This guy's video of him making a Damascus denim table popped in my feed. I came for the craftsmanship, & stayed for his commentary
I subscribe to his channel. He's got a hell of an interesting business model... does a bunch of content creating some very interesting stuff, and then he sells the result online for stupid money. He also takes commissions. He's got an interesting blend of skill and pushing his boundaries and trying new shit that he knows nothing about. That denim table is one such thing that he's never done before.
Guy had a fire in his shop due to fine sawdust getting into an electrical box. He checked all his other outlets and was surprised he hasn't had more fires. I could only find the video on his Facebook page His website: https://www.stpierrewoodworking.com/
Yeah. I routinely take a vacuum to the outlets in my shop, and based on how ugly they get, have been tempted to upgrade to a more ruggedized outlet.
A friend of mine had outdoor outlet covers in his shop. The individual flip ones like this: If there wasn't anything plugged into it, it was covered.
That is some dedication. I grew up in a cabinet shop, worked in one in my teens to early 20s and my step dad still owns a cabinet shop. I don't think I ever saw a vacuum in the shop
Look up child-proof outlet covers. This style is similar to what we use in our schools (amazon link). When we built our master suite addition, we put those outlet covers on everything due to said fire danger with the open outlets and dust and such.
I do that only because I have a bunch of unused receptacles, lots of cob webs and sawdust around them, and my dust collection right there. It’s a small shop with a fair bit of dust thrown around during the heat of battle. Combine that with a very high current drain for things like my planer or bandsaw, that pull enough to regularly trip the breakers, and I have a bit of concern around the power in my shop. I’m in the process of installing a full house generator that will also feed 220 into my shop when fired up, because upgrading the shop is crazy expensive otherwise. (mains upgrade past 100a, re running lines to the shop, etc, is more than twice the cost of a 26kw generator install). That means I can just spec new and better receptacles from the start.
My stepfather was old school. No dust collectors, no dust mask, no hearing protection etc. Sprayed lacquer and conversion varnish without a respirator. Bitched about the lower quality formaldehyde free melamine when it came out. The county made him put in a spray booth, he uses it for storage. They made him put in a dust collection system, he used it until the bags were partially full to show it was being used and then never used it again. He'll be 82 this year and doesn't take a single medication. Maybe the formaldehyde is preserving him?
Funny how that works.... but I've also seen the opposite happen. A friend of my dad's got lung cancer, and he happened to be a carpenter that followed the same "safety" regimen as your stepfather. ¯\_(ツ)_/¯ I just love my dust collection as it keeps the particulate down in the shop. The air cleaner I have does an amazing job.
I had an aunt who started smoking as a teenager and managed to live for 90 years. That doesn't mean that smoking is good for you.
Jim Fixx was a big time runner and promoter of running for fitness and health. He wrote a best-selling book about it. He died of a heart attack when he was 52, while running. That doesn't mean running is bad for you. But, it probably is.
Moderate amounts of running are good for you. Marathons probably aren't. Sometimes you get dealt a shitty genetic hand that is difficult to overcome.
Sorry, I was being facetious. The genetic hand you're dealt is absolutely a huge factor. I've run two marathons and got a brain tumor. But, I don't think there's any correlation, lol. Okay, back to the Wordworking thread!
Probably a bit more outside the scope of this thread, but running significant distances such as those actually increases bone density (source). Additionally, the training involved will strengthen the muscles and the ticker specifically, which is especially important as we age. Early last week I was in our well house and got stung by a red wasp, and had an extreme allergic reaction to it, causing my throat to swell and my HR to skyrocket. If I didn't have a resting HR in the mid-50s thanks to consistent aerobic exercise, I'm not sure I would still be here. So yeah, enjoy your hobbies, but make sure your ass stays healthy enough to enjoy them well into old age! I always wear ear and eye pro (Dewalt just released some great new impact glasses) when doing anything where I might remotely need them, and keep fire extinguishers both everywhere and regularly checked.