Wood Working Machinery

The Green Approach

Although you might think of wood working machinery being the enemy of trees and nature, they can be a little friendlier if you use them correctly.  Getting the most from your wood working machinery certainly saves on waste, which means less trees need to be used for one project.  And the fumes and gases given off in your wood working area can be cut down in order to reduce greenhouse gas emissions.

Unplug When Not Using

For safety's sake as well for the environment's sake, keep all wood working machinery unplugged when you are not using it.  This not only saves you money, but can also save your fingers.  When you unplug big wood working machines, don’t just leave the plug on the floor where someone can trip over it.  Hang it up on a nail or coil it up.

And you don’t need to keep everything charged all of the time.  Some of the newest cordless wood working tools use lithium ion batteries that only loose between 2-5% of their energy per month.  That means they don't need to be charged after every use.

What's That On The Floor?

Although Shop-Vacs are neat toys, they kick up material into the air and use up a lot of energy.  You can avoid this by cleaning up your messes around your wood working machinery by spreading sawdust all over the floor.  The sawdust soaks up chemical spills as well as any wood working scraps.  Just sweep it up (yes, the old fashioned way).  You may want to wear a face mask when doing this.

Keep Used Paint Thinner

When you're working with wood, you inevitably work with pain thinner.  Never pour used paint thinner into the toilet or out into the street.  If you let your brushes or whatever sit in the pain thinner overnight, the thinner separates into clean thinner and dirty sludge.  You can strain off the clean thinner and then all you have to worry about is the sludge.  That need to go in a hazardous waste material site.

Wipe Your Paws

After working with your woodworking machines and any wood stains, thinners or paint, you may have lots of pathogens and other nasty stuff on your work boots.  Keep these things in its place by having foot wiping mats outside of your wood working machinery shop or shed.  If you do your tinkering in the basement, then have a floor mat at the top of the steps.