Hello all,

Since I haven't seen any posts for almost a month, I thought I'd test post
with a somewhat-woodworking-related post.

In building a small hobby box, I was routing a narrow rabbet in what I
thought was small cut-off of clear fir from a previous project. Some of the
sawdust blew into my face. Within seconds it felt like my mustache was on
fire, where the dust mixed with sweat. I cleaned it out well but the
burning sensation took over an hour to fade. Over the next few days I had
blistered like chemical burns I have had before, but just in the middle of
my mustache.

The wood itself appears very light in color with hardly any grain visible.
It is very soft, a little harder than spruce, but it holds an edge as well
as maple. It has no discernable odor (or my sniffer is shot).

I cannot find any other scraps with this appearance and I am stumped on
where it came from and what it is. I have some mahogany, eucalytus, cedar,
fir, SYP, maple, and brazilian rosewood in the shop, but again it does not
look exactly like any of these. And I've been covered in sawdust from all of
it at some point, without any similar reaction.

Has anyone else had any skin reactions to particular woods? Did I get a
piece of chemically treated wood?

Thanks!
Scott

On Wed, 16 Sep 2015 09:30:39 -0400
"ScottWW" wrote:

The wood itself appears very light in color with hardly any grain
visible. It is very soft, a little harder than spruce, but it holds
an edge as well as maple. It has no discernable odor (or my sniffer
is shot).

knowing nothing about the origin makes it real hard to tell
and even if you know a little about it that might not be enough

i have some wood that sounds like this and i do not know the species
i rescued it from the dumpster

i am pretty sure that it is tropical and i have not had any sawdust from
it on my face

some of this wood has stain on it and some of the edges have glue
remnants

i think this wood was from a mass market cheap piece of furniture
like a wardrobe or bench seat

this wood could be from china but china imports massive raw materials
from all over so it could be from anywhere

On Wed, 16 Sep 2015 09:30:39 -0400, "ScottWW"
wrote:


Hello all,

Since I haven't seen any posts for almost a month, I thought I'd test post
with a somewhat-woodworking-related post.

In building a small hobby box, I was routing a narrow rabbet in what I
thought was small cut-off of clear fir from a previous project. Some of the
sawdust blew into my face. Within seconds it felt like my mustache was on
fire, where the dust mixed with sweat. I cleaned it out well but the
burning sensation took over an hour to fade. Over the next few days I had
blistered like chemical burns I have had before, but just in the middle of
my mustache.

The wood itself appears very light in color with hardly any grain visible.
It is very soft, a little harder than spruce, but it holds an edge as well
as maple. It has no discernable odor (or my sniffer is shot).

I cannot find any other scraps with this appearance and I am stumped on
where it came from and what it is. I have some mahogany, eucalytus, cedar,
fir, SYP, maple, and brazilian rosewood in the shop, but again it does not
look exactly like any of these. And I've been covered in sawdust from all of
it at some point, without any similar reaction.

Has anyone else had any skin reactions to particular woods? Did I get a
piece of chemically treated wood?


Mimosa aside from being a weed is very high on the toxic scale.

On 9/16/2015 9:30 AM, ScottWW wrote:

Hello all,

Since I haven't seen any posts for almost a month, I thought I'd test post
with a somewhat-woodworking-related post.

In building a small hobby box, I was routing a narrow rabbet in what I
thought was small cut-off of clear fir from a previous project. Some of the
sawdust blew into my face. Within seconds it felt like my mustache was on
fire, where the dust mixed with sweat. I cleaned it out well but the
burning sensation took over an hour to fade. Over the next few days I had
blistered like chemical burns I have had before, but just in the middle of
my mustache.

The wood itself appears very light in color with hardly any grain visible.
It is very soft, a little harder than spruce, but it holds an edge as well
as maple. It has no discernable odor (or my sniffer is shot).

I cannot find any other scraps with this appearance and I am stumped on
where it came from and what it is. I have some mahogany, eucalytus, cedar,
fir, SYP, maple, and brazilian rosewood in the shop, but again it does not
look exactly like any of these. And I've been covered in sawdust from
all of
it at some point, without any similar reaction.

Has anyone else had any skin reactions to particular woods? Did I get a
piece of chemically treated wood?

Thanks!
Scott


I don't know if this is the wood that you were using but my wife is
allergic to Cedar. We first became aware of this one Christmas when we
decided a cedar tree would be better that the white pine or spruce we
normally get. By New Years when we take our tree down we were quite
aware of the problem, and had isolated it to the tree.

You may check it if you can find some cedar and carefully test it. If
you are allergic, the next time time you unknowingly get involved with
it, it could be much worse, and life threatening.

On 9/16/2015 3:57 PM, Keith Nuttle wrote:

I don't know if this is the wood that you were using but my wife is
allergic to Cedar. We first became aware of this one Christmas when we
decided a cedar tree would be better that the white pine or spruce we
normally get. By New Years when we take our tree down we were quite
aware of the problem, and had isolated it to the tree.

You may check it if you can find some cedar and carefully test it. If
you are allergic, the next time time you unknowingly get involved with
it, it could be much worse, and life threatening.

Central Texas is famous for "cedar fever".

Never been one to be prone to allergies, even got a touch of it last
year myself on a trip to Austin.

The older you get ...

--
eWoodShop: www.eWoodShop.com
Wood Shop: www.e-WoodShop.net
https://www.google.com/+eWoodShop
https://plus.google.com/+KarlCaillouet/posts
http://www.custommade.com/by/ewoodshop/
KarlCaillouet@ (the obvious)

http://www.cs.rochester.edu/u/roche/...isc/wood.toxic

Rosewoods are dangerous in general. They are rated quad "+" meaning
Protect yourself when drilling / turning and sanding.....

Many woods have various poison elements. If the site isn't available
I can provide more info.

Martin

On 9/16/2015 8:30 AM, ScottWW wrote:

Hello all,

Since I haven't seen any posts for almost a month, I thought I'd test post
with a somewhat-woodworking-related post.

In building a small hobby box, I was routing a narrow rabbet in what I
thought was small cut-off of clear fir from a previous project. Some of the
sawdust blew into my face. Within seconds it felt like my mustache was on
fire, where the dust mixed with sweat. I cleaned it out well but the
burning sensation took over an hour to fade. Over the next few days I had
blistered like chemical burns I have had before, but just in the middle of
my mustache.

The wood itself appears very light in color with hardly any grain visible.
It is very soft, a little harder than spruce, but it holds an edge as well
as maple. It has no discernable odor (or my sniffer is shot).

I cannot find any other scraps with this appearance and I am stumped on
where it came from and what it is. I have some mahogany, eucalytus, cedar,
fir, SYP, maple, and brazilian rosewood in the shop, but again it does not
look exactly like any of these. And I've been covered in sawdust from
all of
it at some point, without any similar reaction.

Has anyone else had any skin reactions to particular woods? Did I get a
piece of chemically treated wood?

Thanks!
Scott

On Wednesday, September 16, 2015 at 8:57:25 PM UTC-5, Martin Eastburn wrote:

Many woods have various poison elements. If the site isn't available
I can provide more info.

The only wood I've ever had adverse reactions to was catalpa - salvaged a log, had it milled. It's a weak lumber, very soft, porous, but has a nice brown color. Made a few small projects: For me, the sawdust caused a burning sensation of the eyes, nose and throat. Hands-on handling or that direct contact had no ill effects. I haven't researched catalpa's toxicity.

I'm at a loss to proffer a definitive cause for OP's reactions.

Sonny

Martin Eastburn wrote in
:

http://www.cs.rochester.edu/u/roche/...isc/wood.toxic

Rosewoods are dangerous in general. They are rated quad "+" meaning
Protect yourself when drilling / turning and sanding.....

Many woods have various poison elements. If the site isn't available
I can provide more info.

Much more up-to-date chart he

http://www.wood-database.com/wood-ar...-and-toxicity/

FWIW, I doubt the problem here is a rosewood, since the OP
said the wood in question is "very light in color with hardly
any grain", and that doesn't come close to any rosewood, all
of which are dark and have distinct grain.

John

Catalpa around here is for fishing 'worms' it attracts caterpillars....
Tent type.

The other use is hand carving in blocks. It is so soft and pure it
carves easily to learn with or make a few.

I'm in East Texas

On 9/17/2015 7:40 AM, Sonny wrote:
On Wednesday, September 16, 2015 at 8:57:25 PM UTC-5, Martin Eastburn wrote:

Many woods have various poison elements. If the site isn't available
I can provide more info.

The only wood I've ever had adverse reactions to was catalpa - salvaged a log, had it milled. It's a weak lumber, very soft, porous, but has a nice brown color. Made a few small projects: For me, the sawdust caused a burning sensation of the eyes, nose and throat. Hands-on handling or that direct contact had no ill effects. I haven't researched catalpa's toxicity.

I'm at a loss to proffer a definitive cause for OP's reactions.

Sonny

I have a bit of COPD and my pulmonologist, who knows I like to make sawdust, has instructed me to stay far away from cedar.

On Thursday, September 17, 2015 at 10:25:46 PM UTC-5, Martin Eastburn wrote:

I'm in East Texas

Martin, I'd thought you were in the New Orleans area. Must be another Martin, there.

Catalpa around here is for fishing 'worms' it attracts caterpillars....
Tent type.

Yeah, I recall collecting (long ago) catalpa worms for fishing. Hardly any more trees, around here, anymore, for the adult moths to lay their eggs, hence fewer trees have worms, these days. Seems, individual trees are so far apart from each other, the moths don't/can't find the isolated trees, for laying their eggs. Also, insecticide usage plays a part in reducing the number of adult moths.

Sonny

I had two. One was blown over onto the house so it had to go. The
other was smashed up in an ice storm. So a friend got the wood from one
of them. I could use it now - starting to get into carving.

There are a number of Martin names - first and last. Lions Lair is the
name of our homestead. :-)
It was the name of the Student Union building at the university we both
graduated from almost 50 years ago.

Martin

On 9/18/2015 9:42 AM, Sonny wrote:
On Thursday, September 17, 2015 at 10:25:46 PM UTC-5, Martin Eastburn wrote:

I'm in East Texas

Martin, I'd thought you were in the New Orleans area. Must be another Martin, there.

Catalpa around here is for fishing 'worms' it attracts caterpillars....
Tent type.

Yeah, I recall collecting (long ago) catalpa worms for fishing. Hardly any more trees, around here, anymore, for the adult moths to lay their eggs, hence fewer trees have worms, these days. Seems, individual trees are so far apart from each other, the moths don't/can't find the isolated trees, for laying their eggs. Also, insecticide usage plays a part in reducing the number of adult moths.

Sonny