Ironwood Erythrophleum chlorostachys, beautiful wood, is it safe as a chopping board?
Hi all, I live up in the NT and have some iron wood. I have heard it has some toxic properties as its used as traditional medicine and the leaves are toxic to animals. It's extremely hard, heavy and durable and it would look fantastic as a chopping board.
Would anyone have advice if this could be used as a chopping board? I can't find any info on it?
Many thanks for your advice!
Toxicity studies needed, some science and a rave
Yes, BobL, I agree. For instance an internet search for toxicity for Cooktown Ironwood produced nothing for me, and the IWCS 2006 report has zilch too. My post above was based upon caution being better than disaster. JohnG obviously has some much better source of information, and thank goodness he does and has shared it, as it may help avoid a disaster.
As a scientist one of the thought processes when considering a question/unknown is always to go back to first principles. As woodworkers we enjoy working with wood, love wood. But, consider what wood is - first principles. It is the old, no longer living parts of the plant where the plant stores its chemical waste products. The tree depends upon this old tissue for support to keep its leaves where they can be in the sunlight, so there is a biological/genetic advantage to having the wood intact/uneaten/strong. In general terms (of course there are exceptions, mostly those plants bred by humans for consumption) plants are in a never ending war with the animals and fungi that eat/attack/rot them. It is a biochemical war where, over evolutionary time, the plants develop ever more sophisticated poisons to protect themselves. Some of those poisons are stored in the wood to protect it. So ... wood is intrinsically dangerous because it contains dangerous chemicals, and wood dust contains those chemicals as well as being a physical size that can damage our lungs and respiratory tissues.
As woodworkers we can love love wood, but we should understand it and treat it with the respect it deserves.
Pure science in Australia is just about dead. Short-sighted economic-rationalist governments and politicians do not understand that you need a lot of pure research to fuel the applied research that creates economic wealth and employment. Once CSIRO was a world leader in research now they have a highly paid chief exec, a big bureaucracy and very little research. They still cost a lot to run. Universities employ primarily on contract so the employees don't get paid in the holidays - not much chance of pure research from them if they are starving.
David