Thread: Poll on Silky Oak allergy

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!

For those that have it - is it worse when the tree is green or dry?

I'm using Silky Oak on a project at the moment with no problems at all.

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).

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.

Originally Posted by Cliff Rogers

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.

Whenever i work SO i always find myself sneezing quiet a bit

My throat was sore after using it .It was the trigger to buying a positive preasure respirator .

Ted

No reaction myself, however, a woodturning friend cannot be in the same room/shop as SO. Within minutes his eyes swell and water, skin rash and headaches.

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.

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.

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.

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

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

Cheers,
Dave

Originally Posted by BobL

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

Cheers,
Dave

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.