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As others have said, hand tools generate chips or shavings and less dust than power tools. I strongly suggest doing your sanding outside if at all possible. If not, The recommendation other folks have made for Festool is on point. Their dust collection is excellent. I own a Makita random orbit sander and it leaves a film of dust on the surroundings when I use it. I've used other people's Festool sanders with Festool dust extractors, and it's outstanding. You pay for it, but you really do get what you pay for.

Part of my strategy for keeping dust down is to do as little sanding as possible. I generally try to get a good surface off of a cutting tool (a plane or scraper), and then sand once at the grit I want to end at. Squirrelly grain, or tearout around knots sometimes requires pulling out the sander. Still I try to limit my use of it. If I can spend 5 minutes planing, and 5 minutes sanding, I'm a long way ahead on time compared to spending 5 minutes each sanding at 4 different grits to get the same surface (numbers from thin air, but the principle applies).

Noise is a challenge. You're right that chiseling is not a quiet activity. Anybody who thinks hand tool woodworking is a quiet and contemplative activity should spend a day in a room full of people chopping dovetails and then maybe reconsider their opinion.

All that said, there are a great many woodworkers who work successfully in apartments or other tight confines. Some of them are even married :-)



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