Allergic reaction

[Alex Horvath]

Hi all,

I work in my wood shop at least once a week for about 5 years now and recently I occasionally get a severe allergic reaction to the dust. If I had to guess it may due to the MDF. Yesterday I was cutting mostly maple but I had to cut a few MDF pieces for a jig. I experienced severe sneezing, runny nose, headache, severe congestion etc. that lasted all night.

I have good dust collection now but when I first started woodworking I cut lots of MDF w/o dust collection and sometimes the shop would have a fog in it that would make me slightly congested but not allergic. Perhaps I developed a sensitivity to certain types of dust?

I have heard some woodworkers (even carvers) can develop a sensitivity to wood dust. My guess is that I can minimize it by keeping the dust down as much as possible.

[William Payer]

Yes, you can develop sensitivities to wood dust over time. Recently I was finding that my nose would be stuffy for about 12 hours after working in the shop. Despite having a dust collection system and an overhead air scrubber, i found it annoying a made sleeping comfortably a little bit of a problem. I now wear a p100 respirator when working with wood. It does provide issues getting my glasses to seat over the bridge of the mask/nose, but I am not having this irritation any more.
MDF is nasty stuff. not only is the dust very fine, there is a boatload of glues and other chemicals in it. I can see someone getting sensitized to this very quickly. Because the dust is so fine in particulate size, I would dNEVER cut/shape MDF without a respirator and other dust collection/ventilation in place.

[Alex Horvath]

Good idea on the resperator- I don't think you can be too careful. I have been reading that doctors are realizing that many COPD cases are occuring in non-smokers and are probably due to dust inhalation on the job or even from hobbies... Scary stuff since COPD is basically a death sentence.

[Jason Roehl]

Two words: neti pot.

I've been a painting contractor for over 15 years, and in that time, I've inhaled lots of dust. I used to get sinus infections quite a bit, and eventually discovered a neti pot helped me get over the sinus infections a little more quickly. Eventually, I figured out that I needed to use the neti pot after being exposed to dust or during periods of high pollen counts. Now I've gone from counting on two sinus infections per year to having had maybe one in the last three years or so.

That's not to downplay the importance of using a respirator, though.

[Clay Crocker]

+1 on the neti pot!

[Kevin W Johnson]

If and when I cut MDF, I do so outside the shop and still wear a mask. But at least it eliminates the dust in the shop.

[Ryan Mooney]

Allergies are weird.

When I was a ?teenager? (memory fails, but timeframe is irrelevant) I met an older WW fellow who went out into his shop one day and went into anaphylactic shock, luckily his wife found him or I'd never have heard the story. Turns out he developed a deadly reaction to cedar overnight (literally). Nothing else (that he used anyway...) seemed to bother him as long as he kept cedar out of the shop. This is perhaps the most extreme example of developed allergy I've heard of, but I know of people who move to an area and have no hayfever for ~2 years and then bam it kicks back in once they've sensitized to the new plants so it positively happens.

I mostly avoid MDF as most of the formulations have significant formaldehyde content and the out gassing makes loml wheeze even when I'm NOT cutting it unless I leave it in the shop for a month or so before bringing it in (new speakers - leave them out for a while first). She's very sensitive to a lot of that sort of stuff though.

Based on your symptoms (disclaimer: not a doctor, nor do I play one on tv) I'd guess you are more reacting to the glue/binders more than the dust (not saying the dust isn't bad.. just that the other crap in mdf is nasty as well). This is mostly based on the headache in combination which is somewhat familiar :( It may be worth considering trying some low or formaldehyde free mdf to see if that helps (I know Medex and Medite II are formaldehyde free, not sure on others... but I'm sure they are out there).

A simple dust mask (or something like a trend airshield) won't help if its the glues getting you, you would need to wear a paint respirator and make sure to air out well before taking it off.

[Brian Tymchak]

... It may be worth considering trying some low or formaldehyde free mdf to see if that helps (I know Medex and Medite II are formaldehyde free, not sure on others... but I'm sure they are out there).


Had not heard of formaldehyde low/free mdf. Thanks for the tip!!