Hopefully this will prevent someone else from having the same problems I'm currently going through.
I broke one the cardinal rules of wood working.
My respirator filters had gotten clogged quite a bit over the past year and made it hard to breath through. Rather than take the time to run to town and purchase new ones I elected to work on a few veneers without it.
Bad idea!!!
Now I'm having to use a Ventolin inhaler to hopefully clear up this hacking cough. Dr. says I should be back to norm in a week or so with continued use and staying out of the shop. I've been on it for almost a week and things are starting to clear up. It's hard to stay out of the shop when orders are coming in on a regular basis. Now I keep the respirator at the door and want even go in without putting it on.
I've haven't had any respiratory problems doing woodworking in years basically due to wearing the respirator. My one time mistake now has me using extreme caution.
Don't think that working with any exotic wood only for a short time want hurt you. You never know what some of these woods will do to you.
At least wear a dust mask!!!
Thats no good at all. I hate to hear that. I hope ya get well soon thats good advices
After week on the meds I can at least sleep at night with out waking up coughing.
Hope you heal up soon, Troy..
Man, that stinks but I know what you mean. There's a couple of woods I just simply don't work with anymore because of it.
I've always held off dealing with cocobolo because of it's health risk. Chittum has effected me slightly in the past and Ipe makes me sneeze.
Snakewood was the culprit this round. Had I taken the time to look at the wood database site that I normally visit when working with new woods I would have held off working the wood until new filters were purchased.
Here is the site: http://www.wood-database.com/wood-identification/
It has just about anything you might want to know about on most woods.
Sorry to hear that Troy, hope you get better soon.
Because my main dust extractor sounds like a 747 warming up and I'm close by to neighbors, I rarely use it , relying on a a respirator. My shop is usually coated in dust so even moving anything necessitates donning the respirator. Some times I forget and I've heard that bamboo fibers are the asbestos of the wood world.Hope things get back to normal for you Troy.We all need to be very careful.
Thanks for sharing the info Troy. When it comes to dust and allergic reactions there is no fun to be had. I found out after several light reactions that black walnut dust makes me ill. You just never know.
Things have been alot better today. Hopefully by my next Dr.'s appointment (Wed.) I'll be over this mess.
My biggest problem other than the cough has been the meds are running my blood pressure up. For me that's as big of a problem as the coughing. Don't need a heart attack or stroke. Already had four stents put in a few years ago.
That's a real bummer Troy. Hope you get to feeling better.
I haven't had any bad reactions to any woods I've worked with, but a couple years ago I upgraded from a simple dust mask to a ventilator. It is so much better and I can't imagine working on a bow without one now.
Sorry to hear about your dilemma. My father worked with wood for over 45 years but never developed any serious side effects. I won't do any work with exotic wood. Just stay with local stuff like Oak, Maple, cherry etc.
I work in a small space and wear the mask when making serious dust.
Better think about some of those local woods as well. I was looking at all the woods I use on the wood database site and found that Southern Red/Aromatic Red cedar can be hard on your respiratory system as many of the exotic woods.
The dust thing has been progressive for me, worsening over the years. A dust mask is a must for me now even with a very good dust collector in my shop.
I also learned I will never make another walnut flintlock stock, the dust from my first and last was a killer.
So far walnut has never bothered me. As a matter of fact the only domestic wood I've had problems with was Chittum. It makes my nose run like a faucet.
When I had this same problem several years ago it was some of the Rosewoods that sent me to the Dr.
Can't believe I thought I could get away with working Snakewood without a respirator. I knew it was one of the bad ones.
I know a fella that darn near died from working with red cedar and redwood... Making laminated, light weight stocks for target rifles.. He was hospitalized for a couple of months and was extremely ill for almost a year..
Troy,
Hope you get better quickly. Also, thanks for bringing this subject up, it might inspire some to use a respirator all the time.
Ipe is the wood that affects me the most. It completely cloggs my nose after five minutes and my arms develop a bunch of little red dots about half an hour after that.
Yew, cocobolo, and recently Osage, have all started to make breathing difficult if I don't wear at least a dust mask when working them. I think the Osage is the result of accumulation over a twenty year period.
Today has been really good. Only had to use the inhaler once so far.
I know there is most likely someone out there that is smiling and thinking "your just a wimp".
May be, but I'll be smiling and thinking "dumb @$$, I tried to warn you" when something like this kicks your butt.
Troy, I was so impressed with your post I went to Home Depot in Lincoln today to get a nice filter mask. I came home with a new car, thanks. Oh, and a nice filter mask.
Troy, thanks for the reminder. I have a respirator but will often not put it on when doing small or quick jobs. I haven't worked with many exotic woods but walnut really messes up my sinuses.
Troy, thanks for the reminder. I have a respirator but will often not put it on when doing small or quick jobs. I haven't worked with many exotic woods but walnut really messes up my sinuses.
I began wearing a respirator right away, as I was hearing stories consistently about the dust, and glass dust can't be good! I'm glad I did, and barely even notice it anymore. Some folks complain about claustrophobia, but I just try and ignore it.
I started wearing a respirator several years ago after some of the same problems.
I'll never make the mistake of working on any wood after this without my respirator.