Are Wood Handles Poisonous?

anthony cheeseboro

anthony cheeseboro

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Aug 8, 1999
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I have been hearing on TV about high levels or arsenic being found in picnic furniture made of pressurized wood. I am wondering if knife handles made from treated wood are safe especially for knives that are used to prepare food? Those who know shed some light on this.
 
Anthony,

It sounds like alot of BS and hype generated by the paper to try to extend the life of the Arsenic scare that poped up a few weeks ago. Lets face it, wood handled knives exist, and have existed. Do you know anyone who has suffered any ill effects from using one?

There are toxins, radiation, baterial, and viral agents around us all the time. I doubt our life expectancy would improve if we get paranoid over this one.
 
The way to keep from being poisoned by treated wood is to not eat it. All treated wood is poison to something, otherwise it wouldn't work. If it will keep a bug or fungus from eating it then it is probably a good idea not to eat off of it (without some kind of table cloth anyway), lick it or chew on it. If you don't do those things then you are pretty safe.

I never heard of a knife handle being treated with CCA, creosote or pentachlorophenal, which are the most common chemicals used in wood treating for various purposes but not gunstocks and knife handles.

The amount of exposure would be awfully small in any event. Whatever is used to stabilize the wood in a knife handle (epoxy probably) is not going to hurt you. Might if you ate it or licked it like a lollipop but I doubt it.

My advice would be use the knives and quit watching TV and reading.
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A Patriot's Work Is Never Done--greetings from The Occupied South
A Few For Sale or Tradehttp://albums.photopoint.com/j/AlbumIndex?u=583484&a=4261694

[This message has been edited by truedge (edited 05-02-2001).]
 
Anthony, pressurized wood has arsenic forced into it as a preservative. This material is used for decks and outside garden applications. Apparently someone is using the stuff for furniture. Just because it has arsenic in it does not make it dangerous unless you eat it, or breath the saw dust. Sanding pressurized wood without a respirator is dangerous.

Since I have never heard about anyone using pressurized lumber as handle material, I don't think there is anything to worry about.

Stabilized hardwoods commonly used for knife handles are preserved (stabilized) with plastic resins. The dust of some types of wood can cause various health problems because of toxins produced by the wood (not from aresenic), but finished hardwoods are safe for knife handles.

There is no significant arsenic concentration in wooden knife handles.

Paracelsus
 
It is vitally important that you never saw or sand such treated woods casually. I wouldn't, for example, age my moonshine whiskey in casks made of such wood either. (Note to self: get new whiskey casks...) But casual exposure to such woods in-tact is safe.

By the way, the bigger risk is from some exotic hardwoods which actually contain natural oils that are poisonous. Tulip wood (which, like rose wood, has no relation to the flower that it shares its name with) is a good example of this. Artists who work tulip wood need to be very careful about exposure to the dust and fumes.

Mother of Pearl is widely reputed to be poisonous. It is not. But, the dust is very irritating and some people are highly allergic to it.

By the way, you'd better call the poison center because I just ate some cyanide. No, I'm not committing suicide. I just happen to like these almond cookies. Yes, almonds contain a small amount of deadly cyanide (apple seeds do too). My point is that exposure to a tiny amount of a deadly poison is not necessarily a terrible thing. But, the media likes to grab ahold of certain emotional words such as Arsenic and Poison and blow it all out of proportion.

So, while you're reading all the goings on about arsenic in drinking water, you'd better not be eating any almond cookies.

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Chuck
Balisongs -- because it don't mean a thing if it ain't got that swing!
http://www.balisongcollector.com

[This message has been edited by Gollnick (edited 05-02-2001).]
 
master para sayz:
Just because it has arsenic in it does not make it dangerous unless you eat it, or breath the saw dust. Sanding pressurized wood without a respirator is dangerous.


cant you be harmed by breathign the fumes/smoke when you burn it? when i was in scouts we were working on some camp sites,which involved removing some wooden platforms,made from pressure treated lumber.so we get the great idea that we could burn it (vs. having to go look for wood). scoutmaster said the smoke was poisonous.
is it?
 
Well, the wood as arsenic in it. Arsenic is a metal and will not be destroyed by burning, so I would guess that the smoke would indeed have arsenic in it. How much I have no idea, but I think your scoutmaster was right.

On the other hand, arsenic is not the most deadly of substances. As my namesake said almost 500 years ago, the dose makes the poison. The water of Los Angeles has several times the EPA's recommended maximum level of arsenic. The source of this arsenic is about 99% from a volcanically active creek that contributes only a tiny fraction of the total water supply. Why they have not eliminated this potential problem from the water supply is a mystery to me.

I would certainly not advise a bunch a boyscouts to breath the smoke from burning pressurized lumber. When I was a boyscout a few decades ago, the big scare was accidental burning of poison oak. Very nasty.

Paracelsus
 
I suggest you go to the nearest 84 Lumber or lumber yard (seriuosly)and ask them about treated wood. They can give you the best answer, and provide you with literature.
Wolmanized® lumber has specific guidelines for safe handling and use. Generally, knife and gun handles, grips and stocks are hardwoods, and Wolmanized® is soft wood unsuited for handles, grips or stocks.

[This message has been edited by Hal (edited 05-02-2001).]
 
I agree, the dangers of treated wood are not an issue with knife handles. I have not heard of anyone using CCA treated wood in knifemaking. The dangers of CCA( copper chromated arsenic) are very real though. They make kids swing sets and stuff with this wood and I am not sure that is a good idea. The poisons can and do get absorbed through the skin from both contact and from splinters. Redwood and cedar both contain natural preservatives that are almost as effective as the treated stuff, and are a lot safer. Another big NO NO to remember with CCA treated wood is to NOT use it for framing a vegetable garden. Many people make small, raised bed gardens and frame them with wood. Again, cedar or redwood are much better choices. Vegetable gardens framed with treated wood will leach the poisons into your soil and food. Its amazing the stuff you can learn while attending college for greenhouse management.

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Danbo, soul brother of Rambo
 
CCA is not used to treat handles or anything like them. Its not really that effective at all. It works OK for thngs like decks but if you really watch, you'll find that the treatment wears off pretty quickly and the deck starts to dry up, warp, splinter and crack. Thats why Thompson's water sealer and other companies have such a good businessd going
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The process for CCA treating doesn't allow for alot of penetration into the wood. If you ever cut a 4x4 in 2 you'll find by looking at the end grain that only a ring around the outside faces has been treated. The inside is untouched.
Never build anyhting with CCA posts that are bigger than a 4x4 if you want it to last. 4x6's ,6x6's and up acutally have enough untreated wood inside to rot from the inside out. It starts down underground and works its way up the post. Instead, laminate 2x6 into a post, its stronger and the preservative has penetrated almost clear though the 2x6.
Even though CCA pretty much evaporates over time, there may be arsenic left behind. So I wouldn't go eating large amounts of treated lumber
wink.gif
. but its really not that big a deal. I worked with lots of CCA treated lumber and had lts of fires with the scraps left over and I'm still among the living. I guess its debatable if its had any uill effects though
wink.gif


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I may not be the sharpest knife in the drawer... but I've got the sharpest knife in the room.
 
Gollnick raised a very good point. The dust from sanding almost any wood can be potentially toxic. It is at the very least a nuisance dust in the same catagory as fiberglass dust and can cause irritation to the sinus and lungs. I have been told Cocobolo is among the worst with substantial amounts of natural poison to repel bugs. Minimum protection shold be working in an open space with at least a paper respirator.
There was a knife magazine article that came out in the last year that covered this subject. I will try to find it and reference it here.
David
David

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AKTI# A000150
NC Custom Knifemakers Guild member
NC Knife Knuts member
 
WHAT????

OMG!! I have just eaten a woody Sebi! Am I going to die? Well a lot of Sebi owners will kill me for sure... But will it kill me?
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Wayne.
"To strive to seek to find and not to yield"
Tennyson
Ranger motto

A few useful details on UK laws and some nice reviews!
http://members.aol.com/knivesuk/
Certified steel snob!
 
You know about the wooden bathtub?
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I'm gona DIE AHHHHHHHHH Nooooooo!
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Wayne.
"To strive to seek to find and not to yield"
Tennyson
Ranger motto

A few useful details on UK laws and some nice reviews!
http://members.aol.com/knivesuk/
Certified steel snob!
 
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