Ken Moon wrote:
I think the main culprits are the darker hardwoods like walnut, mesquite,
rosewoods, ebony, etc.. You seldom hear much about allergic reactions from
maple, birch, pine, fir, etc. Like you say, if it's pretty, you'd better
take precautions.

I agree entirely. I personally enjoy turning maples and conifers,
as well as sycamore, holly and walnut, and others of course. Many
peoplle seem to find the softwoods and many maples to be boring,
which is why I didn't lump themn in with the pretty ones. When I
first started turning, I hooked up with some people who have
immense amounts of curly maple and walnut. I "grew up" turning
flamed walnut, and curly maple without realizing that they were
anything special. Certainy made me enjoy turning. %-) When you
turn gorgeous wood, it makes it much easier to make pretty things,
even with lousey technique. They gave me great prices since a lot
of what I got was the pieces they couldn't use for their
projects. The best part was that they'd explain the woods to me
and didn't get annoyed with my idiot questions.

Dave in Fairfax
--
Dave Leader
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