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View Full Version : Poll on Silky Oak allergy



BobL
8th January 2012, 10:51 AM
I am interested in obtaining some idea of the proportion of woodies that are allergic to Silky oak. Hence the poll.

steck
8th January 2012, 11:22 AM
I have no problem with Silky Oak but I have a mate who chainsawed a tree. His reaction started with a severe itchy rash on his head that over the next month or 2 worked its way down to his neck, chest and stomach. He had a lot of sleepless nights due to the extreme itching. He needed lots of drugs and creams just to cope. It wrecked his life for quite a while!

BobL
8th January 2012, 11:28 AM
For those that have it - is it worse when the tree is green or dry?

groeneaj
8th January 2012, 12:43 PM
I'm using Silky Oak on a project at the moment with no problems at all.

AlexS
8th January 2012, 01:03 PM
No allergy myself, but the year before mine at Sturt, they had to bar SO from the workshop as one student had a severe skin rash from it.
Would be interested to know if there's a difference in reaction between southern (Grevillea robusta) and northern (Cardwellia sublimis).

Cliff Rogers
8th January 2012, 02:30 PM
Hadn't noticed any problems til the other day when I sliced up a bit of old dry Grevillea robusta, had to stop & get a dust mask to so I wouldn't sneeze.

MitchB
8th January 2012, 03:12 PM
Hadn't noticed any problems til the other day when I sliced up a bit of old dry Grevillea robusta, had to stop & get a dust mask to so I wouldn't sneeze.
:whs:
Whenever i work SO i always find myself sneezing quiet a bit :rolleyes:

turnerted
8th January 2012, 04:32 PM
My throat was sore after using it .It was the trigger to buying a positive preasure respirator .

Ted

Mulgabill
8th January 2012, 04:36 PM
No reaction myself:2tsup:, however, a woodturning friend cannot be in the same room/shop as SO. Within minutes his eyes swell and water, skin rash and headaches.:C

BobL
8th January 2012, 04:55 PM
Thanks for all the responses - this has helped me with a discussion on a Small Timber milling forum where an (overseas) postee claimed that "many people had an extreme allergy" to dust from this tree. As usual exaggerated claims don't stack up to the evidence.

Scott
8th January 2012, 05:12 PM
I've just spent the last week turning a large chuck and had no issues at all. Did have dust extraction going and it did make my nose itch like I wanted to sneeze whilst I didn't have a mask on however once I had the mask on, no problems. Saying this, most timber dust makes my nose itch when I don't have a mask on. Hope this helps Bob.

artme
8th January 2012, 05:27 PM
I have had no problems with SO - Grevillia Robusta - except for some sneezing. However this happens with lots of timbers and I put it down to the physical nature of the SAWDUST, ie its shape and texture.

I have had absolutely no problems when turning SO.

Ozkaban
9th January 2012, 10:52 AM
Me + Silky Oak = Michelin Man with limbs feeling like they're on fire and eyes puffed up so they're almost shut.

I first found out from splitting green silky oak. They I found I got it from the dry dust too.

I can handle finished pieces ok though.

I walked through a thin cloud of dust at the WW show last year (or the one before???) at a lathe demo without knowing what it was. My wife spotted it as I walked in the door at home - I just thought my eyes were a bit itchy :whatonearth:

Poll might be misleading - I've never gone near the stuff since, protection or no. Just not worth it in my book.

Cheers,
Dave

Ozkaban
9th January 2012, 10:57 AM
Thanks for all the responses - this has helped me with a discussion on a Small Timber milling forum where an (overseas) postee claimed that "many people had an extreme allergy" to dust from this tree. As usual exaggerated claims don't stack up to the evidence.

Many people do have an extreme allergy to it.

Many, many more don't though. Depends on how you define many. Lets say you find 100 people in Aus with a serious reaction to it. Some would say yes, that's "many" and use it to argue their corner. Others would say it's stuff all and use it to argue theirs...

As usual, there are lies, damn lies and statistics. :~

Not trying to stir trouble here, but I do hate the use of vague stats in that sort of argument. It seems like it's the medias favourite past time too :roll:

Cheers,
Dave

NeilS
9th January 2012, 11:09 AM
It gets my nose going (not quite as much as some (Oz) red cedar) but not enough to not use it; and, as always, I do use a lot of dust protection no matter what type of wood I'm using.

However, my son helped me to carry a load of freshly cut SO into the workshop and his arms began to swell up almost immediately to twice their normal size, starting from where the sap came in contact with his bare skin. The swelling took several days to come down and he had a nasty headache for at least the first 24hrs. I imagine his lungs would have something approaching a severe reaction requiring medical intervention if he were to inhale the dust.

BobL
9th January 2012, 11:18 AM
Me + Silky Oak = Michelin Man with limbs feeling like they're on fire and eyes puffed up so they're almost shut.

I first found out from splitting green silky oak. They I found I got it from the dry dust too.

I can handle finished pieces ok though.

By that do you mean the pieces have been sealed with some sort of finish?

Cliff Rogers
9th January 2012, 11:29 AM
I agree with Dave on this....

You have to be careful with allergies & allergic reactions.

I am allergic to lots of things but thankfully none of them are life threatening to me.

Some members of my family are allergic to seafood & prawns in particular.
They just make me feel like I am seasick or carsick.
My dad gets a rash & swells up.
One of my brothers ends up in hospital unable to breath.
More than 90% of our family members have no problems at all.

I suspect that you will find similar results with SO.

If a substance is known to cause a severe allergic reaction in some people, it should be considered dangerous.

There is a restaurant in Cairns who use prawn/shrimp paste/sauce ( see the list of other names for it below.)
They do NOT have an allergic warning on their menu but every single dish has it unless you ask for it to be left out.

Belacan, belachan or blachang
Terasi, trassi or terasie
Bagoong alamang or bagoong aramang
mắm ruốc, mắm tép and mắm tôm
Kapi
Ngapi yay
Hom ha
Hae ko
Haam ha or ha jeung
Petis udang

powderpost
9th January 2012, 08:32 PM
No reaction to Southern Silky Oak (Grevillea robusta). After working in a joinery factory, using Northern Silky Oak (Cardwellius Sublimus), I had had no reaction until recently. Now a splinter will fester within 3 hours, dust seems to be no problem though with either species.

Jim

Scribbly Gum
9th January 2012, 08:38 PM
I am fine with Silky oak, but my good friend L..... is definitely allergic.
He comes out in a rash from even contact with the sawdust - even if it is old and has been lying around for a while.
(Mackay Cedar, on the other hand, absolutely hates me.)

BobL
9th January 2012, 08:45 PM
There is a restaurant in Cairns who use prawn/shrimp paste/sauce ( see the list of other names for it below.)
They do NOT have an allergic warning on their menu but every single dish has it unless you ask for it to be left out.

Belacan, belachan or blachang
Terasi, trassi or terasie
Bagoong alamang or bagoong aramang
mắm ruốc, mắm tép and mắm tôm
Kapi
Ngapi yay
Hom ha
Hae ko
Haam ha or ha jeung
Petis udang

I love it, the shrimp paste that is, but SWMBO calls it "extract of used nappy"

Acco
9th January 2012, 09:01 PM
One of the boys at the local sawmill has to leave the site when they're milling silky oak, machine in use is a Woodmiser connected directly to an extractor and with water on the blade so dust is usually minimal but he still blows up like Michellan man like Dave does.

They have even had customers in the shop getting reactions after handling the raw timber.

Ozkaban
9th January 2012, 09:12 PM
By that do you mean the pieces have been sealed with some sort of finish?

The only piece I ever turned out of SO has been finished in shellawax and it poses no problems to me at all now.

Oh, and one thing I learnt about allergies (I have always had no trouble with them until recently - Silky Oak and the adhesive on bandaid/elastoplast... go figure :rolleyes: ) is that they are sort of cumulative. Each reaction is usually worse than the last. Turning that bowl was a bit ordinary, but later contact was much worse. I do actually think the sap was worse than the dust, but I'm not going back to test it. Nothing life threatening, just damned unpleasant.

Cheers,
Dave

robo hippy
10th January 2012, 09:13 AM
I have had no problems with the dry stuff, and never got to try any green SO. I wonder if it is like the Rosewoods, where, "it isn't a matter of 'if' you are allergic to it. It is a matter of when you become allergic to it." Some woods, constant exposure will cause an allergic reaction eventually.

robo hippy

BobL
10th January 2012, 09:49 AM
The only piece I ever turned out of SO has been finished in shellawax and it poses no problems to me at all now.

Oh, and one thing I learnt about allergies (I have always had no trouble with them until recently - Silky Oak and the adhesive on bandaid/elastoplast... go figure :rolleyes: ) is that they are sort of cumulative. Each reaction is usually worse than the last.

That's not the case for all allergies. One of my BILs was badly allergic to eggs as a kid but grew out of it after about 20 years. The way he found out was he had travel inoculations and when he went back to get his second set of shots he told the nurse that he suffered mild reactions similar to his egg allergy. They immediately ceased the injections and had him tested again for egg allergy but it turned out he had almost grown out of it. The same BIL is a vet and he was allergic to cats and dogs but he took a desensitization course of something or other so he could be around them but then ended up working with viruses.

My son goes into anaphylactic shock from ingesting bananas. The first time this happened was when he was 17 and before that he must have eaten tons of bananas. The second time it happened he was #2 priority on the triage list at Royal Perth (after a serious road accident victim) emergency. have suggested to him multiple times that he carry an epi pen around because like nuts one never knows what has been near a banana.

I lost my sense of smell for 6 weeks in 2002 after working outside on a large project with MDF. I have not noticed any greater sensitivity to it since then, in fact I think I may be desensitized to it - or maybe my new DC is just doing it's job :D

rsser
10th January 2012, 04:19 PM
There are a number of stories about folk building up a sensitivity to substances over time. With me it's been redgum dust which now causes the sinuses to 'clamp down'. Also any wood dust stirred up from the carpet square in front of the work bench is likely to cause sneezing.

SO is listed on some websites on toxic wood as something to watch out for; there are a range of other species too.

wooden plane
11th January 2012, 10:40 PM
I haven't turned SO a lot but it make me sneaze a bit; nothing a mask doesn't fix.

Alastair
17th January 2012, 04:07 PM
No allergy myself, but the year before mine at Sturt, they had to bar SO from the workshop as one student had a severe skin rash from it.
Would be interested to know if there's a difference in reaction between southern (Grevillea robusta) and northern (Cardwellia sublimis).

+1 for this. I entered "allergic" , as I have had strong reactions to sap and dust........ but this was for grevilliea.

I have built a full kitchen, and a guitar from cardwellia, with absolutely no problems.


I am fine with Silky oak, but my good friend L..... is definitely allergic.
He comes out in a rash from even contact with the sawdust - even if it is old and has been lying around for a while.
(Mackay Cedar, on the other hand, absolutely hates me.)

another +1 for Mackay cedar.

Only time I used it, I had nausea, headaches, and the following day, an explosive nosebleed.

Not nice

regards