Please Help: Is Walnut Dust an Allergen?
I’ve been working with walnut on and off for several weeks. This morning I did some belt sanding and filled the air in the shop up pretty good with walnut dust. I was wearing a mask, but my eyes and skin were exposed. When I came into the house for some breakfast, I noticed a rash on the backs of my hands. Then I realized that it is a full body rash.
Can walnut dust do this? Is it possible to work with it for a while with no adverse affects and then suddenly reach a resistance threshold?
The only reason I think it could possibly not be the walnut, is that I recently finished a ten-day penicillin regiment, but I took the last pill six days ago.
Please help. I’m scared to go back into the shop until I get this figured out. Thanks.
Replies
Can walnut dust do this? Is it possible to work with it for a while with no adverse affects and then suddenly reach a resistance threshold?
I don't know about walnut in particular, but for many substances people do in fact acquire allergies after long seemingly well-tolerated exposure.
My reference chart shows European Walnut with a dermatitis AND nasal cancer reactions. You could be getting a severe raction (rash) from the dust. Some people have a once-in-a-while reaction while others get increasingly sensitive to certain dusts, and that's NOT good.
Go to: http://www.saw-online.com/service/wood%20hazards.htm for a copy of the chart. A copy of it should be in everyones shop.
SawdustSteve
I spoke with a nurse at the clinic and she told me that it is highly unlikely that I could have a delayed reaction to penicillin six days after last taking it. I'm pretty certain now that it is the walnut dust causing the reaction.
So now my concerns are:
1) Now that I've developed a sensitivity to walnut, will I ever be able to work with it again? Will better dust control methods be sufficient? What about the tanins that end up on my hands? How much exposure in the future will trigger another reaction?
2) Am I now more likely to develop sensitivities to other species? I found some wood toxicity charts, and walnut doesn't rank particularly high in terms of toxicity.
Any and all feedback greatly appreciated.
Thanks
when i cut walnut wet with a chainsaw, like right off the tree and the chips get on my skin it causes a rash on each spot a chip landed. i would try and limit the amount that gets on your skin with long sleeves and gloves, and maybe wash those clothes seperately. Also maybe do sanding outside with a fan to move the dust away from , but it is getting colder out, so that might not be a reality. Maybe if you could hook up a shop vac to the sander might help. At the local box store i saw a sanding contraption that used a five gallon bucket with water in it to trap the dust before it reaches the shop vac, but not sure how well it would work. Anyway i would try and limit the amount of dust that reaches your skin. good luck
Actually, walnut is highly toxic to some people, and is a proven carcinagin. A good dust collection system and a respirator (not a dusk mask) should be used. Hope that helps. Michael "wood Doc" Philipps
If a good dust collection system is not possible (for whatever reasons) or doesn't work to your satisfaction, give some thought to changing your method of surface finishing your wood. Hand planing will leave at least as good a surface finish as sanding, and completely eliminates the dust problem; all you get are nice shavings, which may or may not cause a skin reaction. Unless you're doing production work, hand planing, once you get the hang of it, is at least as fast as going through the various grits on a sander.
Hope this might be of some use to you.
NBT'Walnut is pretty common for describing reactions like the one you had. You can probably still work with it without too much trouble if you take some pretty simple precautions. When sanding, set up a box fan on your bench with a furnace filter taped in front of it to draw the air from you to the workpiece into the fan so the dust heads away from you. That should keep the majority of the fine dust from settling on your skin. Keep a well fitting dust mask on whenever you are cutting. I know that I often feel it in my throat or chest a day or so afterwards when I am lax about that.Try some of those glove-forming-lotions to protect your hands. They can help you avoid direct skin contact and make cleaning up easier.Hope some of this helps.Andy"It seemed like a good idea at the time"
I think all wood dust is listed as a possible dermal irritant, respiratory irritant and is known to cause cancer. Each tree is unique in it's chemical composition and some may bother you while others may not. You may be seeing a rash due in part to the medication or the issue you were taking the medication for. A reaction can appear out of the blue and cause you to stay away from a particular species. Working in a cloud of dust isn't a good thing, you should look for a solution to collect the dust at the source. You could discover that other species will have the same effect, now that you are sensitized.
Beat it to fit / Paint it to match
I've read that you should never use walnut shavings in a horse stall as they are ?? I forget, allergic? irritated by, or something of the sort. People having a reaction wouldn't surprise me at all. I find the older I get (I count in decades now, I turned 5.4 Saturday) the more things I have reactions to.
MJ
I turned '5.4' Saturday?? Is that Days, years. or centuries?Thanks.. I had a good laugh on that one.. Happy Holidays...
Few things to consider-
1. Walnut is an irritant [not allergen] to many. Like onions, it can have a predictable effect, which is bothersome to many [but not all] humans. When your eyes tear after cutting onions, it's not an allergic reaction.
2. Walnut is an allergen to some. You may be allergic to walnut [dust, chips, etc.,] in which case small amounts may give you hives, itching, rashes, cough, trouble breathing, or worse. If this is the case, you have a somewhat bigger problem.
3. The penicillin [pcn] may or may have played a role in your reaction. Even 6 days after completing it. Some folks can have a "drug withdrawal reaction" which occurs some days after stopping an agent. Also, the pcn may have triggered increased sensitivity to the walnut, which may not recur if you haven't taken pcn in a while.
And it's really hard to sort out which of these issues may be yours.
If I were you, I'd try walnut again, but wear respiratory protection, long sleeves, eye protection, clean dust off of yourself as quickly as you can, and as someone else said, maybe use a plane where possible. You could reduce an allergic reaction by taking something like benadryl [causes drowsiness] or claritin [doesn't] an hour before going to the shop.
By the way, do not construe this as medical advice, just an informed fellow woodworker trying to help.
Good luck.Ken
WillGeorge, that's decades, please don't mock me, people of my age are very sensitive. Actually that's one of the best things about aging, you just don't care what people say or think anymore. Happy holidays back to ya.
MJOver the Hill? What Hill? I didn't see any Hill!
5.4 decades? Just a kid to a 7.8 'er!
MJ
Better to be over the hill than under it.
Hell ole Will G must be about 10.9 by now coz he fancies our Queen & she's nudging 8:-)
Another 5-&-abit-ter
I recently had allergy tests done and had come to find that I'm allergic to most trees, among other things.
I went to a woodworking store, walked past the spanish cedar and all of a sudden I felt my throat tighten up and it was hard for me to breathe.
While I'm not allergic to "dust", it is an irritant and compound the problems.
If you're that concerned, I would seek medical attention from an allergist to find out what all you're allergic to.
You can always stay away from Walnut, but it's not so easy to get your health back.
Sorry, my last post was directed at the wrong person.
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