This is embarasing... but maybe my life can serve as a warning for
others...

I finally convinced the wife that a planer would be a good thing, and that
it would dramatically increase my ability to do fine woodworking (blah,
blah... I just wanted a planer). She finally caved. So off to the big box
store I went, and returned home with a brand new Dewalt 735 Planer. Man I
love this thing. I lovingly crafted a base for it to sit on, so I could
wheel it around the garage when I needed it. Then finally the moment of
truth. To actually plane a board.

I grabed a peice of 4/4 cherry that I had left over from another project ran
it through the jointer to flatten one side. Then switched on the planer.
What a sound. My wife hear a new machine being turned on came out to see.
I put the board in and proceed to spray chips out the garage door and into
the street. That chip ejection system is powerfull! Now to me this is
sheer beauty. No mess in the garage. But to the wife this is the reason
our neighbours keep moving! Chips after all belong in the garbage.

Now remember I just bought a planer, so a proper dust collection system is
completly out of the question for the time being and why should I pay for an
$80 Dewalt chip system, when the dust collector is in the furture? Here is
why.

So off to the store she goes, and returns shortly with 4' of 4" dryer hose.
Seems reasonable... or so I thought. (I was still happy about the new tool
purchase). I conect it to the back. Drop the other end into the garbage
and put a board to wedge it in, and go back over to get my trusty 4/4 cherry
board. My wife standing by the garbage can to watch the chips pile up nicly
inside. Turn the thing on, and load the board... and all hell brakes
loose. The hose pops out of the garbage, and starts flying around the
garage, spreading chips over ever square inch of the shop.

No this would be good enough if it ended there. But as we know when you
have air and chips running through a hose you get: an electrical charge.
The wife seeing the hos eflying around the garage, making much more of a
mess than I would normally make on my own, decides to grab it and point it
into the can. Zap, zap, zap. Man did she look shocked! (ha ha). The best
part is she hold onto it to keep it pointed into the garbage can. The chips
by the way did not intend to stay in the garbage can, and were just blown
out by the mega fan on the planer.

So yes. Before the start of the next project I am *required* to go ge an
appropriate dust collection system. Life is great all because of a simple
planer, some chips, and some static electricity.