Rule 29 of 31 · Chapter VI — Finishing and Shop Habits
Dust is the slow danger
Why this rule exists
The blade might take a finger, but fine dust takes your lungs, quietly, over years. The particles you don't see are the ones that lodge deepest, and some woods are outright sensitizers or worse. It's easy to ignore because nothing hurts today, which is exactly what makes it dangerous. You don't feel the damage accumulating. Protecting your breathing is the least dramatic safety habit in the shop and, over a lifetime of weekends, maybe the most important one.
In practice
Wear a proper fitted respirator or dust mask for sanding, routing, and sweeping, not just when the air already looks thick. Hook power tools to dust collection or a shop vac right at the source where the dust is made. Run an air filter for the fine stuff that hangs in the air for hours. Vacuum rather than blowing dust airborne to settle again elsewhere, and let it settle before you go back in. Take extra care around known irritant species.
When it doesn't apply
A quick single cut may not warrant full gear, though the fine dust still lingers longer than you'd guess. The habit matters most with prolonged sanding and routing, the operations that make the finest, most breathable dust. If you have asthma or allergies, treat even light exposure seriously and mask up regardless.