How can I create a Dust free area for finishing?

I also have a garage shop and do most of my finishing right there without much if any special prep. But I don’t do anything in the way of high depth or high gloss where you might notice dust issues more.

Generally I cleanup the shop (Utility vac equipped with a ‘HEPA’ filter), then wait at least a few hours, or to the next day for any airborne dust to settle before beginning a finishing project. I also do not to anything in the shop to create dust during the time the finish is wet.

Now I certainly won’t say my finishes turn out perfect all the time, but rarely have I noticed a major issue with dust in the finish.

I am on a pretty tight budget and considered sectioning off a corner of the garage with plastic sheeting and those zippers you can get that tape in place on the plastic to create a door.

You would need to be conscious of the reduced air volume, fumes from finishes will fill up a small space extremely quickly. Venting with a fan and filters may be necessary in addition to normal respirator usage.

-- "Anyone who has never made a mistake has never tried anything new." - Albert Einstein

Are you spraying or brushing?
I’m not an expert in this by any means, but from what I’ve read, if you spray, I believe the biggest issue isn’t the dust, but the atomized finish that hangs in the air, solidifies, and then lands back onto your project. Many people use an exhaust fan with a simple pleated filter in front to pull the cloud of finish away from the item being sprayed. If you recycle this exhaust back into an enclosed area, I think it will solve your dust problem also.

You can set up a plastic enclosure. Spritzing the air repeatedly with water
drags floating particles to the floor.

Clean your shop well, set up the clean room, spritz and vacuum in the
clean room, then go at it. You still have to rub out unless you’re
really well-set-up.

Wetting the floor down is a trick I learned in auto body. Keeps the dust on the floor from stirring.

What ever else you do it is a good practice to have a wire connected to a solid earth ground. The ground wire of youe electrical system will do fine. The last thing you do before you begin to apply your finish should be to ground your project to remove any static charge that will draw dust.

-- Nils, So. Central MI. Wood is honest.Take the effort to understand what it has to tell you before you try to change it.