Hey All,
I recently had a reaction to a cocobolo sliver, and thought I’d ask what other woods, and types of reactions, other folks have had.
My symptoms started about a week ago. I had a pain at the base of my thumbnail that I thought was simply a hang nail or a dry skin crack. Later that night I was woken by a throbbing in the same thumb, and a tenderness of the skin on my fore arm. When I woke, I had a red streak running along my fore arm, from then inside of my elbow to my thumbnail, along the radius bone.
I discovered that I had developed an abcess at the base of my thumbnail, that I subsequently disinfected and lanced. The next day, the symptoms had abated, but only to a small degree. I contacted a clinic, and was told that if the pain and redness went down after lancing, it was not likely an blood infection, but a toxic reaction.
The problem persisted, at a low level for another two days, and so I again dug into the original wound and found a minute sliver, smaller than a grain of sand. Once removed, the wound healed and the inflamation of the viens in my fore arm went away.
I know this is a long story, but I wanted to describe what I thought was a surprising reaction to such a small particle of cocobolo. I also, now know that yew wood is an extremely bioreactive wood that will cause me severe respiritory distress if I get careless (tough luck for a bowyer, like myself).
Does anyone else have a wood reaction story? I’m interested in knowing what species are potential problem woods.
Tom
Edited 4/28/2005 1:59 am ET by tms
Replies
TMS,
There are many sources of information regarding the toxicity of wood on the Internet. One that I rely on is http://www.woodzone.com. A Google might find additional information at other sites.
I've worked with several varieties of wood, the worst being makore (African cherry). For folks with dust allergy problems, it can be a real issue. I get stuffy sinuses from it when milling and sanding, but no contact issues that I've noticed. Walnut gives me similar symptoms.
Regards,
Bill Arnold - Custom Woodcrafting
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Wow, Tom, that's way beyond the usual rash or respiratory reaction. The fact that the splinter was so small is pretty scary. Whatever you find out about the wood's characteristics, you might want to mention the episode to your doc the next time you visit.
I've had respiratory reaction to both cedar and spalted maple (no big suprise there, given the spalting), and cedar will also make my skin crawl. As I'm sure you know, once you have a reaction to a given wood, you need to be extra careful with it to prevent escalation of the reaction.
forestgirl -- you can take the girl out of the forest, but you can't take the forest out of the girl ;-)
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Worst case I ever heard about was about 5 years ago. The production manager of a medium-sized cabinet shop I am familiar with had a severe reaction to Imbuya that they started production with. He was rushed to the hospital because his glands swelled and closed the respiratory tract almost completely. He suffered some brain damage from lack of oxygen, was in the hospital for a whole month, and has never been able to go back to work. It sounds like a freak occurance but it did happen.
Personally I get an infected sore from every splinter of Wenge, but it's just a nuisance. Antibiotic cream clears it up.
DR
Wear gloves.
Yeah, I've tried thin cotton gloves but the Wenge splinters go right thru 'em like their purpose in life is to find my hands. Heavier gloves are just too cumbersome and even unsafe in my opinion.
DR
Hey Ring,In the case of cocobolo, I've noticed that sawing and sanding dust is a strong skin irritant. Perhaps wearing latex or nitrile gloves would help prevent that problem. But I agree that diligence is probably your best defense against slivers.Tom
I ended up with a rash (red bumps that developed into what almost looked like welts) from working with Lyptus. At first I did not know what it could be. Went to the dermatologist and got a shot of cortisone and a lotion to put on the affected areas. He said he would be very surprised if it was the Lyptus. So after it cleared up I continued with the project and within hours of sawing, planning and sanding I had an outbreak on my stomach, legs and arms. It has been four weeks and is 80% gone at this point.
I love the way Lyptus looks but unfortunately I must get it out of my shop.
Gene
Hey Gene,Strange how things are, I'm sensitive to yew and cocobolo, but have had no problems with lyptus. Glad to hear that you're feeling better.Tom
Reactions to lyptus is well documented but not advertised. Your reaction was typical for someone sensitive to the wood.
John W.
Woodworking is kind of a new thing to me. Looks like I need to make sure I only bring one new wood at a time into the shop. I hope this never happens again but just in case I will know which wood it is.
I have had problems with two species in particular, purple heart and padauk.
Purple heart is an amazingly abrasive, hard and decay resistant wood, but any small sliver will very quickly develop as per an badly infected cut. This species can apparently be used as a marine piling, untreated, to give you some idea how decay resistant (toxic) it is.
Padauk is a beautiful orange wood when first cut, but it does not generate saw dust so much as saw powder and the last time I ripped some on the table saw my nasal passages became extremely irritated (read painful) and later blowing my nose I had a fair amount of blood mixed in.
Because of the abrasiveness of the first species and powdery dust of the second I won't be buying these species again. The padauk experience has motivated me to improve dust collection on the table saw.
Cedar is extremely common here in the pacific northwest, but I don't cut it indoors.
Ted,
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There seems to be no pattern or way to know what each of us will have an allergic reaction to until it is too late, IE we already have a negative reaction.
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I have done a limited amount of work with Purple Heart, Padauk and Wenge and so far no problems. However I now ware a respirator when cutting and sanding wood. Not fun but perhaps better for my health.
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Like Padauk, IPE seems to create a fine powdery dust as well. I need to make some outside table and IPE was recommended as a wood that stands up well to the <!----><!----><!---->Texas<!----><!----> sun.
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Gene
cocobolo is a daubergia and all its family members are like that. dont breathe it either and if you are now sensitized to it (white blood cells do this) you may react again to it on the next exposure. Indian rosewood, Indonesian rosewood, cocobolo (Mexican rosewood) can all be allergens to those who are sensitive.
I'm affected by Western Red Cedar. It gives me mild headache and muscle aches, like a mild flu.
Experts say that more people are sensitive to tropical woods than temperate woods.
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