I make lots of jewelry/keepsake boxes. Two of my favorite woods are padauk and morado. Recently I’ve been experiencing an itching , red, papular rash on my forearms and I am suspicious that it’s a contact dermatitis. I wonder if anyone else has has experienced similar difficulties in handling exotics in general or these two woods in particular.
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Replies
There is an excellent article on wood toxicity in the latest edition of FWW.
Thanks. I read the article. I wanted to get a sense of how prevelent the problem is among the Forum readership.
I used cocobolo years ago without any issues. Last winter I bought some more, and got a slight rash just from bringing it home, though I didn't realize what caused it. When I started working it I got a horrible rash on both arms, and especially around my eyes. I disposed of everything, cleaned the shop thoroughly, and it took about a month for my eyes to get back to normal.
About a month ago I had a lesser case. I suspect I encountered some dust when I changed blades on the bandsaw. It couldn't have been more than a tiny bit.
I was tempted to try morado and researched it. It contains the same sensitizing chemicals as cocobolo. I wouldn't touch either one, even if I had a hazmat suit.
The way these work is over time and repeated contact the reaction gets worse. My advice is to dump the morado. I don't know anything about padauk. I've never used it or researched it.