What do I do now?

[Paul Douglass]

About a week ago I got a day off, I got crazy and cut some stumps of english walnut and cherry. Because I didn't have much time, I split then and painted the ends. I stacked them in my basement to wait till I got time to do something with them. Anyway, I looked at them today and the english walnut is covered with mold. I think I need to get it out of the house! Should I wash it off with bleach or something? My intent was to rough cut some bowls but it may be a little while before I get to it. Should have waited until I had time to do it right..

[Jeff Nicol]

Paul, Wet wood will mold just about anywhere you put it that has free air around it. The mold won't kill you but I would clean it off and get it off the floor so it can dry better. Concrete floors are good for keeping things moist. A good stiff wire brush will get rid of the mold and you could mix up a pretty weak bleack solution to kill it off if you wanted to. Some of us put stuff in bags to get the mold and fungus to grow and change the colors and get spalting, so not all that bad.

Have fun and turn safe!

Jeff

[Steve Schlumpf]

Paul - I also usually end up with mold on the blanks before I get them turned. Most of the time I prefer to have the wood spalt anyway and just let the mold do it's thing. When it comes time to turn the blank - then I might scrape some of the mold off but usually just throw it on the lathe and turn it off. I also want to say that I wear a Trend Respirator when turning and so far mold has not been an issue.

[Paul Douglass]

Ahhh, thinks, makes me feel better.

[Scott Conners]

When it does come time to work on blanks with mold, make sure you wear lung protection. Mold spores aren't good to breathe!

[Paul Douglass]

When it does come time to work on blanks with mold, make sure you wear lung protection. Mold spores aren't good to breathe!


Ya, I hear ya. Not sure what I will do about that. I'm already pretty old. Maybe by the time I get around to turning any of this, I'll be so old it won't matter!

It does concern me because I want to turn some green bowls. I have a canister type mask I use got painting, would that help any?

[Jeff Nicol]

Mold is in the air all the time, so most of it won't hurt us just give us hayfever and sneezy runny noses. Penicillin is made from mold too, but the ones that grow in the walls of houses that have bad exhaust and bad construction practices. Just because we can't see the mold doe's not mean it is not there. Not stepping on any toes but the mold that grows on the wood was in the air and found a great place to grow.

But no matter what, dust protection should be worn all the time while working with dusty things.

Jeff