toxic woods

jiminy said:
As I carpenter for the past 20+ years or so, I can honestly say that most of the warnings regarding various woods appear to be somewhat overblown. Heck, for most of those years the predominant wood around here for building was redwood, and other than it staining your hands, I saw nobody in the trades who had ever had any adverse reaction to it (or any other woods, including exotics) even after being coated with it head to foot on a daily basis. And very few folks used dust masks back then either. Now that I've gotten older (and wiser, one would hope) I use a dust mask and/or respirator all the time, (and I would advise everyone else to also) when they are exposed to any kind of dust ...regardless of it's source, but the point is that wood is about as benign a material as one will encounter in this day and age.
Are some people sensitive to various woods? I suppose so. But there are plenty of more toxic chemicals in the carpet that you walk on in your house then in the majority of these purportedly 'hazardous' woods.
Click to expand...



This is NOT TRUE-There are a LOT of exotic woods that can make you SICK with one exposure to the dust.......EVEN IF YOU ARE WEARING A MASK!!!!


Dust gets all over everything...........and in handle making, it equates to VERY FINE dust that doesnt get sucked up by your vacuum or whatever.

Its all over your clothes, your grinder, and your shop. Lung problems are a very real danger for knifemakers......USE YOUR BRAIN, God put it there on purpose!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! :p :eek: :p
 
Tom knows what he's talking about! Trees have been around on the evolutionary scale way longer than we have and have evolved an entire host of toxic chemicals to combat hungry critters. Many of the tropical species seem particularly adept at this. The fungal agents in spalted woods and Ironwood are particularly worrisome to me. Whether woods are worse for us in general than the flood of man-made chemicals we are awash in everyday of our lives is another thing.

Which leads me to weighing in on Jiminy's side a bit since I do not think his point was taken as he intended. He was quite firm that we all need to use protection when we are grinding "anything", wood included. I think his main point was that we should be as worried (or perhaps more worried) about the dangers of the chemicals in our everyday surroundings which are potentially more dangerous than exposure to wood. I believe it wouldn't take much searching to find that many of todays health problems are being linked to chronic exposure to industrial chemicals in every day objects and surroundings. Heck, I went to elementary school in Pensacola, Florida right across the street from one of the EPA's more toxic sites in the nation. Who knew? :barf:
 
Over here we use to say that if you have not found a wood you are allergic at, sooner or later you will.
So far, I only have had one strong allergic reaction, and that was with ipê, that seems to be ne of the worst woods on this regards.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top