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.

sweetsawdust (in ) said:

| 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.

I dunno - might wanna load your pipe with something more stable... :-)

--
Morris Dovey
DeSoto Solar
DeSoto, Iowa USA
http://www.iedu.com/DeSoto

On Fri, 21 Jul 2006 14:50:58 -0500, "Morris Dovey"
wrote:

sweetsawdust (in ) said:

| 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.

I dunno - might wanna load your pipe with something more stable... :-)

Ha!...lol

Nothing to do with your explosion but rather your pipe. My niece wanted to make something with her uncle one day and we went out to the shop. After deciding she wanted to make a nameplate for her dad's desk we got to work with the scroll saw. Unbenounced to me while I was doing some of the more difficult cuts for her she was scooping small pinches of white oak sawdust into my Savanelli. Man did that ever taste bad ewwww. She got a good giggle out of it though so I guess it was worth it.
Puff

"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.

Seems you have proven that if you try hard enough to do it wrong, something
bad will happen.
"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.

And how did I do it "wrong" If you have a better way please enlighten me.
Speed may have been a little high but not that much for the cut in end
grain, clamping was tight etc..
"CW" wrote in message
news
Seems you have proven that if you try hard enough to do it wrong,
something
bad will happen.
"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.

If the temperature was high enough to cause ignition, speed was more than
just a little high.

"sweetsawdust" wrote in message
.. .
And how did I do it "wrong" If you have a better way please enlighten me.
Speed may have been a little high but not that much for the cut in end
grain, clamping was tight etc..

Speed was a little fast but I was not getting any heat build up or charring
on the other holes I had drilled. The bit was cool enough to hold with out
doing more then causing discomfort after drilling and had time to cool
(about 15 min) between holes.
"CW" wrote in message
ink.net...
If the temperature was high enough to cause ignition, speed was more than
just a little high.

"sweetsawdust" wrote in message
.. .
And how did I do it "wrong" If you have a better way please enlighten
me.
Speed may have been a little high but not that much for the cut in end
grain, clamping was tight etc..

In article , "sweetsawdust" wrote:
And how did I do it "wrong"

You mean, besides smoking in a woodshop?

--
Regards,
Doug Miller (alphageek at milmac dot com)

It's time to throw all their damned tea in the harbor again.

Doug Miller wrote:
In article , "sweetsawdust" wrote:
And how did I do it "wrong"

You mean, besides smoking in a woodshop?

If a woodworker speaks in a forest, and there's nobody there to hear
him........will Doug Miller still correct him?

On Fri, 21 Jul 2006 23:32:34 -0500, "sweetsawdust"
wrote:

And how did I do it "wrong"

Does this answer your question?
8" deep 1" hole with a spade bit at high speed in oak,

Could you drill that by hand? No.

How much power is behind your drill press ? Few hundred watts?

Now assume it's 90% efficient (it isn't) and half of that waste is going
into heat. So that's the heat output of a reasonable size soldering
iron, sat in a closed-in hole full of flammable sawdust. What do you
think is going to happen next?

"sweetsawdust"
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.
snip

The smoke and screeching that proceeded it would have given most of us a
clue bad things were about to happen.

Dave



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No dust, No screeching, Everything was going smoothly with no problems and
then BANG it happened. I have performed this operation several times with
no problems. This time was a bit different and exciting.
"Teamcasa" wrote in message
...

"sweetsawdust"
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.
snip

The smoke and screeching that proceeded it would have given most of us a
clue bad things were about to happen.

Dave



Posted Via Usenet.com Premium Usenet Newsgroup Services
----------------------------------------------------------
** SPEED ** RETENTION ** COMPLETION ** ANONYMITY **
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On Fri, 21 Jul 2006 23:28:25 -0500, "sweetsawdust"
wrote:

No dust, No screeching, Everything was going smoothly with no problems and
then BANG it happened. I have performed this operation several times with
no problems. This time was a bit different and exciting.

Is it possible there was something inside the wood you were drilling?
Some piece of metal or something else that, not so much causing an
explosion, but something that caught and caused a "kickback" so to speak? I
know you indicate you smelled smoke and charring, but that is sometimes
normal with high speeds and/or dull bits in hard woods.



"Teamcasa" wrote in message
...

"sweetsawdust"
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.
snip

The smoke and screeching that proceeded it would have given most of us a
clue bad things were about to happen.

Dave



Posted Via Usenet.com Premium Usenet Newsgroup Services
----------------------------------------------------------
** SPEED ** RETENTION ** COMPLETION ** ANONYMITY **
----------------------------------------------------------
http://www.usenet.com



+--------------------------------------------------------------------------------+

If you're gonna be dumb, you better be tough

+--------------------------------------------------------------------------------+

The Mark & Juanita entity posted thusly:

On Fri, 21 Jul 2006 23:28:25 -0500, "sweetsawdust"
wrote:

No dust, No screeching, Everything was going smoothly with no problems and
then BANG it happened. I have performed this operation several times with
no problems. This time was a bit different and exciting.

Is it possible there was something inside the wood you were drilling?
Some piece of metal or something else that, not so much causing an
explosion, but something that caught and caused a "kickback" so to speak? I
know you indicate you smelled smoke and charring, but that is sometimes
normal with high speeds and/or dull bits in hard woods.

Something in the wood could also cause a spark. I used to see
occasional sparks from calcium inclusions when cutting teak. No idea
if oak can have the same, though.

Oleg Lego wrote:
The Mark & Juanita entity posted thusly:

On Fri, 21 Jul 2006 23:28:25 -0500, "sweetsawdust"
wrote:

No dust, No screeching, Everything was going smoothly with no problems and
then BANG it happened. I have performed this operation several times with
no problems. This time was a bit different and exciting.

Is it possible there was something inside the wood you were drilling?
Some piece of metal or something else that, not so much causing an
explosion, but something that caught and caused a "kickback" so to speak? I
know you indicate you smelled smoke and charring, but that is sometimes
normal with high speeds and/or dull bits in hard woods.

Something in the wood could also cause a spark. I used to see
occasional sparks from calcium inclusions when cutting teak. No idea
if oak can have the same, though.

Wood can grow around just about anything, including small stones,
grains of sand and so on.

I have to wonder if there wasn't something like a blasing cap (OK,
that would be too big but something like that) in the wood. A dust
explosion will not leave charred wood in the hole.

Here's a really wild hypothesis: Concentrated
NItric acid reacts with celluose to make an explosive (guncotton).
If somebody splashed a little nitric acid on the tree many years
ago then there might have been a little explosive spot in the wood.
I wonder, if you spilled ammonium nitrate fertilizer on a tree,
could it form an inclusion that would go bang fifty years later?

If you didn;t have a posting history, or this was April, I wouldn't
believe the story.

--

"sweetsawdust" wrote in
:

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.




I think that your spade bit was spinning a bit too fast. Have you considered
a forstner bit?

Have tried fostner bits several times and on shorter holes they work but
build up to much heat. I have had charring in the holes when using fostner
bits even at low speeds, not often but a few times. With a hole of this
length (8") I have to make several passes or drill from both ends and the
fostner bits do not give as smooth of a shaft as the spade bits for this.
Main problem with the fostner bits is heat build up at depth which I seem to
have gotten anyway in this case.
"R. Pierce Butler" wrote in message
. 1...
"sweetsawdust" wrote in
:

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.




I think that your spade bit was spinning a bit too fast. Have you
considered
a forstner bit?

I remember drilling in oak with a forstner bit. Wow did it get hot. I
had to really slow down or it woulda caught fire. Smelt bad to.

sweetsawdust wrote:
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.

"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

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

"sweetsawdust" wrote in message
. ..
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(

Why are you using a spade bit on such a deep hole? An auger bit will clear
the cut wood from the hole and keep things cool. . .

BB


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

"BB" wrote in message
news:z9rxg.5225$fL3.3439@trnddc07...

Why are you using a spade bit on such a deep hole? An auger bit will clear
the cut wood from the hole and keep things cool. . .

BB

I don't know. I never thought of doing it is the only reason I can give. I
have a good set of auger bits and a good brace setting on the wall
collecting dust. Tomorrow I will get them out dust them off and give them a
try. I will be cutting in end grain but they should do the job and be
cleaner then the spade bit to boot. Thanks for the tip.