Allergic Reaction

[Bill Bulloch]

The owner of WoodYard.com gives me his cut offs and pallet straps. Some of the South American woods come with pallet straps that are 4 X 4 X 37" and some are wider boards. Most of these are Mahogany, Sepele, Purpleheart and some are other fine hardwoods. One of the flat boards ( 1 X 10 X 15") was of an unknown specifics. It turned out to be a very nice looking pieces of wood and I made a platter out of it, thinking that I would try and find more of this. That was Wednesday, Thursday when I woke up my face was so swollen that I cound not open my eyes and both my arms looked like I had been in posion ivy. I suffered through Thanksgiven Day and Night and this morning went to the Doctor for a Shot and Pills.

Here is a picture of the wood. Anyone have any idea of what it is?


PB251331.JPG

[charlie knighton]

no, sorry for your illness,Bill, hope things clear up quickly

[John Keeton]

Appears to be some version of mahogany, but whatever it is - for you, it is POISONWOOD!! Bill, the problem with these reactions is that you can become increasingly sensitive to exotics - please be careful with these unknowns. Are you sensitive to poison ivy? If so, many of the rosewoods may cause a similar reaction for you.

[Bernie Weishapl]

I have to agree about the poison ivy. My brother is allergic to it and any of the rosewood's he cannot turn or he says I swell up like a balloon. It does look like a species of mahogany that you turned Bill. Since my brother also turned woods from pallets and had allergic reactions I steer clear of it. He turns nothing but domestic woods. So be careful Bill.

[Roger Chandler]

Sorry to hear of this reaction Bill............one never knows until the symptoms just get to be too much! Praying for a speedy recovery for you!

[Rick Markham]

Wood allergies are extremely complex, and therefore poorly understood. It's actually an immune deficiency. John Keeton is right, bad juju usually if you are re exposed to whatever that wood is. I'd be pretty careful, My reaction (second exposure) to Cocobolo was not a fun experience. It took about 4 weeks for mine to completely disappear. I had the round of steroid shots, and oral steroids, and steroid creme. Mine was so bad it gave me contact dermatitis. That being said, it is actually impossible to guess whether you will be allergic to a wood or not. The allergen often varies widely between species. Some, like Cocobolo and Macassar Ebony share/ and have multiple "possible" chemical allergens. I might be allergic to cocobolo, but not macassar ebony, it's a crap shoot. That being said I haven't pushed my luck and tried turning the hunk of macassar ebony I have (doubt I ever will.)

There are a considerable group of woodworkers who have a broad allergy to nearly all in the Rosewood family. I've turned several species of Rosewood and never had a reaction, until cocobolo. I haven't turned any since. I personally am not allergic to Poison Ivy, Poison Oak, or sumac. So this came out of the blue to me It's also true it's an exposure based allergy. Each time your exposed to the allergen your immune system reacts more violently. Essentially you're immune system can't figure out how to fight the allergen, so it attacks you instead

Those that think that sticking to domestic woods is safe or safer are actually wrong in that assumption, there are as many people allergic to domestic woods.

I hope ya heal up quick! Make sure someone else blows all the dust out of your shop with a blower, get rid of all of it. (Don't do it yourself!) I also hope you find out what that stuff is, and stay away from it!

[Jim Burr]

I have to admit that there is no poison ivy in California...but poison oak is only as big as a small shrub in this state. If PI is big enough to make a platter out of...it may be worthy to recognize and move away from? Since your face was swollen...did you have proper dust protection on? Fan, vaccum, respirator, sleeves, all the fun stuff? As we age, our defenses tend to take a siesta and we are left holding the reaction...and the Epi pen or suitable cure. If you are turning with out any of that...what did you expect?
On the other hand...that really is a cool looking platter!!!

Rick...there are several websites and dozens of post about the dangers of cocobolo and exotic rosewoods...I even told the guy that made my guitar to avoid that stuff...pretty common knowledge and precautions are well known. Any epiduralist will tell you that even though you are not allergic now...you will be and there is no tollerance...you just will. We see this all the time in foreign countries with plants we have never encountered. Since we have the best doc's anywhere on DMAT...we are trained very well.

[Bill Bulloch]

I have to admit that there is no poison ivy in California...but poison oak is only as big as a small shrub in this state. If PI is big enough to make a platter out of...

It's not .... Poison Ivy is just a vine. I thinking this was a Rosewood. I hadn't thought about clean up. Rich's good advise however, may prove to be problematic. How could I ask someone else to take the risk? I'll put all that protection stuff on that he talks about and give it a try myself once I get this stuff cleared up.

[Baxter Smith]

That is some pretty wood but I would have to pass on trying it again.

[Josh Bowman]

I hate the wood made you react so. Hope you feel better soon. The platter really looks nice though. At least it will make a great story to tell when you show off the turning.

[Harry Robinette]

Bill
Really sorry to hear about this, I have an allergy to Oak mold NOT Oak wood itself just the mold that grows when it sets in a wet area.
The wood you have there could be Rengus Tiger. We sell this with a warning that comes with it from the distributor. I'm not sure about the spelling but I'll check tomorrow an let you know.

[Nathan Hawkes]

I think tiger wood is from Asia, not South America. I know that mangoes contain urushiol, the same toxin found in poison ivy, oak, and sumac. The urushiol is confined to the peel of the fruit, so most people don't have a reaction. I can't find any information as to whether or not the wood itself contains the toxin, but it stands to reason if its in the fruit it may be in the wood.

I myself get a pretty serious contact dermatitis not unlike poison ivy when I have gotten wet walnut sawdust on my skin on a hot summer day. I also had to do oral steroids and skin creams. I feel your pain, or itch as it were. Hope you get better. Strangely enough, I've turned a bit of cocobolo and didn't have any problems. I was pretty careful and used a dust mask and collector, but had it on my skin for a while and didn't have a problem.

[Steve Vaughan]

Sorry to hear about he reaction...as others have said, be careful. I brought back a VERY similar looking piece of wood from Costa Rica. It turned great and sanded out very nicely, the grain pattern and feel of mine was so similar to mahogany. Bill, did yours have any smell to the wood as you turned it?

Here's a few pics of what I brought back...like you, I have NO clue as to what it is though.

P6100678.jpgP6100684.jpgP6100686.jpg

Forgot to add...it did make me sneeze when I turned it.

[Rick Markham]

Rick...there are several websites and dozens of post about the dangers of cocobolo and exotic rosewoods...I even told the guy that made my guitar to avoid that stuff...pretty common knowledge and precautions are well known. Any epiduralist will tell you that even though you are not allergic now...you will be and there is no tollerance...you just will. We see this all the time in foreign countries with plants we have never encountered. Since we have the best doc's anywhere on DMAT...we are trained very well.

Yes Jim, the saying "there are those that are allergic to cocobolo, and there are those who will be" is true. There are actually a few excellent websites that list then known "active" chemical antigen in various species of wood (several thousand species.) and I agree the rosewood family tends to be high on the offenders list, as well as many amazonian woods. Me personally, probably won't turn rosewoods of any type, I might not have a reaction, or I might have a bad reaction, it's a crap shoot that I am not willing to take. Some people are extremely allergic to one, but the other's don't affect them. Some people turn them for years and one day they wake up with a rash. It only took 2 exposures for me to have a bad bad reaction for what a tiny exposure my second one was. (I turned a piece of cocobolo about 1/2" thick and about dime sized) Scary stuff if you ask me.

All of this is good to remind us why we wear our safety gear, especially a face mask and respirator.

Most important thing is DON'T be afraid to go to the doctor if you notice a rash or reaction. Because it is an immune disorder, it WILL NOT get better on it's own! Steroids are the only way to get rid of it, the longer you wait the worse it will be

[robert baccus]

Roger that jim. there is simply no predicting wood allergy. cashew family is a good example--every part of the plant is as toxic exccept the nut itself. only certain people are able to peel the husks off the nut down in the tropics. one rule of thumb i follow is if the wood-tree is resistant to rot(domestics and tropical) consider it to be potentially dangerous. many woods are more durable than pressure treated creosote posts, meaning they have more toxic and dangerous chemicals than creosote. sorry about the reaction. i've been there with poison ivy--almost lost a leg to it in my mispent youth.-----------old forester