[wood_chucker]

So it has gotten really cold around here. I know its alot colder in some other place but its to cold here for me. My old shop has no source of heat and multiple basketball sized holes in the wall...( I know its rough I just bought this house in the fall and didn't have a chance to rebuild it yet. I plan on taking off all the old rotten t-11 siding and replacing with metal next spring)

So my question is does anyone do any woodworking inside the house. I have an extra bedroom, and was thinking a couple of tools that dont make a lot of dust I could still get alot of stuff done. My real passion in woodworking is furniture building, but also wood like to try my hand at some model work. I have been wanting a scroll saw for a while. Do they make much dust. And what about a sander that I could use for sanding the small scrolled pieces.

So what i got going on in my mind would be a small bench my benchtop bandsaw and drill press the scroll saw and some sort of sander. Any ideas on this. I do have to keep the wife happy so I cant have a ton of dust in the house.

 

[burkhome]

Shortly after being married and purchasing our first house, my wife allowed me to set up for woodworking in a 9 x 10 bedroom. I started with a few hand tools and a bright shiny new shopsmith. I learned about table saw kickback when I put a small piece of oak through the kitchen wall. Got the "look" from the wife.

 

[Da Aardvark]

Not advisable unless you can isolate the area extremely well.
The dust eeks out from all pores of the home.

Get a heater in the shop.

 

[woodnthings]

find the most quiet shop vac

I use the Rigid 6.5 Hp/16 gal models because they are quiet. They may have changed from back when I got mine.
Anyway make sure you have the shop vac running when sanding or bandsawing because you want to collect the dust right at it's source.

Between the shop vac and the machine you may may a lot of noise, if that's an issue I donno? Noise vs dust, give her a choice... :laughing:

 

[wood_chucker]

Well she is really the one who got me started on this. The other day she was looking at some stuff obline, and she came to me with a picture of some Noahs ark toys. Just animal shape cutouts and a boat and asked can you build some of these to donate to the churchs toy drive. I said sure when do you want me to get started. She then replied right now. It was around 20 degrees outside so I jokingly said no way the only way I'm gonna do that is if I bring my bandsaw in here. She then replied ok that's fine. I was like what are you serious, and she was like yeah of you make a mess ill clean it up. So a half hour later I'm standing at my bandsaw in my extra room cutting out animal shapes. While she prepared dinner and watched her soaps. I had my beastly shop back hooked up to it and I really didn't notice any dust making it to the floor, and she never said anything about the noise so maybe having the door closed and being way down the hall muffled the sound.

 

[BernieL]

Keep that girl around... you got a good one!

If you invest in a scroll saw, try to stretch the budget a bit and get yourself a decent 20 inch. I've made lots of great gifts using my scroll saw... and the dust is minimal. These hanging picture frames are cut from 1 piece of wood using my scroll saw. A router was used to round off the edges and you could use that toll on a fair day in your ventilated shop. There are lots of other great gifts from scroll saws

 

[mdntrdr]

Not advisable unless you can isolate the area extremely well.
The dust eeks out from all pores of the home.

Get a heater in the shop.

+1 :smile:

 

[wood_chucker]

Keep that girl around... you got a good one!

If you invest in a scroll saw, try to stretch the budget a bit and get yourself a decent 20 inch. I've made lots of great gifts using my scroll saw... and the dust is minimal. These hanging picture frames are cut from 1 piece of wood using my scroll saw. A router was used to round off the edges and you could use that toll on a fair day in your ventilated shop. There are lots of other great gifts from scroll saws

Thank ya Bernie I have to agree with ya on that one she is pretty great.

And heating the shop just isn't feasible it has so many holes its just to drafty. From the construction of it I think it was a carpoty someone.e tried to box in with as little and cheap material as possible. This summer I will knock it Down build up stud wall wrap with tin and Insulate it, but I need to get my woodworking fix through this winter as well

 

[amckenzie4]

I've done work in the house, yes. I left the power tools outside the house, and ran out to use them in the cold if they were really necessary. I spent that winter working on joints and practicing use of my hand tools. I made a couple of small boxes, but mostly I just practiced planing, sawing, and drilling straight with a brace or eggbeater drill.

Hand tools mostly produce much larger dust or shavings than power tools: an old towel or rag rolled up under the door keeps dust and shavings in the room where you're working, and getting in the habit of sweeping up every time you leave the room is mildly annoying, but keeps the rest of the house pretty clean.

I'm not saying you should give up on the power tools: just that if you're going to work inside, hand tools might be better for that part of the job. I know I'm not giving up my drill press, and I'm really looking forward to getting my bandsaw running again.

 

[MNsawyergp]

I am assuming you don't have a basement in your house....am I correct? Here in Minnesota most houses have basements for the furnace and to keep the plumbing from freezing in the winter. BTW...today is -9 degrees right now. It's been that way for a week and a few more days to go. My shop is in our basement. The dust is the biggest problem no matter which room you are in. Put weather stripping around the door and use shop vacs and hoods on your tools. Oh yeah, use the vac on yourself before you leave the room. I track dust all over the house when I come up from the basement even when I am careful.

You have a great wife, to like and appreciate your woodwork....and the noise and mess. Give her some big hugs.

 

[wood_chucker]

No no basement I'm in tn its been twenties and thirties here. So not nearly as.cold as you have it but I guess I'm kinda soft I just can't take it the cold locks my muscles up and I cramp all over.

 

[EWerner]

When it is too cold to warm up the shop space during the winter months I head down stairs to my workbench and work on projects with hand tools. Even then I have the hand vac ready at all times to cleanup the sawdust produced just with hand tools. The furnace guy wasn't happy that I have a word bench in my utility room but I do my best to keep the dust levels low.

Right now I have a classic guitar kit from Grizzly that I am working on which is perfect for days when it is -10.

 

[wood_chucker]

I understand what all you guys are saying in just not much of a hand took guy. I use my handtools more or less for cleaning up joinery making stuff fit perfect and that's about it. Plus making models like cars or planes with hand tools seems tedious at best.