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I had a discussion with John Kinnaird the other day about Bubinga. I found some beautiful quarted stuff but also read it dulls saw, planes and chisels quickly. What has ben your experience? Also What about Makore?

Barry bubinga is very hard dense wood and tough on blades. Makore has a silica content that dulls metal blades in a flash. That's the wood that convinced me switch to carbide. Makore is also an irritant. Can make you cough so make sure you wear a respirator.

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Bob isn't it silica that has been responsible for the lung disease for mining workers? if so than it would make a lot of sense then to have full protection and good air filtration in the shop as well IMHO.

Serge

I found bubinga great to work with except for sanding. It bends and cuts easy, but thickness sanding was very slow. Run your sander feed on a high speed or you will burn the wood.

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"An adventure is only an inconvenience rightly considered. An inconvenience is an adventure wrongly considered." G. K. Chesterton.

Serge, silicosis is a fairly common issue with all kinds of workers, and I doubt the amount in wood is going to cause much damage. However, full respiratory protection is a MUST whenever you're creating even moderately fine dust (ie, sanding or sawing; chisels and planes are safe, scrapers, well, depends how sharp it is).

Thanks Mattia, i guess my next big expense will be the small air filtration box from Lee Valley, should be big enough for my tiny shop!

I started sanding and cutting on a set of spalted makore from RC. I started out with no mask, but found that the sanding was taking more passes than I thought it would. So I put on a twin cartridge respirator (4" dust collection with a 1.5 HP collector with felt bag)

Well my upper lungs tickled and were irritated for two days. I think it doesn't take much to irritate. So do be careful.

I recently decided to buy a cyclone collector, and get a downdraft table. I don't want to build up senitivity as I get older, or affect my family either.

I sanded the sides to .078". They began to twist a little, and were very flexy. They will definitely get good side bracing.

PM me next week and I'll tell you how the bending went. Zootman says goes easy on the water. Will do Bob.

Gotta go out and get some high temp spray paint for my spring steel that wants to rust. Thanks for that tip John Hall & Bob Cefalu

Good weekend all!

Terry Stowell38780.0117824074