Yes ... mahogany (not that you get much real mahogany these days) and other fine grained hardwoods are the worst offenders for producing fine dust - stands to reason really .. fine grain and hardwood - bound to be fine dust ! It's also a wood that causes a lot of people respiratory irritation .. Yew is another offender.
I think you are right - it continues to amaze me that so few people know enough about the effects of dust. It is only in relatively recent years that woodturners (and other woodworkers) have been made aware of the health dangers associated with unprotected exposure to dust in general - and as for the explosive possibilities - still virtually ignored by many hobbyist wood workers.
Yet .. back in the industrial revolution cotton mill owners were well aware that dust in cotton mills was a huge problem and young children were employed (6 & 7 year olds) to dart around between the gins to collect up the dust and cotton fibres - sadly, many of these children suffered massive injuries and death as a result of crush injuries when they didn't move fast enough - the mills were not stopped - the children would dart in and out of the weaving loom carriages as they move back and fro over the floor. There is also evidence of early death from lung related problems .. children appeared to have been an expendable commodity in those times.
Dust explosions continue to be a problem .. Bosley Mill, Cheshire 2015 .. Four people killed and a three storey building totally destroyed:
https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-50631845
Sorry - It never fails to amaze me how threads on here diverge ... all good stuff though !
