I haven't had the usual respiratory symptoms such as stuffy nose, itchy eyes, etc. Just inflamed, itchy skin. Most of the symptoms are gone now (I haven't turned since last Saturday) but the skin is rough or chapped wherever the problems occurred. And it still burns a little when I apply lotion.
Here is a list of some of the woods I have: Local: Walnut, Maple, Hickory, Myrtle, Oak, Cedar, Birch, Apricot, Apple, Cherry, Redwood, Pine, Locust, Sycamore, Mesquite, Juniper (many of these are burls) Exotic: Sapele, Shedua, Makore, Bubinga, Wenge, Ebony, Jarrah, Leopardwood, Snake Wood, Bocote, Chechen, Cocobolo, Jatoba, Purple Heart, Yellow Heart, Madrone, Katolox.
As you can see, as is often the case when starting a new hobby, , I have gone over board. But my primary interest was making reel seat inserts from as many promising different woods as I could find, then selling enough of them to pay for the wood. I don't know how to make money, so that was never a consideration.
Again, thanks to all of you for your advice.
Tom Davenport
On Jan 12, 2005, at 12:17 AM, Henk Verhaar wrote:
On 12-jan-05, at 5:32, Tom Davenport wrote:
My reel seat turning project has been going very well. I've gotten the "feel" of turning and have been able to make them better and faster. Over the holiday I spent over $300.00 getting new and exotic woods to increase the variety, Well, over the weekend I seem to have had an allergic reaction to the wood dust... My skin has turned red in places and it itches like crazy. It seems a bit better today but I haven't turned since Saturday. I am not the type who is allergic to anything except occasional hay fever, and have never had an allergic reaction on my skin.
Of course I was not following any of the rules... no mask, no smock, no head gear, no dust collection system other than my shop vac which does a pretty good job when I have the end of the hose mounted just beneath the wood.
Skin allergy reactions are local, i.e. mask or head gear will not help you. Chances are that you will also get allergic reactions from inhaled dust, but this is not absolutely necessary. For skin reactions, if you are sensitized, the only remedies are avoidance and gloves (including 'liquid gloves').
Any of you had any experience with such things? Any advice? No need to ask "which wood" because I have over 40 varieties. The newest arrival was Makore; I turned a reel seat from it on Friday.
Nope, have turned several exotics, but have not had any problems. The Makore may be the culprit. Several rosewoods (african blackwood, tulipwood, cocobolo, etc, all Dalbergia species) are notorious too.
You don't need exotics to make beautiful reel seat inserts. I recently turned one from holly oak (Q. ilex), which has a beautiful pattern (see http://www.af.nl/voorraad/massief/azijnhout/index.htm).
Henk
==========================Heisenberg was right!======================== | Dr. Henk J.M. Verhaar | | | Environmental Fate and Ecotoxicology Specialist | | Fly Tier | web: www.xs4all.nl/~flyrod | | Stichts End 17 | e-mail: [EMAIL PROTECTED] | | NL-1244 PK Ankeveen | phone: +31 35 656 2128 | | the Netherlands | ICQ: 15727113 | ==========================Uncertainty happens!=========================
Tom Davenport
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