Wood Toxins?

bobbywett

bobbywett

Joined
Jul 23, 2006
Messages
1,231
Hello Everyone,

Just thought I'd share my recent personal experience with working with Dark Walnut wood. It caught me off guard, because I had never heard of anyone having a bad reaction to Walnut.

Over the past month or so, I've been making a few knives out of some gorgeous pieces of Dark Walnut. It has a tendency to stain my hands a rather deep purplish gray and takes several good scrubbing s with soap to wash out. Even still, it takes another day or two to wear from your hands.

One morning after working with Walnut, I woke to find my left palm had a little bump, which itched quite a bit. I thought it was probably a callus or a piece of metal shaving, so I lanced it with a razor. I pored some peroxide on it and went on with my business. The next morning there were two bumps, so I repeated the same steps (lanced/peroxide). The following morning there were several more bumps. So I started thinking this might not be a callus or a shaving from metal. What could it be? Then I remembered the purplish/gray stains from the Walnut. I did a little research and started coming to the conclusion that I had become infected with "Contact Skin Dermatitis" from working with Walnut.

I just cant understand how I had never heard of this before? I'm sure others must have experienced a reaction like this too. Anyone hear/experienced this with Walnut or other woods? What can I do to protect myself, as quiting Walnut is not an option? I will be wearing latex gloves and washing any purplish/gray completely out of my skin from now on!!!

Right now my Dr. gave mey a 5 day course of mild antibiotics which seem to be working.

Thanks for your time,

BobbyWett,

Hershey, PA :(

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WOW! that is nasty looking. I have never heard of that happening from walnut. I will be querious to gear if others have experienced this or not. I hope you were a resperator and have a good dust collection system. I would hate to see what would happen to you on the inside!
 
I used to think I only had to worry about tropical hardwoods and synthetics. I then had some bad reactions with maple...go figger. I now use full dust control and protection with everything. :(
 
Bobby,

We boatbuilders are familiar with this.

This sort of reaction is not uncommon with woods, epoxies and solvents.

Three things: don't clean hands with solvents or pumice cleaners
one reaction probably means continuing sensitivity
use nitrile, powder-free gloves ( latex and powder can cause same thing)

Good luck,

John
 
I cut down some fresh black walnut & I was red and itchy all over.

Not as bad as yours & gone in a few days.

Once I learned that, I dropped my clothes outside & showered directly.
Clothes laundered directly.
 
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Three things: don't clean hands with solvents or pumice cleaners
one reaction probably means continuing sensitivity
use nitrile, powder-free gloves ( latex and powder can cause same thing)

John,

I am definitely going to wearing my gloves from hear on out. On a side note, I just found out from a co-worker that the industrial soap we use at work contains the ground up husks/hulls of walnut shells....I may have to start living in a protective bubble suit soon!
 
Anyone can be or become allergic to practically anything. I had a reaction to using gas to clean my hands. I had done it many times before but now I have to watch what I use or I get started breaking out in a rash. Fortunately if I forget and use a chemical and get too much on my hands I pretty much recognize the first symptoms of the rash and I have a cream that doctor prescribed. If I get on it right away it still may take a week sometimes to get it stopped, sometime sooner. I worked in the construction industry for about 35 years and was exposed to all sorts of chemicals. Most without proper protection. I shudder to think about what may be in my future.

Many woods have toxins in them. If Walnut is doing that to your hands think what the dust may be doing to your insides, sinus passages, and lungs. Be prepared now that you have had a reaction like that it may be easier for any toxic wood dust to cause the same problems.


I had a guy that worked for me as a carpenter. He had been working with me for over a year and on a crew of 10+ carpenters I usually dedicated one man as "cut man". The "cut man" had to be good with a skill saw, accurate and fast! About two weeks after I put this guy on "cut man" he started coming to work with a nasty looking rash that had developed on his hands and arms. He described the problem as first starting on his hands and from his description it looked a lot like yours. After two weeks it had develped into something really nasty. To make a long story short he started seeing a allergist and come to find out he was allergic to pine dust. He was still able to be a carpenter but he couldn't run the skill saw. When he was exposed to any amount of pine dust the rash would start right back again.

Be careful and learn a lesson. Start wearing gloves and a respirator when in dust situations. I have had to start doing the same thing. I was always just dumb and tough and thought I could work in anything with out it being a problem. Now I know better.
 
We should separate 'toxic' and 'allergic' as they are different .Most of the wood problems are allergy and the exotic woods more likely to cause a problem. You can as Dixie said be allergic to anything .Protect yourself avoid using things that cause you problems as much as you can and of course wear protection , use ventilation !
 
Thanks mete, I was going to post the same note.

Toxic is poisonous. Things that do this are called TOXINS or POISONS.
Allergic means you get a reaction to it. Things that do this are called IRRITANTS or ALLERGENS.
Contact dermatitis is the most common form of allergic reaction to things like wood resins. Just because walnut resin from sanding wood gives you a reaction, it does not mean that processed walnut shells in soap, or eating walnuts will give you a reaction. The best way to avoid contact dermatitis is to wash your hands well with soap and water after handling any chemical or irritant. Scrubbing your arms and wrists will prevent the "Red Arm Itch" many of us know from working walnut, cocobola, ebony, and tropical woods. Wearing long sleeves, and gloves if needed helps, too. A respirator is a must, as you can get the same reaction in your lungs and throat....this can be a really bad thing.

We all have dealt with Poison Ivy, which has urushiol in its sap. Urushiol is a super powerful irritant/allergen, and what you get when you touch poison ivy isn't poisoning, but contact dermatitis, an auto-immune allergic reaction. However, you wouldn't get kids to stay away from it if it was called Allergic Ivy.
(Note, the lacquers used to do Japanese saya are very high in urushiol).

I'm not trying to second guess your doctor, but antibiotics are for bacterial infections. They are often prescribed to stop or prevent secondary bacterial infections at the site of the broken skin in severe contact dermatitis. He may have prescribed one because you had cut up your hand with all that lancing.
An anti-histamine, anti-inflammatory, or a cortico-steroidal is the usual treatment for contact dermatitis itself.
Often they are unnecessary if the irritant is removed, and soothing creams or soaks of the affected area are used to control the itch while the skin heals.
As a lad, I was extremely allergic to Poison Ivy, I got it bad a lot.The fact that I spent many hours in the brush filled woods nearby didn't help. Mom would follow the old Scottish folk-treatment, and put me in a tub filled with warm water and oatmeal. That is still a standard medical treatment of severe poison ivy.
 
Yes I agree about toxic and allergic being different.
I was merely trying to point out that what appears as allergic reaction in some folks, may be an indicator that you will be more susceptible to problems with toxins. I am not a doctor so don't take this for gospel but I think it the contact to the toxins that cause an allergic reaction or with enough or prolonged exposure can cause deeper problems than an allergic reaction.

We are all exposed to toxins in the environment however they never effect most people, with only this minuscule contact.

However those folks who are more prone to allergic reaction from certain stimulus found in the environment may also me more susceptible to the problems caused by toxins. It all boils down to how your body reacts to the stimulus and is able to process. I am not a doctor so don't take this for gospel but I think it the contact to the toxins that cause an allergic reaction or with enough exposure or prolonged exposure can cause much deeper problems than an allergic reaction.

Sometimes I don't convey well what I am trying to say!

I once had a list of the different woods and they types of problems that you could expect from them. It told which ones were more toxic etc........ I can't find it right now but if I do I will post it!
 
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Did the wood piece come from the root? The roots tend to have a darker purplish color and stain your hands more than the trunk or branch woods. I have been collecting and drying my own domestic woods for handles for years and the only reaction or staining I've gotten from walnut was from the root wood. It seems in my case I only have issues when I am cutting wet fresh cut wood. Once the blocks are dry I don't seem to have any reaction to it and it doesn't stain that much if any. I just wear gloves now and it isn't an issue.
 
My wifes family are very susceptible to allergens...
My family are the oposite..I can roll in poison ivy,oak with no effects at all.I can literally crush it in my hands with no effect..I fell asleep on fiberglas insulation once with not a mark anywhere..So far no tropical wood has ever effected me either...Bee staings barely make a spot on me, but then I use to tend honey bees a lot..Been stung more times than i can possibly count..
This all may change tomorrow but Ive been awfully lucky in regards to allergic reactions in my life..My mom is the same way..
Even though Ive never found anything thats given me an allergic reaction I still wear a mask when grinding wood/metal of any kind..Dust in the lungs is a bad thing regardless..
 
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Kentucky said:
My wifes family are very susceptible to allergens...
My family are the oposite..I can roll in poison ivy,oak with no effects at all.I can literally crush it in my hands with no effect..I fell asleep on fiberglas insulation once with not a mark anywhere..So far no tropical wood has ever effected me either...Bee staings barely make a spot on me, but then I use to tend honey bees a lot..Been stung more times than i can possibly count..
This all may change tomorrow but Ive been awfully lucky in regards to allergic reactions in my life..My mom is the same way..
Even though Ive never found anything thats given me an allergic reaction I still wear a mask when grinding wood/metal of any kind..Dust in the lungs is a bad thing regardless..
Click to expand...

My Dad could lay down in Poison Ivy with no reaction. My mother could wash his clothes and break out from it. I must take after my mother somewhat as I have to be careful around it or I break out and it is always hard to get healed up since I broke out the first time with it, each subsequent break out seems harder to heal up..
That is what I was referring to when I said some people are more prone to a reaction to toxins and once you have a problem you will be more likely to have reaction the second time.
 
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