We had a dear friend and fellow club member recently pass away from a
respitory infection...Is name was George Snyder, who was pictured in the aaw
mag displaying some of the tools he made for physically challenged
folks..The doctors stated the infection was directly related to turning
silky oak...In another case we had a member donate his lathe,tools and a
collection of blanks,never to turn again because of his reaction to silky
oak..I won't mess with the stuff as there are too many nice woods out
there..Rick
"Ray Sandusky" wrote in message
...
I heard recently of someone dieing from Silky Oak - so I would suggest we
all steer clear of that stuff!

Ray


"Bill Rubenstein" wrote in message
. ..
Barry:

Sorry to hear about your allergy to cocobolo -- one of the really
beautiful woods of the world and also one of the nicest turning woods
there is.

If you took a nice hot shower, that may have made the problem worse
rather than better. It does a good job of opening the pores of the skin.
A cool shower would have been better.

At this point, all true rosewoods are to be handled with care. African
blackwood is one of them, Honduras rosewood, kingwood... Lacewood, also
called silky oak, is to be handled carefully since so many people react
to this one although it is not a rosewood. Lacewood is the only wood
I've had trouble with and it was hell.

Another word to the wise... Either turn in a smock which is long enough
to go below your belt line or pull your shirttails out of your pants. You
can guess why.

If you want to chance it again, cover up and try using Ivy Block
(Walgreen's) on hands, arms, neck, face before you turn. It has helped
many.

And when it is too late, get a prescription of Triamcinolone Cr 0.1%. You
can guess how I know how to spell it.

Bill

P. S. We want you well enough to keep that Stubby humping.



Barry N. Turner wrote:
I just came from my doctor's office. I turned one winestopper from a
piece
of cocobolo yesterday.

After I finished turning, I was in the shower within an hour. When I
got
out of the shower I noticed some redness on the insides of both elbows
and
applied some over-the-counter Cortisone 10 cream.

I awoke this morning with raised welts and itching. Also, on the area
under
my watch. I applied more Cortisone 10.

I went on to work, but left at noon to go to the doctor.

I had a minor reaction with cocobolo once before, but it was rather
mild.
Actually, I had forgotten about it. This reaction was much worse and I
don't think I will forget for quite some time. I thought I was being
extra
careful by showering quickly, but apparently this was not enough.

Would long sleeves and dust collection help? Or, should I just forget
about
turning one of my very favorite woods? What other exotic woods should I
avoid? I'm guessing all of the rosewoods. By the way, the winestopper
is
beautiful, but it's gonna be an expensive one!

Barry