First, thanks to all the folks that answered my questions regarding my saw blade. I finally could afford to have it sharpened. It’s amazing how well it works now….:)
Anyway, a friend has asked me to make a small box to hold her pills. It has to have a sliding lid, which isn’t a problem. She doesn’t care about the wood type. I was going to using bolivian rosewood, (someone gave me a small piece a few years ago). However, this morning, I was thinking about Redwood. I use to live in CA, (now in PA) and picked up a number of Redwood burls on a trip up North of San Francisco. I think it would be beautiful, but I’ve come across some talk about the toxicity of Redwood. Has anyone worked with it? I’m going to finish with shellac, so that’s not an issue. Anything else I should know? Thanks.
Robin
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I used to live in the Bay Area, and redwood is great stuff. I built a guitar stand from it- it's has good color, is lightweight, and is very resistant to decay, hence it's use for exterior trim. I haven't heard of anyone allergic to this specie, but some folks are allergic to certain woods.
I have not heard of people having problems with redwood. To be honest, I would think the rosewood much more likely to cause a problem.
I just finished a pill box out of Tiger maple. I used a pill container to hold the pills and dadoed out the inside. Works great and looks nice on the dresser.
Hi Robinlynn... the two wood toxicity charts I have refer back to the DUST from redwood and rosewood. Both list dermatitis and asthma as reactions to dust from both woods. I would tend to err on the side of safety and use maple for the box.
Go to: http://www.saw-online.com/service/wood%20hazards.htm for one of the charts. I do not know where I found the other chart, but they seem to agree on the woods that they both list in common. SawdustSteve
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