Rosewood reaction

[Ray Chalenski]

Has anyone here had an allergic reaction when cutting,milling or turning rosewood? I recently made some pens and turkey pots out of rosewood and the day after I developed an itchy rash on my cheeks ,neck and a little on the back of my hands. Would like to know if this is common and how and what to do to avoid this reaction. Any advice is greatly appreciated.
Thanks
Ray

[Dave Anthony]

I had the same thing happen to me, except I only got the rash on my cheeks. I don't know how to avoid/minimize
it other than good dust collection and shower immediately.

[Dave Zellers]

So is this where the expression 'rosy cheeks' comes from?

[Tom Fischer]

I had a bad reaction once from putting Garapa through a thickness planer. Similar to a poison ivy reaction.
Garapa is from South America, cheap alternative to Ipe.

[Matt Kestenbaum]

THis is nothing to mess around with serious allergic reactions can send you into shock. FWW did an article on the topic in 2009. The oily tropical woods were listed as the worst, specifically mentioning Rosewood, Teak, Goncalvo alves, and australian lacewood.

Here is a bit of the text:
Somepeople have an immediate reaction to a certain wood, but thechances of a reaction increase as exposure increases.
What is more frightening is that after you have an initialreaction you enter a permanent state of sensitization orhypersensitivity. From that point on, your body will alwaysrespond to this particular wood, and you may become allergicto other woods that did not bother you before.
Symptoms to look for—Wood allergies affect the skin or
the respiratory system. Sensitization dermatitis, a skin allergy, issimilar to a poison ivy outbreak. The reaction ranges from simplereddening and itching of the skin to swelling, blisters, and pos-sibly permanent skin thickening and cracking.


These outside sources were listed for further reading:

www.mnwoodturners.com/New_Member_Docs/Toxic_Woods_Chart.html
www.mimf.com/archives/toxic.htm
http://old.mendelu.cz/~horacek/toxic.htm

[Jim Matthews]

Consider the minor reaction a "shot across the bow".

These species developed a natural insecticide to survive in hostile environments.
I, for one, don't work with anything that requires a respirator, body armor or allergist on-call.

[Gary Chester]

So is this where the expression 'rosy cheeks' comes from?

Now that's funny right there... now back to serious conversation...

[Rick Fisher]

Wenge dust gives my arms a rash .. and other places.. Always wash your hands BEFORE going to the bathroom when working with tropical hardwoods..

[michael case]

Jim and Matt are right,


You would be well advised to drop working in Rosewood

[Thomas Canfield]

I had a reaction making a pen a couple of years ago from some wood that looked to be in the Rosewood family. I thought then I gave away all my wood of that type. Recently I had cut to length and only drilled a couple of blanks for a pen and started developing a rash and itch from some other oily wood. I think that once you get the reaction, it is easier to get it each time after that. Silky Oak is another wood that can produce a poison ivy type reaction.

[Dave Anthony]

I'd agree with the assessment of increased sensitivity with exposure. I had a moderate reaction to Santos rosewood, and a subsequent more serous reaction to Bolivian rosewood. Now I avoid rosewood of any kind. Beautiful wood, but not worth risking becoming allergic to my hobby. In addition to reducing the risk of shock, it eliminates the sticker shock when purchasing it .

[Ray Chalenski]

Thanks for the input guys.It's a shame but I'll have to stop using the rosewood.It has such a pretty grain and color but it's not worth the reaction. Hard to turn and scratch at the same time.
Thanks again

[Montgomery Scott]

You are aware that Bolivian rosewood is not a true rosewood, right? It is in the Machaerium genus whereas rosewoods are the dalbergia genus.

[Montgomery Scott]

When you say rosewood, what wood do you mean?

[Ray Chalenski]

Not sure which variety they are. I received it from a friend of mine who works in a high end lumber yard in Ct.