working with Lyptus

[cselby]

Has anyone in this group worked with Lyptus lumber. I have 350 BF of this stuff and I am just now ripping it on the bandsaw. It creates such a fine dust that it's getting into my eyes and nose through the dust mask. My mask is high end and is the same one I use to spray Acylic paints. The dust is irritating the hell out of my sinuses and my eyes feel like they want to close up.

Is it just me or have others here gotten the same symptoms from the Lyptus dust? Or maybe I have an allergy. Or maybe there is a write up on the wood's toxicity. Or maybe it's just me.

Pete

[CW]

I find lyptus dust rather annoying but a respirator (not just a dust mask) does it for me. The real fun is when you build something with this stuff. Dimensional stability is not it's strong suite. Don't cut to size, fit joints ect and let it lay around. It will move enough to make you think you screwed up. Fit and assemble in short order. I don't know what will happen to furniture made from it over the long term. Going to have to wait and see. I won't be using any more of it.

[Pat Barber]

A good many of the tropical wooods will cause severe reactions to the dust. I bought a couple thousand board feet of african wood at an auction and I have found that it is extremely nasty in a dust form.

You can develop some very severe allergies to some of these woods.

Any wood that can be left outdoors and not attacked by any known insects including termites is a pretty risky to work with.

[e-mail] wrote:

[Bob Moos]

Do you by chance know if that problem extends to "African Mahogany"? My hardwood dealer has this, and it's significantly less expensive than Honduran Mahognany. I'm in the process of planning a project and may have to rethink it if the African Mahogany is going to be something that produces dust that could cause an allergic reaction.

Thanks.

[Dhakala]

Many African tree species go by the name "African Mahogany." Most of them are reported to cause mild allergic reactions in significant percentages of those who work with them.

Buy a piece, make a bird house, and see how you fare.

[Bob Moos]

That's a cool idea. :) I'm not particularly interested in bird houses, but I'm sure I can come up with a variety of other small scale projects to test things out.

Thanks for the idea and tip!