I have had similar things happen in wood that "I thought" was dry, but
always in deep holes (3' or more) with twist bits under 3/8" in dia Just a
popping sound and a spray of dust and steam. Never had one come apart but
then I use larger blanks of wood then you would use for a pen. This time it
was a spade bit and left ash. on my shirt and glasses. This could have been
a steam explosion,but it was a weird one if it was. Wood might have
shattered if it had been a twist bit?! 8(

It does make you want to stop working for a minute though and ponder life,
doesn't it. I wonder how many other strange and secret events happen in
wood shops that you never hear about? It's all part of the fun of working
with a living material.
"Andy" wrote in message
...

"sweetsawdust" wrote in message
...
Forget the dust collector the drill press is the villain here. To day
while
drilling a 8" deep 1" hole with a spade bit at high speed in oak, I
had
an
explosion. I was about 3 1/2" deep into the hole when with a loud bang
and
what appeared to be a flash, dust went all over the shop. Blinded by a
layer
of sawdust covering my glasses and with the taste of burned oak (maybe
from
oak dust landing in my pipe) I groped for the off switch to the drill
press.
In shock I looked at my wood, which was hanging from the drill bit and
it
looked fine with out my glasses on, looked fine after I cleaned my
glasses
and set down for a minute too. Found some ash and smell of "smoke" in
the
hole I was drilling so it must have been a real dust explosion. So dust
explosions do happen but maybe not in dust collectors.



Ok, this really happened to me. I was drilling a blank for a pen into some
slightly green hardwood (I don't remember what, something tropical) and
about 3/4 of the way through, the wood exploded. I mean BOOM! Splinters
everywhere. If it weren't for the steam coming off the drillbit I never
would have guessed that the moisture in the wood would flash to steam and
blow up the workpeice.

Andy