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wood-allergies-and-toxicity

Started by dabullseye, January 06, 2015, 03:37:57 AM

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dabullseye

http://www.wood-database.com/wood-articles/wood-allergies-and-toxicity/

thought this was kinda good info scroll down for list

retiredRay

I have never been effected by wood dust until last week. I am new to scroll sawing so I wanted to do some practicing on junk wood. I had some very thin luan plywood that came out of our motor home when I re-did the bedroom. After sawing for about an hour I quit and never gave it any thought until the next day when I found that my nose/sinus area was very congested and sore. I flushed out my sinus' and it got better almost immediately. So, now I know that it can happen to me. I bought a cheapy dust mask at Home Depot and will use it from now on until I find something better. I had no idea that the very fine dust from the saw was going to effect me so negatively.

Ray

dabullseye

i hear ya. i did 20 yrs as a carpenter. my worst time was with makore wood, and everybody on the job site was also affected by the dust

BernardNaish

I almost died as a child because of allergies to dust, danders and pollens so the subject has been, shall we say - interesting for me. The fact is all dust is dangerous. The finer it is the greater the hazard partly because these penetrate further into the lung tissue.

Dust from MDF is extremely fine and has traces of formaldehyde so it is recomended that the exposure to this should be zero. My friend was a navy carpenter and worked wood all his life without dust extraction. He is now very ill, cannot work wood and had to sell all his wood work equpment. No need to go OTT but reasonable precautions need to be taken.

It is this danger that makes me very reluctant to pump dust laden air outside into the environment. If I do not want to breath it why should I expose other people to it?

retired2

When "reclaiming" wood, be careful of the products that may have been applied to the wood previously - many old finishing products and preservatives can cause allergic reactions, or worse as in the case of lead-based paint.  Even wood that appears to have no finishes or preservatives may have come from a damp, dark environment, and is covered with molds and mildews.  These can be highly allergenic also.  My wife has reactive airway syndrome, and she does not seem to be bothered by any of the dust I create, but if she gets near a musty environment, she goes crazy.