I turn in a single-car garage in Sydney’s Inner West. It’s cramped, it’s hot in summer, and if I don’t manage the dust, my wife reminds me that it drifts into the house. Over the years I’ve tried a few different approaches to dust extraction, and I want to share what’s actually worked for me in a space that’s about three metres by six.

Why It Matters More Than You Think

Wood dust is genuinely hazardous. The fine particles — the ones you can’t even see — are the dangerous ones. They get deep into your lungs and stay there. Some timbers are worse than others. Western red cedar can trigger serious allergic reactions. Australian species like blackwood and silky oak produce dust that’s classified as a sensitiser. Even if you feel fine now, repeated exposure adds up.

Beyond health, there’s the practical side. Dust coats everything. It gets into your chuck mechanism. It clogs your sandpaper. It makes your workshop floor slippery. Dealing with it properly makes turning more pleasant and your tools last longer.

The Three Lines of Defence

I think about dust control in three layers:

1. Source Collection — Catch It Where It’s Made

This is your dust extractor or shop vac positioned right at the lathe. For a small workshop, you’ve got two main options:

A single-stage dust collector (the classic bag-on-top units, around $300-500 from Carbatec or similar). These pull a decent volume of air and handle the coarse chips well. The downside is the filter bags on cheaper units let fine dust straight through. If you go this route, upgrade to a 1-micron felt bag — it makes an enormous difference.

A shop vac with a cyclone separator. This is what I settled on. I run a Festool CT midi connected to a Dust Deputy cyclone. The cyclone catches about 95% of the waste before it hits the vac, which keeps the filter clean and maintains suction. Total cost was around $800 for the pair, but the vac does double duty for general cleanup.

Position your collection point as close to the cutting action as possible. I made a simple plywood hood that sits behind the lathe and funnels dust toward the 100mm hose. It’s not pretty, but it catches the stream of shavings that come off a bowl gouge beautifully.

2. Ambient Filtration — Clean the Air You Breathe

Source collection won’t catch everything. The fine dust that hangs in the air for hours needs an ambient air filterer. You can buy ceiling-mounted units from the big woodworking suppliers for $400-600, but I built mine for about $80.

The trick: strap a MERV-13 furnace filter to a box fan. It sounds too simple, but it works. I mounted a 20-inch box fan to the ceiling joists with the filter zip-tied to the intake side. I run it during turning and leave it going for 30 minutes after I finish. The difference is remarkable — the air actually smells clean when I come back the next day.

3. Personal Protection — Your Last Resort

Even with good extraction and filtration, wear a mask when you’re sanding. Sanding produces the finest, most dangerous particles, and no extraction system catches all of it.

For general turning, I wear a half-face P2 respirator. For sanding or working with toxic timbers, I switch to a powered air-purifying respirator (PAPR). The Trend Airshield is popular with turners — around $400, and it doubles as a face shield. It took me a while to justify the cost, but honestly, it’s the best money I’ve spent on workshop safety.

Layout Tips for Small Spaces

In a tight workshop, routing dust extraction is half the battle. Here’s what I’ve learned:

• Keep hose runs short. Every metre of hose and every bend reduces suction. My extractor sits within two metres of the lathe with one gentle curve.
• Use blast gates. If you have multiple machines (lathe, bandsaw, grinder), fit blast gates so you only extract from the tool you’re using. Closing off unused ports concentrates suction where you need it.
• Floor sweep port. I installed a floor-level port near the lathe that I can kick open with my foot. It’s brilliant for the shavings that miss the hood.
• Hang the hose from the ceiling using bungee cords. Keeps it off the floor where you trip over it, and the bungee gives you enough play to move it around.

What I’d Do Differently

If I were setting up again from scratch, I’d run 100mm PVC pipe along the ceiling from day one rather than relying on flexible hose for everything. Rigid pipe loses far less suction and is easier to clean if you get a blockage. I’d also mount the air filterer directly above the lathe rather than in the corner where it currently sits.

Dust management isn’t the exciting part of woodturning, but getting it right means you can spend more time at the lathe and less time cleaning up — and your lungs will thank you in twenty years.