I am more aware of the cough.

So during a dusty day in the shop, coughing for hours after. Add in the PPE, no coughing. The response is slow, may take hours for it to show up and subside. Takes a certain amount of awareness to connect the dots.

I looked up Oak in a WoodWeb data base and it is marked as a sensitiser and the lungs are pictured as being affected.

Has less effect on my than walnut. When I work with walnut for a day or two I end up wearing a tyvek suit and a respirator and then take a shower soon after. The dust gets under the edges of the half mask and irritating my skin. Who started this allergy crap?

Re: Coughing question

Hank Knight

Barry, I had coughing and sinus issues aplenty before I put in a cyclone with big, .5 micron Wynn filters. It was a big investment for me, but it saved my hobby. It completely stopped all those issues and has been worth every penny.

Re: Coughing question / Dust Collection

CharlieL

I was feeling more tired then usual after a day in the shop is why I invested some of my time and money into dust collection, which I feel I have done in a fairly economical and efficient fashion.

Hank....

Barry Irby

I put in Dust collection maybe ten years ago. Don't have a cyclone but my unit is outside the shop in a closet open tot he world. So any dust it sucks and fails to filter ends up outdoors.

I also have a homemade ambient air cleaner. A furnace fan with three filters on the inlet side and one on the outlet side. It filters the air twice.

And there is a Jet Ambient air cleaner. The homemade one runs with the lights. I have to turn the Jet unit on and do about half the time.

My go to sander it a Festool Rotex that has excellent dust collection.

I am stunned that in spite of all this there is still a layer of dust on anything that sits still for a while.

I was watching Rough Cut with the new guy and noticed his shop is much cleaner than mine. I could not get my shop that clean if I brought in the Pros and gave them a week. I see dust spewing off his tools. His TS lacks an over the blade pickup. So, Either he does not do any work in that shop when we are not watching or he and the crew spend a lot more time cleaning. I am not interested in spending a lot fo time cleaning, I want to work in my shop. Thus, PPE.

Re: Hank....

Hank Knight

Barry, it sounds like you've got more D/C equipment than I have. I've worked a lot of white oak and never had any of the issues you describe, so I don't have a clue. Sensitivities are unique and personal. What is commonplace to some cause real problems for others. I hope your issues are transient or seasonal and that you don't continue to have them. White oak is nice wood. It would' be a shame to have to avoid it because of allergy issues.

Re: Hank....

TomD

Mathias Wadel has been doing some work on tool specific dust collection units he has developed. He has a particle measurement device, and is having some success. I don't think his device measure particle size though. He has the Wood Gears channel over on Youtube.

I have a 3 stage dust collection. A collector I can move to tools. A pro box collector to clean the air, and a dedicated QSP/HEPA Shop Vac I can plug tools into. Overall, the most effective thing I do is I just don't do certain things in the shop. Hand tools are a large part of that. There are certain things I won't do on the property.