Request for information about wood toxicity

Re: Request for information about wood toxicity

john lucas

I have had a terrible reaction to wood. It has made a huge dent in my wallet and lifestyle

1. Which wood did you have a reaction to? (Trade name, botanical name if you know it).

Most of them, especially with wood prices going up. Cocobolo and blackwood are two of the worst for this reaction. Even my credit card hurts.

2. Where did you obtain the wood (cut it fresh yourself, obtained it from a dealer (you can be specific if you like), at a wood show, etc.)?

Jeffries lumber in Knoxville and Winnell Lee in Cookeville. Fortunately Pete and Shirley in Big Monk Lumber have eased the symptoms a little but keep feeding the habit.

3. What were your symptoms?

I get shaky whenever I have a stack in my arms and head toward the cash register. Apparently I fail miserably at being able to calculate board feet in my head. The cost is almost always double what I was prepared for.

4. How long had you worked with the wood before having a reaction?

OH it started on day one. Honey I can build that dresser for less than what they are asking. I'll need to buy a jointer and planer that cost more than the dresser but after that I can build it for the cost of the lumber. (did I tell you that lumber is the problem)

5. Did you seek medical help? If so, what was your diagnosis and treatment, and did the treatment resolve your issue?

I tried but apparently my doctor has the same disease. We met through the AAW and he may be more inflicted than I am due to his higher income.

6. After a first reaction, did you react to any other species? If so, which one(s)?

Yes. I have yet to find a species that I can turn down. I have an instant urge to take it home. I tried "the Patch" but it doesn't workl.

7. What safety measures have you implemented in your work environment to reduce exposure?

I turn smaller and smaller things so it requires less wood.

Re: Request for information about wood toxicity

Andi Wolfe

Thanks for the laugh, John.

Re: Request for information about wood toxicity

john lucas

Actually Andi I'm one of those rare people that don't seem to have wood alergies. OK not yet. My dad was alergic to Walnut but only mildly. I notice that I get a mildly runny nose if I turn a lot of it. I've turned a lot of cocobolo with no problems. My friend Bobby Clemons can not even be in the same room with it.

Bob Rosand is also alergic to alot of woods. He told me one time that if he gets a new type of wood he will put a little sawdust on a bandaid and apply that to his arm. If he breaks out in that area then he knows he has to be careful.

I turned some cherry that had been cut and in a barn for 100 years. The instant I put a tool to it my nose would clog up. Don't think it was what was on the surface because I used enough of it that had the surface removed. It had really tight grain, much closer than I have ever seen. Wonderful wood but I absolutely had to wear a mask to turn it.

Re: Request for information about wood toxicity

Ralph Watts

1. Which wood did you have a reaction to? (Trade name, botanical name if you know it).

Pisidia piscipula, Jamaica Dogwood, good grain, light-colored sapwood, dark reddish brown

2. Where did you obtain the wood? Bought it from a fellow in Florida

3. What were your symptoms? dizzy to the point of not being able to stand, blurred vision

4. How long had you worked with the wood before having a reaction? Long enough to get the piece to the sanding stage whereupon, with a coating of sanding dust on my hand, I swiped my finger under my nose to remove a drip and snorted a small amount.

5. Did you seek medical help? If so, what was your diagnosis and treatment, and did the treatment resolve your issue? No treatment, after I nearly passed out from inhaling the dust and had to sit down and hold on for about 2 or 3 minutes, then the dizziness passed.

6. After a first reaction, did you react to any other species? If so, which one(s)? No, nothing like this.

7. What safety measures have you implemented in your work environment to reduce exposure? When I turn Jamaican dogwood (aka Fish Kill Tree) the dust collector is on and a fan over my shoulder fan is running.

Jamaican natives use limbs of this tree to through into a stream and the fish will go belly up but recover a while later and there are no toxic effects from eating the fish.

Re: Request for information about wood toxicity

Ralph Watts

that should have been throw and only one fan....

Re: Request for information about wood toxicity

robo hippy

Andi, Well, I don't turn walnut or Mimosa/silk tree any more. I figure it is continued exposure, but they make me a bit congested, and kind of itchy/scratchy, so before anything got bad, I just stopped turning them. Probably turned a lot more walnut than mimosa. I had a friend who could work black locust when dry, but not when it was green... Catalpa has a smell that I really don't like, but not sure if that qualifies as an allergic reaction. Haven't worked cocobolo in a while, but last time, it seemed to be irritating, so probably no more of that. Never any bad reactions, so maybe I am smart in that I quit before it got bad... I don't work with either cedar or redwood, which do bother some...

robo hippy

Russian olive

Dick Coers

I cut a Russian olive decorative tree from my property, started sneezing within 2 minutes of putting it on the lathe. I stopped turning it, and went outside. Latter that evening, I removed the wood from the shop, vacuumed the place up, then never touched it again. I did not require medical assistance.

A second reaction I have had is eating meat smoked with cherry wood. I own the smoker and have experimented with different woods. I start with gastric distress within 5 minutes of eating it, and it takes a couple of hours for that to subside. The first time I had no idea what was going on, the second time was proof enough. I've never had any reaction to working the wood in my shop, just the smoke. No medical assistance needed.

Re: Russian olive

dick hines

I guess I am lucky. I have been around wood all my life. My grandfather had a shop and I spent all my time there.

So far I have not found any wood that I have any reaction to. Of course that could change tomorrow.

Re: Request for information about wood toxicity

Andi Wolfe

Thanks, Ralph.

I've found several references regarding wood toxins that are used as fish poisons in the way you mentioned.

Re: Request for information about wood toxicity

Andi Wolfe

Thanks!

Re: Russian olive

Andi Wolfe

I've found a couple of case studies in the medical literature where allergic contact dermatitis resulted from contact with olive wood jewelry. Thanks for sharing.

Re: Request for information about wood toxicity

Brad Vietje

Hey Andi -- great to see you here again

I would expect native woods to bother less than exotics or imported woods from afar, based on the idea that we would have been exposed to those antigens for all our lives, etc... Probably just ain't so.

Here are 2 local woods to which I have a mild reaction -- which also happen to be two of my favorites:

American Hophornbeam (Ostrya virginiana) Mild itchiness and dryness in throat and nasal passages (mask helps a lot), no contact dermatitis issues

Black Locust (Robinia pseudoacacia) Dry throat feeling, and mild itchy skin in direct contact with fine dust.

I'm not bothered by any other local (or naturalized) woods that I can think of. I'm very careful with all the usual suspects like Cocobolo, Bocote and other exotics (which I rarely use anymore); a little surprised at the reaction to local wood.

Safe spinning,

Brad Vietje

Newbury, VT

Re: Request for information about wood toxicity

Andi Wolfe

Thank you, Brad!

Many species of tree produce dusts that are irritants; others produce dusts that are both irritants and sensitizers. Your reactions are similar to what I've read about irritants to mucousal surfaces.

I appreciate everyone's responses to my query.

Cheers -

Re: Russian olive

robo hippy

Dick, that smoking with cherry brings up some thing I heard, but of course, can't remember where about cherry, and that is it has creosote in it and the smoke when burned, which is that nasty stuff that sticks to the sides of your chimney. Also the seeds have cyanide in them, though in very small amounts.

General rule for me and possibilities of reacting to wood, the stronger it smells, the more likely it is bad for you. Biological war fare!!!

robo hippy

Re: None - so far

Dave Paine

Sounds like a very good article.

You are asking about the negatives, the woods which caused a problem. I am happy that so far I am not aware of any problems.

It may be good to also know the positives, the wood which a person has turned which have not caused any toxicity reactions.

An attempt to recall the woods species I have turned in no specific order.

White oak

Red oak

Padauk

Bloodwood

Bubinga

Black walnut

Cherry

Honey locust

Black locust

Peruvian walnut

Purpleheart

Yellowheart

Ebony

Chakte viga

Hard maple

Silver maple

Box elder

Pear

Sycamore

Apple

Banksia pod - not a real wood, but I have turned this

Osage orange

Hickory

Wenge

English oak

I have likely missed a few.

Hydrogen cyanide, but no mention of creosote   *LINK*


http://www.smokinlicious.com/blog/?p=81

Re: Request for information about wood toxicity

William Duffield

I worked in a shop where we built kitchen cabinets from lumber core lauan plywood. We noticed after a while that everyone in the shop started coughing when we started cutting it up on the table saws. No one had any serious problems with it, but after that, we put on dust masks when cutting it, and then switched to tulip poplar ply.

When I worked for a woodworking tools, supplies and lumber retailer, a customer came in with a story. She had bought a zebrawood plank from us, and upon starting to work it in her shop, she had a severe allergic reaction. Her face swelled up so badly she couldn't even see. I don't know whether she sought medical help, but I assume she did, and after a few days she recovered completely. I think it was the first time she had ever worked with it.

padauk -- rash -- dry wood -- dust

Re: Request for information about wood toxicity

Don Orr

I've been lucky so far with no adverse reactions to any woods that I have worked with. The only thing that might come close is when I turned a bunch of Mimosa (silkwood tree), Albizia julibrissan, I got a slight irritation in my nose, kind of just a little tickle. The wood came from my father-in-law's house in Queens , NY where I cut it down after it died. Nice wood though.

A friend in my turning club had a severe reaction to Lacewood (Australian She Oak?) and ended up in the hospital for a few days. This was many years ago and he does not use it any more obviously. He had to have his wife clean his entire shop before he could go back in.

Re: Request for information about wood toxicity

Roy Girolami

I also had a reaction to both lacewood and mimosa. In both woods, I got a rash on my forearms. I turned lacewood a few times before I got a rash, but got a rash from mimosa the first time i tried it out.

Roy

I'm sure that you have already found this link but *LINK*

Keith Newton

there may be others here that want to bookmark it.

this list pretty much covers them all, however I will mention that I've always had allergies to decay and moldy smells, so any woods that are decaying just wreck my respiratory system.


http://www.wood-database.com/wood-articles/wood-allergies-and-toxicity/#npc