swim goggles are a great tip, thanks!

there are! i've been very careful about wearing a mask, gloves, making sure the space is well ventilated, and not creating any dust

i believe it's made of wood, my next challenge is going to be getting the nails out without damaging the wood(?) around it

very well could be, I just scraped off some paint and learned that it's nailed in and not screwed in, so I imagine it's made of wood