Thread: Blackwood Poisoning

Originally Posted by Rattrap

Thanks for that Cin, i'll check them out as i have yet to get myself a dust be gone mask. I haven't been back to the lathe much since my last post.

No worries. The 7500 series comes in three different sizes depending on your face size/shape, although they can be adjusted with the straps.
The model number corresponds to the respirator size
7501 = small
7502 = medium
7503 = large

The twin canister mask works for me, although I'd have to admit it's a bit uncomfortable on hot/humid days. Maybe I might invest in a Dust be Gone as well.

Robson Valley, you're spot on when you say that there is no such thing as nice dust

Resurrecting this old thread.

last week I was clearing some scrub from the country block & dropped two small Black Wattle trees (A. Melanoxylon) which I proceeded to buck with a bow saw, and drag the foliage to a pile in preparation for mulching. Was wearing an untucked short sleeved shirt. A day or so later I got VERY itchy with a rash on underside of both arms & a bit less severe on the belly above the shorts waistline. Its taken almost a week for the rash to reduce - still there but not as itchy. Anti histamine tablets did nothing to help, nor the creme from the chemist. The rash was mainly small red raised lumps, but some pretty continuous red patches underside of the forearms. No rash on face or legs (was wearing shorts).

Not sure if I should blame the wattle, or if it was co-incidentally something else entirely.

Has anyone had such a rash from black wattle??

Originally Posted by RossM

Resurrecting this old thread.

Black Wattle trees (A. Melanoxylon)

Not sure if I should blame the wattle, or if it was co-incidentally something else entirely.

Has anyone had such a rash from black wattle??

You’ve quoted Black Wattle but used Blackwood genus which are two different trees.

Black Wattle is A. Mearnsii

Blackwood is A. Melanoxylon

Whilst both are similar, both can affect people differently

some interesting user names in this old thread rufflyrustic ....now there was a lady who got mens interest...

Never had any issues with Blackwood, Walnut now that is a different matter entirely.

A mate at Mogo ended up so sensitive to residual Blackwood dust he only had to walk into his large shed and his tongue would swell up and he couldn’t breathe.
This put a stop to his turning for a while.
He had been using a Racal Airsteam but had sold it
Anyhu when he told me this I was able to buy one from the Trading Post and give it to him.
He was ok again then.
He’d been selling the Racals years before when he was in business in Fyshwick and I’d bought one from him at mates rates, I no sooner got back to Sydney than another mate who was suffering Rosewood etc dust begged it off me.
Don sold me another at the silly price.
H.

The Black wattle story reminds me of Teak dick a mate working on the Ena restoration suffered from.

Originally Posted by RossM

......Not sure if I should blame the wattle, or if it was co-incidentally something else entirely....

Could be - diagnosis from a distance & with limited info is worse than dangerous, but the fact you didn't respond to antihistamine at all tends to rule against an allergic reaction, though they don't work so well once the reaction is well under way.

I would suspect you may have got a dose of "scrub itch" caused by Trombiculid mites. These little swine are tiny, the larval stage is <2mm and extremely hard to see with the naked eye. They generally stay for 5-7 days and the symptoms ease soon after that. Just a thought..

And DJ, the wood of A. mearnsii & A. melanoxylon may be similar, I have never had any wood from A. mearnsii so no personal experience, however the trees are quite different - A. mearnsii retains its juvenile leaves, it doesn't develop phyllodes like most of our other acacias, so it's pretty easy to differentiate in tree form.

"Black wattle" is a pretty non-specific moniker along the east coast, there are dozens of wattles known colloquially by that name - we've got 3 of 'em growing on our property. One is easy to tell by its phyllodes (long & skinny & with a small number of veins) the other two are too similar for me to tell apart until they flower, which they do at different times. They all have a habit of dying when they get to a certain size, by which time they have no leaves or flowers so I can't tell which one it is. The wood seems to be very similar, and very variable. They never grow straight for more than about half a metre in any one direction and branch within a few feet of the ground. Worse, they are usually full of decay thanks to exit holes from the monster borers that relish them, so most ends up in the firewood pile.

But I've found the odd nugget of gold in a few, lovely fine fiddleback or swirly grain stuff. Nothing big enough for furniture, but great for tool handles or small plane infill...
Rehandled 5.jpg Done b.jpg

Maybe ya shoulda let those black wattles grow a bit more, Ross.....

Cheers,

I realize it was posted many years ago but the chart earlier on in this thread is misleading as ALL (including all wood) dust represents a significant long term health problem and it's not just a respiratory or allergy issue. Fine dust is now thought to be a significant contributor to cardiovascular problems (strokes, heart attacks and circulation problems) Most medical conditions (even ones that seem unrelated to dust like diabetes and auto immune conditions) are exacerbated by dust. The older and younger someone is the more significant the problem. In 2017 dust was raised from the 8th to the fifth leading cause of death in the world, as well significantly reducing the quality of life.

Dust exposure via nose and lungs is not the only way that dust enters the body as fine dust can enter via eyes and even through skin. So no matter what type of wood you work with any dust it generates needs to be taken seriously.

All wood dust can be dangerous, so can the resin of many species, but the dangers are managable with common sens. But allergies in some people are weird.

The urban myth of the supposed dangers of blackwood were created by the tasmanian department of education about 25-30 years ago when they banned the use of blackwood in high school classes. The reason that they banned blackwood and not other species of timber is that it was the only one that had then been tested.

Arguably, the most dangerous timber is beautiful Huon Pine which has a neurological condition - "piner's tick" - named after it.

Thanks all.

Pretty sure the trees are A. Melanoxylon - and we have always referred to these as Blackwood - but, as mentioned elsewhere, its a colloquial name so may refer to different species for various folk.

Originally Posted by IanW

...I would suspect you may have got a dose of "scrub itch" caused by Trombiculid mites. These little swine are tiny, the larval stage is <2mm and extremely hard to see with the naked eye. They generally stay for 5-7 days and the symptoms ease soon after that. Just a thought...

Thanks for that Ian - this seems like a good theory, the rash did look like small bites, and given they mainly appear on the softest areas of skin it fits in well with a small bug. Next time I'll slather on the DEET!! I didn't have any respiratory symptoms, nor any throat, nose or eye itching which might be further evidence of bugs vs an allergy to the plant. And now, 6 days later, the itch has subsided and the rash has largely gone.