Good Morning Friends,

Many a woodworker clean up after each process of making dust and dirt however there are those who hardly ever clean up until they find they are being over run with the residue.

How often do you feel would be the better arrangement in keeping the shop clean?

I always cleanup after each project. However, if that project requires a lot of milling of stock to get started, I will clean up after the milling stage. And, I will always clean prior to the finishing stage- I don't have a dedicated finishing room.

I always clean as I go as my 3 car garage is my shop with direct access to our family room. Our door mat always has some wood dust on it but the dust cannot go beyond that. We also live at the end of a cul-de-sac and always have a bit of a breeze and I work with the garage door open most of the time so the saw dust gets blown around a fair amount. On top of that being an asthmatic, the less dust that is sitting around the better for me. So once I get done with making a lot of dust I blow/sweep the dust over to the floor sweep for the dust collector. On top of all this we have a Miniature Schnauzer named Sylar who has quite the beard on him and he occasionally makes it out to the garage and as all Schnauzers do, they stick their nose and face into everything so his beard gets full of saw dust. Though it is kind of funny to walk through the kitchen and look down at his food bowl and see saw dust in his kibble.

I like to clean up as much as I can as I go. I just find it better to work in as clean an environment as possible. Now I have have things sitting around, but as far as dust and the shavings, I will clean up as I go or before I call it a day and go in. I have found it doesn't take but a few minutes to grab the shop vac and get up anything that wasn't sucked up in the DC. I also like to give it a day even after cleaning before I do finishing to make sure there is not dust still floating around. I don't have a separate finishing area either.

 

 

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John Moody
John Moody Woodworks
http://www.johnmoodywoodworks.com

I clean as I go, and never leave shavings and/or dust on the floor or work bench before packing up for the night. My next investment will be in a dust collection system.

I try to clean up between each step of the project. I believe keep a clean work also provides to being a more safe work area. Beings that I have a small shop this is a must for me. Dust collectors are great devices but the table saw throws some out the top of the cut too, as do other machines, especially a thickness planer.

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Wayne Mahler
God bless and protect our troops that serve so we can be free.

Good Morning all,

It sure appears that we are all in the same boat on this one for I personally hate to move around with a dirty floor and I have found it to be a much safer situation if I clean as I go along. Also waiting till the end of the day might become a situation where one would say," it isn't that bad so I'll clean it up tomorrow." But it doesn't get done then either.