Containing dust in old joists

[Cellomangler]

I am renovating an old building that has 25 ft, 2x12 rough sawn joists exposed. I removed old mildewed ceiling tile, cleared out old insulation and am going to leave all the joists exposed as I've got a new pitched roof with insulation on top of the old flat roof. This old timber is in great shape, despite lots of leakage over years of abandonment. I want to stain the beams with an opaque stain but there is a lot of dust clinging onto the beams. I've used a leaf blower and have started hand brushing but there seems to be no end to the dust that emerges as the grain is very deep. So I'm wondering if the right sealer, varnish, etc. might just glue the dust in place after I've stained ? If so, could anyone recommend a product or offer any other suggestions ? Thanks.

[rat52]

To get the dust off any old timber, particularly before putting it through a planer, I use the upholstery brush on the end of a vacuum cleaner hose. The brush loosens the dirt and the vacuum sucks it up, saving your lungs.

[graemet]

I would be thinking about hiring a water blaster.
Cheers
Graeme

[Cellomangler]

I would be thinking about hiring a water blaster.
Cheers
Graeme
No.. it could be bad news to force water up into the old roof boards and under the metal roof and through to the insulation. Might have been the thing to do before I put the new peaked roof in place, but I believe it's too late now. -And there were freezing temps back then and I didn't have my 2 wood burning stoves installed...! I think the scrubbing, vacumming and sealing with a latex varnish of some sort is the way to go. I'm just searching for a good varnish type of sealer (going over my stain) that has a good adhesion property -this stuff may be a candidate:
http://www.ecoproducts.com/Building/build_paint/Techpdfs/Hard%20Seal%20data.pdf