: 'Mornin', all. I ripped some walnut strips this weekend, and I was shocked at
: how irritating the dust was. Prior to this weekend, I'd only worked with
: ply, pine, and ash. I never felt much of a need for a respirator with
: those, and I only donned one for multiple cuts. With the walnut, however,
: I knew I was dealing with something much worse after the very first small
: cut. I wore a half face respirator for every cut after that, and I'm
: thinking of upgrading to a full face type. I've heard cedar is really bad,
: but how bad could it be compared to walnut? I'm definitely ripping outside
: from now on, too.

Do you always put on your seatbelt in the car? Do you always wear you PFD?

Good habits are worth cultivating.

Sometimes we get away without, and sometimes we pay the price.

At the end of the day (probably the highest percentage of accidents happen)
I had one cut to make on the chop saw. The shop I worked at had one huge
dust system so I thought, I won't fire up the system for one cut.

I was cutting a piece of mahogany. With the dust system off the chop saw threw a cloud
of dust right in my face as I leaned forward to see the cut line. I had an alergic reaction.
My eyes were burning and started to close. I hopped in the car, barely able to see and drove
to the hospital.

Like wearing my PDF, I now always wear glasses.

Whenever I have more a few cuts to make, I wear
a half respirator with dust filters.

The new soft 3M half masks are comfortable and it's a lot cheaper
than buying boxes of disposible masks and it's easier to breath through.

The same with epoxy. More than a couple ounces and I wear a respirator.

If you wait to get sick a few times it may be too late.

Rob